WORK RELATED HAZARDS FOR WOMEN WORKING IN NIGHT SHIFTS WITH RESPECT TO ITES/BPO SECTORS BY V.SUGANYA

A study on WORK RELATED HAZARDS FOR WOMEN WORKING IN NIGHT SHIFTS in ITES SECTORS with special reference to personal safety BY V.SUGANYA

CHAPTER SCHEME

Introduction-Defining problem and Research methodologyBPO/ITES sector-History, Data and DefinitionWork hazards for women working in night shiftsAnalysis of dataLimitations of the study and conclusionSuggestionsQuestionnaire

INTRODUCTION

Over the past three decades, workplace has become a much more diverse environment. With women representing 29 per cent of the total workforce in India, personal security has become central to their physical, intellectual, emotional, economic and spiritual well-being.

The study is an attempt to find the impact of nightshifts on women.

Nightshifts have been in existence for a long time; however for India it was only recently through amendment to the Factories Act 1948 that it was allowed under the law for women to work nightshifts.

The World Bank has stated that the only surest way to lift India out of poverty is to educate and enhance the status of women.

Thus this study will discuss regarding the impacts that will take place in night shifts for women and also discusses about the various safety issues related to the night shifts with respect to the ITES /BPOsectors.

PROPORTION OF WOMEN working IN ITES SECTORS

The Indian women today have ventured beyond the traditional roles of wife and mother and have sought employment and career outside their homes, and are actively participating in the economic and social development of the nation.

In 2009-2010, women were 26.1% of all rural workers, and 13.8% of all urban workers.Women are an estimated 30% of all economically active individuals.The participation rate for women is falling: from 37% in 2004-05 to 29% in 2009-10. Women earn 62% of mens salary for equal work.

It is reported that the proportion of women into the various IT based industries in India is in the order of 19% in the software industry; 40% in the telecom industry; 80% in the airlines; 45% in the ITES; and 50% in the BPOs. The high rate of women employees (45 percent on an average) in the ITES sector is a welcome change from the low 12.5 percent women being employed in the IT industry.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE1.HT Correspondent, Hindustan TimesPune, March 20, 2012 -A Pune court on Tuesday awarded death sentences to two men convicted in the rape and murder of 22-year-old BPO employee Jyotikumari Choudhary in 2007.

The court observed that women working in BPO units and call centres felt insecure because of the incident and life imprisonment would not be an adequate punishment.

It took place On the night of November 1, 2007REVIEW OF LITERATURE2.There have been many incidents of women call centre employee being raped and murdered at Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore regions. Some newspapers have commented on this issue. Newspaper The Hindu reported on the rape and murder of Hewlett Packard employee Pratibha Murthy in December 2005 shook the BPO (business process outsourcing) industry, which scrambled to damage control mode and tighten security for its women employeesSeries of measures were announced to protect women, especially on the night shift. The Press Trust of India, New Delhi, reported on January 17, 2006 that In the light of the rape and murder of a call centre employee in Bangalore, the National Commission for Women (NCW) today said it will formulate guidelines to ensure safety of women employees in the BPO sector.REVIEW OF LITERATURE3.A recent study by Dataquest-IDC employee satisfaction survey of the Indian BPO firms points to slow but steady decrease in the number of women working in the BPO segment. The percentage of female employees has steadily come down to 32% in 2007 from 34% in 2006and 36% in 2005.

One out of every three employee working in BPOs is a woman and going by the study, it indicates that this number is likely to further go down in coming years.

This is a serious issue for BPOs as they want more women to join since women tend to stick longer with company, if the environment is comfortable, says Shailendra Gupta Sr. Manager - User Research IDC (India) Limited.REVIEW OF LITERATUREUnless BPOs get their security in place, have better HR systems, the number of women joining is likely to continue to reduce.

The latest survey done by Prof Phil Taylor of HR and Business School, Glasgow (UK) and Prof Ernesto Noronha of IIM Ahmedabad also highlights the security problem of employees among other things.

Over 65% BPO and call centre employees expressed concern about working times which included shift length, night-time working and effects on well being.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE4.The article Setback for BPO industry: Nasscom in the Times ofIndia dated 4th November 2007 mentions, The National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) has expressed deep shock and dismay at the incident involving murder of a young Pune based BPO employee Jyoti Kumari Choudhary.

