Tech Mahindra will hand out digital key-chains, lockets and hand-rings to its over 27,000 women staffers soon.

The move isn’t a regular employee engagement programme, but part of a larger initiative to strengthen women safety.

Embedded in chip These accessory items are embedded with a GSM-based chip that can track the user’s location and send SOS messages to selected contacts in case of an emergency.

So, how’s this different from the myriad women safety applications that are currently available?

“Most of the women safety apps in the country have to be downloaded to a handheld device like a smartphone. However, when a women is attacked, the perpetrator first tries to snatch her phone.

“Hence, we felt that need a need for a physical alternative that cannot be easily identified,” said Sirisha Voruganti, global head — innovation at Tech Mahindra, said.

Christened ‘Fightback Plus’, the fibre device allows the user to press a panic button when she feels unsafe. It can then track her location by using GPS and alert the chosen contacts about her present location. In fact, the device is power by ‘Fightback,’ a safety application which has been developed by Tech Mahindra and used by Mahindra group employees for several years now.

After the 2012 gang rape of a medical student in New Delhi, group Chairman Anand Mahindra made this application available for public use, beyond Mahindra employees.

Tech Mahindra is currently bearing the cost of this initiative, which comes to roughly $70 for each device.

The company, which employed 98,009 staffers as on December 31, wants to make these devices publicly available once the internal roll out is completed, said Voruganti. “Once we get higher volumes, the cost of the device can come down to as low as $30. We are already seeing good traction in our pilot project,” said Voruganti. The devices lasts for 3 days post a single round of charging.

Increasing women With the number of women joining the workforce increasing every year, IT companies are working hard to ensure their safety and security.

Women account for 26-35 per cent of the overall employee base of IT companies in India.

The $116-billion industry boasts better gender diversity than sectors such as banking (15 per cent of total employee base) and FMCGs (around 5 per cent).

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