Women Rights

The BPO industry devises special measures and policies for vulnerable workers doing graveyard shifts and working under constant stress, especially women. Women under the age of 30 comprise a majority of the BPO workforce since call centers which focus on communicating directly with the public, usually prefer women. Women employees recruited with BPO's are attracted to the flexible shifts which can be accommodated with their childcare needs. However, incidents of crime and loopholes in security show that there is a need for stringent laws and stricter guidelines to screen people ferrying women at night.

The Amendment to the Factories Act states that the security of women working during night shifts lies with the employer and such timings should be abided if provisions are made to ensure the safety of women at the workplace and while commuting. Moreover, the Call Centre Association of India (CCAI) in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) have formulated guidelines in the interest of the safety of women at the workplace.

Women working with the ITES and BPO industry need to ensure the following:

• Pre-employment scanning of all third party transport service providers, including drivers by sharing digitized records with the police.
• The supreme court of India has made employers responsible to implement both preventive and remedial measures in case of sexual harassment. Women need to bring such issues to the fore and report crimes of indecent behavior or sexual harassment at workplace.