Rajasthan now has six solar parks in Bikaner and Jodhpur, spread across 2,500 acres. Successfully set up by Rays Experts, Indian solar EPC and park developing company, at a cost of about 3,000 crore, these solar parks are a source of employment and business opportunities. Almost 2,000 people now have a source of livelihood, and an additional 600 will be hired in the coming months to help maintain the parks and expand their capacity. With a combined power of 600 MW, these parks will provide over four lakh houses with renewable energy. In addition, there will be improved business productivity…
Author: HRK News Bureau
Amidst acute shortage of medical and support staff, the faculty in all government medical college hospitals across Kerala have been agitating against the suspension of a COVID nodal officer and two nurses, on charges of lack of inadequate care given to an elderly patient. The medical fraternity maintains that it is the lack of adequate staff and helping hands that has led to such a situation and that the nodal officers cannot be blamed or accused of negligence. The state government has been criticised for demotivating health-care staff who have been working relentlessly through these troubled times, risking exposure and…
The Government of Australia is planning to spend an additional A$7.5 billion (US$5.4 billion) on infrastructure projects, in an attempt to create more jobs and help the country recover from the ongoing economic slump. The country plans to spend a total of A$11.3 billion on building roads, railways and bridges, which is expected to create about 30,000 jobs, both direct and indirect. In August, the overall unemployment rate dropped to 6.8 per cent, and the rate of unemployment for the15 to 24 age bracket was about 20 per cent. The Australian government will be setting aside A$1.2 billion in wage…
Henceforth, as per the Industrial Relations Code, no employee or workers from an industrial establishment can go on strike without giving a 60-day notice of the strike to the employer. Nobody can go on strike within 14 days of giving such a notice or before the expiry of the date of strike specified in any such notice. A strike cannot be called if conciliation proceedings happen to be pending before a conciliation officer, nor can it be called within seven days of the conclusion of such proceedings, or if such proceedings are pending before a tribunal, or if aribitration proceedings…
Beijing-based Chinese internet technology company, ByteDance, has announced cash bonuses to all its eligible staff, which is good news for its 2,000 strong workforce in India. All its full-time employees in India, who have worked for at least 26 days in the July-August period will be receiving bonuses, equivalent to 50 per cent of their base salary in August. The cash bonus runs into lakhs for some mid-senior to senior staff members. Even though ByteDance’s apps, TikTok and Helo, were banned in India in June, ByteDance did not impose any paycuts or slash any jobs. In fact, the Company even…
With Gandhi Jayanti falling on a Friday this year, most employees were looking forward to a long weekend. However, some companies added an extra day off making it a four-day long relaxing weekend for their remote workers. Having spent over six months working from home, most employees have been yearning for time off. With remote working have blurred and almost erased the boundaries between personal and professional life, organisations have realised that their employees were stressed out, some even burned out. While employees at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) have been allowed to take today, October 5, off, in addition to the three-day…
The Government of Uttar Pradesh is thinking of setting up an employment commission to guarantee a job to at least one member of each family in the urban and semi-urban areas. This commission will be a permanent statutory / regulatory body with the deputy chief minister as the chairman. An official of the rank of chief secretary will be the executive head or employment commissioner of this body. Following the lockdown, about 32.4 lakh migrant workers had returned to their native villages in Uttar Pradesh. At the time, the state government had established a temporary commission to map the skills…
We have been misled into believing that employees fear artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. The truth is that they willing to welcome it and are quite eager to embrace it. A study by O.C. Tanner reveals that whatever fear employees experience is centred around how the organisation implements new tools or technology. That means, it will be ideal for organisations to weigh the effect technology will have on employee experience and work culture. A significant 65 per cent of employees are optimistic about introduction of new technology, whereas 32 per cent organisations are culturally fit and ready to embrace…
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Mahindra Group, its employees pledged to contribute 750,000 hours of voluntary community service. The campaign called ‘My Seva’ encourages employees to spend some time performing acts of kindness throughout the year, and share their experiences on social media. The campaign will run alongside the Employee Social Options (ESOPs) volunteering programme. The ESOPs programme encourages employees to volunteer for various CSR projects. Year on year, the Mahindra Group employees have contributed over 3.3 million person-hours cumulatively for programmes aimed at helping the disadvantaged communities. The Group is launching a new video film, as part…
