The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : It was business as usual for them

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 16, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

It was business as usual for them

Deepa Kurup

Employees in
ITES/BPO sector did not have
holiday on I-Day

BANGALORE: The back office of the world was abuzz with activity on Friday even as the rest of the country stayed at home to celebrate India’s famous tryst with destiny.

Employees involved in the ITES or BPO industry had to make do with decorating the bay with the Tricolour and turning up in traditional attire to mark the occasion.

Survey

A recent survey by Unites, an informal IT/BPO workers’ union, shows that techies and call centre employees are as enthusiastic, if not more, as the rest of us.

Nearly 91 per cent of respondents expressed their displeasure over not being given the option to celebrate Independence Day.

About 83 per cent of BPO employees said they had no other option but to work.

While employees were overly optimistic, as it turned out, that things might be different this year in the wake of a Government Order, several took the working day in their stride.

Though almost all software companies not directly involved in services were closed, a large part of the service-based sector was forced to work.

The GO

Following petitions from employees and unorganised labour unions, the Karnataka Labour Ministry recently ordered all companies which come under the Karnataka Shops and Establishments Act to close shop on August 15. But BPO companies maintain that the 1963 amendment exempts them from the general rules.

In an interview with a local channel, the Labour Minister B.N. Bache Gowda pointed out that “no sector was above the law”.

Companies were either asked to grant leave or provide an option for a compensatory off.

The order states that stringent action will be taken against those who do not comply.

No compensatory leave

However, no company issued circulars to their employees offering compensatory leave.

HR personnel in leading BPO firms told The Hindu they were indeed exempt and this clause was a part of every employee’s service regulations.

“Companies show a basic disrespect for rules by seeking exemption. Why can they not tell their clients that it is a public holiday or run (their outfit) with skeletal staff? In fact, most higher-ups boast to their clients (about how they work through the year),” says Karthik Shekhar of Unites.

Mahesh M., a BPO employee who works for an Australian client, says that employees must be given the option to choose.

“When a server goes down they are willing to accept larger turnaround time, then why can they not make that exemption for one or two days in a year?” he asks.

His friend Rekha agrees: “It is more about being given an option that every other person had. I may not go hoist a flag but I must be allowed to have the time to do so.”

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