CHAPTER-V

HEALTH PROBLEMS AMONG INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY WORKER AND ITS IMPACT ON

FAMILY LIFE

The present chapter tries to analyze various health problems among the IT

workers. The differential work patterns in the IT sector have several

negative consequences on the health of IT worker in general and BPO

worker in particular. Owing to their constant involvement with they

encounter with new kinds of health problems which affects their physical

health, mental health and ultimately disturbed family relationships. This

chapter reveals the hidden health issues in the sunshine industry. One can

argue, on one hand IT sector has created tremendous employment

opportunities in urban areas thereby re-shaping the social lives of the

people employed, while on the other, it is associated with some unusual

problems which are new to the India society.

Table No:- 5.1

Working during Night shift Percentage of Respondents

Yes 42

No 68 Night shift creating Marital and other problems (out of 42%)

Yes 86 No 14

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The penetration of information society in India has led to erratic working

hours among the workers. India is situated 5 hours ahead of UK, 10 hours

ahead of New York and 13 hours ahead of Los Angeles. US and UK

companies can claim overnight responsibility because during their night

time, it is day time in India and agents in India can respond to ernails

during Indian business hours. This is known as following the sun model. It

is this working at nights that requires adjusting the biological clock and

social practices to a different time, which is turning out to be a major cause

for health-related and social problems.

Since the work is shared through out the globe the timings differ from

country to country. Therefore the ITES sector demands working hours

which are some time irregular according to the Indian clock. From the

above table it becomes apparent that 42% of the total numbers of

respondents work at night shifts. But the majority that is 68% percent does

not work over-time. However the people who work over-time reported that

they face many problems at horne front owing to their erratic working

hours. Majority of workers (86%) who work at night shifts claim to have

disturbed family life and marital maladjustment.

Table No: - 5.2

Do Your think irregular working Percentage of Respondents out of

hour/ Night shift is creating health 42%

Hazards

Yes 85

No 15

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Due to irregular working hours, employees have been found unable to

fulfill their family responsibilities be it in their role as parents,

husbands/wives and sons/daughters--- due to which conflicts occur in their

roles. Quite apart from this, health problems stress, problems related to

eyesight, the spinal cord and stress are quite rampant in this, dominantly,

young labour force. 85% of the total respondents who worked at night

shifts experienced health problems, while only 15% reported that they did

not suffer from any health hazards. Example can be cited from the

telephone call center industry in India which was established only over the

last 10 years. The Industry is touted as a magic wand that will ward off

unemployment for thousands of young graduates. There is a concern

regarding issues of health and safety that are unique to this new and

developing industry. As there is time difference between India and the

United States and Europe the work for these workers in call centers in India

starts late in the evening and extends until dawn. Such odd hours bring in a

host of health problems including digestive diseases, hair loss, back pain

and stress. Long hours of work, permanent night shifts, incredibly high­

work targets, loss of identity are these dark clouds hovering over the call

center industry in India.

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Outsourcing technological jobs to India is not only causing turmoil for

workers in the United States and Europe, but for Indians as well. An

estimated 50,000 young English speaking Indians who work in call centers

249

in India are exposed to a host of health problems, as reflected in our work

as well. Basically the IT workers don't have specific time frame or time

period or limit. This is the peculiar character of this industry. Going against

the human biological clock, essential for work in the IT/BPO industry, has a

direct impact on physical health, mental condition and changing family

timing in the household activities. The BPO industry even has a name for it:

BOSS- Bum Out Stress Syndrome. Here's what www.BPO.org has to say:

BOSS syndrome is seen very commonly among young people working in

call centers.

Table No: - 5.3

Are you suffering BOSS - Percentage of Respondents

Bum Out Stress Syndrome.

Yes 82

No 18

Percentage of Respondents

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0 Yes

250

No

o Percentage of Respondents

The above table clearly indicates that 82% of the respondents admitted the

fact that they suffered from bum-out-stress syndrome. Only 18% of the IT

workers did not suffer from it. The symptoms of this syndrome include

chronic fatigue, insomnia and complete alteration of 24-hour biological

rhythm of the body. Gastrointestinal problems are inevitable for those

working at nights as the body is put under chronic stress. A potentially

fatal increase in heart rhythm can result in severe chronic gynecological

problems in women and sleep disorders in both men and women.

