Author: Kartikay Kashyap | HRKatha

Quickly gulping the morning meal, rushing through the daily newspaper and readying for office is common routine for urban professionals. This can be a lot more challenging for young working parents who have small toddlers to deal with. These little ones tend to get cranky when they see their parents leaving them with caretakers. Recently, a video was doing the rounds on social media, which showed a five- year old kid stopping his father, a policeman, from going to work. The kid probably sensed that once the father left home for work, he will not get to spend any time…

Organisations usually have different teams working on various projects that will help them achieve their targets and move closer to the organisational goal. There are many events and campaigns during which the sales and the marketing managers work closely on a regular basis. However, sometimes, cross-functional personnel are made to work together, formally, for better results. For instance, if an organisation is launching a new product line, it will require the engineering, sales and marketing departments to work together on such a project. Accordingly, the sales personnel can work on the pricing of the product. Let’s suppose that the price…

Jobs can be quite monotonous and strenuous. Companies always strive to break this monotony and at times even small efforts turn out to be quite impactful. On April 29, the occasion of International Dance Day, Swiggy created a video with its employees where they created a wave of different dance moves. The whole event turned out to be participative and depicted a happy culture at Swiggy. The video was shot at Swiggy’s Bengaluru office. HRKatha decided to delve deeper and dig out the intention behind this initiative. Madhav Vamsi, who heads culture and talent at Swiggy shares that the whole…

Tata Motors has tied up with Nirma University to offer BTech degrees to its staff members at the Sanand Plant in Gujarat. This collaboration aims to improve the technical skills of the employees at several levels, and bridge the skill gaps that exist in the automotive industry. Through this partnership, Tata Motors also plans to ensure that the organisation is ready for the future. Through this programme, the employees of Tata Motors will get a chance to achieve their full potential. Not only will it ensure employee engagement, but also make the employees more competent and equipped to compete at…

The changing dynamics in the workforce is compelling companies to change the way they function and mould their policies according to the preferences of the next generation. Particularly in the HR function, organisations need to revamp their HR policies, to suit the coming generation. This is easier said than done, especially with multiple generations working in the workforce at the same time. We are living in times where four generations are working together under the same roof. Many organisations are going through this problem in the industry and Schaeffler, an automotive and industrial supplier company, is no different. With the…

In the pharma industry, the sales team comprises remote workers. The work of these salespeople generally requires them to travel, usually on two wheelers, from one place to the other. They hardly find the time to meet their bosses. If they meet with an accident during their work and hectic schedule, it is the responsibility of the company to take care of these employees. Considering the issue of road safety and the number of road accidents that takes place in India every year, it is certainly not a rosy picture at all. Road safety has been a major issue in…

As we all know, hiring is a strategic process, mostly held in a formal and serious environment to evaluate the potential of a candidate. But Yum! Brand’s Taco Bell is changing the whole game by bringing in some innovative hiring strategies this summer in the US. Taco Bell is planning to throw ‘hiring parties’ at their 600 company-owned outlets in different parts of the US. Well, we have all heard of job fairs, but parties for hiring? That is definitely a first. At these hiring parties, prospective candidates can enjoy free meals, games and photo props with on-the-spot interviews. The…

Club Mahindra has a lot to offer to all its members during their vacations. From multi-regional cuisine to engaging activities, the travel and hospitality company puts in a lot of effort to satisfy its customers and to make their stay memorable and comfortable. But today we will talk about how Club Mahindra’s own staff members entertain their customers. While the staff of Club Mahindra Resorts considers it a duty to serve guests and attend to their requests, its members also entertain them with their magical performances. The employees of Club Mahindra Resorts, whether in housekeeping, accounts, finance or HR, not…

Gone are the days when businesses needed specific skillsets in a talent. With the changing dynamics and disruption by technology, every industry is going through major transformation and people will need to have more than one skill in their buckets to achieve great heights in the corporate world. This is a time when the T-shaped employees are the ones who are making a mark for themselves in the industry. T-shaped employees or T-shaped people are individuals who are experts in a particular skill or area and also have the ability to collaborate with experts in other disciplines or sectors, and…

People in the corporate world live a very busy life. Employees are busy chasing their targets and senior leaders are busy making plans to take the business to the next level. That is how we spend all our time in the office, working! On an average most working professionals spend around 9-10 hours in the office. Just rewind those 10 hours of your life and try to remember the first person you see when you enter your workplace premises – guarding your office, or the person who prepared and offered the afternoon meal for you. People who are serving tea,…

Chandrasekhar Mukherjee has joined South Indian Bank, the private bank based in Kerala, as the chief people officer. Earlier, on 9 April, HRKatha had reported the exit of Mukherjee, who had stepped down as the group chief people officer of Srei Infrastructure. Talking to HRKatha Mukherjee says, “I saw a better opportunity at South Indian Bank, with a better role. I would love to work with one of the oldest banks in India. It has 870 branches with 8477 employees. Right now, my mandate is to build a talent pipeline and work on succession plans. We are aiming to become…

Browsing through some of the articles and blogs related to HR and employee relations, we at HRKatha chanced upon an article written by a senior HR leader in the industry on her LinkedIn profile. The article talked about the difference in the approach of leaders at mid- or senior-level to the problems related to retention and succession plans, as compared to the shortcomings in revenue or losing of clients. The bold message that seemed to come across was that though HR may not directly contribute to the revenue and business of the organisation, it does facilitate it and senior leaders…

Chandrasekhar Mukherjee has stepped down as the group chief people officer of Srei Infrastructure. After serving a notice period of three months, his last day at the infrastructure financing services company was 31 March. Mukherjee had joined Srei infrastructure in 2017, after exiting the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and its group of companies, where he worked for seven years as the chief people officer. At NSE, he was responsible for the HR initiatives, integrating technology with business, strategic talent acquisition for technology companies in the Group and establishing strategic talent management and capability-enhancement initiatives. Mukherjee comes with a total experience…

Some companies just do not miss out on a chance to have some fun at work. Fun and team activities play a vital role in establishing a great relationship with the employees. Now that summer has arrived, many companies are starting their internship programmes taking in young boys and girls from the top b-schools of the country. When the beginning of its internship programme almost coincided with April Fool’s Day, Swiggy decided to play a small prank on the new batch of interns, referred to as ‘Swiggsterns’, during their on-boarding process. The Swiggy team made up a fictitious and non-existing…

Pawan Setty, who was earlier head of people and culture, AirAsia, India moved to a new global role as the strategic business partner of the low-cost Malaysian airline. Setty has now shifted his base from Bengaluru to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He moved to his new role in mid February. As of now he is also taking care of the HR operations in India, but very shortly someone from within will take over as the head, culture and people, AirAsia India. An alumnus of Bangalore University, Setty started his career in 2001 and has a total industry experience of about 18…

Young people nurture many desires in their hearts to build a prosperous career for themselves. They just wait for that perfect opportunity to learn the relevant skills and gain the right kind of experience working for a world-class company, which can give them a global experience. Just to fulfil that desire in the youth of our country, Bajaj Auto has come up with an innovative summer internship programme for engineering and management students, called ‘Octane’. It gives opportunities to students in the top MBA and engineering colleges of India to undergo a two-month internship, wherein they get to be part…

Ramesh Shankar S, EVP & head HR, South Asia cluster, Siemens has announced his retirement. 31 March, 2019 will be his last working day in the German industrial manufacturing conglomerate. After a splendid career of 38 years in HR, he now plans to settle in Bangalore. He will be working with NGOs, business schools and colleges to give back to the society, in whatever way possible. “I plan to settle down in Bangalore after an enriching career working with SAIL, Eicher, Britannia, ABB and Siemens. I intend to coach/mentor, work with start-ups and NGOs, teach in business schools and find…

Managers act as the building blocks of a company. For the long-term survival of the organisation, it is very important to strengthen the capabilities of the managers from a business point of view as well as a people’s perspective. Also, managers are the ones in direct contact with the employees of an organisation. While many skills are essential for the development of a business, people management skills are amongst the most important. It is the people who drive businesses, while the managers drive the people. Making its managers more competent and skilful, Cipla University, which is the learning and development…

Atul Tiwari joins Puma Energy Processing Services LLP in HR Operations. He will be responsible to support the HR operations through new-age HR technology. Tiwari, who joined the Company in mid Februray will be based out of Mumbai, India. “This opportunity will have global exposure and learning. I am happy and excited to take up this new opportunity,” says Tiwari. Prior to this, Tiwari was the AVP – HR, technology transformation and consulting after leading the HR function at PeopleStrong, an HR tech solutions firm. He comes with an experience of 13 years in HR technology (On cloud & On-premise),…

How many of you get up in the morning and ask yourselves ‘Am I physically fit to run my life?’ I am sure not many. We are so involved in our mundane work that it just slips our mind to focus on our own health. Health and wellness are becoming very serious issues all around the world. With so much competitiveness in the business sphere, our work involves a lot of stress which affects our health. The workload and job stress make us prone to a lot of health-related problems, such as heart disease and mental illness. When you are…

Barnali Roychowdhary has been appointed VP and head-HR at Instamojo early this year. Before joining the free online payment platform, Roychowdhary was the VP-HR at Portea, a healthcare company. An alumna of Savitribai Phule Pune University, Roychowdhary comes with an experience of more than 16 years in HR. She took up the position at Instamojo in January, after taking a break of seven to eight months. In her new role, Roychowdhary will take the charge of evolving and building the people front of the Company. “While Instamojo has done well to gain the trust in the nascent stage, we are…

The modern corporate world is very demanding. It is even more so when it comes to the HR function. Issues related to skill gap, shortage of talent and alignment of employee objectives to business objectives are all, some of the challenges that pose a big threat to HR professionals. It gets very difficult for the HR to divert its mind from the regular work, such as management of payroll, performance or leave and attendance and focus more on the strategic side of the business. With new and advanced technologies at hand to render help now, it has become possible for…

‘Gender bias’ has been a widely popular topic and amongst the most trending on social media, especially post International Women’s Day. In fact, the way the Day was celebrated by Indian women made most men wonder when International Men’s Day was or whether there was such a day at all. Gender parity is a subject that crops up at the workplace, in almost every aspect— from leadership representation to gender pay gaps in organisations. But does gender bias also exist when it comes to being humorous during presentations or in business meetings and settings? Let us take the case of…

For decades companies have followed the classroom model to get their employees to imbibe the values and culture of the organisation. But the results have been far from satisfactory, as what is discussed in the classroom is rarely practised by the employees in their regular routine and life. At MagicBricks also, the ‘value programme’ was started a year and a half back, in an attempt to instil the values of the Company in the employees, through classroom learning. However, it was a failed endeavour. According to Anil Misra, CHRO, MagicBricks, the Company was unable to identify the right kind of…

It all started in 2004, when the founder of Café Coffee Day, VG Siddhartha, started a vocational training institute and a higher secondary school at Chikmangalur, a hill station in Karnataka. The name of the institute itself, ‘Yuva’, justifies the aim of the Company— to nurture the young rural talent of the country. Though it was initiated as part of the CSR activity of the organisation, the institute later began offering a one-year certificate course in hotel management to students who come from very poor economic backgrounds. These very students were hired to work at Café Coffee Day (CCD)outlets in…

Companies love appreciating and encouraging their best performers. And why not? After all, it is these people who become the building blocks of an organisation. It is because of the tireless efforts of its people that the business produces good results. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the organisation to appreciate and encourage the good performance of their employees. Everybody talks about incentives, increments and gift vouchers in the name of rewards and recognition to felicitate the good work of employees. But here is a company that truly recognises the work of its employees and makes them feel special. Tata…