Bengaluru, KARNATAKA :
The AIITEA will hold its first meeting on June 30 on the ITC Infotech campus
Amid the opportunities and growth prospects, the problems faced by employees of the information technology sector are among the least addressed. The struggles within these workplaces often get sidelined or swept under the carpet by the ‘terms and conditions’ of the company. Consequently, employees often have little say in such matters.
Now these unhealthy workplace practices have forced IT employees to join hands to make a forum where they can address their issues.
The All India Information Technology Employee Association (AIITEA), a registered body meant to take up and resolve problems faced by people in the IT sector, is going to have its first meeting on June 30, on the ITC Infotech campus to announce in the open its arrival in the IT city.
Syed Muqeem, head of AIITEA and one of the founder members of the association, said: “There is a general perception that unions and associations are for blue-collar people, but there are many instances where the IT employees, the so-called white-collar staff, face workplace-related problems, but there is no group to support them.”
“Most associations that have been formed earlier either play in the hands of the big multinational companies or have failed to take up the issues faced by the employees in the sector, and take it to a logical conclusion. This void that the industry has created over a period is what we are trying to fill up. Our main aim is to ensure equal employee representation in resolving employee grievances,” said Muqeem.
Bengaluru, deemed India’s IT capital, is home to 35 per cent of the 8 million IT employees and in the last financial year, it clocked around 1 lakh crore in software exports. But beneath this glitter is a dark cloud looming and that is the ever-deteriorating state of the IT employees.
A global study done by the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) says 50 per cent of employees in India Inc are under stress and around 30 per cent software engineers in the city show signs of psychiatric disorder. One in every 20 employees has contemplated suicide.
The fast pace at which the IT industry is progressing has its own side-effects and employees are at the receiving end. Muqeem said that till date “we have helped resolve around 15 cases where the employee was being harassed by the employer, but on an average we receive 15-20 complaints per week, but the fear of losing one’s job, coupled with the feeling that engaging with an association might hamper future growth prospects is what is keeping many from coming out in the open”.
source: http://www.bangaloremirror.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Others / Bangalore Mirror Bureau / June 27th, 2016