Tech giant, Amazon, plans to hire around 100,000 operations executives across 100 new fulfilment centres, delivery stations, sortation centres and other sites in the US and Canada. The new recruits will receive a minimum pay of $15 per hour and benefits from day one. They will enjoy sign-on bonuses of up to $1,000 in select cities, and access to training programmes such as career choice, which pre-pays 95 per cent of tuition fees for courses in high-demand fields. The Company also offers full-time employees industry-leading benefits, which include health, vision and dental insurance from day one, worth 401(k) with 50…
Author: HRK News Bureau
Kathrina Rath, who is currently senior vice president – human relations, at Continental Automotive Technologies, is all set to move to DB Schenker come December. Rath has been working with Continental for almost two decades. She will replace Thomas Schulz, who is leaving Schenker in October, at the end of his regular appointment period. Schulz stayed with DB Schenker for eight years. Jochen Thewes, CEO, DB Schenker, admitted that Schenker had “achieved many significant developments under the HR leadership of Thomas Schulz”, and that Rath can now step in and work to bring about further progress. Thewes shared that the…
Shri Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State (I/C) for Labour & Employment replied to questions in the Lok Sabha today, regarding the Government’s initiatives for job creation at the local level. The initiatives under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), Aatmanirbhar Bharat and Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rozgar Abhiyan (PMGKRA) are aimed at supporting migrant workers, who were rendered jobless during the lockdown. Aatmanirbhar Bharat, is a scheme that offers an economic package of Rs 20 lakh crore to facilitate creation of jobs for the youth across the country. Under PMGKY, Gangwar highlighted that the Government will provide food grains,…
The Uttar Pradesh Government is pondering over a proposal, which will change the way Group B and Group C employees are hired. As per the proposal, the Group B and Group C employees will be hired on contract for five years, post completion of which they will get a chance to be employed as permanent staff. However, they will have to undergo a rigorous performance appraisal process in order to do so. All contractual employees will have to obtain at least 60 per cent marks on different aspects during the five-year period. Only if they clear the tests every year…
About 650 employees from the 1000-strong workforce of GVK-Emergency Management and Research Institute (EMRI) have been served termination notices quite unexpectedly, on September 11. Apparently the ambulance service provider, which runs the Advanced Life Support (ALS) ‘108’ service in Uttar Pradesh, was incurring losses and is facing a severe financial crunch. It is reported that the service did not receive funds from the state government on time, and its repeated requests had gone unheeded. This has forced it to lay off about 500 drivers, four support staff, 400 emergency medical technicians (EMT), eight response officers as well as its call…
Ecom Express, the logistics solutions company, is preparing itself for an increase in workload in the upcoming festive season. It is expected to hire almost 30,000 people, from the metros as well as the tier 1 and tier 2 cities, to tackle the deluge of online orders it expects in the coming months. In the past few months, the Company has witnessed a surge in online orders, as customers resorted to ordering even their medicines and daily groceries online, amidst the pandemic. It had hired about 7,500 people to make its already 23,000 strong workforce stronger. Last month, its headcount…
With most organisations asking their staff to return to office, in phases, or instructing them to work from home until the end of 2020, or even till mid 2021, Tech Mahindra has gone ahead and left the decision to its employees. The Indian multinational technology company, taking into consideration the mental state of its employees amidst the uncertainty surrounding the economy, has given them the option to either work from home or return to work from office, whichever mode they are comfortable with. The Company has taken all necessary steps to make the workplace safe for the staff, in terms…
From April to August, the economy lost about 21 million salaried employees. As per the reports of the previous month, the recovery process had left out the formal sector and salaried jobs once lost were harder to get back. About 3.3 million jobs were lost in August alone and another 4.8 million in July, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) data. Job loss has spread to all sections of formal workers, including support staff, industrial workers and white-collar professionals. Throughout the country, salaried jobs came down to 65 million from 86 in the year of 2019-20. It…
Tech giant, Amazon, is holding a career day on September 16, which will witness a team of 1000 recruiters from the Company offering 20,000 career-coaching sessions free of charge. Amazon’s career day is open to everyone seeking a job in the US. The Company has 33,000 job openings currently, for corporate and tech-based roles, and is planning to share thousands of hourly jobs on its operations network soon. All new employees will be paid a minimum of $15 per hour along with 20 weeks of parental leave. Employees in corporate and tech-based roles will receive an average payout of $150,000,…
The Curacao International Trust Company (CITCO), also called the Citco Group of Companies, has appointed Prasad Kulkarni as the senior vice president. Kulkarni shared with HRKatha, that he took up the mantle recently. Coming on board with an experience of more than two decades across all HR functions, Kulkarni has worked with manufacturing, IT, ITeS and BFSI industries during this time. HR transformation and strategy, operations, shared services and HR technology and systems management are some of his core competencies. After completing his masters in personnel management from Savitri Bai Phule Pune University in 1995, he began his professional journey…
Employees of KPMG want to be compensated for the 20 per cent pay cuts that were imposed on them in April, without any reduction in working hours. The move, at the time, was made to protect the economic health of the Company, in anticipation of the adverse effects of the pandemic. However, the employees now feel that the revenue of the firm was not as badly hit as was expected, and that it is only fair that the staff be compensated for the salary they lost. The demand came close on the heels of Deloitte, another of the Big Four,…
Microsoft and Nasscom Future Skills have collaborated to roll out an initiative that will equip about 10 lakh students with skills in artificial intelligence (AI), by next year. The programme, scheduled to begin on September 21, is called ‘AI Classroom Series’ and comprises three modules, covering the fundamentals of data science, machine learning models on Azure and cognitive services required to build intelligent solutions. A part of Microsoft’s global skilling programme, this partnership with the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) will see training being imparted via online classes, which will comprise live demos, hands-on workshops and assignments…
Apple has designed masks for its corporate and retail employees to safeguard them and help contain the spread of the coronavirus. While the Apple Face Mask is an in-house creation, the totally transparent ClearMask is outsourced. The Apple Face Mask with three layers for efficient filtering, was developed by the Company’s engineering and industrial design teams. It is washable and can be reused at least five times. These unique masks have large coverings for the user’s nose and chin, with strings that go around the ears. A result of painstaking research and trials, these masks will be made available to…
Spinny, the full-stack online platform for sales and purchase of used cars, has gone ahead and introduced friendlier human resource (HR) policies for its employees. Not only will its women staff members be able to avail 12 days of menstrual leave in a year, those adopting a child will receive financial help of up to Rs 35,000. That is not all, except for those involved in field work, Spinny has allowed its employees to work from home till December 31, 2020. Some of these policies have probably never before been offered in the auto space in the country. About 20…
Maharashtra government’s agro tourism policy is aimed at improving rural employment , especially for women and youth. The policy will also give the required boost to folk and traditional arts, as it will allow tourists to experience rural environs up close. The policy will work towards attracting tourists who are looking for a “rustic outdoors” experience. It will give them a chance to learn how farms work and indulge in fruit picking and other local activities, and also get a taste of all “local flavours”. Under the policy, not just individual farmers and cooperative societies, but even colleges and universities…
Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ conferred the CBSE Teachers Award on 38 teachers, principals, school counsellors and vice principals of CBSE-affiliated schools in an online felicitation ceremony in New Delhi, on September 9. The recipients include primary, middle-level, language, science, social science, physical education, mathematics, economics, IT and fine arts teachers. These awards — for the year 2019-20 — recognise the teachers and principals for their dedication, innovation and invaluable contribution towards improving the school education system. Each award comprises a merit certificate, a shawl and a cash reward of Rs 50,000. The selection process takes place online…
As Indian organisations are beginning to re-open, albeit in phases, it is time to address employee concerns. Some employees are in fear of returning to offices due to safety reasons. Nearly three out of four Indian employees, that is 72 per cent, currently working from home due to COVID-19, do not want to risk returning to their workplace due to concerns around commuting safely to work. According to a survey by Kronos Incorporated, conducted in conjunction with Workplace Intelligence, 72 per cent of Indian employees mark ‘safe commute to work and overall workplace sanitation and cleanliness’, whereas 42 per cent…
Around 4,800 employees of Bharat Petroleum (BPCL) were on a two day strike to protest against the government’s decision to privatise and the management’s actions to hasten the privatisation of the entity. Around 15 employee unions of the total 18 participated in the survey. Out of the 18 unions in BPCL, members of 15 went on strike. BPCL is India’s second largest fuel retailer and third biggest oil refiner and has a total of 5,400 employees. The strikes were held at its refineries in Mumbai and Kochi. The LPG and marketing depots were also closed on Monday and Tuesday. According…
To the existing list of 112 castes in the Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Telangana government has approved the inclusion of 17 new castes, following the recommendations of the state’s Backward Classes Commission. The castes under the OBC list are divided into A, B, C and D groups, based on their backwardness, and enjoy a total of 25 per cent reservation in education and employment. Now, as per the state cabinet’s decision on September 7, out of the 17 new castes, 13 will be included in Group A of the OBC list, while four will be included in the Group…
The petitioner, who had applied for the post of cabin crew at Air India’s office in Delhi, in the ‘female category’, in 2017, had undergone a successful sexual reassignment surgery in 2014. However, she claims that despite performing well in all the tests and group discussion, she failed to be shortlisted. Her argument is that she was not given the job because she was a transgender and Air India was only looking at hiring women for the post. She had approached the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, but her grievance was not addressed and Air India…
The State Bank of India (SBI) on September 7 announced that it is planning to hire 14,000 employees during the current year and that the VRS scheme was not a part of cost cutting. Infact, the scheme was meant for employees who expressed the desire for strategic shifts in their employment, either due to professional growth limitations, mobility issues, physical health conditions or family situations. The hiring decision makes it quite evident that the Bank is planning to expand its operations and is in need of more people, hence the recruitment. Earlier, the PSU bank had rolled out a voluntary retirement scheme…
Chief minister Shivraj Singh has revealed that the Madhya Pradesh government intends to ensure that 75 per cent of the jobs in mines and factories in the state goes to local youths. Industries will be able to enjoy state benefits only if they hire 75 per cent locals. This will require certain rules pertaining to minor minerals and district mineral foundation, to be amended. Henceforth, lessess of minor minerals will have to offer 75 per cent of the jobs to bona fide residents of MP. In other words, lease-holders of minor mineral mines will have to mandatorily set aside 75…
Meenakshi Priyam has joined udaan.com— a B2B trade platform, created specifically for small & medium businesses in India — as group CHRO. She has moved from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the pharmaceutical major, where she was CHRO for India and global HR head for classic and established products (CEP). Priyam had spent just over three years at GSK, where she initially headed HR for India and South Asia for almost two years before being elevated to CHRO India & global HR head CEP in May last year. Before joining GSK, Priyam had served as head HR – global product strategy & commercialisation…
It seems that as we progress into the future, more people are becoming accustomed to the new way of working and would want to retain some aspects of their current work-life post COVID as well. Almost 90 per cent of the workers in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, are against returning to the ‘old normal’ way of work. It can be gathered that few aspects of the new normal have been greatly beneficial for employees. Around 59 per cent want to see flexible working hours introduced permanently in the future as well. Another 58 per cent would…
Volkswagen in Germany has claimed that it sees no need to shift to a four-day work week in order to counter the effect of the pandemic on the jobs market. The clarification was issued by the Company’s labour chief, in response to suggestions by the largest labour union in Germany, IG Metall. On August 15, the trade union had proposed that the Company should consider negotiating for a four-day work week in order to secure the jobs for all employees. The growing shift towards electric cars, which require fewer workers and are far easier to build than traditional vehicles, also…
Hospitality firm, OYO India, said on the company blog that it is offering its employees, who are on leave with limited benefits, the option to voluntarily separate or extend the leave for another six months. An e-mail to this effect was also sent to the employees. In an address to the employees on Leave with Limited Benefits (LwLB), Rohit Kapoor, CEO, OYO India and South Asia, said, “We know it is challenging to hold you back due to a situation that neither you nor we can control or wish away.” “You can either choose to opt for the voluntary separation…