BPO Union questions Evalueserve HR practices

How long should a working shift last without paying over-time?

BPO Union wants to question Evalueserve (EVS for short) HR practices. We received information from a few ex-EVS employees last week and we decided to check. Initially it was difficult to believe that EVS, a path breaking KPO of exceptional repute, would do anything out of line. Still we made up our minds to investigate the matter at depth.

This is what surfaced on preliminary findings:

• Secondary information from serving and ex-EVS employees confirmed that the company offers a 10 hr shift, with a 1 hr break for food/ rest.
• The above fact is communicated to aspiring employees during the interview stage itself.
• We did not find out any evidence suggesting payment for over-time beyond the mandatory 8 hr shift of work, which is universally accepted as ‘a-fair-day’s-work-shift’. This must be looked into deeper.
• The general treatment meted out to employees (by EVS) was acceptable to them.
• A lot of information to the above effect is already available on various websites/ blogs etc if one were to search for it. Supposedly, most of it posted by EVS themselves (of course on the quiet) or at its behest, but there is nothing wrong indulging in surrogate PR.

Now comes the part where we step in to take action:

• Looks like the Labor Department in key BPO Cities will be kept busy from now. Hope you remember the IBM Daksh case where they have been taken to court by an ex-employee under violation of Labor Laws. The gentleman sought our support and got it, the issue is still under progress. Braveheart Employee takes IBM Daksh to Labor Court
• A letter will be sent to the Labor Commissioner to investigate if the current practice is acceptable under legal and policy provisions. If not then a request for stringent action will be made. We shall follow it with other methods to initiate response via immense public pressure.
• We are yet to get a proper legal scrutiny to the issue. Remember our earliest posts where we told you that a very highly sought after legal mind has agreed to help our cause – well given paucity of time the Lawyer has not yet given us expert opinion, it is expected early next week.
• The most important point we want to make and the question we want to put up is – Should we be working more than 8 hrs without over-time pay?
• We are also of the opinion that if Companies are found to violate any law by not paying beyond the 8 hr shift, then they should be made to pay up to all the employees, who in the past have put in extra time, and were not paid for it. We are sure that if this were to happen, any Company Management’s heart would sink at the numbers.
• If any Company is found guilty in this practice, we will intervene to initiate an enquiry into ALL BPOs (includes KPOs) across the length and breath of our great Country. The dues would run into millions of dollars!
• One surprising fact came out of this initial exercise – that the probable culprits (if our charge comes out true, and is legally tenable) are a majority of high-end KPOs, and a large part of them is captives of foreign firms.
• On continuing thought we’ll also seek some clarification from the Labor Ministry, GOI, early next week too.

We invite a debate on this issue, emails preferred (bpounuion@gmail.com). We also invite more friends who’d like to help us with concrete information (or evidence of wrong-doing) by any company on the issue so that we are able to take it up even more strongly.

regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)