BPO industry to provide hotline, patrol unit to employees

NEW DELHI: Jolted by the murder of a call centre employee in Pune, the BPO industry has finalised a plan to set up round-the-clock hotline wireless network and a security patrol unit in the national capital region for ensuring safety of staff, particularly the women.
   
These and other initiatives like a check on rash cab driving and over speeding, pre-employment screening of transport drivers and contractors will be implemented by the end of this month with the help of Delhi and Gurgaon Police.
   
The Business Process Industry Association of India (BPIAI), an affiliate of CII, held a meeting at Gurgaon last week after the rape and murder of a call centre staff in Pune.
   
Representatives of leading BPOs including Genpact, WNS, Dell, Quatrro and Teletech attended the meeting and 'agreed upon the long-term measures to counter the problem', a CII statement said here.
   
There would be mandatory pre-employment screening of all cab drivers by police and the transporter will be indemnified for the behaviour of his drivers. Information on the black- listed cab drivers will be shared among the BPOs in Gurgaon.

The steps will later be replicated in other BPO centres like Bangalore, Pune, Chandigarh, Chennai, Mumbai and Jaipur.
   
The procedure of ferrying female employee - who are not to be picked up first and dropped last - will be strictly adhered to. In case the procedure is not being followed, the female employee should get clearance from the transport desk of her employer.
   
A smaller group of BPO representatives will meet the Delhi and Gurgaon police to work out a 'win-win' solution on speed limit for cab drivers.
   
The industry will also coordinate yoga and meditation classes for de-stressing the cab drivers.