health problems among information technology worker...
TRANSCRIPT
CHAPTER-V
HEALTH PROBLEMS AMONG INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY WORKER AND ITS IMPACT ON
FAMILY LIFE
The present chapter tries to analyze various health problems among the IT
workers. The differential work patterns in the IT sector have several
negative consequences on the health of IT worker in general and BPO
worker in particular. Owing to their constant involvement with they
encounter with new kinds of health problems which affects their physical
health, mental health and ultimately disturbed family relationships. This
chapter reveals the hidden health issues in the sunshine industry. One can
argue, on one hand IT sector has created tremendous employment
opportunities in urban areas thereby re-shaping the social lives of the
people employed, while on the other, it is associated with some unusual
problems which are new to the India society.
Table No:- 5.1
Working during Night shift Percentage of Respondents
Yes 42
No 68 Night shift creating Marital and other problems (out of 42%)
Yes 86 No 14
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The penetration of information society in India has led to erratic working
hours among the workers. India is situated 5 hours ahead of UK, 10 hours
ahead of New York and 13 hours ahead of Los Angeles. US and UK
companies can claim overnight responsibility because during their night
time, it is day time in India and agents in India can respond to ernails
during Indian business hours. This is known as following the sun model. It
is this working at nights that requires adjusting the biological clock and
social practices to a different time, which is turning out to be a major cause
for health-related and social problems.
Since the work is shared through out the globe the timings differ from
country to country. Therefore the ITES sector demands working hours
which are some time irregular according to the Indian clock. From the
above table it becomes apparent that 42% of the total numbers of
respondents work at night shifts. But the majority that is 68% percent does
not work over-time. However the people who work over-time reported that
they face many problems at horne front owing to their erratic working
hours. Majority of workers (86%) who work at night shifts claim to have
disturbed family life and marital maladjustment.
Table No: - 5.2
Do Your think irregular working Percentage of Respondents out of
hour/ Night shift is creating health 42%
Hazards
Yes 85
No 15
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Due to irregular working hours, employees have been found unable to
fulfill their family responsibilities be it in their role as parents,
husbands/wives and sons/daughters--- due to which conflicts occur in their
roles. Quite apart from this, health problems stress, problems related to
eyesight, the spinal cord and stress are quite rampant in this, dominantly,
young labour force. 85% of the total respondents who worked at night
shifts experienced health problems, while only 15% reported that they did
not suffer from any health hazards. Example can be cited from the
telephone call center industry in India which was established only over the
last 10 years. The Industry is touted as a magic wand that will ward off
unemployment for thousands of young graduates. There is a concern
regarding issues of health and safety that are unique to this new and
developing industry. As there is time difference between India and the
United States and Europe the work for these workers in call centers in India
starts late in the evening and extends until dawn. Such odd hours bring in a
host of health problems including digestive diseases, hair loss, back pain
and stress. Long hours of work, permanent night shifts, incredibly high
work targets, loss of identity are these dark clouds hovering over the call
center industry in India.
DMIFORMAYDOINI "'r!ECIHINOH..OGY WORct CUll YURIE ANID
IHIIEAILYIHIDSSUJIES
Outsourcing technological jobs to India is not only causing turmoil for
workers in the United States and Europe, but for Indians as well. An
estimated 50,000 young English speaking Indians who work in call centers
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in India are exposed to a host of health problems, as reflected in our work
as well. Basically the IT workers don't have specific time frame or time
period or limit. This is the peculiar character of this industry. Going against
the human biological clock, essential for work in the IT/BPO industry, has a
direct impact on physical health, mental condition and changing family
timing in the household activities. The BPO industry even has a name for it:
BOSS- Bum Out Stress Syndrome. Here's what www.BPO.org has to say:
BOSS syndrome is seen very commonly among young people working in
call centers.
Table No: - 5.3
Are you suffering BOSS - Percentage of Respondents
Bum Out Stress Syndrome.
Yes 82
No 18
Percentage of Respondents
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0 Yes
250
No
o Percentage of Respondents
The above table clearly indicates that 82% of the respondents admitted the
fact that they suffered from bum-out-stress syndrome. Only 18% of the IT
workers did not suffer from it. The symptoms of this syndrome include
chronic fatigue, insomnia and complete alteration of 24-hour biological
rhythm of the body. Gastrointestinal problems are inevitable for those
working at nights as the body is put under chronic stress. A potentially
fatal increase in heart rhythm can result in severe chronic gynecological
problems in women and sleep disorders in both men and women.
