China is considering gradually increasing its retirement age to address the country’s rapidly ageing population, according to a senior expert from China’s Ministry of Human Resources. Jin Weigang, president of the Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security Sciences, stated that China is looking at a “progressive, flexible and differentiated path” to increase the retirement age, which means it will be initially delayed by a few months and then increased. According to Jin, people nearing retirement age will only have to delay retirement for a few months, while young people may have to work for a few years longer but…
Author: HRK News Bureau
Demanding the reinstatement of the pension scheme (OPS), thousands of state government workers began an indefinite strike on Tuesday in different parts of Maharashtra. About 68,000 employees from various departments went on strike in Pune district, 80,000 workers in Kolhapur district, and in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, 7,000 workers also joined the agitation. The state government employees had previously protested in 2018, resulting in the formation of a panel. However, there was no progress on the report produced by the panel. The employees went on strike in 2022 as well. Reportedly, alongside the reinstatement of the OPS, workers have also raised their…
As the debate over how artificial intelligence (AI) will impact the workforce continues, one Japanese fintech company is taking a bold step by making it mandatory for new recruits to use the technology and even testing them on it. Tokyo-based LayerX Inc. is promoting the digitisation of business transactions and believes that AI, specifically the chatbot technology created by OpenAI Inc. and Notion AI, will help them achieve their goal. LayerX is confident that it is on the right side of the growing divide over the use of the technology, despite many Wall Street banks and major Japanese firms limiting…
Owing to uncertain macroeconomic conditions, Apple employees might see a delay in their bonus this year. As per a report by Bloomberg, the company is implementing various cost-cutting methods, where some of its corporate employees might see a delay in their bonuses and some may even see cut in their bonus amounts. Reportedly, Apple usually gives bonuses and promotions twice a year, which varies based on the company’s performance and division. These occasions generally take place in April and October. If the information is to be believed, then some departments may not even receive promotions next month. In addition to…
2022 was a volatile year for HR & workforce Coming in the aftermath of the Covid crisis, 2022 was a year of recovery. Suddenly the sluice gates seemed to have opened as everyone, big and small, across sectors wanted to cash in on the new hope and possibility. Euphoria outstripped realism. And there was misplaced and aggressive talent hiring. And when the reality of a possible global recession and the unending Ukraine War was felt, the winter frost hit start-up funding and global supply chain. Then there was another knee-jerk reaction of mass layoffs. These ups and downs in business…
Employees of Cadila Pharmaceuticals staged a protest demonstration outside the company’s Samba plant in Jammu & Kashmir on Monday, alleging that some workers had been unfairly dismissed. The company, however, claims that only one employee was fired due to poor performance and that he had incited eight other workers to conduct the protest. The workers demanded that the company rehire those who had been let go. Cadila Pharmaceuticals spokesperson stated that the company regularly evaluates employee performance, and sustained poor performance results in the right action being taken on a case-by-case basis. The spokesperson added that the terminated employee was…
Of the over 1.8 lakh jobs that have been axed in the US this year, about 63,216 jobs are from the tech industry. As per a report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the month of January 2023 saw companies in the US axing about 1,02,943 jobs, while February saw about 77,770 people being laid off. Of the total layoffs in February, 21,387, that is 28 per cent, were from the tech sector alone. In total, the tech sector let go as many as 63,216 jobs, as compared to the 187 jobs cut during the same period in 2022. The reason…
As part of a recent global layoff impacting 10,000 workers, Microsoft has reportedly let go of its entire ‘ethics and society’ team within the AI organisation. The move, according to the Platformer, means that Microsoft no longer has a specialised team responsible to make sure that the company’s AI principles are closely integrated with product design. Even as Microsoft is planning to actively expand its in-house generative AI and Bing AI, the company cuts down its workforce. With creating rules and principles for the company’s AI initiatives Microsoft is keeping up “active Office of Responsible AI” tasks. Some former employees…
Meta is cutting jobs yet again, after laying off 11,000 members of its workforce in November 2022. In the latest round of job cuts, 10,000 people will be let go. With this move, the workforce strength of Meta will be reduced to about 66,000. That means, about 25 per cent less than what it was in September 2022. The parent company of Facebook also intends to close 5,000 open roles for which hiring hadn’t taken place. The cuts will take place over the next few months, as per a post by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook. First, the technology divisions will…
