Occupational Health in India - Interview with Dr. Shyam Pingle

Transcription

1 Occupational Health in India - Interview with Dr. Shyam Pingle To sustain the blistering economic growth and to enhance quality of life as a whole, Occupational Health is extremely important for the emerging economies. Dr. Shyam Pingle, the Vice President of Medical and OH Services, Reliance Industries Ltd., shares his views on occupational health in India in his interview at NUS Business School. A factory worker to a call centre employee and a child to a house wife everyone has an occupation. Every occupation - whether working with computers, travelling to meet a client, or cutting vegetables at kitchen - has an occupational hazard, which if ignored may develop into an occupational disease. However, all occupational diseases can be prevented with appropriate preventive measures. These are the primary principles of occupational health practices. The concept of occupational health is greatly transformed in last two decades in India, one of the fastest growing economies with over 1.1 billion population. Though the overall workspace health is improving in India, the individual health is not. With newer work methods, systems and processes, the occupational health of the workers has come under severe stress. Irregular hours in the IT and BPO industries, tremendous competition, fast life style are affecting the family life and creating relationship issues. These factors are also attributed to the high attrition rate in the IT and BPO industries. However all these work space health conditions can be improved ensuring proper work life balances. Simple steps such as regular eye exercise (20 min 20 feet 20 seconds rule) while working at computers and using ergonomics chairs can relief from stress and improve health conditions at work. Right leadership mindset and corporate commitment are essential for improving work health condition of the employees. A CEO of a firm has the greatest role to play. The CEO should become a role model and support the wellness mission in the organization. His vision will automatically be cascaded down to the employees of the firm. The MNCs have done particularly well bringing global best practices to their operations in India. Some of the influential organizations which have done really well in occupational health in India are Uniliver (Vitality Program), P&G (Vibrant Living), Reliance (CASHe Program) and Godrej. The public sectors are yet to take wide spread initiatives in taking preventive measures but they have taken several curative measures such as partnership with the hospitals or providing medical coverage. Some of the big public sector companies such as NTPC, BHEL provide health club facilities in their townships for the employees. Reliance Industry (RIL), largest conglomerate in India, looks at health as business strategy and not a philanthropic one. RIL's Change Agents for Safety, Health & workplace Environment (CASHe) programme - an initiative to promote healthy workplaces and reduce health and safety risks, has been instrumental in creating a culture of implementing health, safety and environment projects on a priority basis. CASHe started as a project but eventually became a successful flagship program. This program is facilitated by the health department

2 but implemented by the line mangers. The CASHe agents are incentivised with awards for reorganization and benchmarking with different business lines. These CASHe agents when promoted or transferred to another department carry forward the occupational health culture and enrich other departments. Finally, occupational health awareness is increasing among the employees and the employers in this integrated and interdependent global environment. In making decisions about an organization the employees are looking for intangible benefits also instead of just monitory benefits. Many MNCs show their health care facilities during their recruitment talks. Although the current condition in occupational health is not perfect in India but there is an ample scope for improvements. India is as per with leading Asian nations in this regard. Europe and USA are positively ahead at this stage but the gaps are narrowing.

3 An Interview with Dr. Shyam Pingle, VP Medical & OH services, Reliance Industries Interview Length: 30 min 1. What is your opinion about the effect of India s overwhelming growth on the workplace health conditions across India? Work space health is improving but individual health is not. Stress is increasing because of many reasons. Pay is higher now. Expectations are also higher. But there is a good side of it as well. Organizations and employees are becoming more aware of the importance of Organizational health. ITES services have set up in-house gyms and taken measures to improve workspace heath conditions. MNCs have their own standard. When they set up their operations in India, they try to implement those standards in India as well. Four principles of occupational Health : Every living human has occupation. Every occupation has its own hazards Occupational hazard if unchecked develops into occupational deceases All occupational hazard can be prevented Today s concept of occupational health has greatly changed from yesterday s concept of industrial health and now it is changing to environmental. 2. What are the most critical wellness concerns facing India s workforce, how does occupational health situation differ in different occupation categories? Different industries have different hazards as per Principle-2 mentioned above. Moreover it is dynamic. When the industry transform, it brings in different hazards. Manufacturing industry physical hazard Services Mental stress Even the house wives face hazards such as electrical (electrical equipments), burning of knife injury in Kitchen etc. When someone travels he/she faces hazards from transportations. 3. What should Indian CEOs do to improve the workplace health conditions of the employees? First they should become role models. He should appreciate the principals. Understand the work environment. Support wellness mission. Every wants what the boss wants. The CEO s principle will cascade down to the other employees of the firm.

4 Dr. Pingle took the example of RIL CEO Anil Ambani. But he requested NOT to mention this in the executive summery. Mr. Anil Ambani reduced his weight from 100 kg to 70 kg. One of the world s richest people. He is the role model for the RIL employees. Many people took this as a positive sign and followed his path. Mr. Ambani participates in Mumbai Marathon every year, so do many employees in RIL. This is a perfect example of a CEO as a role model. 4. Which companies, in your opinion, are doing better job in implementing proper corporate wellness programs? Most of the MNCs in India are doing very well. Example of corporate wellness programs in some of the influential organization in India: Uniliver India - Vitality. P&G Vibrant living. Reliance Industry CASHe Godrej - Occupational Health & Safety Assessment Series 5. How is occupational health and safety practised in the largest conglomerate - Reliance Industries Ltd? RIL looks at health as business strategy and not as philanthropic options. That is why they are highly motivated to implement occupational health and safety across all the business practices. CASHe is the flagship project of RIL. This is facilitated by the health dept and implemented line manager. Trainings are given. Prize is also there for reorganization and bench marking. Initially stated as CASH project and then the it was named as CASHe and now known as CASHe program. It has really worked well and improved the work space conditions. When the CASHe agents are transferred to other departments they carry forward the learning with them and implement it in the new areas. 6. Are there any differences in the initiatives taken by the Public sectors and the private sector companies? Private sectors are clearly ahead of the Public sectors but the awareness is definitely increasing in the Public sectors. Public sectors have some curative measures such as tie up with hospitals and medical insurance or medical coverage etc. But they are yet to focus on preventive measures. As per the industries are concerned, we cannot compare two different industries; we can compare two different companies only i.e. this measures are organization specific, not sector specific.

5 7. What is the perception of an Indian employee about the workplace healthcare measures? To what extent people chose their jobs or organizations based on the adequacy of healthcare support? Awareness is increasing. Employees are looking for intangible benefits also instead of just monitory benefits in making decisions. IT companies shows health care during recruitment. Direction is there. Although the current condition is not perfect and there is an ample scope for improvements. 8. Regarding health awareness and wellness measures taken, where does India stand as compared to the other Asian countries and as compared to the western developed countries? India is as per with leading Asian countries. Europe is positively ahead but the gap is narrowing. 9. Can you please throw some light on the cost of workplace healthcare programs (per person each year, or as a percentage of the overall labour cost) adopted by some of the well known companies in India? We are particularly interested in the development of IT/Telecom sector in India. Please help us understand: 10. What are the sources of stress at workplace in crucial service industries in India such as IT, BPO and Telecom? Some examples - Irregular hours. Tight deadline. Family life gets affected. Relationship issues. Security issues. Fast life and junk food. Fresh graduate. Smoking. Life style problems. Less physical and fast food. 11. What are some of the measures taken by IT, Telecom or BPO organizations in India to improve the workplace health conditions? Improve physical comforts. Use of agronomics chairs. Counselling facilities. Eyes problem. For eyes use method.

6 12. The attrition rate in IT/ITES/BPO companies is too high. It is staggering 16% on an average. What cause such high attrition rate? Do you think this high attrition rate affects the long term strategies of the companies to implement and practise adequate workplace health measures? Causes of attrition Better opportunity. Job is tenuous. Fierce competition. Virtual teams. These can surely be improved by ensuring proper work life balance.