In a press release issued by them, it stated that the murder reflects the need for greater safety and security and emphasized that every possible measure should be taken to eliminate such crime. "Such incidents setback efforts that are being made to bring about gender equality in the countrys workforce."

REVIEW OF LITERATURE6.The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India(ASSOCHAM) had undertaken a study titled Night Shift for Women: A Research Study which was sponsored by National Commission for Women (NCW) recently.

Out of the employees surveyed 13% of the respondents face difficulties during commuting whereas 87% are satisfied about the arrangements made by their employers.

Problems of 13% are qualitative in nature in the way that employers may sometimes accommodate passengers of two cabs in one, attitude of drivers is rude or that drivers drink and drive during nightshift, etc. that provide an uncomfortable environment for women.HISTORY:

The Indian ITeS-BPO industry continues to report phenomenal growth. Further, riding on the boom, its contribution to the service sector and eventually to the countrys GDP is on the rise. The industry has come a long way, from just offering traditional outsourced data entry work, to providing high end knowledge services to global clients. Its contribution to the total global back office work is around 2 per cent of the global spending on BPO. This represents tremendous growth opportunities for the industry players.

A trend of offshoring IT services to developing countries started way back in 1980s mainly with low end software work. In fact, the Indian ITeS-BPO Industry is growing at a rapid pace and is increasingly consolidating its position as one of the favourite outsourcing destinations in the world.

ContdITES :(Definition) ITES is defined as outsourcing of processes that can be enabled with IT and covers diverse areas like Finance, HR, Administration, health care and telecommunication etc. The growth of IT enabled Services (ITES) has opened windows for job opportunities, service offerings and foreign investments in India Although, India is well positioned to derive benefits from the ITES market and become a key hub for these services . Information Technology (IT) has made possible information access at gigabit speeds. It has created a level playing field among nations and created has a positive impact on the lives of millions. Today, a countrys IT potential is paramount for its march towards global competitiveness, healthy gross domestic product (GDP) and meeting up the energy and environmental challenges.

BUSINESS PROCESS OUTSOURCING

BPO is defined as the delegation of non-core operations or jobs from internal production to an external entity that specialize in that operation. Business segments outsourced from India includes IT, HR, Real Estates, etc. The clients are based in US, UK, Australia and other major countries; therefore big time differences exist between India and these countries. This makes nightshifts by Indian service providers compulsory for their work to remain in business. Thousands of young women in India are gainfully working in BPOs, earning the kind of money they could have only dreamt earlier. The women working nightshifts in BPOs constitute 40% of the total workforce in BPOs in India.

CALL CENTRE

The definition of call centre is changing in our e-business world, but the core fundamentals of a customer making a call (via a telephone, e-Mail, Website.IVR or Fax) to a centre will remain constant because the customer views the call as an important or pivotal activity to themselves. Call Centre, Contact Centre, and BPO - by whatever names your call it - operate on a common need of providing services to customers for their needs at their convenient time and location.

Like a Bank customer can operate his bank account at midnight using his telephone at his bedside. His call is attended by a call centre executive located at a distance having no knowledge of banking. The call centre executive helps the customer by feeding his instructions on the computer and giving the customer the required information.

As per NASSCOM Report on Indian IT-BPOIndustry 2012 8, the BPO sector generated USD 14.1 billion in export revenues in 2010-11, growing at 14 per cent over the previous year. The industry employed close to 835,000 people in 2011. In order to meet the growing international demand for cost-effective, customer oriented call centers, many organizations worldwide are outsourcing these services from locations like India. There are a host of players in the Indian call center industry. Apart from the pioneers British Airways, GE and Swiss Air, HLL, BPL, Godrej Soaps, Global Tele- Systems, Wipro, ICICI Banking Corporation, American Express, Bank of America, Citibank, ABN AMRO, Global Trust, Deutsche Bank, Airtel, and Bharati BT are the other major players in the call-center business.

