Bangalore: The I-T companies of Bangalore are going out of their way to retain their female staff—the part of the workforce they are most 'possessive' about.

And the HR department of these companies has good reason to do so. Women have been found to be more productive and less prone to job switches than their male counterparts.

At TCS, women form a quarter of the workforce, while at Infosys and Wipro they constitute almost a third.

And talk about MNCs like IBM and Accenture—about one fifth of the workforce is women. The companies are devising innovative HR strategies to retain them.

"More than crafting policy, we are crafting empathy towards our women employees. We are telling individual managers to be sensitive to wards them so that they do not have to struggle while balancing work and personal life," says Subroto Bagchi COO, Mindtree Consulting.

Accenture offers more incentives to employees who refer women for jobs. TCS and IBM offer the option of temporarily discontinuing work for family commitments while Mindtree has a sabbatical programme that allows women to stay away from work for a year.

Infosys has even built a satellite office in Bangalore for pregnant women and young mothers to spare them the daily commute to the main office on the outskirts of the city.

What Companies Offer:

Accenture: Incentives for referring women

TCS, IBM, Mindtree: Breaks to meet family commitments

Infosys: Flexi hours, satellite office in city for pregnant women

TCS: Maternity leave upto a year NASSCOM estimates that by 2010 women will constitute half the workforce in the IT industry.

And women too see value in this sector. Encouraging work environments, gender-inclusive policies and excellent wages are attractive propositions to keep them out of home and at work.