Dyninno India, a part of the Dyninno Group of companies, has announced to double the number of employees in its information technology division, Dynatech, to 150 individuals. The IT division serves as the central hub for IT services for the entire Dyninno Group operating across different fields like finance, travel, and entertainment industries in 50 different markets. Dynatech oversees a range of responsibilities and duties ranging from product development, marketing, and design to technical support and maintenance. “We are building a team of tech professionals that will develop large-scale complex products to support the business objectives of the Dyninno Group.…
The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has been taking various measures to improve the pension benefits received by its subscribers. It recently introduced a new system for online submission of digital life certificates, which is expected to make the process more convenient for pensioners. The EPFO has also been taking steps to ensure that pensioners receive their pension on time, and has been urging them to update their personal details to avoid any delays. The EPFO has announced a renewed deadline of May 3 for employees who retired before September 1, 2014, and had exercised joint options with employers, but…
Sonia Coleman has been appointed as the senior executive-VP and Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) of The Walt Disney Company starting April 8. Coleman will walk in the shoes of Paul Richardson who is leaving the company after working there for more than 15 years. She will be reporting directly to Bob Iger, CEO, Disney. For Coleman, the CHRO role will involve leading and overseeing various aspects of Disney’s human resources strategy, such as global talent acquisition, organisational design and cultural development, diversity and inclusion, leadership development, compensation and benefits, employee education and development, HR operations and technology, and global…
Nearly 10,000 employees of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) have announced a strike starting from March 14, which will affect various services such as property tax collection, building plan sanctioning, and insecticide spraying. The workers are pressing for their demands, which include an increase in conveyance allowance, release of sixth and seventh pay commission arrears, and other facilities The strike is seen as a hurdle obstructing the preparations of the upcoming C20, a lead up to the G 20 summit on March 20-21. President of Rashtriya Nagpur Corporation Employees’ Association (INTUC), Surendra Tingne, claimed that all clerical and technical staff from…
Hyundai Motor India has signed a conditional agreement with General Motors to acquire its defunct manufacturing plant in Talegaon, located near Pune, Maharashtra. The deal, however, is subject to obtaining regulatory approvals from relevant government authorities and ensuring a settlement for the workers who were laid off when the plant shut down in 2020. General Motors ceased operations in India in 2017 after 21 years of rolling out Chevrolet cars in the country. Its exit was followed by another American automaker, Ford. While Ford’s plant in Sanand was bought by Tata Motors to manufacture electric vehicles last year, GM was…
Around 800 employees of Silicon Valley Bank in Bengaluru’s Manyata Embassy Business Park are facing uncertain times as the bank collapsed over the weekend due to a two-day long bank run. The bank was a crucial lender for startups globally and held huge deposits belonging to venture capitalists and startups. Its deposits rose to USD 189.20 billion in 2021 from USD 102 billion. The bank purchased over USD 80 billion in mortgage-backed securities with the deposits for its hold-to-maturity portfolio. However, as the US Federal Reserve kept hiking interest rates to bring down the rising inflation after the Covid-19 pandemic,…
Karnataka is facing an indefinite strike by the employees of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) and all five electricity supply companies in the state. The strike, which started on Thursday, was called by around 60,000 employees, including linesmen and engineers, who are seeking a wage revision. While the employee unions have promised that there will be no disruption to power supply, the strike will impact thousands of offices across the state, as no administrative work will be performed, including addressing consumer grievances. The electricity in Karnataka is generated by the Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL), transmitted by the…
2022 was a volatile year for HR & workforce It’s minimising to relegate 2022 to the year that was all about resignations and layoffs. The Indian media landscape shifted so much in 2022 that it’s unrecognisable from what it was even a year ago. As the industry players continued to adapt to post-pandemic behavioural trends, consolidation became more prominent than ever, customised viewing experiences took centre stage, and the consumption of live events saw a rampant revival to compensate for the pent-up demand of the past two years. Amidst all these transitions, as employers, we continued to build and seek…
