Wooing the BPO woman

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PUNE, INDIA: Femina, Women's Era, GrihaShobha, Vanita, Elle, MEOW 104.8 FM (a radio channel especially for women), sunsilkgangofgirls.com, and now the updated version of www.sitagita.com (Sigi) with special content for BPO women employees.

The site that made its debut over eight years ago, is now trying to make sense of huge better half of the industry.

And why not? According to an estimate, some time back in the Indian IT industry, women accounted for about to 30 per cent of the total workforce till last year and this was expected to go up to 45 per cent by 2010.

What is noteworthy is the steady rise of the figures. The figure, according to the Registrar General of India, as in 1981 was 19.7 per cent, which rose to 22.7 per cent in 1991, further rising to 25.7 per cent in 2001.

And recent Nasscom figures claim that the percentage of women workers in the IT and ITES sectors in India has risen by almost 18 per cent in the last two years.

So what triggered the idea of doing something for BPO's fairer sex?

Nirmal Mirza, CEO, Sigi points out the number of women in this sector and their unique needs. "The numbers would only grow. Look at the deluge of newspapers and sites that have sprung up off late. We want to be the ultimate BPO destination with a holistic experience. The idea is to give an all-purpose women's website that addresses their needs."

The menu of the site reflects the focus of BPO employees. Designed out of research with advisors, HR people, call center professionals and trainers who are in the best position to assess women needs, as Mirza shares, the effort has been to touch every possible aspect and gap area.

Dollops like BPO blogs, BPO buzz, advice on accent, office stuff, career and personal problems are good attempts amidst the usual vanilla stuff like beauty tips, marital problems, food and grandma corner. Articles like Office Romances, life in a BPO hit at the other side which comes into full bloom in the letters to Agony Aunt where sleeping partners, affairs, relationships usurp the eye-candy factor.

Nevertheless counseling is a good hit and a gap area if one goes by the feedback.

As a BPO employee shared, people in BPOs do need to go for psychiatrist's help, so counseling is a good idea.

Sigi has on its advisory board names like Hema Malini, film industrialist, Lily Madhok, Nutritionist, Dr. Nanditha Krishna, director, C.P. Arts Centre, Timeri Murari, Dr. Dega Narayana Reddy, expert on Sexology, Ayurveda expert Dr. Nedungadi V. Haridas and Dr. T. Prabalkumari, Psychiatry expert.

The effort has panned out well if figures are anything to go by.

"Last three months we have clocked one lakh unique visitors with four to five lakh page views per month."

But do BPO workers have time to check out the novel stuff made specially for them?

"No," says a BPO woman employee. "We seldom get time to access Net beyond the work. Moreover, we have to observe discipline on what to surf on Net and what not, so our radius of access is small. And who would want to check Net on the weekends when everyone just wants to unwind."

Still, there can be emphasis on areas that need more attention if we are talking about the BPO workforce specially. Their problems hover around career graph, growth, skill development, etc.

"I would look for more stuff on self-assessment, self-advancement, training, identification and fulfillment of gaps and advance courses," says Anupama M, a BPO professional with Ntrance, Pune.

For now, at Sigi, there are many possibilities being explored. The idea can be taken to the next level by tying up with the BPOs.

Discussions, for instance, are on with BPOs like 24/7 for possible initiatives besides co-sponsorship deals with others.

But the revenue model of the site would focus majorly on advertisements, reveals Mirza.

Starting shortly is another addition, video streaming and with many more ideas brewing in her mind, it would be interesting to see, how successfully, does the site lives up to her ambitions. Wooing the woman, as they say, is everything but easy.



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