Infosys relaunches ‘Restart With Infosys’ programme to attract women returning from career breaks as it pursues its ESG 2030 gender goals.

Infosys has revived its women-specific hiring programme, inviting employee referrals to recruit women returning from career breaks, as India’s second-largest IT services company steps up its push towards workforce diversity.

According to a report in The Economic Times, the initiative — branded Restart With Infosys — aims to attract women with prior professional experience who have taken a break of at least six months. The company is offering mentoring, skill development, and financial incentives for successful referrals, signalling a renewed focus on raising female participation across its global workforce of over 323,000 people.

The effort comes as Infosys pursues its ESG Vision 2030 goal of achieving 45 per cent female representation in its workforce. Its latest ESG disclosures show women currently account for 39 per cent of staff.

Chief Human Resources Officer Shaji Mathew told The Economic Times that inclusion remained central to the company’s ESG framework. “One of our programmes, for example, encourages talented women in tech who’ve taken career breaks to ‘Restart with Infosys’ and re-enter the workforce,” he said. Mathew added that the initiative was both a diversity measure and a means of supporting the wider industry in raising women’s participation.

In FY24–25 alone, about 900 women were recruited into mid-management roles through the programme, the CHRO noted, calling it “a significant step in fostering inclusion at scale.”

Infosys has rolled out tiered referral rewards ranging from ₹10,000 to ₹50,000 depending on the seniority of the role filled. Candidates must have at least two years of prior work experience and a minimum six-month career break to be eligible.

According to internal communication cited by The Economic Times, the company is looking to fill positions across developer, technical lead and manager roles in technologies including Java, .Net, SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, React, Python, Angular, Informatica and Selenium Testing.

“This programme offers nurturing mentorship and valuable skill development to rebuild their confidence and help them achieve their career aspirations,” Infosys said on its website.

Infosys is not alone in tapping female talent returning to work. In February, Tata Technologies launched its ‘Reignite 2025’ initiative to bring women engineers back into the workforce. HCLTech has a ‘Returnship’ programme, while Accenture India runs ‘Career Reboot’. Wipro, meanwhile, operates its ‘Begin Again’ inclusion initiative.

These schemes reflect a growing recognition within the IT sector that career breaks — often due to childcare or family responsibilities — disproportionately affect women and contribute to a loss of experienced talent. Companies are responding with targeted pathways to help women re-enter, re-skill and integrate more quickly into technical roles.

Source : https://www.peoplematters.in/news/recruiting-and-onboarding/infosys-resumes-hiring-women-returning-from-career-breaks-43669