Employees in call centers in India, find it difficult to have a positive
outlook towards life, because everything seems dark and gloomy when one
works during night shifts. 25% of my respondents answered that working
in night shift is creating major problems for life style particularly managing
time with partners and children. After working on overnight shift, many
shift-workers face a serious risk of falling asleep at the wheel. It is evident
that auto-accidents increase during the early morning hours. In fact, it is
evident that sleepiness and alcohol have very similar effects on the ability
to drive. Similar to alcohol, drowsiness can slow your ability to react to
unexpected situations, decrease in overall awareness of one's surroundings,
and impaired judgment. It was also found that taking alcohol and other
toxic substance is very common among the BPO workers. One of the more
serious issues among call center employees is the various health problems
that arise from the irregular work schedules and ensuing alterations in
sleep patterns. Many of these youngsters between 21and 28 years are
seeking counseling. These call center employees come seeking help for
work-related stress, irregular sleeping hours, unhealthy food habits and
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chronic fatigue. Although most of such cases do not require treatment or
medication, they need guidance on physical and mental co-ordination to
cope with a job that requires hyper-alert efficiency. Today most top
executives acknowledge that a steady attrition rate is an inevitable aspect of
the call center industry. The reasons for this could be boredom with the job,
seeking better prospects or a change, or even the failure of the call center to
effectively train employees to stay at the job. Some call centers in India have
started looking for counselors to refer employees with problems. No call
center in Bangalore actually retains psychologists or counsellors, perhaps
wary of even admitting to work related stresses and problems.
PHOTOIX
BPO WOKER SLEEPING
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IRRITATE- CALL PROBLEM
Call centre managers in India often take calls from irrate customers that get
out of hand and get transferred to them by the call center executives. The
number of irrate calls has increased dramatically over a period of time. The
fact is customers have become more demanding. In short, customers want
the same things they always wanted. Callers want very basic things,
accurate information, solutions to their problems, apologies if they have
been disappointed, professional and courteous responses and a
commitment to resolve their issues with a company's product or service
and when it will be resolved. This is what happens when you receive a call
from an irate customer. The- Indian call center representative feels
defensive, the irritated callers want to call and the call centre representative
wants to explain company policy, which the caller doesn't care. The Indian
call centre representative tries very hard to think about excuses and may
not hear the real "hot button" the customer is explaining. The Indian call
centre representatives want to explain how these things can happen and the
caller does not want to be educated. The biggest challenge that these call
centre representatives have is trying to fix the problem before they fix the
customer's feelings. As result they sometimes complain of repetitive Brain
Strain which creates major socio-psychological problems.
One of the problems of the BPO industry is the inherently
monotonous/repetitive nature of the work. Particularly for those in the call
center sector, daily work can be repetitive, intensive, and stressful,
particularly psychological. Spending all day on the phone dealing with
frequently irate customers is indeed a tough job. This can lead to stress and
eventually burnout which is a significant issue because medical studies
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have shown that constantly high levels of stress lead to a host of health
problems. "In order to combat boredom," says Hidalgo, "we create
opportunities for customer service agents to move to different processes."
This means that from customer care, an agent may then be rotated to
outbound calls, or from voice to non-voice services. The point is to add
variety to a worker's daily tasks, altering his work pattern and challenging
him to think in different ways from day to day.
Human Resource professionals in Bangalore call centers have to be on
constant vigil for the physical and emotional symptoms of burnout. They
have to teach employees to manage their workload and time-when to
send a 2-line email in place of a 2-page one, and when to go horne and leave
it for tomorrow. They also need to show people how to delegate. Team
building should be a core competency of a Human Resource person. Long
term stress can lead to the loss of good people, and stress management is
one of the primary jobs of a Human Resource manager, not only in the BPO
industry but everywhere.
