Amidst the recent developments in the aviation industry, SpiceJet has introduced a new salary structure for its pilots. For the first time in the history of the aviation industry, Spicejet’s wingmen will now be receiving their payouts based on the fleet utilisation of the airline. This decision comes into effect on an immediate basis with the management having communicated to the pilots, that from April 1 to July 2020 – they would be paid only for the hours flown, at the rate of Rs 6,020 per hour. As reported by Moneycontrol, the official communication to the pilots states, that the payment structure will be…
Author: HRK News Bureau
The key to a successful business lies in not only focusing on the customers’ needs but also ensuring that the employees are happy and well taken care of. In its endeavour to be successful, in the true sense, House of Cheer has launched Happyness.me As the name suggests, this happiness-measurement tool helps measure the happiness quotient of corporates and their staff. The consulting division of House of Cheer will help companies reimagine the future of their business and growth strategy. Specifically, the aim is to help organisations create a happiness journey and with the help of the happiness tool, enable them to…
The state government of Jharkhand will launch an employment guarantee scheme for the urban unskilled workers, much like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Called Mukhyamantri SHRAMIK (Shahri Rozgar Manjuri for Kamgar) Yojna, the scheme will ensure 100 days of paid work for urban unskilled workers and provide unemployment allowance to those who do not find employment within 15 days. The scheme is presently awaiting the cabinet’s approval. Kerala is the only other state in the country, which has its own employment-guarantee scheme apart from Jharkhand. However, in Kerala there is no provision of unemployment allowance for…
In an attempt to fill the gap created by the migration of workers from the urban areas to their villages, the Skill Development Department of Maharashtra has set up a web portal. The objective is to help businesses who are looking for skilled or unskilled workers to find suitable workers from amongst the locals. The portal, called www.mahaswayam.gov.in, offers the latest information on jobs available in public and private sectors. Industries and businesses can also register on the portal and state their manpower needs. The idea is to facilitate the coming together of those establishments that are looking for workers…
According to the Himachal Pradesh bench of the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR), input tax credit (ITC) for GST cannot be claimed by any company on hiring vehicles to transport their staff to and from work, unless it is an obligatory service under law. The GST law was cited by AAR in response to an application filed by the Prasar Bharti Broadcasting Corporation (All India Radio), Shimla, seeking to find out whether ITC can be claimed on hiring cabs or taxis to pick and drop employees, including women and those with disabilities, at odd hours. The broadcasting service uses hired…
While mental health of employees had always been a hot topic of discussion, it is encouraging to see organisations making efforts to ensure that their employees’ mental health remains their top priority, especially during these uncertain times. Uncertainty leads to stress, anxiety, fear and depression. TATA Consultancy Services Limited has been conducting regular sessions during these challenging and uncertain times, for various employee segments to not just answer their queries and make them realise the importance of mental health, but to also let them know that help is at hand if they should ever require. Under its TCS Cares initiative, it aims to…
Amidst the uncertainties brought about by the pandemic, Pune had been in the news for the number of layoffs that happened in the IT companies it is home to. However, bringing some hope, multinational oil and gas company, British Petroleum (BP), has confirmed that it will be setting up its new centre in Pune, which will provide employment to over 2000 people. This new centre will also support digital innovation across BP, globally. With operations expected to begin by January 2021, the centre will provide business processing and advanced analytics capabilities, to support BP’s worldwide businesses. Considering that India is…
Workplace re-entry is a source of much anxiety for companies now considering the many rules and regulations that need to be in place to provide a safe and secure work environment for the employees. A company needs to be aware of who is coming into the office, when and for how long. To deal with this in a simple manner, IBM has announced Watson Works, a curated set of products driven by artificial intelligence (AI) models and applications to help companies navigate this phase with ease. Watson Works provides companies with a safer and highly effective return-to-workplace experience as the…
After coming in close contact with a mechanical engineer, who died of COVID-19 on June 17, several Northern Railway employees of the carriage and wagon department have tested positive for the virus. This prompted the Northern Railway authorities to start random throat swab testing of employees to further ensure their safety. The testing became even more crucial when five more employees, who were working in the carriage and wagon department of Ferozepur Railway Station tested positive after swab testing. Most of these affected employees had directly come in contact with employees of Ludhiana and Amritsar during their working hours. Moreover,…