The call center industry in India:

India's call center industry accounts for a quarter of all software and services exports from the country, according to industry association Nasscom, and Indian call centers employ over 550,000 professionals. Daimler-Chrysler, British Telecom, Barclays Bank, HSBC, Honeywell, Aventis, and several others have come to India while the old timers of GE, British Airways, Citigroup, Amex, and others have been around for a decade.

NASSCOM - McKinsey Report 2005

Indicates that the Indian industry is targeting USD 60 billion in exports by FY 2009-10. This translates to an estimated demand for 850,000 IT professionals and 1.4 million ITES-BPO professionals by 2010. India today enjoys the confidence of Global Corporations.

82% of the US companies ranked India a first choice for software outsourcing. Bill Clinton applauds India's brainpower says "Indian Americans run more than 750 companies in USA". Bill Gates says "India isan IT superpower"

As per NASSCOM-AT Kearney study (2008)

on `Location roadmap for IT-BPO growth' second grade cities in the country are likely to account for about 40 per cent of the total projected IT-BPO jobs by 2018, if the government in tandem with the industry provides a conducive environment, the study has said.

However, big cities Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, National Capital Region (NCR) and Pune are still the preferred destinations for setting up an IT or a BPO company, these centers are closely followed by Ahmedabad, Kochi, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Indore, Jaipur, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Nagpur, Thiruvananthapuram, Vadodara, Tiruchirapalli and Visakhapatnam, it said.

INDIAN ITES-BPO INDUSTRY : NASSCOM ANALYSISKey Highlights of Indian ITES-BPO sector performance (as per NASSCOM 2008)

1. Indian ITES-BPO exports grew from USD 6.3 billion in FY 2005-06 to USD 8.4 billion in FY 2006-07 expected to grow to USD 10.5-11bn in FY08.2. ITES-BPO employee base has grown to 553,000 in FY 07 from 415,000 in FY 063. The Indian BPO industry has witnessed an era of metamorphosis, where over the last decade the BPO organizations have emerged as Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) and Research Process Outsourcing (RPO) units from where it started as data entry and voice based service units. Thus the momentum has just begun for its ascent up the value chain.4. The rapid expansion in the scope of BPO has been accompanied by an equally rapid adoption across a range of vertical industries. This wide range of services may be summarized into four broad categories comprising Finance and Accounting (F&A), Customer Interaction Services (CIS), Human Resource Administration and niche business services

Work hazards for women working in night shifts

JOB RELATED PERSONAL SAFETYPersonal Safety needs include:1. Personal security from crime

2. Financial security

3. Health and well-being

4. Safety net against accidents/illness and the adverse impacts

DEFINING THE PROBLEM

In country`s IT & BPO sector, women account for 35% and 50% of the total workforce respectively, all were travelling at night without enough safety measures and facing lot struggles till they reach home. Safety measures for women employees is an ongoing process and doesn`t come to light only when incidents including Delhi rape case, Nirbhaya`s story and Pratibha Murthy story in Bangalore pops up. The industry got a wake-up call with the horrific rape and murder of Uma Mageshwari in Siruseri, Chennai recently.In total, 6,290 grave crimes were reported in 2012 throughout the state, a decrease of 0.19 percent. Homicides constituted 28.71 percent of the total grave crimes, an increase of 3.84 percent. A rise of 5.77 percent has been found when compared to the three years average (2008 2010). Crimes against women have increased by 3.6 percent when compared to 2011. Of the cases reported, cruelty by husband and his relatives and molestation together account for nearly half (48.10 percent) of the cases.

Contd The highest number of IPC cases were reported in Chennai City (19,881) followed by Coimbatore City (10,357), Madurai City (3,261), and Trichy City (2,926). The Salem city average crime rate per 100,000 in the Commissionerates for 2012 was 267.26 compared to 267.37 in 2011. The crime rate was the highest in Coimbatore City (474.47) followed by Trichy City (282.26), Tirunelveli City (267.05), Salem City (249.74), Chennai City (224.29) and Madurai City (219.78).MURDER: Of 1,949 murder cases reported in the state during 2012, Chennai City reported the highest 180 cases accounting for 59.80 percent share amongst the cities, followed by Madurai City (31), Coimbatore City (29), Trichy City (26), Tirunelveli City (19), and Salem City.

