Recommendations to improve workplace conditions in IT industry submitted to labour dept.

Prathidhwani, welfare organisation of IT employees, on Friday handed over its recommendations to improve workplace conditions in the industry to Labour Secretary K. Vasuki, after a seminar on mental health and labour issues of IT employees held at Technopark.

The organisation had earlier submitted the recommendations to Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics and IT, and Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Labour. The seminar was prompted by the death of Anna Sebastian, a former EY employee who worked in Pune, due to alleged workplace stress.

The recommendations include strengthening government oversight on whether labour laws are being followed in the IT industry, establishment of a confidential grievance redressal mechanism, formation of a government committee for work environment review, creation of an exclusive mental health hotline for IT employees, implementation of mandatory mental health training, inclusion of mental health coverage in corporate insurance, implementation of regular monitoring of workplace mental health and monitoring of overtime and compensation.

The seminar, chaired by Rajeev Krishnan, State coordinator of Prathidhwani, was also attended by Kerala Startup Mission CEO Anoop Ambika. Ms. Vasuki emphasised the need for more awareness programmes on labour laws and assured full support from the Labour department to combat labour exploitation. She also condemned harassment of women in the workplace and urged women to come forward to report such incidents.