Author: Kartikay Kashyap | HRKatha

The news of Air India all set to be taken over by Tata Sons has grabbed headlines over the past few days. Naturally, speculations are rife about the new owners laying off employees to recover profits. Many grounded aircraft may be sold off, which will necessitate reduction of excess staff. Currently, Air India employs more than 14,000 people. Though the employees should not really worry about their jobs since the Niti Ayog’s recommendations clearly mention that the new owner cannot fire them till the completion of one year of employment. The question is, what happens after that buffer period is…

When the second wave of the pandemic spread panic worldwide, companies woke up to the fact that they would not be able to bring their employees back to office anytime soon. The risk to health and life, and mobility restrictions, combined with the uncertainty surrounding the future made organisations announce ‘work from anywhere’ policies. Most employers around the world, even in India, allowed their employees to work from any location of their choice, providing them the flexibility to choose. Aegon Life allowed its employees to work from anywhere in the country, irrespective of the location at which they joined the…

After spending over three decades in the HR domain, Nihar Ghosh is set to retire from his current role as the CHRO of Emami. Tuhin Biswas, former CHRO of MTR Food, has succeeded Ghosh who is serving his last month at the Company. Having now fully transitioned, Biswas is ready to step into the shoes of Ghosh who will be handing over all his responsibilities to Biswas by end of October. Ghosh joined Emami as president – HR in 2016 and has spent over five years with the Company leading its HR function for the FMCG business. Having started his…

Anil Gaur has moved from Uniparts to join Akums Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, as group chief people officer. As Gaur shares with HRKatha, Akums is at a growth stage and he will have to play a crucial role in stepping up the HR for the company. The Company employs close to 17,500 people and has robust plans to grow in the future. The contract research and manufacturing organisation, claims to produce close to 11-12 per cent of the drugs consumed in the country. The Company has over 12 manufacturing facilities in India, which are very well equipped to produce all kinds…

There are occasions when managers have to deal with subordinates or colleagues, who become a cause for concern. The reasons could be many — poor performance, disruptive behaviour or lack of discipline. How can managers deal with such employees? Role of manager Amit Das, CHRO, Bennett Coleman & Company, tells HRKatha that during his career, he has had to deal with multiple problematic people in his own team. He shares one instance of a girl — an exceptional performer — whose irritable behaviour annoyed others at the workplace. She could get away with it because of her excellent performance. However,…

With millions of employees having to convert their homes into offices, organisations have been forced to accelerate their digital transformation efforts earlier than expected. As a result, the need for new talent and skills has also increased in the last 14 to 16 months. It is not surprising then that the use of cloud technologies and adoption of DevOps practices has gone up, and so has the hiring of open source professionals. What exactly is open source talent? Open source talent form part of an open community which collaborates to build and develop open source software. The open source community…

If you are a middle manager, chances are that at some point you have felt or will feel trapped in your career. You will wish for somebody experienced and senior to guide you and show you the way ahead. In a personal log, an assistant general manager working at Infosys admits how he struggled for six years to reach the executive council of the company. After 15 years of working in different functions including sales, delivery and marketing at multiple locations, he did experience ample success. However, he felt as if he grew only to end up feeling trapped in…

In the last 16 months of the pandemic, the workplace environment has been undergoing drastic change. Though many progressive companies had already embarked on their digitisation journeys a decade back, the pandemic was certainly an eye opener for those who were lagging. “With other functions in the business environment already digitised, the HR is supposed to build a mindset and competencies where people can use and adopt such digital tools to build a culture around it” Chandrasekhar Mukherjee, CHRO, Bhilosa Industries A 2021 global study has revealed that the intention of HR leaders to digitise their HR processes is quite…

The hybrid work model is the latest workplace trend. Many organisations, especially in the IT sector, have already made policies around hybrid work arrangements, with companies such as Apple, Google and Microsoft already allowing some employees to work from home two to three days in a week. While employees are allowed the flexibility of working from home, the specific days of the week on which they can do so are decided by their team leaders and managers. Doesn’t that throw the very concept of flexibility out the window? Can employees really experience ‘flexibility’ if their managers are the ones telling…

