Some
years back a working woman in Bangalore was
kidnapped, raped & killed when she was being picked by the
officially arranged cab, early in the morning. All hell were let loose,
the press went to town castigating the corporates for not caring enough for
their women employees. In most of the offices, senior management met hastily
and either spruced up the existing antiquated security measures available only on
paper or introduced new ones. As is with all headlines, people's short memory kept fading slowly into oblivion as other spicy news items started
filling in . But, the real danger for the working women who either leaves late
for or from office still very much remain.
In Chennai, with most of the
IT offices moved into ECR, it is expected of the organization to make the travel to and from office
convenient for the staff to deliver the optimum output.
While the normal pickup and drops are always happening regularly, it is those
very juniors or seniors in the organization, who has to depend on
intermittent services. Within this as most of the seniors have their own conveyance it is
the relatively junior cadre, which gets affected due to
delayed work, late evening calls or meetings. There are unreasonable conditions
on the 'after regular services'. Either the services start by 8:30 PM or people
get dropped at common spots which are far away from their residence or the last
women to be dropped are alone at the mercy of the cab driver. In fact, the
Delhi Police had also suggested that "For staffers permitted to work
after 8pm, the employer would have to offer transportation
for them to go home, he said.… He directed employers to maintain a log
book to record details of vehicles used to transport women employees, their
time of departure, name of driver, etc."
In reality, are these being done? Let us have a look at the common practices and their perils:
After office hours services normally are late to begin with
and spaced wide apart. For example services start at 7:30 and the next
scheduled only by at 9 or 9:30
Cab facilities in some organizations are
available only after 9:30 or 10 or 10:30.
Security gaurds do not accompany the
female employees in cabs, as required by the security norms.
The security norms earlier spelt out says that while dropping
female employee home, the security & the cab should leave only after the
employee is safely received into the house. This is seldom complied with.
In some organizations, the authorities have done a good job in
messaging the cab number and driver details on the day before, in case of early
pick up the next day.
While this is good only if it is
allowed to continue, it runs into trouble when the female employee receives a call
from a different cell phone number, with the driver claiming that the other
cell is not working.
Often a different cab other than the one messaged comes to pick.
Invariably, the employee walks into the waiting car without checking the
details.
There were cases of driver
taking a different route than the normal ones, keeping the lone female occupant
in tenterhooks. Will all these happen if a security accompany the
cab?
There are also unique cases
wherein the female employees are deputed to a client's place and they work either late into the night or
start the work early in the morning. Normally IT companies have different
clients across Geo, but the staff is normally jittery when they work in projects
of US or Australia abased clients, which could involve untimely and odd working
hours.
In many cases, It is ironical that
the clients when explained are not at all willing to subject the female
employees to such hardships and risk but it is the local managers who often
bend backwards ostensibly to please them.
Our women, be it your wife or
daughter or sister have forayed into the modern world and decided to compete and work on par with
others. But then, we also need to take enough precautions and prevention methodologies to make
sure the safety of these folks. So, what are the precautions that
are to be taken
from all concerned? Here are some actions required:
From the Organization:
- Wherever warrants a 24x7 Help Desk
should coördinate the
transport and security of all employees expected to work beyond the normal
timings of 9 AM to 6 PM
- The Admin dept must message the cab
and driver details sufficiently early
to the employees
- Any change in the details already
provided must
be communicated
to the employees
- An armed security guard must
be provided
in all the cabs deputed for this purpose.
- Head of Admin or an identified team
must conduct surprise checks to ensure compliance
of prescribed norms.
- Seek periodical feedback and
arrange for a monthly one-to-one
sessions on security compliance.
From the employees:
- Make sure that you receive all
details of the cab and driver sufficiently early.
If not remind Admin.
- Do not use the cab unless the same is
confirmed by the Admin
team.
- If
the Cab number &/or the driver details are different from the earlier
details, refuse to use the cab and contact Help Desk immediately.
- Do not use the cab, until the Admin
confirms by a message about
the change.
- Do not use the cab, if a security is
not provided and
insist on a written confirmation from the Organization about the
absence of security
(occasionally). On reaching the office, send an Email to all concerned
including the Chief of Security.
- Do
not talk loud your personal matters over mobile phone when you are in the
car.
- Do
not involve in unnecessary chat with the cab driver or security.
- Do
not allow the cab to stop intermittently at any unscheduled stops.
- Have a number stored as "In
Case of Emergency " (can
be done
be an .ICE in your mobile)
- If
required, send silently a message to 'ICE', seeking help.
- Advise
your parents or relatives at home to act on such messages immediately.
- Carry
a 'pepper spray ' always while travelling alone.
- Also, get to know about your colleagues likely to
travel along with you in the cab.
- Any
violation of security norms either by the cab driver or security put it on
record through an eMail to the authorities concerned.
From the parents/relatives of the employees:
- Have the cab number and driver
details handy during
the period of
your relatives travel
- Do not allow the person to use the
cab, if you feel the security norms
are not adhered to
- Insist
on your wards sending an SMS after reaching/leaving the office &
keep following until required.
The above steps if taken in sincerity should put a lot of safety in the minds of the female employees when they commute alone in a cab to office. It is to be remembered that the organization requests the
employees many a time to either stay back late or come early to attend to
clients' needs from whom they earn an enormous amount in Dollars as service
charges and if only a part of that amount is factored in for security, the employees could work in peace.
Also, the days are not far, when anyone could seek information from any
organization, under the Right To Information Act, about the security
arrangements made for their employees. So, It is time for employers and employees to peacefully coexist and earn for
themselves instead of getting into needless legal tangles and personal trauma.