On Monday, workers at airports in Bremen, Hamburg, and Berlin went on strike, resulting in cancelled flights and disrupting travel plans for around 45,000 passengers. The Verdi trade union called for the walkouts due to a pay dispute concerning compensation for working night shifts, weekends, and bank holidays. The airports’ management offered an increase of a total of 5 per cent in two stages and a one-time payment of EUR 2,500 (~ INR 22,000) per employee, which the unions rejected as insufficient to cover their expenses. The difficult pay negotiations for employees of Germany’s federal and municipal governments have caused…
A three-day strike has begun across England by junior doctors who are unhappy about their low pay and high stress levels leading to burnout. With the waiting list of patients growing longer, it is feared that staff may want to leave their jobs at the National Health Service (NHS). These doctors are required to put in extra hours as most of the time the hospitals are understaffed. While they should be putting in 40 hours a week, they end up spending 60 hours on most days. According to the British Medical Association (BMA), junior doctors have been taking a pay…
Will an 8th Pay Commission be set up to replace the 7th Pay Commission? The demand to replace the 7th Pay Commission rules with the 8th have been on for some time now, and the buzz is that this demand may be fulfilled next year. Usually, government staff witness a change of pay commission rules every decade. Therefore, it is now time for the government to begin working on the same in 2024. However, no official news or confirmation has been made in this regard yet. Earlier, there were reports that the 8th Pay Commission would be announced during the…
The staff of Air India had petitioned against the eviction notice issued to them to vacate the staff quarters. The employees had been told that if they failed to vacate the quarters, they would end up having double penalty rent and damages being deducted from their salary. However, the Bombay High Court (HC) has rejected the petition filed by the employees’ unions of Air India and has allowed the airline to go ahead with the eviction of its staff from the quarters at Kalina, in the suburbs of Mumbai, under the Public Premises Act . The order was given by…
Vodafone intends to reduce its workforce in Italy by approximately 1,000 jobs. The decision is part of a broader cost-saving initiative aimed at overhauling its operations by the telecommunication giant, reported Reuters. According to two union officials who spoke to Reuters, the information was revealed during an internal meeting held on Thursday between company representatives and unions in Italy. The report further reveals that the job cuts will occur primarily in customer care operations. Vodafone, like other telecommunication companies operating in Italy, has been struggling with a difficult market for several years. This market is characterised by intense price competition,…
A New York City based female writer, Kimberly Nguyen has disclosed how she applied for her own job on LinkedIn. After her current company posted a job listing on the career website that offered a higher salary, she reapplied for the same role. The news became the talk of the internet and went viral after Kimberly posted about it on her Twitter account on March 7. Nguyen applied for the same job she currently held in her company after realising that the company was offering a higher salary to potential new hires. In essence, she sought to secure the same…
Zupee, an online skill-based gaming platform, introduced a paid period leave policy for its female employees on March 13, 2023. The new policy allows for one day of leave per month, whether the employee is working from home or the office. The company says that this move is part of Zupee’s effort to combat the stigma surrounding menstruation and create a healthy and comfortable working environment for the company’s female workforce. According to the company, Zupee is the first online gaming platform that focuses on skills to introduce a paid leave policy. The new policy will take effect on April…
The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank has resulted in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) taking control of the bank. The FDIC has offered the bank’s employees the opportunity to continue working for the bank for 45 days and receive 1.5 times their salary during this period. This is likely a measure to retain key employees during the transition period as the FDIC takes control of the bank’s operations. Over the weekend, the FDIC will enrol workers and provide them with details about benefits, while healthcare information will be given by SVB Financial Group (SIVB.O), the former parent company. SVB…
Despite stating previously that he was finished with firing people from Twitter, Elon Musk has made it to the headlines again. Continuing with more firings and dismissals, Musk has terminated around 50 high-level managers and executives at the social media company in late February, reported iNews. Reportedly, Musk requested that top executives and managers at Twitter recommend the best members of their teams for promotion. However, once he received the list, Musk proceeded to dismiss those managers and replace them with the very same employees who had been recommended. Musk’s reasoning behind this decision is straightforward: the 50 top-level managers…