CULPABLE HOMICIDE NOT MOUNTING TO MURDER: 44 cases were reported during 2012 in the state. Six Commissionerates together has contributed only four cases of culpable homicide not amounting to murder during 2012. Chennai City alone recorded all four cases, an increases of 100 percent when compared to previous year.

RAPE: 737 cases were reported during 2012 in the state: Chennai City (94), Coimbatore City (20), Salem City (15), Madurai City (11), Trichy City (7), and Tirunelveli City (3 cases).

ContdKIDNAPPING AND ABDUCTION: 224 cases were reported: Chennai City (87), Madurai City (65), Salem City (23), Trichy City (22), Coimbatore City (20), and Tirunelveli City (7 cases).

SEXUAL HARASSMENT: 382 cases were reported in the state during 2012: Chennai City (141), Trichy City (39), Salem City (14), Madurai City (8), and Coimbatore City (2).

This clearly exhibits the status of crimes against women in chennai city. As continuous story of horrific rapes grips Chennai, the IT and BPO industry which has a sizable chunk of women employees should further tightens its safety measures.

We will see some of the cases which clearly depicts the problemOBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYTo study about the safety hazards for women working in night shifts in BPO/ITES sector. To study the impact of night shifts on women employees in BPO/ITES sector.To study the safety level of women employees in BPO/ITES sector.To study about the perception of employers towards the safety enhancement of women. To evaluate the security measures adopted by the employers for women employees in BPO/ITES sector.To study the impact of personal safety hazards and attrition rates of women employees in BPO/ITES sector and the causes of it.To know about the various laws enacted for the safety of women and their impact.To suggest the suitable measures for safety improvement of women employees working in BPO/ITES sector.To identify the predominant nature of violence against women that prevents them to become an equal partner with men

SCOPE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research throws light on impact of night shifts on women employees in BPO/ITES sector and also it gives a clear view about the safety hazards of the women employees working in night shifts. This research also addresses the areas where the security measures need to be improved by the employers of BPO/ITES sector. This research would be of paramount significance to all CEOs and HR Heads of call centers, social scientists, clinical psychologists, industrial psychologists and medical professionals. It will also aid NGOs and industry associations like NASSCOM, Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) who need data from recent research to formulate employee policies in areas like personal security and safety hazards at the industry level.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Research refers to the systematic method consisting of enunciating the problem formulating a hypothesis, collecting the facts or data, analyzing the facts and reaching certain conclusions either in the form of solution(s) towards the concerned problem or in certain generalisations for some theoretical formulations.Research Methods Research methods refer to the behaviour and instruments used in selecting and constructing research technique.Research Technique Research technique refers to the behaviour and instruments we use in performing research operations such as making observations, recording data, techniques of processing data and the like.ContdResearch Methodology Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. It may be understood as a science of studying how research is done scientificallyResearch Design A research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the researcher purpose with economy in procedure. Data Collection Primary Data The primary data are those which are collected afresh and for the first time, and thus happen to be original in character. The questionnaire was the primary data for this study.Secondary Data The secondary data are those which have already been collected by someone else and which have already been passed through the statistical process. Secondary data was collected from Internets, various books and CompanyRecords.

ContdSample Design A sample design is a finite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population. Population All items in any field of inquiry constitute a universe or population. The Population or Universe can be Finite or infinite. The population is said to be finite if it consist of a fixed number of elements so that it is possible to enumerate it in its totality.Sampling Unit A decision has to be taken concerning a sampling unit before selecting sample . Sampling unit may be a geographical one such as state, district, village, etc., or a construction unit such as house.Sample List Source list was also called sampling frame. In the case of finite universe source list contains the name of all items of a universe.

ContdSample Size Number of the sampling units selected from the population is called the size of the sample. Selection Of Sampling A sample is a miniature picture or a cross section of an entire group or an aggregate from which a sample is taken. It is a definite plane for obtaining a sample.Statistical Tools For Analysis The researcher carries out analysis through various statistical tools. The statistical analysis is useful for drawing inference from the collected information.Some tools are: percentage analysis, chi-square test, ANOVA

Questionnaire to Women Employees in Nightshift