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Govt dials help to save stressed BPO staffers
The phone never stops ringing and the callers are often rude and abusive. Work timing are erratic and social life is non-existent. And yet, the basic rule at work is clear and simple yyou are to provide service with a smile.
A job ina call center can be stressful. And, it is starting to show. Teenagers straight to show. Teenagers straight out of school and college, looking to make a fast buck, are collapsing in front of their computers. Executives in their early 30s are suffering heart attacks and a large section is complaining of frequent chest pain, high blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
Alarmed by the rise in such figures, the ministries of health and information technology have decided to crack the whip on India’s booming BPO sector. A dedicated ‘IT Workplace Health Policy’ is being formulated to tackle the menace jointly by Union health minister A Ramadoss and IT minister A Raja.
A meeting between the two ministers is scheduled some time next week, while a national conference with industry partners is being planned for he end of October.
Ramadoss said it was shocking to see 22-year-olds dropping dead on their desks, suffering heart attacks. IT is India’s flagship sector and it is the government’s duty to protect its image and its employees, he added.
“We are, therefore, finalising a blueprint of India’s first dedicated helth policy for the BPO sector. We will finalise the policy in a national confrence in Bangalore by the end of October after discussing with our industry partners. IT sector representatives will be invited to attend that conference,” Ramadoss said.
He added that the policy would be in place by early 2008. The goverment’s intervention comes as studies show a high suicide rate among BPO employees. Cases of spondylities, hypertension, insomnia, fatigue, nausea, chronic headache, coronary malfunctions, back pain, computer vision syndrome and dry eyes are also being reported.
Ramadoss said that a health ministery research had found a tremendously high level of stress, mental diseases, divorce rates and daytime sleepiness among call center employees. The minister said reducing just one health risk increased productivity by 9% and cut absenteeism by 2%.
According to latest figures, nearly 5,53,000 people work in India’s BPO sector. “These young sters are straight out of college and want to make a fast buck. They work half the day and partly rest of the time. They follow a bad diet. BPO works burning out is a loss to India,”