Part I: BPO firms wake to red dawn

Employees in some IT-enabled services companies have cited instances of their passports being kept by their employers during training stints abroad.

• A growing tribe is complaining of loss of sleep and appetite due to long hours and strenuous work conditions.
• A 2004 report published by VV Giri National Labour Institute, which surveyed 277 employees in six call centres in Noida, likened work conditions to "19th century prisons".
• Taking extra time for lunch and reaching pick-up points late were recorded as "defects" in employee dossiers, the report said.

Several Indian ITES companies face the charge of making young people work under sub-optimal conditions. Not only can this stem the flow of talent into the sector, it can also make several overseas companies ask for a closer scrutiny of work conditions in BPO outfits dotting the landscape of the country.

In fact, several BPO companies told Business Standard that their customers, especially in the West, have started demanding more information on human resource policies. "Foreign clients prescribe the kind of training, including course contents, that needs to be given to employees," says Ranjit Narsimhan, CEO, HCL [Get Quote] BPO Services.

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Information on HR practices is included in service level agreements BPO firms sign with their clients. In these agreements, explicit mention is made of working hours, night shifts and training, which can last for three weeks to seven months.

Foreign clients have started laying emphasis on regular employee-satisfaction surveys. Industry sources admit that these surveys are being studied more seriously than ever by customers.

This, to be sure, is not the first time that an Indian industry has been blamed for making people work under inhuman conditions. In the past, the textiles industry faced a similar charge.

As a result, all overseas companies now insist on a proper audit of the HR practices of their Indian suppliers.

On their part, ITES companies claim that they have often been complimented by their customers for creating a work environment better than what their counterparts in the US and the UK have.

To support their claims, they also point out that attrition levels have come down to around 45 per cent from over 65 per cent a year ago. Critics say, the attrition rate has come down due to a slowdown in hiring and not because of improved work conditions.

"Most employees were fully aware of the unique demands of BPO jobs they were walking into, such as peculiar working hours, the need for assuming pseudo identities and learning to speak with foreign accents. But they are not quite prepared for burnouts. Neither are they able to balance work and life," says an executive with an ITES company.

Lower attrition rates have also meant a decrease in pay hikes, from around 50 per cent earlier to about 30 per cent now.

Fully aware of the magnitude of the problem, ITES companies have started paying more attention to HR issues than ever before. Companies like GEnpact, HCL BPO Services Ltd, EXL and Xansa have 150-200 HR executives each.

Practices like promoting employees to middle management positions have become the norm. 'Last year, 69 per cent of the leadership of EXL came through promotions,' says Deepak Dhawan, vice-president, HR. EXL has over 5,000 employees.

To tide over the problem of stress due to continuous nigh shifts, companies like GEnpact have started offering employees the option of working from home or working on night shifts by rotation. During night shifts, the working hours can also be reduced to four.

GEnpact and others like EXL and HCL BPO have also started reimbursing either the entire or part of the fees paid by employees for distance-learning programmes.