Majorities of the Indian Companies are concentrated on the low end of the
BPO and IT enabled business. These companies are in danger of being
affected because of the sheer monotony of the job and tweaking with the
normal biological clock. As health problems, arising from tampering with
the biological clock of the employees, become more pronounced the lure of
BPO and IT -enabled services will go away. One speaker from a leading
Indian IT/BPO firm at the NASSCOM Forum stated that 65% of managers
from his company have not taken a holiday in four years! And nobody in
the audience found that very surprising. How long can this be sustained is
the worry. Indian call centers and BPO operations hire staff in their late
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teens and early 20s. Many of them are given lessons on U.S. and British
cultures, and learn to speak with polished English accents to interact more
effectively with customers who are mostly in the U.S. and U.K. Employees
at BPO operations and call centers are exposed to Western culture in their
workplaces at an impressionable age, and are rushing to ape it, according to
Latha Venkataram, president of the Bangalore Society of Obstetrics &
Gynecology. Traditional authority in the home is breaking down, as young
adults jettison their own culture for Westernized ways. They are more
likely to celebrate American festivals like Halloween and Valentine's Day
than traditional Indian festivals, she said.
A number of multinational technology and services companies including
IBM, Accenture, and Dell, have set up BPO operations and call centers in
Bangalore to take advantage of the low-cost of staff in India. The work
cultures in these companies are different and less hierarchical than in
traditional Indian companies.
Over 24% of respondents complained of sleep disorders. Most customers of
Indian BPOs come from the US and UK. So, employees work on UK/US
shifts and typically spend long hours in the night, at the office. Abnormal
timings have a two-fold effect on call center executives-freshers are
required to adapt themselves to a different biological clock and existing
employees often suffer from insomnia.
EYESIGHT PROBLEMS
More and more IT/BPO executives are complaining of eyesight problems.
Long hours in front of the computer tend to exhaust the eyes. Employees
face problems like irritation, and watering of the eyes. Absence of adequate
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breaks and sleep adds to the stress levels and put pressure on the eyes.
Nearly 39% of the respondents complained of eye problems.
LETHARGY
It was found that more and more employees in the BPO industry are
showing greater acceptance a BPO job. Only 32% of the employees
expressed problems from lethargy. Lethargy, typically, arises from
monotony and lack of excitement at work. A fall in levels of lethargy that
employee experience could only arise from the fact that people have
realized that it makes more sense to live with the realities of the BPO
industry and adapt themselves to struggle and survive.
Stress is an unavoidable part of most job roles in the IT sector. The cause
ranges from stringent deadlines to meeting customer expectations, leading
to both physical and psychological problems. While most organisations
have a system in place to take care of the physical well-being of their
employees, lately they have also started focusing on providing emotional
support through psychological counselling. These companies also want to
find out whether counselling can lead to greater motivation among the
workforce so that they can better themselves and develop new skills.
GENERAL SCENARIO
Other issues were related to loss of identity, isolation, and drug abuse and
work pressure due to long hours of work, permanent night shifts, and high
work targets. 30-40% of the employees working in the call center had
complained of eye problems. India is all set to register the highest growth
rate in call center services industry in Asia Pacific Region. A recent survey
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on Information technology enabled services has revealed that currently
more than 150 call centers are operating in the country, inclusive of
international and domestic. It is widely believed that this industry is
expected to compensate for the loss of revenue for the software industry.
India's call center industry accounts for a quarter of the software and
service exports from the country, according to the National Association of
Software and Service Companies. Presently more than 10 000 seats in the
country handle an average of 4580 calls per seat per day. The cost of
investment per seat varies from Rs. 5 to Rs. 8 lakhs to set up a state of the
art call center with 100-300 seats. Revenues from each seat ranges from Rs. 8
lakh toRs. 10 lakh per month. The NASSCOM-Mckinsey report predicted
that IT enabled services would account for a mammoth $17 billion business
per year. The report also predicts that in India it might generate 1.1 million
jobs and Rs. 810 billion in revenues by the year 2008.
And despite rumblings by unhappy US workers who have lost their jobs to
foreign firms, India's Business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is projected
to grow as much as 30% in the next few years. Already, 1 60 000 Indians are
employed in call center operations. In Bangalore more than 45 large BPO
units have sprung up in the last couple of years. In the past 8 months more
than 35 000 people have been recruited in Bangalore and according to
industry experts, there is a shortage of over 8000 operators in the city based
call center alone. This is a sort of level two economic shift, tfle first was
when low cost manufacturing shifted from the west to China, Malaysia and
so on and now it is the second wave, because of IT services, good
telecommunications links, it is possible to out source a lot of the basic
service and call center jobs out of one country to other countries.
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Little documentation is available as yet on these health problems but there
are three clear issues emerging from the nature of call-center work The first
is the issue of identity, and the second issue is the isolation faced by call
center employees. Given the intense contact between team members on a
shift, there is bound to be some development of interpersonal relationships.
