BANGALORE: A majority of mid-level and junior executives are willing to undergo ELISA test as part of the recruitment process, said staffing company TeamLease Services in its survey titled Bias@Workplace that was released on Monday. ELISA test used to detect the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in a sample.
The survey conducted by Market Search IPL for TeamLease covered 800 companies across eight cities — New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad. The respondents surveyed were in the age group of 21-60 years.
The survey further revealed that pregnant women or women with young children are at a relative disadvantage, both during the recruitment process as well as exploring other opportunities at workplace. India Inc (mainly in the top 8 cities) is yet to adopt the concept of equal opportunity in its true sense, it said. The report showed 5 out of 10 employees have experienced some sort of discrimination, indicating discriminatory practices during recruitment or at the workplace. About 54% of the respondents between 21 to 35 years have experienced discrimination as compared to employees above 50 years. This may be contrary to popular belief; but it seems that the older you grow, less discrimination you will face!
Surabhi Mathur Gandhi, senior VP TeamLease Services said, “While community and caste have ceased to be common occurences, India Inc still has a long way to go before the work environment becomes truly bias free. Underlying preferential treatment is still witnessed in varying circumstances, debilitating the growth of the work force, especially women. It is very important for companies to have a clear policy on discrimination with proper enforcement; else productivity will be adversely affected.”
