Karnataka - Bangalore   

Lack of safety still a problem for women employees

BANGALORE: Just two years after the murder of Pratibha Murthy, a young HP call centre employee, and her much publicised “fast-track” trial, another woman BPO employee from Pune met with a similar fate. The rape and murder of Jyothikumari, allegedly by her cab driver, had Wipro offering qualified apologies that sparked a debate in the media about women’s safety in the BPO and IT sectors.

However, thousands of them continue to live with the realisation of their vulnerability in the face of constant danger. According the to National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), women constitute 38 per cent of the IT/BPO industry, the largest ratio in any country.

Following the murder of Pratibha Murthy in 2005, all companies tightened their security policies. Company rules specified that women must only travel in the presence of another male employee. A separate transport department, internal hotlines and SMS services were introduced to monitor commuting employees.

“The problem is not with the rules but with implementation. Male employees refuse to stay in the cab till all the women are dropped,” said Kaveri of IBM.

Companies maintain that they cannot police their employees. “We can only formulate rules for them. We are sensitising them, but that is all we can do,” said Manish Duggar, vice-president of Wipro (BPO).

Nandita Gorjar, HR head, Infosys, said they are focussing on sensitising employees about safety precautions.

The 2005 report of ASSOCHAM had recommended the installation of Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking systems in the cabs.

“The challenge with operationalising GPS is that it is not cost-effective and vendors cannot spend that kind of money. Moreover, there is the problem of connectivity,” said Mr. Duggar. However, Wipro was planning to deploy one security guard each in vehicles with women employees.

Since the call centre industry is dispersed across Bangalore, it makes it difficult for the police too. “We work locality-wise. But how can we even attempt to monitor these cabs which have pick-ups from so many places,” asked D. Mulla, PRO, Police Department. Of late, there has been a sharp increase in the number of BPO cab drivers involved in theft and extortion cases.

While most of this debate focusses on BPOs, software professionals also face similar problems. Many of them work late into the night to meet project deadlines.

“The office transport system is available at hourly intervals. To get back home early, we take ITPL buses, which do not drop us at our doorstep,” said Sabitha Kappan, a TCS employee. Police sources said that after the murder of Pratibha, the city had not witnessed any such crime against call centre employees. But isolated cases across the country are enough to cast a shadow of fear in the minds of these employees.

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