When the shift changes, there is a sudden break-up of relations. There is a
period of total isolation both within the work environment and without -
since family lives get disrupted and contacts between family members
break-up. The third issue is related to the stress levels of employees who
work during night shifts and are given high targets this may force some
towards drug abuse of some sort like pep-up pills and other drugs to keep
them going especially when youngsters have money to indulge - this is a
very genuine apprehension.
STAFFING TROUBLES
One prediction is that by 2009, India will employ two million people as call
center operators. The only obstacle to runaway growth may be finding
enough high-standard recruits with good enough English to meet the
demand. Today, most top executives acknowledge that a steady turnover of
staff is an inevitable aspect of the industry. The reasons for this could be
boredom with the job, seeking better prospects or a change, better monetary
benefits lack of career opportunities especially when it comes to vertical
growth which is very minimum, or even the failure of the call center to
effectively train employees to stay at the job. Because the work is so
repetitive, most employees leave within 2 years. Ambitious youngsters, out
to make a fast buck, hop skip and jump across BPO companies, making
staff turnover the single largest issue for business leaders and boardrooms.
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Turnover rates as high as 30% have created a major problem for the call
center as they have to compete with each other for a slice of the business
cake. And some have found a unique way to meet their growth numbers by
turning to the "been there-done-that 40 plus" generation. The greying of the
BPO sector began a few months ago and is a newly emerging trend in India.
In the IT sector, many reasons attribute to the emotional stress compared to
the non-IT sector. Dr S Kalyanasundaram, Clinical Director, India, PPC
Worldwide (Personal Performance Consultants), says, "The underlying fact
of long working hours and satisfying customers by meeting deadlines
sitting miles away is the basic challenge in the IT industry. Emotional stress
in the long-term might result in employees becoming irritable and unable to
concentrate on their work. This can even affect their productivity and
similarly can impact the entire chain, right from an individual to a team
and ultimately the company." The IT job process involves several aspects
such as recruitment, retention, performing in a fast-paced environment
often characterised by time-critical projects, fluctuating work patterns, job
insecurities and working in shifts. Globalisation of the workplace, pace of
change..to adopt and pressure management will also have a great effect on
an individual's emotions. Apart from the nature of the IT job, an individual
has to cope up with the nitty-gritty of a demanding lifestyle brought about
by nuclear families and less reliance on family or friends for guidance.
Changing lifestyles, mobility of the workforce, absence of work-life balance
is adding to the psychological woes among the IT workforce community. A
global working environment and cultural changes have led to the removal
of traditional cultural barriers to accessing psychological support.
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CONSEQUENCES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS
Any emotional distress can lead to change in attitude and behaviour,
including lack of motivation and erratic time-keeping. There will be tension
with colleagues, decrease in co-operation and in some cases, an increase in
tobacco or drink consumption. Other symptoms could be absence owing to
sickness, decreased work performance-missing deadlines, increased
mistakes and accidents, loss of concentration and poor decision-making.
"We have seen employees getting distant from their personal lives because
of work pressure-long working hours, shifts and work-related stress. Due
to monotony at work, people may feel there is lack of growth and career
opportunities in the future," says Prashant Chawla, Chief Financial Officer
and Chief Operating Officer, Integreon. The IT /BPO industries comprise a
young workforce, who lured by attractive career opportunities are forced to
leave their homes and families to settle in different places. Adjusting to new
locations and living all alone can further fuel the stress level.
ONLY IN-HOUSE SUPPORT
By and large, companies were only focussed on providing medical
insurance and medical policies, neglecting the relevance of psychological
support. "Now, it is time for them to concentrate on the psychological well
being of the workforce. With global culture seeping into the corporate
world, the IT sector is engaging dedicated counsellors to address
psychological problems of their employees," says Supriya Reddy Ray,
Head-Sales and Marketing-India, PPC Worldwide. Companies also have
started paying attention to create an environment where the employee can
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leave aside niggling wornes and work m a stress-free transparent
environment.
"We can perceive and be affected by other people's emotional states or
moods. If the employee is free from worry about his future and secure in
his job, his performance will be good. We organise cricket matches and
parties to ensure bonding beyond the office. Spouses of employees are
welcomed off-site and encouraged to participate in different activities. This
makes a huge difference to the morale of employees," said, A. Gupta, Head
HRD, of a leading MNC.
