Leading corporations say that the safety and wellbeing of their employees is the first priority today as the pandemic is growing and disrupting business everywhere. Harshvendra Soin, CPO, TechMahindra, says, “We are e-connected with our employees at various levels. For us, being aware of the well-being of our employees is the first step of communication, followed by work.” As communication is the key, Soin makes it a point to send out personal messages and videos to his employees on a daily basis. Organisations have come up with many novel ideas, such as arranging to have a doctor on call all…
Author: HRK News Bureau
The Indian region of Reckitt Benckiser (RB) has outperformed other regions in terms of achieving gender pay gap. RB India has achieved a mean gender pay gap of -56 per cent and the median gender pay gap is -138 per cent. Compare this to other regions – in the US, and the UK, the mean figures are 2 per cent and 6.8 per cent and the median figures are -9.6 per cent and -3.8 per cent, respectively. In Mexico, the corresponding figures are 4.8 per cent and -32 per cent, respectively. However, the China region needs to catch up fast…
LinkedIn will allow free job postings till June 30, to help fill critical positions in the healthcare, essentials delivery and non-profit disaster relief space. Considering the ongoing crisis and the need for people in the healthcare space, supermarkets, warehousing and freight delivery, as well as entities involved in disaster relief, the professional networking platform will be carrying job postings free of cost for the next three months. This will ensure that the right people can be found and hired, to play the roles critical to the control of this outbreak. At a time when there is dearth of people in…
Having laid off its expat pilots recently and imposed pay cuts following the dip in business in the aviation sector due to the pandemic-like situation worldwide, GoAir has now put into place other cost-cutting measures. It had already asked its employees to go on leave without pay on a rotational basis. Vinay Dube, CEO, GoAir, conveyed to the employees on April 1 that a part of their March salary has been deferred to April. He informed them that those employees in Grade D and below have been paid their total salary, without any deductions. However, the remaining staff will have…
A day after the Telangana government announced a pay cut for government employees, two other states have joined the list and announced the deferment of salary payment of government staff. In view of the economic impact caused due to lockdown, and expenditures incurred to control COVID-19, the Odisha government on March 31 issued an order to defer salaries of the chief minister, ministers and All India Service officers as part of austerity measures. As per the official order, salaries of chief minister, MLAs, chairpersons of all state-run corporations and elected representatives of all local bodies will be reduced by 70…
The investment banking and financial services provider has allowed its staff to avail the leave to take care of sick family members or friends, or for any personal reason. Goldman Sachs, announced a special paid leave of 10 days for all its employees. The announcement was made in a memo sent out by Bentley de Breyer, the global head of human capital management, this week. The investment banking and financial services organisation has allowed its employees to use these paid leaves for any personal reason, including taking care of sick family members or friends, looking after their children or dealing…
National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has appointed Dilip Kumar Patel as the director, human resources on April 1, 2020. Patel is a human resource professional with more than three decades of experience in both line functions and HR. He began his career by gaining experience in mechanical maintenance and CHP operation at the Employee Development Centre in Korba, Chhattisgarh. After that, he changed his career path and moved into core HR functions at NTPC, in 1997. At Chhattisgarh, he looked after the various aspects of the HR function at the Korba centre. He subsequently moved on to playing more prominent…
US Tech Workers, an American body representing the technology workers of the country, has written to President Donald Trump to suspend H-1B visas for the year. Keeping in mind the coronavirus outbreak and the havoc it has caused in the country, the body has urged the President to suspend the H-2B visas too for the year. While the H1-B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows organisations in the US to employ workers from other countries— especially in jobs where special technical or theoretical expertise is required— the H-2B visa is given to guest workers from foreign countries, mostly Latin…
State Bank of India (SBI) has issued a circular to its staff informing them that a day’s salary and encashment of a day’s privilege leave (PL) will be deducted from their April salaries, as contribution to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM CARES) Fund, to be used to battle the coronavirus outbreak. The Bank hopes to contribute Rs 100 crore to the Fund if its 2,56,000 strong workforce contributes as per the circular.. Those members of the staff who wish to opt out of this initiative will have to inform their managers before April 7.…
The Indian Staffing Federation, the apex body for India’s fast-growing flexi-staffing space has appointed Lohit Bhatia and Farhan Azmi as the elected president and vice-president, respectively. Bhatia and Azmi will be taking the helm for the next two years. Bhatia is the president of workforce management at Quess Corp and Azmi is the CMD at Futurz Staffing. They will be taking over from outgoing president, Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder and EVP, Teamlease and outgoing vice-president R.P. Yadav, CMD, Genius Consultants. Bhatia, commenting on his new role, says, “The current positive regulatory environment has accelerated India’s shift from an informal to a…
US-based BPO firm, First Credit Services, has laid off 80 of its employees who were working out of its Thane office in Mumbai. This comes close on the heels of the Centre and state governments in India requesting public and private organisations to not terminate employees in these turbulent times. The Company has released a statement saying that its decision to terminate employees is based on the situation in the US and has nothing to do with the ongoing situation in India. Moreover, the firm’s major work was to support the fitness industry in the US and since the entire…
In view of the economic impact of the coronavirus lockdown, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar announced on March 31, that salaries of ministers, the chief minister and other elected representatives, as well as government officials in the State for March will be slashed by upto 60 per cent. A Government Resolution (GR) issued by the finance department said the salary for March, to be disbursed in April, will be paid in “two instalments” and the balance will be paid later when the situation improves. The March salaries for all elected representatives, including the chief minister, ministers…
According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), over 50 per cent of the tourism and hospitality industry may be rendered sick with about 20 million losing their jobs, if the industry does not recover by October this year. It is reported that, the National Sample Survey (NSS) and Periodic Labour Force Surveys (PLFS) estimate that the coronavirus outbreak has put about 136 million non-agricultural jobs at risk. Casual labourers, daily-wage earners, people employed by non-registered nano businesses, and others who work without any formal contracts are most likely to be rendered jobless. Even the self-employed are at risk. The…
Faced with acute shortage of labour, e-commerce firms are struggling with timely deliveries. Online grocers and pharmacies are on a hiring spree. They are in need of delivery personnel and riders, and are trying to recruit staff from restaurants, who are presently jobless. According to Releski Jobs, an online portal that connects job seekers with employers in the hospitality and retail space, the big names amongst the delivery companies in the country desperately require experienced riders. Opportunity awaits about 800 riders who will be paid Rs 50 per delivery, and about 500 pickers who will be paid a minimum of…
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had declared during the one-day concluding budget session on March 25, that all health, sanitation, police and media personnel will be recognised as ‘COVID Warriors’ and be given life insurance of Rs 4 lakh by the state government, for their role in the fight against the deadly virus. The life insurance cover will be for a period of a year and will cost the exchequer Rs 17.02 crore. A communique from the chief minister’s office said that the amount will be made available through the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. “To laud the efforts of…
At the time of lockdown and with the appraisal season around the corner, employees can heave a sigh of relief as the Central government has extended the dates for initiation and completion of its employees’ annual performance appraisal reports (APARs) due to the coronavirus pandemic. On March 30, the Personnel Ministry, issued an order stating the revised target date for completion of APARs for Group A, B and C officers of the central civil services. As per the order, blank APAR forms should be distributed by May 30, 2020 and employees should submit the appraisal forms to their reporting managers,…
As the country is grappling with severe disruption in every sector, the impact is huge in states, such as Telangana, owing to excessive financial burden. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, in a meeting held on March 30, announced major salary cuts, up to 75 per cent, for all the government employees, which also includes him and his cabinet ministers. The salaries of the Chief Minister, the cabinet ministers, MLAs and MLCs will be reduced by 75 per cent. While the All India Service Officers will get a 60 per cent cut in their salaries. Along with other government employees, pension…
The Union of IT and ITES Employees (UNITE) has sought the fulfilment of certain demands by the state governments and the Centre. The first one was that all IT and ITES employees working for MNCs or MSMEs, should be allowed to work from home. Following this, most organisations had made working from office voluntary. Now, the Union wants that the work hours of the employees be reduced to six during the lockdown period, and that employees should not be expected to maintain the same productivity level as during regular office routine/hours. Based on the experience of the past few days,…
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a $130 billion JobKeeper payment plan for those affected by the pandemic. The plan will provide wage subsidy to around six million workers, who will be paid a flat $1,500 per fortnight through their employers. The scheme is expected to bring some relief during these troubled times and will help the citizens of the country retain their jobs. With more than 4,200 positive cases of COVID-19 in the country and 18 deaths, the country has been battling the outbreak for some time. The scheme will provide 70 per cent of the country’s median…
The current pandemic has threatened to disrupt businesses and organisations are worried about continuity and timely payment of salaries. This will particularly affect the startups in India, as they will struggle with delays in project deadlines, and business costs. The incoming problems that these small and medium enterprises may possibly face in the upcoming months are that of liquidity crunch, adherence to deadlines, such as tax payment/filing, and payment of monthly salaries to employees. To counter the above problems, the IT industry body, NASSCOM, has suggested few relief measures that the Government can take to help these organisations tide over…
The Industries and Commerce department of Haryana on Saturday issued an advisory, urging all the private and public enterprises not to sack workers or deduct their salaries during the lockdown period. As per the advisory, industries need to stand by their workers as the present scenario demands a lot of understanding and cooperation from various segments of the society to fight against the pandemic. At this point, laying off employees or salary cuts will further worsen the situation. “In the backdrop of this challenging situation, all the employers of public/private establishments are to be advised by joint director/assistant director, district…
The Labour Ministry issued a notification on March 29 amending the Employees’ Provident Fund scheme, 1952 to allow EPF subscribers to withdraw non-refundable advance from their retirement savings should they need it, given the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The notification has been issued under GSR 225(E) and adds the pandemic as a reason to a select list under which PF subscribers can withdraw non-refundable funds. EPFO has an active subscriber’s base of 60 million. The Centre now permits withdrawal of up to 75 per cent of savings or up to three months of basic wages and dearness allowance in…
Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX) has decided to offer three times more salary to about 50 of its employees who are working from the office, amid the COVID-19 scare. The independent commodity exchange has a 400-strong workforce across India, of which 300 work from its Mumbai headquarters. These employees have been provided facilities to stay within the premises, and all their daily needs are being taken care of by the office. The listed exchange, which was established in 2003, felt that these employees should be given a monetary reward for the risk they are taking by working from the…
The Ministry of Railways has assured all central-government employees that all railway hospitals across India will be available to provide them services during these difficult times. All the employees need to do is present their identity cards at the railway hospitals or health units to avail the medical services. The Ministry is also planning to convert about ten train coaches into isolation wards every week, to accommodate COVID-19 patients. One coach has already been transformed into a ward at the Delhi division in consultation with the help of the workshop. If this prototype is approved, then improvements will be made…
Cognizant plans to give its employees, up to associate-level, in India and the Philippines, a 25 per cent increment in base pay for the month of April. The organisation wishes to reward its employees for their heroic continuity of service amidst the pandemic. The American multinational IT company has over 2, 03, 700 employees in India, and this move is expected to benefit over 1, 30,000 employees of them. Brian Humphries, CEO, Cognizant, sent a note to all employees saying that the additional amount will be processed with their April pay cheques, subject to monthly review thereafter. Humphries went on…
Employees of public banks seem unhappy with the current arrangement, where they are required to go to office even during the lockdown period. Not surprisingly, they are questioning the need even as almost all facilities are available online. Most of the bank branches remain open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and customers are being encouraged to stay at home and avail all services online. The current situation has rendered all public transport idle, and has only added to the displeasure of those bank employees who have to commute to work every day. These employees allege that they are being…