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…
Author: HRK News Bureau
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…
The 125-day Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan has given employment to about 12,276 workers and generated about 10,66,246 man-days of work as on September 25, 2020. The scheme has benefitted migrant workers across Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan, who have received employment opportunities in various railway infrastructure projects in these states. The Railway Ministry has revealed that a sum of about Rs 2,190 crores has been released for these projects. A total amount of Rs 50,000 crores has been set aside for this employment generation programme. The initiative will cover construction and maintenance of approach roads for…
Taking forward its commitment to making the workplace more friendly and to uphold its D&I agenda, Google will set up a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Advisory Council. As the name suggests, the Council will work towards ensuring more equity, diversity and inclusion at the workplace. As part of these efforts, Google has introduced new measures, including making arbitration optional for employees who report issues or concerns. A sum of about $310 million will be invested on diversity, equity and inclusion programmes. With the help of the DIE advisory council, Google hopes to check and effectively respond to any issues…
Looks like the number of Indian tech experts and others who move to work in the US on H-1B visas will soon start dwindling. The US is all set to spend $150 million on training local people looking for jobs as well as students, to enable them to take up the middle and high-skilled jobs that otherwise go to H-1B visa holders, particular from India. The US Department of Labour (DOL) revealed that the H-1B One Workforce Grant Programme, will ensure that locals are ready for jobs in the primary sectors of the economy. This programme will not only upskill…
Charles Scharf, CEO, Wells Fargo, had, in a memo to the employees, commented that the talent pool in the corporate world in the US was rather limited when it came to Blacks. While the comment was made in June, it became public this week, inviting a lot of criticism on social media. Scharf then apologised for the same, saying that his words only reflected his personal unconscious bias, and did not indicate that the Company was in anyway lacking in terms of its diversity agenda. Having committed to hiring more minority candidates, the American multinational financial services company has not…
The Uttarakhand Assembly has passed the Bill to cut the salaries as well as the constituency and secretarial allowances of all the MLAs by 30 per cent. The approval of the legislators will not be sought for the cut. The income tax will be deducted from the salaries of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. Earlier this month, the Rajasthan government had also decided to cut seven days’ salary for the Chief Minister, cabinet ministers and the ministers of state every month. The MLAs will have a day’s pay deducted every month, whereas the All India State Service Officers will…
While the pandemic seemed to have a debilitating effect on the job market, the placement season at Delhi University’s Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) witnessed a different trend. Not only did the top-ranking commerce college not experience any noticeable dip in hiring, it actually witnessed a 32 per cent rise in the average package. Its median package in the 2019-20 year rose by 25 per cent compared to 2018-19. The average package offered stood at Rs 8.4 lakh, and highest package offered during the lockdown period was of Rs 17 lakh per annum, while Rs 31 lakh per annum…
With sales dipping drastically, Harley-Davidson has decided to wind up all manufacturing and sales operations in India. The American motorcycle brand’s recent restructuring plan, ‘The Rewire’, has forced it to quit the Indian market altogether, as it sold hardly 2,500 motorcycles last year. It had introduced low-priced entry-level models to attract more customers in markets, such as India. However, even though these sold well in the beginning, sales soon began dipping. The pandemic has only made the situation worse. While downsizing was expected, a complete shutdown of operations in India was not expected. Apparently, sales in the country had reached…
While the size of the gig economy may seem small compared to the traditional economy, it is rapidly growing. Given the fact that workers today, especially Millennials seek flexibility, the community of gig and platform workers is set to multiply, and very fast. The good news is that they will soon enjoy social security. Under the suggested labour reforms, the Central Government has given special consideration to those employed in the unorganised sector, by offering them life and disability cover; health and maternity benefits; old-age protection; education; housing and other benefits. Suitable welfare schemes will be created for the benefit…