Psychological problems among employees are among the major concerns of
organisations, including issues like data security and attrition. "There are
multiple options available in the industry today. Therefore, in the race to be
the 'preferred employer' companies are adopting multiple strategies.
Emotional support is one of the important roles in employee retention. It is
a corporate responsibility to allow the employees to learn and enjoy work
while making contribution to get the best out of them along with respect for
each other within the organisation," adds Raju, Head BPO Recruitment
Company. Psychological support is the most important way to sustain
employee retention within an organisation. When employees are helped to
overcome stress, depression, health disorders and absenteeism is lowered,
thus increasing the productivity. These are the important reasons why
IT/BPO companies need to focus on psychological support for employees.
Companies believe in a flat organisation, where all employees are treated
equal even with different designations. Communication channels need to
be open at all times. If employees have any doubt about the future of the
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company and his own future, he should be able to approach the right
authority and voice his concerns. The major fear of any employee is
security. "We also have a system where the employees send their problems
directly to the MD (Managing Director) and the Head HR through e-mail.
We, however, do not encourage anonymous letters or e-mails. Another
system which we have initiated is that every team sits with the MD over
lunch every six months and during the informal interaction they get an
insight into his vision for the company and can align their goals to it," adds
A. Gupta.
CONFIDENTIALITY ISSUES
Even if organisations have sophisticated methods and teams to address the
emotional woes of people, confidentiality is the key issue. "With the
extension of working hours, employees would never be able to cope up
with work and family commitments. If employees have immense pressure
in the office-be it management-related or customer-related, they interact
and need to ventilate their distress in confidence. This is where IT
companies have failed to provide-confidence listening. These companies
may have in-house counselling but it comes under the HR and that inhibits
people from letting out their grievances. IT companies are well aware of
this fact, but they are not yet completely open to hiring an external agency
that gives foolproof confidentiality. "Since the IT work culture in India is
largely influenced by global companies, we are obtaining lot of enquiries on
the initiative. We expect to see a good market for this in the near future,"
concludes Ray (Recruitment Manager).
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There are fears about the social impact when within a couple of years the
first crop of young 20-25-year-old employees slogs it out and inevitably
suffers burnout. They are less responsible people, their maturity level is
low, and thinking power towards planning their career is also low.
Recognition is not so high for those who work for call center in our society
for various reasons. Some times they hesitate to introduce to the society that
they are employed in a call center. As a result of work pressure to meet the
target day in and day out and competition among the group they get
frustrated and quit these jobs. Minimum qualification does not allow them
to compete with outside world and they are left with no choice when they
are out of the job. They have given up on higher studies for the seemingly
lucrative call center job. So a question arises where do they go from here?
DY WOR(}( CQJil. YIUJRIE, SYRIESS ANO MARDTAil.
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IT professionals work long hours and move frequently, they say, they are
often unable to fulfill family commitments (the most common response to
this question was 'no time for family'), nurture significant social
relationships, or pursue artistic or spiritual interests. Many of their
narratives express this opposition between the material gain and the social
loss that result from their profession and lifestyle
Additionally, the stress due to the impairment of conventional social and
family life could also result in increased substance abuse and the
breakdown of marital and other relationships. Most of the work at call
centers and BPO operations is at night, so employees tend to lose touch
with their family, friends, and neighbors, whose waking hours are
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different. "You start hanging out with a different set of people with whom
you don't really have very deep ties," remarked Krishnamurthy (Old BPO
worker). Live-in relationships and casual sex among call center and BPO
employees are on the increase, as are alcoholism and drug abuse, said
Anand Krishnamurthy, a former employee at a BPO operation run by a
leading multinational IT firm. "The problem is that people are now getting
financial independence at an age when they don't have the maturity to
handle it," Krishnamurthy said.
Job stress could also be a factor leading to increased sexual activity, drug
abuse, and alcoholism. "It is a form of release for some employees,"
Krishnamurthy said. Call center and BPO work tends to be monotonous
and companies demand a lot from their staffs to keep costs in check, he
said.
Krishnamurthy, who is 25, quit his BPO job last year for a day job as an
accountant. Like Krishnamurthy, many call center and BPO employees plan
to work for a few years to make enough money to meet financial
commitments or pay for their higher education. They believe that jobs at
call centers and BPO operations cannot be long-term careers because of the
impact the work has on their personal lives and health. "The person is no
longer a vibrant and active part of a family or neighbourhood," he said. A
shift in the balance of power at home brings new challenges to Indian
families. Financially independent children now want their parents to treat
them as equals, according to Karanth. Parents have to redefine their roles,
or lose their positions altogether. Parental authority is already weakened,
and the more parents try to assert their authority, the more likely it will be
completely broken, he said.
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Doctors and social workers worry that night shifts are affecting the health
of call center and BPO employees, who mainly work night shifts, as they
are usually dealing with U.S. customers. The change from a predominantly
diurnal lifestyle to a nocturnal one, and the monotony and stress of the
work, leads to a number of adverse physiological changes, according to
Manish Mishra, System analyst.
Also worrisome to social observers is that students are sometimes cutting
short their school careers to join BPO operations and call centers, attracted
by the opportunity to make money. There are fewer students enrolling for
courses in engineering and medicine, according to Venkataram. If the trend
continues, some in the IT services industry worry that there will be fewer
engineers available in the job market.
It is evident from this research that early age health problems is a major
problem for the IT workers, it increases lack of commitment towards
family. Major portion of income is drained out in tackling physical and
psychological problems. It is evident that, due to work pressure family
conflict is arising. Lack of family coordination, marital break down is also
occurring. It was also found that young boys and girls use different toxic
substance in order to avoid stress. Some are also using pain killers and
sleeping pills.
The picture that emerges is the absence of any notion of work protections
and guidelines. In an industry being touted as the magic wand that will
ward off unemployment, no one wants to discuss establishing an equitable
and gender-safe work culture
265
In countries like the UK and Australia, where the call center industry is a
lot older, there is a great deal of understanding on what this unique
workplace entails and what needs to be done about it. In the UK, the
government intervened a while ago with a local authority circular called
"Advice Regarding Call Center Working Practices." The circular not only
list in detail the stress factors and ailments peculiar to this industry, but
also has various benchmarks and measures on how to deal with them. In
Australia, some call center companies have signed onto a call center charter
that includes, among other things, a minimum standards code of the
workplace.
As of now, no understanding of the problem exists in India, leave alone a
minimum standards code. Some call center and BPO companies in the
country have got together under the aegis of Nasscom to address common
areas of concern - but so far these have largely centered on deciding how
not to poach on each other's employees and what to do with the Shops and
Establishments Act. Employee stress - and its impact on the bottom line
through high attrition rates - is not even on the horizon of concerns.
Although the fundamental elements of a call handler's job are the same as a
typical computer-based office job, the close combination of these elements
results in a unique job often of an intensive nature, hence the need for
appraisal of dangers that are lurking in the corners of well furnished BPO
offices.
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SUGGESTIVE MEASURES
~ There is a need for more explicit, detailed and relevant regulations,
guidance specific to this industry. Health risk assessments both pre
employment and periodic for employees should be conducted
especially eye and audiometry tests.
~ Call handlers should be provided with information on the risks
identified in the risk assessment and how these risks can be
controlled.
~ Length and frequency of breaks should be adequate.
~ Need for fu1l time counsellors to strike a balance between physical
and mental rhythm to synchronize body clock.
~ Establishment of welfare committee wherein employees are an
important part where they can voice their concerns.
~ Ergonomic assessments of work station for 24 hours occupancy
should be done.
~ Need for more detailed study to collect data from larger number of
employees working in a broader range of sectors spread over a
wider geographic area, so that the research findings will be useful to
provide initial advice to this industry
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CASIE SVUIDDIES
CASE -G
G belongs to Nagarpolli; Kanyakumari .He is an MA in Korean and has
done most of his education from Kanyakumari. He works in a BPO in
Bangalore as an analyst. Both his parents are working. G is married since
one year to another BPO worker. He works at night shifts and his timings
are from 8.00 in the evening to 4.00 am in the morning. Due to working at
night shifts he is unable to balance family life. G has been working in the
BPO industry since 4 years and believes that such erratic working hours has
led to health problems among many BPO workers. The Burn Out Stress
Syndrome is quite common among these workers. While interacting with
foreign clients they hide their own personal identities in order to be familiar
with their clients. Problems like prolonged working hours, tackling the
identity issue and achieving targets engulf the minds of these workers and
they come under severe psychological strain. G says that his conversation
with his client at the other end is recorded and even their working is
monitored .Due to such surveillance mechanisms these workers are under
tremendous stress to prove their efficiency even at the cost of their health. G
is suffering from problem of eyesight due to sitting in front of the computer
for longer hours and he even feels that he is always under psychological
pressure to achieve targets and prove his efficiency is under regular health
check up and even visits his psychiatrist. Owing to regular night shifts G is
unable to contribute towards family life as a result of which he fails to fulfill
his roles and responsibilities required to maintain a healthy and successful
marital life.
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Therefore the above case reveals that wok pattern of IT /BPO workers
creating serious health hazards and disturbed family life.
CASE-H
H is Software Engineer (Technical Support) by profession and belongs to
Patna, Bihar. He did his schooling from Kolkata, and is trained as an
engineer from liT, Kharagpur. He basically works in night shifts form
(09.30 P.M to 07.30 AM). He has two kids and one of them is studying in a
boarding school. His wife is also working in the BPO industry. H is
suffering from health problems such as spondylitis, eyesight problems, and
psychological problems etc. He admits that his odd working hours has led
to marital discord. He is unable to get enough time for his wife and
children. He says that working over time and during night shifts is a
compulsion for him.
CASE-J
J is a 24 Year old unmarried BPO worker belonging to Uttar Pradesh. He
did his schooling from UP, and has a Degree in Computer science from UP.
He works during night shifts as a technical support engineer. J is suffering
form various health problems like spondylitis, stomach problems, severe
headache, Eye irritations etc. J said that he didn't have any health problem
before joining this industry. After working for some years in the industry
he developed certain health problems like sleeping disorders and
psychological problems. Odd Working hours and work load has
phenomenal impact on one's physical and mental health conditions. He
admitted that he is planning to change his night shift to day shift. But in
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case he changes the shift timing he has to leave the job and he has to find
another one. This clearly reveals that sometimes people don't have choices
regarding their work timings. The concept of flexi-timings are only
confined to some industries while the rest have their own fixed set of
timings for their employees. In case of J, it becomes apparent that for
earning more money he opted for the night shift and again to change his
shift would mean change in job altogether. In this case a person remains
dissatisfied with his present position and sometimes his performance
suffers. So apart from developing certain symptoms of health problems a
person is under severe psychological stress due to job dissatisfaction and is
always in a mood to change jobs.
CASE-£<
K is a 30 year old female from Karnataka and is a post graduate in English
literature. K has done her schooling from Bangafore rural. She was a BPO
worker in a Leading MNC and worked in the industry for more than 6
years. Owing to various health problems she left the job. Presently, she is
running a placement cell for BPO workers. She said that 'earning a dollar is
not an easy task in the BPO industry you have to pay for it'. She had
worked in the IT industry for more than 5 years having experience in both
national and international call centers. This has resulted in various health
problems. Since her husband was also an IT professional he got full support
from him but was unable to cope with health issues. Apart from health
problems she could not spend time with her family. She remained
dissatisfied since she could not give time to her small kid. In the meantime
she developed stress related problems. Ultimately she left the job and
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opened her own placement cell. In K's case it was found that she had a
disturbed family life due to odd working hours and had developed many
health problems so she had to take the ultimate decision of leaving the job.
It was revealed that being from a rural background and coming from a
close knit family she had her family values intact and could not
compromise on her family for her job. Her decision to quit her job was
indeed a bold decision and saved her family life .Now she has her regular
health check-ups and has her own working hours and feels mentally
relaxed.
CASE-L
L is a 23 year old unmarried female from Chennai. She is educated from
Loyola College, Chennai and works in an international call center at night
shifts. She admitted that working at night shifts has resulted in having
adverse impact on her mental and physical health. L has changed her
lifestyle due to her job. She even complained of hormonal imbalance due to
her working at night shifts. But inspite of having so many health problems
she does not want to leave her job since she is waiting for her promotion.
She considers her job as a lucrative one which has given her all material
comforts in life. Regarding her workplace and her nature of work she
revealed that she had to hide her own individual identity while dealing
with the international clients at the call center. Moreover, she has to stress
her vocal chords in order to speak in the American accent. Sometimes, the
American clients would use abusive language when they to come to know
that the person who is dealing with them is not an American. Therefore
there is lot of pressure on these employees to speak the correct accent in
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order to avoid any abusive behaviour. In L's case it becomes clear that there
is lot of psychological pressure to build up a false identity at the workplace
and at the same time protect one's own identity. This pressure results in a
lot of stress, depression and other psychological problems affecting one's
physical health.
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CHAPTfiR ~VI
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