Impact of human resource practices on perceptions of trade unionism: A study of IT and ITES employees in Pune (India)

Does India's booming IT and ITES industry which employees more than one million professionals require a trade union to fight for its right?

The boom in employment in the IT and the ITES sector brought several transformations in the labour market. These transformations include changed working hours, quality and structure of work. The perception of employees has changed towards work, work culture and ethics. The penetration of trade unions is minimal or nearly absent in the IT and the BPO sector. In the case of IT and ITES, trade unions find it difficult to effectively organize the employees in the IT and ITES sector because of several factors such as floating population, nature of work, physical working conditions, etc. Even employees working in these sectors are unaware that there can be unions for them. The level of awareness is hence, minimal. Employees’ satisfaction with regard to Human Resource Management Practices in their organization will have the impact on the need and relevance of trade unions. HR plays a major role in the commitment of employees and their satisfaction.

IT and BPO employees do need a professional forum through which they can have a collective voice. HR needs to understand that they can work in sync with theses forums for the betterment of their employees.