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Thursday, September 3, 2009

INITIAL EXPERIENCES

Durga Prasad, a senior banker, who heads the operations of the BPO at Tirupati, adds: "The boys and girls who joined this BPO are seeing an office environment for the first time in their life. In fact, during the initial days, I was puzzled to see many of them wearing warm woolen clothes despite the humid weather at Tirupati, before I realized that most of them were not accustomed to spending eight hours in an air-conditioned enclosure!" He adds the BPO job has brought in dignity and respect for them and many of them have been able to get rid of their family debts, start educating their siblings and prOVide an enhanced lifestyle to their families. The status of being a BPO employee has also helped some of the girls to get married into respectable families.
As much as 54% of the staff employed in the rural BPO is girls.
Many of them are destitutes, orphans and widows and the BPO has given them an impetus to lead a life of dignity. They work in two shifts, but Durga Prasad manages the shift allocations in such a way that the girls are able to leave office before dusk.
Meera Shenoy, who heads EGMM, says the organization was associated with HDFC Bank even before setting up the BPO and the experience was such that it had no hesitation whatsoever to the idea of a rural BPO. "We readily undertook the initial training aspects, tailormaking it to the needs of the BPO," she adds.
She says three factors influenced her thinking while being associated with HDFC Bank: (i) the impeccable credentials of the bank, (ii) the project is to help rural youth and (iii) it creates job opportunities in the local area instead of the youths having to migrate to cities.
Shenoy says: "This is one of the best examples of public­private partnership and it is a worthwhile model since it aims to create job opportunities for the rural and tribal youths in their area of residence. We have received enquiries from other state governments on this pattern."
She adds: "On our part, we have been trying to impart tailormade training to the youths, as per the requirement of the employers. As an organization EGMM is one of the largest job creators for rural youth globally, having secured jobs to as many as 225,000 youths so far."

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