How Pehechano helped Anita

-          Baljeet Ahluwalia

Anita was looking for a maid cum nanny who could look after her two children. One day a maid just turned up at her doorstep and said that the society guard had told her about Anita’s requirement. She looked neat and clean and well dressed. Anita simply hired her.

Things started going on smoothly in Anita’s household and her kids aged 1year and 3 years looked well fed and happy. Anita took a sigh of relief that she could now focus on her career and leave the household responsibilities to Kamla –the new maid. Even her neighborhood ladies were envious of Anita.

However, one day Anita came to know from one of her neighbors that the maid Kamla took both the kids out with her during the afternoon every day. Anita asked Kamla about this, but she flatly denied the fact. Then, Anita decided to take matters in her own hands. One day she quietly hid herself within the society compound and followed Kamla as she came out of the society with the two kids. To her horror Anita found that Kamla was using the two kids to beg at the traffic signal close to the society.

It was then that Anita realized the importance of checking the background of the household help that we hire. Later on investigation it was found that Kamla in fact was a crook who had stolen considerable amount of money from her previous employer and had hence been fired. It was then that Anita’s boss suggested that she should report this on Pehechano. Anita found that this method of reporting your domestic help and other personnel on Pehechano was a great way to ensure that you did not end up hiring any personnel who had exhibited questionable behavior while working with any other employer. She also made it a point to check the identity of her new maid cum nanny on Pehechano and hired one only when there were absolutely no red flags regarding her conduct.

What’s more, the process of Pehechano is quite user-friendly and simple as you simply need to upload the fingerprint, address and copy of ID proof on the Pehechano app. This will bring up the details of any employee who has been reported on Pehechano by another employer earlier. Anita is now assured that she has hired a nanny whose conduct in the past has been above reproach and hence she is at peace because her home and kids are in good hands.

Reducing risk of outsourced hires

Pehechano – An online platform to facilitate convergence of individual’s identity with a focus on safety for people utilizing their services.

Pehechano is NEITHER a background verification service NOR a job portal.

Then what is it?

It is a repository for biometric based individual identities with easy access to stakeholders, thus providing employment traceability.

When a delivery boy, service technician or a person who provides on-site services visits a household, especially where vulnerable people (elderly, women or children) reside, it is important that the residents are fully convinced about the identity of the individual(s) visiting them. There are numerous instances of heinous crimes committed by such contract employees on this helpless section of our community. There are also reports of misconducts carried out by escorts (school bus conductors, ayahs, domestic help, and security personnel) towards children thereby abusing the trust of their employers. Once an incident occurs, these people disappear and seek employment with a different identity at some other location, sometimes in the same city. The online platform enables sharing of identity and certain essential credentials between primary & secondary employers, and law enforcement agencies.

The following are the major stakeholders, covered under the platform:

•  Cab & School Bus Drivers
•  Security Personnel
• Housekeeping Staff
• Courier Boys & Delivery Staff
•  Onsite Healthcare Givers
• Sales personnel (Door to Door, Showroom, Retail Outlets)
• Bill Collectors & Cashiers
• Field Staff – Support & Service Technicians (AMC & Installation Technicians, Electricians, Plumbers, Delivery boys etc.)

The primary focus is on traceability of such employees in the event of disappearance following an incident. If there is a cause for suspicion, technology is embedded to trace and track movements. The platform also provides an alerting system for suspicious individuals.

The process enables primary employers or manpower supplying agencies providing security personnel and housekeeping staff to establishments, travel agencies offering charter services for cabs & buses, courier agencies employing personnel to pick up and deliver etc. to keep a tab on their employees and  by reducing attrition. (Absconding cases are flagged)

                                     

The secondary employers to benefit from this platform are corporates, apartment/housing complexes, schools & colleges requisitioning services from the above primary employers.

The platform helps genuine and scrupulous employees to establish their credibility and be above suspicion.

"The whole concept will facilitate our society in its efforts to become crime free”