Employees in call centers in India, find it difficult to have a positive

outlook towards life, because everything seems dark and gloomy when one

works during night shifts. 25% of my respondents answered that working

in night shift is creating major problems for life style particularly managing

time with partners and children. After working on overnight shift, many

shift-workers face a serious risk of falling asleep at the wheel. It is evident

that auto-accidents increase during the early morning hours. In fact, it is

evident that sleepiness and alcohol have very similar effects on the ability

to drive. Similar to alcohol, drowsiness can slow your ability to react to

unexpected situations, decrease in overall awareness of one's surroundings,

and impaired judgment. It was also found that taking alcohol and other

toxic substance is very common among the BPO workers. One of the more

serious issues among call center employees is the various health problems

that arise from the irregular work schedules and ensuing alterations in

sleep patterns. Many of these youngsters between 21and 28 years are

seeking counseling. These call center employees come seeking help for

work-related stress, irregular sleeping hours, unhealthy food habits and

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chronic fatigue. Although most of such cases do not require treatment or

medication, they need guidance on physical and mental co-ordination to

cope with a job that requires hyper-alert efficiency. Today most top

executives acknowledge that a steady attrition rate is an inevitable aspect of

the call center industry. The reasons for this could be boredom with the job,

seeking better prospects or a change, or even the failure of the call center to

effectively train employees to stay at the job. Some call centers in India have

started looking for counselors to refer employees with problems. No call

center in Bangalore actually retains psychologists or counsellors, perhaps

wary of even admitting to work related stresses and problems.

PHOTOIX

BPO WOKER SLEEPING

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IRRITATE- CALL PROBLEM

Call centre managers in India often take calls from irrate customers that get

out of hand and get transferred to them by the call center executives. The

number of irrate calls has increased dramatically over a period of time. The

fact is customers have become more demanding. In short, customers want

the same things they always wanted. Callers want very basic things,

accurate information, solutions to their problems, apologies if they have

been disappointed, professional and courteous responses and a

commitment to resolve their issues with a company's product or service

and when it will be resolved. This is what happens when you receive a call

from an irate customer. The- Indian call center representative feels

defensive, the irritated callers want to call and the call centre representative

wants to explain company policy, which the caller doesn't care. The Indian

call centre representative tries very hard to think about excuses and may

not hear the real "hot button" the customer is explaining. The Indian call

centre representatives want to explain how these things can happen and the

caller does not want to be educated. The biggest challenge that these call

centre representatives have is trying to fix the problem before they fix the

customer's feelings. As result they sometimes complain of repetitive Brain

Strain which creates major socio-psychological problems.

One of the problems of the BPO industry is the inherently

monotonous/repetitive nature of the work. Particularly for those in the call

center sector, daily work can be repetitive, intensive, and stressful,

particularly psychological. Spending all day on the phone dealing with

frequently irate customers is indeed a tough job. This can lead to stress and

eventually burnout which is a significant issue because medical studies

253

have shown that constantly high levels of stress lead to a host of health

problems. "In order to combat boredom," says Hidalgo, "we create

opportunities for customer service agents to move to different processes."

This means that from customer care, an agent may then be rotated to

outbound calls, or from voice to non-voice services. The point is to add

variety to a worker's daily tasks, altering his work pattern and challenging

him to think in different ways from day to day.

Human Resource professionals in Bangalore call centers have to be on

constant vigil for the physical and emotional symptoms of burnout. They

have to teach employees to manage their workload and time-when to

send a 2-line email in place of a 2-page one, and when to go horne and leave

it for tomorrow. They also need to show people how to delegate. Team­

building should be a core competency of a Human Resource person. Long­

term stress can lead to the loss of good people, and stress management is

one of the primary jobs of a Human Resource manager, not only in the BPO

industry but everywhere.

Majorities of the Indian Companies are concentrated on the low end of the

BPO and IT enabled business. These companies are in danger of being

affected because of the sheer monotony of the job and tweaking with the

normal biological clock. As health problems, arising from tampering with

the biological clock of the employees, become more pronounced the lure of

BPO and IT -enabled services will go away. One speaker from a leading

Indian IT/BPO firm at the NASSCOM Forum stated that 65% of managers

from his company have not taken a holiday in four years! And nobody in

the audience found that very surprising. How long can this be sustained is

the worry. Indian call centers and BPO operations hire staff in their late

254

teens and early 20s. Many of them are given lessons on U.S. and British

cultures, and learn to speak with polished English accents to interact more

effectively with customers who are mostly in the U.S. and U.K. Employees

at BPO operations and call centers are exposed to Western culture in their

workplaces at an impressionable age, and are rushing to ape it, according to

Latha Venkataram, president of the Bangalore Society of Obstetrics &

Gynecology. Traditional authority in the home is breaking down, as young

adults jettison their own culture for Westernized ways. They are more

likely to celebrate American festivals like Halloween and Valentine's Day

than traditional Indian festivals, she said.

A number of multinational technology and services companies including

IBM, Accenture, and Dell, have set up BPO operations and call centers in

Bangalore to take advantage of the low-cost of staff in India. The work

cultures in these companies are different and less hierarchical than in

traditional Indian companies.

Over 24% of respondents complained of sleep disorders. Most customers of

Indian BPOs come from the US and UK. So, employees work on UK/US

shifts and typically spend long hours in the night, at the office. Abnormal

timings have a two-fold effect on call center executives-freshers are

required to adapt themselves to a different biological clock and existing

employees often suffer from insomnia.

EYESIGHT PROBLEMS

More and more IT/BPO executives are complaining of eyesight problems.

Long hours in front of the computer tend to exhaust the eyes. Employees

face problems like irritation, and watering of the eyes. Absence of adequate

255

breaks and sleep adds to the stress levels and put pressure on the eyes.

Nearly 39% of the respondents complained of eye problems.

LETHARGY

It was found that more and more employees in the BPO industry are

showing greater acceptance a BPO job. Only 32% of the employees

expressed problems from lethargy. Lethargy, typically, arises from

monotony and lack of excitement at work. A fall in levels of lethargy that

employee experience could only arise from the fact that people have

realized that it makes more sense to live with the realities of the BPO

industry and adapt themselves to struggle and survive.

Stress is an unavoidable part of most job roles in the IT sector. The cause

ranges from stringent deadlines to meeting customer expectations, leading

to both physical and psychological problems. While most organisations

have a system in place to take care of the physical well-being of their

employees, lately they have also started focusing on providing emotional

support through psychological counselling. These companies also want to

find out whether counselling can lead to greater motivation among the

workforce so that they can better themselves and develop new skills.

GENERAL SCENARIO

Other issues were related to loss of identity, isolation, and drug abuse and

work pressure due to long hours of work, permanent night shifts, and high

work targets. 30-40% of the employees working in the call center had

complained of eye problems. India is all set to register the highest growth

rate in call center services industry in Asia Pacific Region. A recent survey

256

on Information technology enabled services has revealed that currently

more than 150 call centers are operating in the country, inclusive of

international and domestic. It is widely believed that this industry is

expected to compensate for the loss of revenue for the software industry.

India's call center industry accounts for a quarter of the software and

service exports from the country, according to the National Association of

Software and Service Companies. Presently more than 10 000 seats in the

country handle an average of 4580 calls per seat per day. The cost of

investment per seat varies from Rs. 5 to Rs. 8 lakhs to set up a state of the

art call center with 100-300 seats. Revenues from each seat ranges from Rs. 8

lakh toRs. 10 lakh per month. The NASSCOM-Mckinsey report predicted

that IT enabled services would account for a mammoth $17 billion business

per year. The report also predicts that in India it might generate 1.1 million

jobs and Rs. 810 billion in revenues by the year 2008.

And despite rumblings by unhappy US workers who have lost their jobs to

foreign firms, India's Business process outsourcing (BPO) sector is projected

to grow as much as 30% in the next few years. Already, 1 60 000 Indians are

employed in call center operations. In Bangalore more than 45 large BPO

units have sprung up in the last couple of years. In the past 8 months more

than 35 000 people have been recruited in Bangalore and according to

industry experts, there is a shortage of over 8000 operators in the city based

call center alone. This is a sort of level two economic shift, tfle first was

when low cost manufacturing shifted from the west to China, Malaysia and

so on and now it is the second wave, because of IT services, good

telecommunications links, it is possible to out source a lot of the basic

service and call center jobs out of one country to other countries.

257

Little documentation is available as yet on these health problems but there

are three clear issues emerging from the nature of call-center work The first

is the issue of identity, and the second issue is the isolation faced by call

center employees. Given the intense contact between team members on a

shift, there is bound to be some development of interpersonal relationships.

When the shift changes, there is a sudden break-up of relations. There is a

period of total isolation both within the work environment and without -

since family lives get disrupted and contacts between family members

break-up. The third issue is related to the stress levels of employees who

work during night shifts and are given high targets this may force some

towards drug abuse of some sort like pep-up pills and other drugs to keep

them going especially when youngsters have money to indulge - this is a

very genuine apprehension.

STAFFING TROUBLES

One prediction is that by 2009, India will employ two million people as call

center operators. The only obstacle to runaway growth may be finding

enough high-standard recruits with good enough English to meet the

demand. Today, most top executives acknowledge that a steady turnover of

staff is an inevitable aspect of the industry. The reasons for this could be

boredom with the job, seeking better prospects or a change, better monetary

benefits lack of career opportunities especially when it comes to vertical

growth which is very minimum, or even the failure of the call center to

effectively train employees to stay at the job. Because the work is so

repetitive, most employees leave within 2 years. Ambitious youngsters, out

to make a fast buck, hop skip and jump across BPO companies, making

staff turnover the single largest issue for business leaders and boardrooms.

258

Turnover rates as high as 30% have created a major problem for the call

center as they have to compete with each other for a slice of the business

cake. And some have found a unique way to meet their growth numbers by

turning to the "been there-done-that 40 plus" generation. The greying of the

BPO sector began a few months ago and is a newly emerging trend in India.

In the IT sector, many reasons attribute to the emotional stress compared to

the non-IT sector. Dr S Kalyanasundaram, Clinical Director, India, PPC

Worldwide (Personal Performance Consultants), says, "The underlying fact

of long working hours and satisfying customers by meeting deadlines

sitting miles away is the basic challenge in the IT industry. Emotional stress

in the long-term might result in employees becoming irritable and unable to

concentrate on their work. This can even affect their productivity and

similarly can impact the entire chain, right from an individual to a team

and ultimately the company." The IT job process involves several aspects

such as recruitment, retention, performing in a fast-paced environment

often characterised by time-critical projects, fluctuating work patterns, job

insecurities and working in shifts. Globalisation of the workplace, pace of

change..to adopt and pressure management will also have a great effect on

an individual's emotions. Apart from the nature of the IT job, an individual

has to cope up with the nitty-gritty of a demanding lifestyle brought about

by nuclear families and less reliance on family or friends for guidance.

Changing lifestyles, mobility of the workforce, absence of work-life balance

is adding to the psychological woes among the IT workforce community. A

global working environment and cultural changes have led to the removal

of traditional cultural barriers to accessing psychological support.

259

CONSEQUENCES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS

Any emotional distress can lead to change in attitude and behaviour,

including lack of motivation and erratic time-keeping. There will be tension

with colleagues, decrease in co-operation and in some cases, an increase in

tobacco or drink consumption. Other symptoms could be absence owing to

sickness, decreased work performance-missing deadlines, increased

mistakes and accidents, loss of concentration and poor decision-making.

"We have seen employees getting distant from their personal lives because

of work pressure-long working hours, shifts and work-related stress. Due

to monotony at work, people may feel there is lack of growth and career

opportunities in the future," says Prashant Chawla, Chief Financial Officer

and Chief Operating Officer, Integreon. The IT /BPO industries comprise a

young workforce, who lured by attractive career opportunities are forced to

leave their homes and families to settle in different places. Adjusting to new

locations and living all alone can further fuel the stress level.

ONLY IN-HOUSE SUPPORT

By and large, companies were only focussed on providing medical

insurance and medical policies, neglecting the relevance of psychological

support. "Now, it is time for them to concentrate on the psychological well­

being of the workforce. With global culture seeping into the corporate

world, the IT sector is engaging dedicated counsellors to address

psychological problems of their employees," says Supriya Reddy Ray,

Head-Sales and Marketing-India, PPC Worldwide. Companies also have

started paying attention to create an environment where the employee can

260

leave aside niggling wornes and work m a stress-free transparent

environment.

"We can perceive and be affected by other people's emotional states or

moods. If the employee is free from worry about his future and secure in

his job, his performance will be good. We organise cricket matches and

parties to ensure bonding beyond the office. Spouses of employees are

welcomed off-site and encouraged to participate in different activities. This

makes a huge difference to the morale of employees," said, A. Gupta, Head

HRD, of a leading MNC.

Psychological problems among employees are among the major concerns of

organisations, including issues like data security and attrition. "There are

multiple options available in the industry today. Therefore, in the race to be

the 'preferred employer' companies are adopting multiple strategies.

Emotional support is one of the important roles in employee retention. It is

a corporate responsibility to allow the employees to learn and enjoy work

while making contribution to get the best out of them along with respect for

each other within the organisation," adds Raju, Head BPO Recruitment

Company. Psychological support is the most important way to sustain

employee retention within an organisation. When employees are helped to

overcome stress, depression, health disorders and absenteeism is lowered,

thus increasing the productivity. These are the important reasons why

IT/BPO companies need to focus on psychological support for employees.

Companies believe in a flat organisation, where all employees are treated

equal even with different designations. Communication channels need to

be open at all times. If employees have any doubt about the future of the

261

company and his own future, he should be able to approach the right

authority and voice his concerns. The major fear of any employee is

security. "We also have a system where the employees send their problems

directly to the MD (Managing Director) and the Head HR through e-mail.

We, however, do not encourage anonymous letters or e-mails. Another

system which we have initiated is that every team sits with the MD over

lunch every six months and during the informal interaction they get an

insight into his vision for the company and can align their goals to it," adds

A. Gupta.

CONFIDENTIALITY ISSUES

Even if organisations have sophisticated methods and teams to address the

emotional woes of people, confidentiality is the key issue. "With the

extension of working hours, employees would never be able to cope up

with work and family commitments. If employees have immense pressure

in the office-be it management-related or customer-related, they interact

and need to ventilate their distress in confidence. This is where IT

companies have failed to provide-confidence listening. These companies

may have in-house counselling but it comes under the HR and that inhibits

people from letting out their grievances. IT companies are well aware of

this fact, but they are not yet completely open to hiring an external agency

that gives foolproof confidentiality. "Since the IT work culture in India is

largely influenced by global companies, we are obtaining lot of enquiries on

the initiative. We expect to see a good market for this in the near future,"

concludes Ray (Recruitment Manager).

262

There are fears about the social impact when within a couple of years the

first crop of young 20-25-year-old employees slogs it out and inevitably

suffers burnout. They are less responsible people, their maturity level is

low, and thinking power towards planning their career is also low.

Recognition is not so high for those who work for call center in our society

for various reasons. Some times they hesitate to introduce to the society that

they are employed in a call center. As a result of work pressure to meet the

target day in and day out and competition among the group they get

frustrated and quit these jobs. Minimum qualification does not allow them

to compete with outside world and they are left with no choice when they

are out of the job. They have given up on higher studies for the seemingly

lucrative call center job. So a question arises where do they go from here?

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IT professionals work long hours and move frequently, they say, they are

often unable to fulfill family commitments (the most common response to

this question was 'no time for family'), nurture significant social

relationships, or pursue artistic or spiritual interests. Many of their

narratives express this opposition between the material gain and the social

loss that result from their profession and lifestyle

Additionally, the stress due to the impairment of conventional social and

family life could also result in increased substance abuse and the

breakdown of marital and other relationships. Most of the work at call

centers and BPO operations is at night, so employees tend to lose touch

with their family, friends, and neighbors, whose waking hours are

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different. "You start hanging out with a different set of people with whom

you don't really have very deep ties," remarked Krishnamurthy (Old BPO

worker). Live-in relationships and casual sex among call center and BPO

employees are on the increase, as are alcoholism and drug abuse, said

Anand Krishnamurthy, a former employee at a BPO operation run by a

leading multinational IT firm. "The problem is that people are now getting

financial independence at an age when they don't have the maturity to

handle it," Krishnamurthy said.

Job stress could also be a factor leading to increased sexual activity, drug

abuse, and alcoholism. "It is a form of release for some employees,"

Krishnamurthy said. Call center and BPO work tends to be monotonous

and companies demand a lot from their staffs to keep costs in check, he

said.

Krishnamurthy, who is 25, quit his BPO job last year for a day job as an

accountant. Like Krishnamurthy, many call center and BPO employees plan

to work for a few years to make enough money to meet financial

commitments or pay for their higher education. They believe that jobs at

call centers and BPO operations cannot be long-term careers because of the

impact the work has on their personal lives and health. "The person is no

longer a vibrant and active part of a family or neighbourhood," he said. A

shift in the balance of power at home brings new challenges to Indian

families. Financially independent children now want their parents to treat

them as equals, according to Karanth. Parents have to redefine their roles,

or lose their positions altogether. Parental authority is already weakened,

and the more parents try to assert their authority, the more likely it will be

completely broken, he said.

264

Doctors and social workers worry that night shifts are affecting the health

of call center and BPO employees, who mainly work night shifts, as they

are usually dealing with U.S. customers. The change from a predominantly

diurnal lifestyle to a nocturnal one, and the monotony and stress of the

work, leads to a number of adverse physiological changes, according to

Manish Mishra, System analyst.

Also worrisome to social observers is that students are sometimes cutting

short their school careers to join BPO operations and call centers, attracted

by the opportunity to make money. There are fewer students enrolling for

courses in engineering and medicine, according to Venkataram. If the trend

continues, some in the IT services industry worry that there will be fewer

engineers available in the job market.

It is evident from this research that early age health problems is a major

problem for the IT workers, it increases lack of commitment towards

family. Major portion of income is drained out in tackling physical and

psychological problems. It is evident that, due to work pressure family

conflict is arising. Lack of family coordination, marital break down is also

occurring. It was also found that young boys and girls use different toxic

substance in order to avoid stress. Some are also using pain killers and

sleeping pills.

The picture that emerges is the absence of any notion of work protections

and guidelines. In an industry being touted as the magic wand that will

ward off unemployment, no one wants to discuss establishing an equitable

and gender-safe work culture

265

In countries like the UK and Australia, where the call center industry is a

lot older, there is a great deal of understanding on what this unique

workplace entails and what needs to be done about it. In the UK, the

government intervened a while ago with a local authority circular called

"Advice Regarding Call Center Working Practices." The circular not only

list in detail the stress factors and ailments peculiar to this industry, but

also has various benchmarks and measures on how to deal with them. In

Australia, some call center companies have signed onto a call center charter

that includes, among other things, a minimum standards code of the

workplace.

As of now, no understanding of the problem exists in India, leave alone a

minimum standards code. Some call center and BPO companies in the

country have got together under the aegis of Nasscom to address common

areas of concern - but so far these have largely centered on deciding how

not to poach on each other's employees and what to do with the Shops and

Establishments Act. Employee stress - and its impact on the bottom line

through high attrition rates - is not even on the horizon of concerns.

Although the fundamental elements of a call handler's job are the same as a

typical computer-based office job, the close combination of these elements

results in a unique job often of an intensive nature, hence the need for

appraisal of dangers that are lurking in the corners of well furnished BPO

offices.

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SUGGESTIVE MEASURES

~ There is a need for more explicit, detailed and relevant regulations,

guidance specific to this industry. Health risk assessments both pre­

employment and periodic for employees should be conducted

especially eye and audiometry tests.

~ Call handlers should be provided with information on the risks

identified in the risk assessment and how these risks can be

controlled.

~ Length and frequency of breaks should be adequate.

~ Need for fu1l time counsellors to strike a balance between physical

and mental rhythm to synchronize body clock.

~ Establishment of welfare committee wherein employees are an

important part where they can voice their concerns.

~ Ergonomic assessments of work station for 24 hours occupancy

should be done.

~ Need for more detailed study to collect data from larger number of

employees working in a broader range of sectors spread over a

wider geographic area, so that the research findings will be useful to

provide initial advice to this industry

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CASIE SVUIDDIES

CASE -G

G belongs to Nagarpolli; Kanyakumari .He is an MA in Korean and has

done most of his education from Kanyakumari. He works in a BPO in

Bangalore as an analyst. Both his parents are working. G is married since

one year to another BPO worker. He works at night shifts and his timings

are from 8.00 in the evening to 4.00 am in the morning. Due to working at

night shifts he is unable to balance family life. G has been working in the

BPO industry since 4 years and believes that such erratic working hours has

led to health problems among many BPO workers. The Burn Out Stress

Syndrome is quite common among these workers. While interacting with

foreign clients they hide their own personal identities in order to be familiar

with their clients. Problems like prolonged working hours, tackling the

identity issue and achieving targets engulf the minds of these workers and

they come under severe psychological strain. G says that his conversation

with his client at the other end is recorded and even their working is

monitored .Due to such surveillance mechanisms these workers are under

tremendous stress to prove their efficiency even at the cost of their health. G

is suffering from problem of eyesight due to sitting in front of the computer

for longer hours and he even feels that he is always under psychological

pressure to achieve targets and prove his efficiency is under regular health

check up and even visits his psychiatrist. Owing to regular night shifts G is

unable to contribute towards family life as a result of which he fails to fulfill

his roles and responsibilities required to maintain a healthy and successful

marital life.

268

Therefore the above case reveals that wok pattern of IT /BPO workers

creating serious health hazards and disturbed family life.

CASE-H

H is Software Engineer (Technical Support) by profession and belongs to

Patna, Bihar. He did his schooling from Kolkata, and is trained as an

engineer from liT, Kharagpur. He basically works in night shifts form

(09.30 P.M to 07.30 AM). He has two kids and one of them is studying in a

boarding school. His wife is also working in the BPO industry. H is

suffering from health problems such as spondylitis, eyesight problems, and

psychological problems etc. He admits that his odd working hours has led

to marital discord. He is unable to get enough time for his wife and

children. He says that working over time and during night shifts is a

compulsion for him.

CASE-J

J is a 24 Year old unmarried BPO worker belonging to Uttar Pradesh. He

did his schooling from UP, and has a Degree in Computer science from UP.

He works during night shifts as a technical support engineer. J is suffering

form various health problems like spondylitis, stomach problems, severe

headache, Eye irritations etc. J said that he didn't have any health problem

before joining this industry. After working for some years in the industry

he developed certain health problems like sleeping disorders and

psychological problems. Odd Working hours and work load has

phenomenal impact on one's physical and mental health conditions. He

admitted that he is planning to change his night shift to day shift. But in

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case he changes the shift timing he has to leave the job and he has to find

another one. This clearly reveals that sometimes people don't have choices

regarding their work timings. The concept of flexi-timings are only

confined to some industries while the rest have their own fixed set of

timings for their employees. In case of J, it becomes apparent that for

earning more money he opted for the night shift and again to change his

shift would mean change in job altogether. In this case a person remains

dissatisfied with his present position and sometimes his performance

suffers. So apart from developing certain symptoms of health problems a

person is under severe psychological stress due to job dissatisfaction and is

always in a mood to change jobs.

CASE-£<

K is a 30 year old female from Karnataka and is a post graduate in English

literature. K has done her schooling from Bangafore rural. She was a BPO

worker in a Leading MNC and worked in the industry for more than 6

years. Owing to various health problems she left the job. Presently, she is

running a placement cell for BPO workers. She said that 'earning a dollar is

not an easy task in the BPO industry you have to pay for it'. She had

worked in the IT industry for more than 5 years having experience in both

national and international call centers. This has resulted in various health

problems. Since her husband was also an IT professional he got full support

from him but was unable to cope with health issues. Apart from health

problems she could not spend time with her family. She remained

dissatisfied since she could not give time to her small kid. In the meantime

she developed stress related problems. Ultimately she left the job and

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opened her own placement cell. In K's case it was found that she had a

disturbed family life due to odd working hours and had developed many

health problems so she had to take the ultimate decision of leaving the job.

It was revealed that being from a rural background and coming from a

close knit family she had her family values intact and could not

compromise on her family for her job. Her decision to quit her job was

indeed a bold decision and saved her family life .Now she has her regular

health check-ups and has her own working hours and feels mentally

relaxed.

CASE-L

L is a 23 year old unmarried female from Chennai. She is educated from

Loyola College, Chennai and works in an international call center at night

shifts. She admitted that working at night shifts has resulted in having

adverse impact on her mental and physical health. L has changed her

lifestyle due to her job. She even complained of hormonal imbalance due to

her working at night shifts. But inspite of having so many health problems

she does not want to leave her job since she is waiting for her promotion.

She considers her job as a lucrative one which has given her all material

comforts in life. Regarding her workplace and her nature of work she

revealed that she had to hide her own individual identity while dealing

with the international clients at the call center. Moreover, she has to stress

her vocal chords in order to speak in the American accent. Sometimes, the

American clients would use abusive language when they to come to know

that the person who is dealing with them is not an American. Therefore

there is lot of pressure on these employees to speak the correct accent in

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order to avoid any abusive behaviour. In L's case it becomes clear that there

is lot of psychological pressure to build up a false identity at the workplace

and at the same time protect one's own identity. This pressure results in a

lot of stress, depression and other psychological problems affecting one's

physical health.

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CHAPTfiR ~VI

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