B'lore incident rings alarm bells

Padmaja Shastri / TNN / Dec 18, 2005, 02:37 IST

Share

AA

Text Size

Small
Medium
Large

Over 20,000 people work in the 30-odd BPOs in the city. Around 50 per cent of them are women, who work at odd hours.

PUNE: Although Pune is perceived as a safe city, the rape and murder of a BPO employee in Bangalore, by a taxi driver attached to a call centre there, has got the city BPOs seriously thinking of enhancing security measures, especially for their female employees.
Over 20,000 people work in the 30-odd BPOs in the city. Around 50 per cent of them are women, who work at odd hours and on night shifts.
Ganesh Natarajan, chairman of the outsourcing conclave of the Confederation of Indian Industry, western region, and deputy chairman and managing director of Zensar Technologies, said the Bangalore incident is an alarm signal for BPOs.
"Most BPOs do reference checks of all collateral staff, including drivers, and ensure that they come from reputed contractors/agencies, apart from making sure that a female never travels unaccompanied on long distances.

Haryana

Jammu & Kashmir

Haryana

Alliance View
i
Party View

Seats: 90

Results

Majority: 46

BJP

48

CONG

37

INLD

2

AAP

0

OTH

3

Results: 90/90

BJP WON

Source: PValue

But there is a need to plug loopholes and introduce extra precautions," Natarajan said.
Among the safety measures being discussed by BPOs are detailed background checks, police verification of drivers, asking female employees to be more alert and report any unusual behaviour. Some are even thinking of avoiding night shifts for girls.
Pradeep Phadke, senior vice-president of GTL, said, "We are planning to reiterate that our female staff should immediately alert the administration if they have the slightest suspicion about any driver, or even any of their male colleagues," The male employees will also be advised on how they can protect the female colleagues, he said.

Almost all the top BPOs in the city say they ensure that the female employees are neither picked up first nor dropped last.
"If a girl's stop is the last, we ask one of the boys to stay until she is dropped. Now, we are thinking of sending a security guard.
We even have to begin detailed background checks, including police verification, of drivers," said Kavita Kulkarni, vice-president-HR and training of WNS.

End of Article

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA