Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Monday, Oct 20, 2008
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Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Monday, Oct 20, 2008 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version | Audio | Blogs |
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Mentor
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Gender Columns - Sticklish Issues Web Extras - Security Ensuring safety of working women
V. Narayanan To make working women feel safer at work, particularly during night shifts, the shifts must be preferably from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. If the shift timings are not so, employers should provide transport for safe travel. Else, they must provide dinner with night-stay facility in the office. Apart from these, every organisation has to give basic training in self-defence, particularly to women employees. *V. Narayanan, email Risk-proof protection at workplace and out of office for women staff should be the highest priority of any employer. With large number of women employees pursuing careers, chances of they being harassed abound, especially in a mixed staff arrangement. Women staff should on no account be permitted to go home alone after sunset. Satisfactory dormitory arrangements in the office should be made a statutory requirement for all offices with mixed staff. T. R. Anandan, email Working women in night shift feel unsafe in IT companies and BPOs. Employers should see to it that women employees get sufficient protection when they go home from office at night. V. Ramjee, email In some professions, night shifts are inevitable for women. Karate and yoga classes should be made mandatory for girls in schools and refresher classes can be arranged in companies. It is the management’s responsibility to provide trustworthy escorts. Big companies should permit senior executives to work from home at least two days week, and provide tele-conference facilities wherever necessary. The HR department can arrange to increase the frequencies of mobile patrol vans in industrial areas during the night. T.S. Sundareswaran, email An official should be designated at each branch or office to receive complaints against harassment. Workshops and training programs can be undertaken at regular intervals for sensitising the staff. T.V. Jayaprakash, email
After attaining freedom, it was thought that woman should be brought out of bondage for the betterment of society. Until they are given the opportunity to become complete human beings, their potential for productivity will be wasted. But safeguards and special arrangements should be given at the workplace so that women are not only safe but are also made to feel so. V. Venkitasubramanian, email Since women work in various places, there is no single balm that can alleviate their pains, and address all their concerns. However, employers can address some of them by charting out key points to employees on what to expect, and what not to. Further, they can appoint an independent ombudsman to resolve harassment issues. Ensuring strict disciplinary action against the violators would boost safety. Prashanth Jnanendra, email Innumerable episodes of women getting murdered, abducted, raped or harassed are in the news. Womenfolk deployed in the IT, ITeS and BPO segments are more susceptible than those in the other sectors. The following measures can go a long way in mitigating to a reasonable extent the mis-happenings: All women passengers should be picked up or dropped only when their male counterparts are with them; A security guard from the company should escort the employees while being picked up/dropped; If there is a change in the usual driver, the change should be conveyed to the HR and to the employees concerned; Employers also need to re-look at deployment of women in night shifts; Woman employees should give a written complaint to the HR head seeking action against those who harass — if that doesn’t work, the victim should go to the police; It’s high time employers in the IT sector came out with a dress code for both genders; Women should never opt to travel in a private vehicle of even their male colleagues after office hours when company vehicles are available. Ashok Jayaram, email More Stories on : Gender | Sticklish Issues | Security
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