The Hindu Business Line : Nasscom setting up best practices panels for BPO workers’ safety

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Nasscom setting up best practices panels for BPO workers’ safety

Mr Ganesh Natarajan

Our Bureau

Pune, March 12 The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) on Wednesday announced the setting up of regional best practices committees to strengthen workplace-related policies and standards with a focus on security for employees in the business process outsourcing (BPO) segment.

The Nasscom-Pune Chapter has put together an action plan to ensure a secure environment for employees joining the industry.

Mr Ganesh Natarajan, Nasscom Vice-Chairman, told presspersons that the BPO - Best Practices Committee was formed to share unique practices first in the area of security and safety of employees.

“The committee will have a mandate to discuss other pertinent issues faced by the industry as well. The first step has been taken to create a common code of conduct that has currently been agreed upon by WNS, Wipro, Zensar, IBM Daksh and SerWizSol. There are 35 companies in the Nasscom list of BPO companies and soon we will have a consensus from all of them; 20 of them were present at the meeting today and have agreed in principle to be part of this common minimum programme,” he said.

Mr Ganesh said that this code of conduct delineates guidance on four counts of security during the commute, transport and security-vendor selection, employee communication and security within the premises.

About 45 per cent of the workforce are women. About one lakh employees are in Pune out of the total workforce of about seven lakh in the country.

Recommendations

Some of the recommendations include conducting regular detailed audits of existing transport system, examining the employee roistering mechanism, punctuality, speeding of vehicles and instances of unacceptable behaviour of transport personnel.

Maintain a single dedicated employee helpline number in each location for all transport-related concerns.

Provide employees with mobile phone numbers of at least three senior members of the organisation to be contacted in case of an emergency.

Ensure the employee helpline number is stored in mobile phones of employees on speed-dial mode. Conduct regular briefings for drivers on code of conduct while on duty.

Ensure that the mobile phone is always charged at least 90 minutes before boarding the vehicle, save the numbers of the transport helpline as well as senior team managers on your mobile phone on speed-dial mode.

If the identity of a co-commuter is suspect, request him to display the I-Card.

If the I-card is not available, report the matter to the authorities immediately. Evaluate transport and security vendors and select vendors on the basis of pre-requisites.

Commenting on the Indian BPO industry, Mr Ganesh said that for the financial year 2008, export revenues would touch $11 billion and have been registering a growth of 35 per cent (over the past five years).

About 1,200 companies are in the play from over 30 cities within India and over 75 cities across 25 countries. By 2012, it could grow five-fold to reach $50 billion and could create two million direct additional jobs, he added.

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