Looks like hiring is slowly gaining momentum with businesses limping back to normalcy. The online fashion major, Myntra, has recently hired 5,000 employees across its supply chain and customer-care departments. This round of hiring is to facilitate the 12th edition of the End of Reason Sale (EORS) that is to last from June 19 to June 22. For the first time ever in Myntra’s history, the employees will be handling the entire EORS event digitally, from their homes, by connecting with each other through live video conferencing. It is estimated that during the End of Reason Sale, shoppers from across…
Around 82,000 employees of India’s 41 ordnance factories, plan to go on indefinite strike after the second week of July in opposition to the Government’s decision to corporatise the Ordnance Factories Board (OFB). A strike ballot called by the Bharatiya Pratiraksha Mazdoor Sangh (BPMS), All India Defence Employees’ Federation (AIDEF) and the Indian National Defence Workers’ Federation (INDWF), concluded on June 17, where workers voted in favour of an indefinite strike. However, the actual date of protest will only be announced in the second week of July owing to the situation with China, along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). …
Professionals today need to keep improving their skills to keep up with the changing times and stay relevant in a highly competitive job market. To help professionals in their attempt to succeed in the digital economy, global professional services firm, Genpact, has launched its role-based online learning platform, Adapt and Rise. As this platform also includes parts of Genpact’s highly successful continuous learning platform, Genome, interested professionals can now accelerate their professional learning process. Genome is the product of the combined effort and knowledge of Genpact’s over 90,000 strong workforce. By employing its in-house experts to organise content and information for…
The Centre will be announcing the Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) on June 20, to provide migrant workers with employment and a source of livelihood. The scheme will focus on districts, where the maximum number of migrants have returned from the cities, including Siddharth Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, East Champaran and Katihar in Bihar, Pali in Rajasthan and Ganjam in Odisha. The initiative is expected to help recover the rural economy and also help restore some sense of normalcy in the lives of the migrants who were deeply impacted by the lockdown and the resultant shut down of all economic…
Saudi Aramco, the Saudi Arabian multinational petroleum and natural gas company, has begun to downsize by slashing hundreds of jobs, starting June 2020. This does not come as a surprise, since oil companies have been employing stringent cost-cutting measures amidst the sharp fall in not just demand for oil, but also in the prices of crude oil. Most of the employees who will be rendered jobless are foreigners. The Saudi Arabian Oil Company has reduced capital spending for the year, and it is reported that 500 people have already been asked to leave, on the basis of performance. Apparently, the…
In February, HSBC had announced a job cut of 35,000. In 2019, Europe’s largest bank had reported a 33 per cent fall in pre-tax profit, to $13.35 billion after it took goodwill impairment of $7.3 billion. The write-down was related to its European investment banking and commercial banking businesses. However, during the lockdown, the London-headquartered bank had put the layoffs on hold. It realised that it would be difficult for the employees concerned to look for jobs during the worldwide lockdown. The Bank now wants to restart the retrenchment process. Noel Quinn, who was appointed interim group chief executive and…
Amidst protests against racial injustice, many companies are trying to bring out a meaningful change in their policies to protect Black employees, who have faced years of discrimination. Google has also gone ahead and done its bit by announcing its commitment to building sustainable equity for its Black+ community. Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google, has sent a note to the employees, underlying the several changes that the Company is planning. Google is working to improve Black+ representation at senior levels. It is committing to the goal of 30 per cent improvement in leadership representation from underrepresented groups, in the next five…
While companies worldwide are either laying off their staff or introducing pay cuts to survive the economic after-effects of the pandemic, Ecom Express is doing just the opposite. Amidst such uncertainties, the logistics solutions provider has revealed its plan to hire over 7,000 full-time employees in the next two months! The decision to hire more people was taken after the Company witnessed a surge in online shopping across cities, with people opting for doorstep deliveries post the pandemic. The intention to hire is also driven by the dire need to keep the supply chain running smoothly, and ensure safe and…
According to the directives issued by the Meghalaya Health and Family Welfare Department, employers who are bringing in skilled or highly skilled workers from outside the State, will have to bear the expenses of the quarantine facilities where they will be put up, till their test reports arrive. All workers coming from outside Meghalaya will be screened and tested for COVID-19 in line with the directives issued by the health department. They will be transported to the paid quarantine facilities by the employers, where they will stay put until they are cleared for work. The cost incurred for their quarantine…
American multinational telecommunications company, AT&T is considering laying off more than 3,400 technicians and clerks in the US. The American wireless carrier has shared its plan to cut jobs with its labour union, Communications Workers of America (CWA). All impacted employees will be given severance pay and health insurance coverage for up to six months. In addition to these job cuts, AT&T is also expected to close down more than 250 AT&T Mobility and Cricket Wireless stores. This will mean that about 1,300 retail employees will also lose their jobs. While the Company has said that the retail employees being…
Larsen & Toubro Infotech (LTI) has launched the LTI SafeRadius app to make sure that the health of the workforce remains protected as they return to working from office, in phases. The GDPR-compliant return-to-work app — which takes into account all government norms as well as guidelines issued by international health organisations — is aimed at ensuring employee well-being along with improved operational efficiency. Capable of offering valuable and intuitive operational risk analyses, the app can record, process, integrate and present data from various sources within and outside an organisation. LTI SafeRadius will help companies analyse information across locations on…
Amidst protests against racial injustice sparked by the death of George Floyd, many companies have retaliated making their stand clear on the issue and spoken out against discrimination. The sportswear giant Adidas’ employees from across the globe, have written to the top executives to put the Company’s chief human resources officer, Karen Parkin, through an investigation, to gauge whether she has been taking the right stand while addressing racial issues within the organisation. The letter sent on June 15, was signed by 83 employees from five of the Company’s offices in Germany, Australia, Panama and the US. Three of the Adidas top…
With travel brought to a halt by the coronavirus outbreak, globally, the tourism and hospitality sectors have suffered huge losses. With brands such as Marriott and Hyatt already having laid off a significant portion of their staff not long ago, it is now the turn of the Hilton Group to shrink its workforce. Hilton Worldwide Holdings has been forced to slash 2,100 jobs, that is 22 per cent of its corporate staff. Never before has the global hotel industry seen such challenging times. As Christopher Nassetta, CEO, Hilton Group, pointed out, this is the first time in over a century— that…
As per the latest edition of the LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index, which surveyed 2,903 professionals across India, March, April and May saw many companies embracing the work-from-home model to ensure business continuity. About 61 per cent of marketing professionals were confident that they could be as effective working remotely as in office. About 56 per cent of project management professionals and 54 per cent engineering professionals, also expressed confidence in the effectiveness of remote working. When it came to human resources, however, only 39 per cent professionals were confident about the effectiveness of remote working. Similarly, only 36 per cent…
American multinational company, Amazon, has turned to technology to ensure that its employees maintain social distancing at the workplace and are protected from the coronavirus. It has employed the ‘Distant Assistant’ — a new technology driven by machine learning (ML) and augmented reality (AR) — which uses depth sensors to provide visual cues to workers, reminding them to stay six feet away from each other. A camera tracks the employees’ movements, which are projected live on 50-inch screens placed within the premises. These screens are attached to the laptop and camera tracker. The employees who fail to comply with the…
The lockdown has cost yet another mass job loss. This time it’s at SoftBank-funded PaisaBazaar.com, where 1,500 employees have been shown the exit door. This accounts for almost 50 per cent of the company’s 3,000 members strong workforce. This downsizing has mostly affected employees from the operations and business acquisition departments. Apparently, as per media reports, PaisaBazaar, has been experiencing a fall of almost 90 per cent in the demand for new loans in few of its segments, since the lockdown. Over the past two months, the pandemic has largely affected loan demand in the digital lending marketplace. As a…
At a time when tech companies have pledged to fight against racial injustice in workplaces, it comes as a shock when two former Pinterest employees, both black women, come forward and share their experiences of facing racial discrimination during their tenure at the Company. Ifeoma Ozoma and Aerica Shimizu Banks, both of whom were working with Pinterest, raised their voices after the Company made a public statement about expressing solidarity with the Black Lives movement. The two worked on public policy and social impact at the Company before leaving Pinterest in late May. Referring to the statement as a ‘joke’, Ozoma…