FirstMeridian, the HR platform, has announced 100 per cent acquisition of technology company, CBSI India. The information technology (IT) staffing business and its employees will now operate as part of the FirstMeridian Group. Over the past 15 years, CBSI India has enabled clients across industries find the right talent, both contractual and permanent. Formerly called Synova, CBSI was founded by Raj Vattikuti in 2004, who was the founder of the Altimetrik Group (US) and Covansys Corp, which was later acquired by CSC in 2007. By acquiring CBSI, Sudhakar Balakrishnan, Group CEO, FirstMeridian feels that the Company’s staffing solutions can now…
Abhishek Sen, former VP, CHRO and head, consumer experience, PR and corporate services at Myntra, has joined Indian fintech company, Zeta, as its chief operating officer. In this new role, Sen will be COO for Zeta, Flock and Radix. He will also be part of the management team leading charters covering HR and business operations, including real estate-workplace, procurement and IT operations. An alumnus of XLRI, Jamshedpur, Sen was heading several portfolios at Myntra and Jabong, before moving to Zeta. He was leading human resources, consumer experience and contact centre, as well as public relations. Before joining Myntra, Sen had…
Approximately 28,000 employees or ‘cast members’ as they are called, working at Walt Disney’s theme parks in the US will be laid off. The part-time workers who make up about 67 per cent of the workforce, will be most impacted. These are workers who are paid by the hour. The layoffs are a result of the extreme restrictions placed by California amidst the ongoing pandemic, due to which it was difficult to reopen Disneyland. Thousands of employees at its Florida and California resorts will be rendered jobless. These parks had about 110,000 employees before the pandemic. Ever since March, thousands…
Royal Dutch Shell is set to slash about 7,000 to 9,000 jobs by 2022, that is more than 10 per cent of its workforce, amidst the huge dip in demand for oil and gas. Of these, about 1,500 have agreed to take voluntary redundancy this year. The Company is laying off as part of cost-cutting measures and its plan to shift to low-carbon energy. The move is expected to save the British-Dutch multinational oil and gas company, which has a workforce strength of about 83,000, at least $2 billion annually. Ever since the pandemic, the Company, which has a 6,000-strong…
In a bid to ensure that Unlock 5 goes smooth and safety is ensured for everyone, the Centre has issued Safe Workplace Guidelines for Industry and Establishment. These guidelines were released by Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and Labour Minister Santosh Kumar Gangwar jointly and were formulated in consultation with Dr VK Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog. The guidelines have been compiled and presented in the form of a ready reckoner for employers and workers, and can be referred to while trying to identify risk levels of Covid-19 at individual workplace settings and to devise adequate control measures. It comprises guidelines…
As part of its Global Diversity & Inclusion Strategy 2030, ABB is working to double the percentage of women managers across its offices, globally, in the next ten years. Presently, 12.5 per cent of senior manager roles are occupied by women at ABB. However, the global technology company aims to double this figure to 25 per cent, as part of its diversity and inclusion (D&I) agenda. Committing to encourage and promote inclusion and equality in terms of diversity, gender, abilities, generations, ethnicity and LGBTQ+, ABB will provide its employees with training on inclusive leadership and also offer programmes on development,…
French multinational information technology company, Capgemini, has rolled out its seventh employee stock ownership plan (ESOP). The last ESOP was offered in 2019, and 98 per cent of its employees were eligible to subscribe. This year, 96 per cent employees will be eligible, including all its 1.2 lakh employees in India. Only about four per cent of the CApgemini workforce will be deprived of participating, only because of the legalities and tax regulations operative in their locations. While the subscription price of the new shares, in Euros, will be set on November 5, the entire process will be completed on…
Indian life insurance firm, Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance, has rolled out additional Group COVID Care Policy for its designate employees for their wellbeing and safety. With most employees in the insurance space having to meet and interact with customers regularly, there is increased risk of contracting the virus. The new policy will not only provide the required motivation to the employees, but also help them to meet any emergency medical expenses that may during these hard times. The policy can be used whenever the employees test positive and require medical attention, treatment or hospitalisation. This additional…
Institute of Chartered Accounts of India (ICAI), which usually holds two campus placement sessions annually, was able to hold just one this year, due to the pandemic. However, it witnessed 37 per cent more offers being made this year, compared to the session held last year. About 2,923 job offers were made in total, with an average salary of Rs 8.91 lakh being offered to the newly qualified chartered accountants (CAs). The placement session saw participation from about 133 companies, from the banking, BPO, information technology and financial services space, and also chartered accountancy firms. Last year, the August-September placement…
With the festival season round the corner, e-commerce companies are expanding their workforce in anticipation of increase in business and demand in e-shopping. Not only are companies, such as Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra and Snapdeal expected to hire more people, even third-party logistics companies are gearing up to improve their capacity to deliver, by recruiting more delivery personnel, as well as warehouse staff and also spending on infrastructure. Therefore, about three lakh permanent and seasonal jobs are expected to be created in the coming weeks. With the pandemic forcing people to shop online, the number of e-commerce shipments in India has…
Hawai Karmachari Sena, one of the workers’ unions at the Mumbai Airport, has threatened to go on strike if its demands for pending salaries are not met. The Union has given a notice to the Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) stating that if the workers are not paid their pending salaries along with interest and risk allowance, within two weeks, they will go on strike. The members of the Hawai Karmachari Sena comprise aerobridge operators, electrical/lighting maintenance workers and cargo drivers. The Union has said that while the permanent staff have not received salaries for two months, the contractual employees haven’t…
Steve Correa’s latest book, The Indian Boss at Work, is available online for those seeking to journey into the kaleidoscope of Indian business and explore the ‘context and forces’ and worldview of Indian leaders. Simply put, it is about discovering Indian-ness and the Indian leader. From winning traits and cultural influences, to leadership, this well-researched yet lucidly written book unravels the various secrets to building successful companies, based on generational learnings, attitudes and capabilities. Sharing the inspiration behind the book with HRKatha, Correa says, “This book has been an idea for a long time. Back in November 2011, at a…
About four weeks ago, Accenture had decided to lay off about five per cent of its global workforce, which means about 10,000 employees in India. It has decided to offer the affected employees, supposedly low performers, a seven-month severance package. While the usual practice for companies is to offer a severance package of up to three months, or a month’s salary for every year of their tenure, Accenture is offering a significantly high payout, which includes salary for three months in lieu of the notice period, as well as four months’ salary for those opting to resign voluntarily. Last month,…
With effect from January 2021, Mondelez India’s group mediclaim policy will cover live-in partners of its employees, as well as the adopted/dependent children of the domestic partners. For the Company that has been around in the country for about 70 years and is credited with introducing India to Cadbury Dairy Milk and Bournvita, this is a huge step towards strengthening its diversity and inclusion agenda. Earlier this year, the Company had tweaked its mediclaim policy, shifting to a family floater model, to include same-sex partners, in an attempt to ensure a higher level of equality and diversity within the organisation.…
Google Meet, the video-conferencing app that most organisations and employees have been relying on for their meetings during the ongoing pandemic and resultant work-from-home situation, will no longer allow unlimited video calls for free. With the free extension, which ends on September 30, users were able to make unlimited calls as long as they had a Google account. However, next month onwards, free calls will not be able to go beyond an hour. The advanced features, which were available free for G Suite and G Suite for Education clients, will now be available only for G Suite’s Enterprise customers after…
More than 13,000 teachers of the North and East Delhi Municipal Corporations are threatening to go on indefinite strike to protest against the non-payment of salaries. While the teachers of the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) have not received their wages since June, those of East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC) have not been paid since July 2020. For the past 13 days, it is not just the teachers, but also the nurses, sanitation workers and parademics of the Kasturba Hospital run by the NDMC who have been protesting against non-payment of salaries. Failing the immediate payment of their salaries, the…
CMS Info Systems is gearing to expand its workforce by 1,000 over the next two months, and may be even more in the next financial year. Having signed up with many organisations, such as Mahindra Finance, L&T Finance and Hero FinCorp, for cash and cheque collections, CMS has a network of over 115,000 ATMs and retail outlets across almost 94 per cent of districts in the country. With CMS set to expand into cash collections for its partner banks, microfinance companies and non-banking financial firms, the new hires, who will mainly be employed as collection agents, will be offered a…