Bangalore: The Government and the corporate sector should look at employment laws as different from the labour laws for the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry. There is a need for a forum to redress the grievances of employees in the BPO sector.

At a public meeting organised by the Union of Information Technology and Enabled Services here on Monday, participants rued that the BPO industry lacks a regulatory framework from Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) regulations to issues of security, technology transfer and employee welfare.

Various call centre employees and non-governmental organisation activists expressed concern about the non-implementation of the universal charters prepared pertaining to the security of women working in night shifts.

The absence of such a regulation leaves employees open to machinations of unscrupulous employers, cases of fraudulent salary cuts, collection of deposits in the name of training, arbitrary fixing of salaries and fear of reprisal.

The meeting also called for a pattern in organising the workforce and educating people on the need for guidelines.

The number of people employed in the BPO sector is currently upwards 2,50,000 in the country and expected to reach 1.1 million by 2008.

The business has grown by 46 per cent, with the revenue touching $ 3.6 billion and has added 70,000 new jobs in the year 2004.

The NGO workers were apprehensive about the sustainability of the employees in the BPO industry because of the haphazard work shifts.

"Though BPO industries have been a boon in terms of employing a bulk number of unemployed graduates, it is difficult for them to sustain.

The stress, working against nature and the safety and security factor plays a major role," the NGO activists felt.

Though a job in the call centres is all about "big money," the future of the employees and their educational opportunities five years down the line is a million dollar question.

The employees cease to be social beings and often get isolated from their family and friends. BOSS — the Burn-Out Stress Syndrome — is a common syndrome among the BPO employees and includes chronic fatigue, insomnia due to the complete alteration of 24-hour biological rhythm of the body.

Crossing lines of gender, religion and caste, anyone can fit into this type of work, assuming they have good language skills. Lamenting on the stress factor, many call centre employees called for longer breaks during work hours.

It is also not an easy task to get adapted to the "call centre culture."

The profession calls for a false identity and false accent," the employees said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail