After the gang rape in Delhi,
Chennai's national BPO issued a notice to all employees.
Its title is "dress appropriately and behave appropriately ".
"In order to prevent sexual offences, the first step must be prevention," a senior officer of the company explained the notice . ".
When an harassment incident occurs, "warnings, consultations, transfers, and suspension in extreme cases-are the way we handle these incidents," said a company official with 2,500 employees, 950 of them are women.
He added that 10 cases of sexual harassment have been reported in the past five years. The 20-year-
For women who account for nearly 35 of their workforce, the old IT industry is often considered a safe one.
However, standards vary widely in the way sexual harassment cases are handled in the industry.
"While big companies are strict with such cases, small companies insist that they only ask for a written apology.
Everything depends on complaints and related personnel.
"Normally, women ask for a transfer, which is taken for granted," said HR consultant Rashmi Nair . ".
For example, in companies like HCL, the process is very simple. “You complain.
The investigation is conducted by a team that has nothing to do with yourself and if the complaint is found to have substance, the offender is warned or suspended.
"The proceedings are so confidential that your own teammates don't know," an employee said . ".
However, the opposite is true for BPOs.
"The rules are nonsense, even in the back --
The final office of a multinational company . "
Manushree, female outsourcing worker.
Another BPO employee said, "Every time I walk in my colleague plays a Project song.
I want to change my seat.
Now he did the same at the coffee counter.
Head of State Aarohi Sastri added: "Often praising someone for their clothes or talking about their bodies makes them uncomfortable to some extent, a classic form of sexual harassment (HR)
A pharmaceutical company.
Incidents of harassment related to career prospects abound.
The manager of a manufacturing company in Sriperumbudur recalled that her boss used to tell her, "If you want me to be good to you, be good to me.
"It's easy to complain to your colleagues
But when the criminal is her boss, every woman thinks twice, "she added.
Employees say that there is a general set of arbitrary rules in the absence of institutions dealing with this issue.
"Most BPOs adopt policies adopted by foreign customers.
In our company, during Thanksgiving, it is forbidden to give sex toys to colleagues at office parties.
This is not even relevant here, indicating that there is little caution when drafting a policy, "said Sudha Narayanan, a programming assistant at a technology company.
Many rules have not been implemented.
"Many employees have pictures, obscene text messages or even obscene signatures in their emails or as screensavers.
They will be warned if someone complains.
No monitoring;
So most of us learn to ignore them . "
Skana Lakshmi, who works in tidell Park. K.
Purushottaman, regional director of NASSCOM, said the IT industry has worked to introduce best practices to ensure harassment --
Free environment.
"Ensuring the safety of women is also important for positioning themselves as the best choice for customers everywhere," he added . ".
But the employees are not completely convinced;
For example, the fear of what is called a malicious complaint is very large.
"What if the offender proves the victim wrong?
More importantly, what if the person who originally supported me quit, "said Radha Sukumaran, a test engineer.
"The way out seems to often ignore harassment as much as possible," she added . ".