BPO women feel safe; men lack gender sensitiveness

CMN Bureau

BANGALORE: Despite increased incidents of crime against BPO executives, a majority of women employees in the industry believe that security is not a cause of concern.

The responses received so far by Nasscom, which is conducting a study on women in the IT industry, said that 68 per cent female BPO employees are not concerned over security.

Nasscom is undertaking the study – Crossing the Digital Barrier: Enhancing Leadership Opportunities for Women in IT and ITeS Sector - in partnership with the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad.

The final findings of the study, which were supposed to be released at the second IT Women Leadership Summit in Bangalore today, could not be declared due to inadequate responses. The final report, involving a bigger sample size, will be released in four-five weeks.

It may be recalled that a taxi driver allegedly killed Pratibha Srinkanth Murthy, an employee with HP GlobalSoft in Bangalore, this day, two years ago.

About 57 per cent respondents in the BPO industry preferred female team leaders.

At the entry level, 33 per cent of the respondents felt that family commitments would make relocation difficulty for them, while 25 per cent agreed that focus was need on women-related processes with respect to recruitment, induction, training and appraisals.

Forty per cent respondents in the middle level category feel that men colleagues are not gender sensitive and 70 per cent related attrition of women with personal issues. There is a lack of leadership skill development programs for women, said 50 per cent at the middle level.

About 80 per cent at the senior level did not see gender as differentiator in deciding reward and compensation.

The study has recommended designing a benchmark for gender focus. While calling for managers to be accountable, the recommendations also said there is a need for focus on women-related issues.