A lot has been said about the safety and security of women employees. And a lot many news has been published about their harassment while returning from work. While many organizations are curating a path for ways to help women in difficult situations, NXP India, a company which deals with secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications has taken the first step to ensure security and safety of their women employees. 

The company has provided a safety wearable device called ‘SAFER’ to female employees. The device, which is actually a pendant was handed over to 90 women employees who usually work later after 7 pm for various critical projects. The aim of this initiative is to ensure women feel safe at work and on their way home.

Embedded with a tracking device, 'SAFER' pendant can be used as a necklace or simply secured to a keychain that is programmed to trigger an alarm and send signals to pre-identified phone numbers in case of an emergency. An SOS alert will be sent to assigned guardians on double tapping the device. Users can also share their live location. An interesting feature is that a guardian doesn’t need to have a smartphone. In that case, a simple text-based address giving the SAFER user’s location is sent to the number. If a guardian does have a smartphone, they can see the location on a map or even track the movements of the SAFER user in real-time after alert is generated. The app also lets you find the nearest hospital and police station, so it makes sense to have in unfamiliar places.

This is the first phase of the initiative, in the second phase the pendent would be distributed to all employees of the organization.

At a time when more and more women spend a considerable time outside their homes, safety becomes a pertinent concern. At NXP, we are focused on ensuring that our female employees have access to all the necessary support that they might need. And with such initiatives, we look forward to help professionals balance personal and professional commitments while leading healthy, safe and purposeful lives. At NXP, we value and promote diversity at workplace and we want our female employees to have ample of opportunities to show case their skills and calibre without being affected about security," said Sanjay Gupta, Vice President and India Country Manager, NXP India.

NXP offers its female employees a formal framework for flexible work options such as remote work, flexi-time, and choices that help them balance their personal and professional commitments. The enhancement of the paid maternity leave policy to 26 weeks even before initiation of the changes in the constitutional requirements in India, is one of the examples. Further, while using a company cab, it is mandatory that a male colleague is there in the cab along the female during normal working hour shift and, female employees have to be dropped first. Also, after 7 pm, females can opt for special office cab service where office guards would accompany them in the cabs.  Women safety and security has always been a priority at NXP. From time to time the company conducts workshop specially for women be it on health or personal development.

As the world leader in secure connectivity solutions for embedded applications, NXP is driving innovation in the secure connected vehicle, end-to-end security & privacy and smart connected solutions markets. Built on more than 60 years of combined experience and expertise, the company has 31,000 employees in more than 33 countries and posted revenue of $9.5 billion in 2016.