In a team, there always will be some who are more enthusiastic and passionate about work — people who go beyond what is expected of them at work. That means, they end up delivering more than their KRA or daily responsibilities and duties. These overly enthusiastic team members are basically the high potentials of the organisation. Given how competitive the business environment is, when there are big teams, competitiveness exists internally, within teams as well, and not just externally. In situations where one individual is highly motivated, better and brighter, that very person starts to make others around him insecure.…

With the big giants in the IT sector, including TCS, Wipro and Infosys, already starting to bring back their workforces to the office in a staggered manner, more employers are now eager to see their employees back at their office desks. What do the employees want? An Ipsos survey done for the World Economic Forum (WEF), clearly shows that employees across the world want to enjoy flexibility in their life. The global survey, covering over 12,000 working professionals in 29 countries reveals that employees prefer more flexibility in their work schedule post the pandemic. While about 66 per cent of…

At Piaggio, there is a culture to identify the best of talent at a very young stage and provide them the platform to grow within the Company, in relevant and key positions. Pooja Bansal, head-HR, Piaggio India, shares with HRKatha the Company’s robust talent-development pipeline which spots the finest talent and builds a career path for them. International-level talent development Bansal reveals that Piaggio has an international or global-level talent development programme called Piaggio Way, where every region nominates the best of talent who undergo a four-year rigorous programme, which gives them global exposure. The curriculum is designed at a…

Allcargo Logistics appointed Suresh Kumar R as its CEO for India operations and business this year. Kumar who moved from Vodafone Idea, to join Allcargo, comes with extensive experience, having spent three decades of his professional career in the telecommunication industry. Wondering why a senior person from the telecom space should be chosen for CEO position in the logistics sector? We did too, and therefore, we decided to find out more. Talking with HRKatha, Indrani Chatterjee, group chief people officer, Allcargo Logistics, shares that the Company has been consciously exploring talent from other industries, such as pharma, telecom, FMCG, and…

Jindal Stainless (JSL), a big name in the steel-manufacturing industry of India, is revamping its learning function to prepare its workforce for the coming future. As Nitin Thakur, head of learning, Jindal Stainless, shares with HRKatha, the Company has been upskilling employees at all levels and functions. Very recently, JSL analysed some key upskilling areas at the organisational and functional levels, and is now trying to equip its workforce with future skills, through various learning interventions. Analysis and assessment The Company first analysed and assessed the role-specific learning needs, the individual development needs and the business needs of the Company.…

About two years ago, Tata Power embarked on the journey of transforming itself from just being a utility provider to a solution-providing firm. As Himal Tewari, CHRO, Tata Power, describes it, when he joined the Company, there was a leadership change underway, with a new MD coming. The Company began restructuring its values, and a big transformation — Tata Power 2.0 — started to take place. Tata Power was moving from a Business to Government (B2G) model to a Business to Customer (B2C) model, and preparing to become the utility provider of the future. Some new lines of business, such…

In 2020, a book called ‘Leadership is a Language’ was released, which emphasised on how interplay of words and language played a big role in leadership. The book suggested that leaders detach themselves from notions, such as invulnerability, certainty, coercion and conformity. It advised them to think about the words that they choose to use and apply — whether a person is interacting digitally, through handwritten notes, or through verbal conversations. Inspired by this school of thought, Crompton Greaves Consumer Electricals has recently launched an initiative called ‘Leadership Language’. Here, the Company is focussing on training managers and leaders on…

Recently, Incred Financial Services gamified and digitised its employee-recognition programme. This changed the way people get recognised and even recognise others. Incred, which has close to 1000 employees, has implemented an instant-recognition platform, where any employee in the Company, irrespective of location, hierarchy or department, can digitally appreciate and recognise anyone in the Company. Simply put, through this instant form of recognition, people can digitally appreciate any co-worker or colleague, manager or subordinate, enabling the person being recognised to earn digital points. These digital points can be redeemed by employees in cash or as vouchers. It has been three months…

Creating an inclusive and diverse workplace culture is part of the core values of Ferns N Petals, the Indian retail company dealing in gifts and flowers. Speaking to HRKatha, Amit Kumar, senior human resource business partner, Ferns N Petals, reveals that the Company has recently introduced a policy called Pink Leaves, for its women employees. Taking into account the unique health and wellness needs of women employees, the Pink Leave policy allows them to avail one additional paid leave each month, to take rest. This is a step taken in the right direction by the Company to support the menstrual…

When we talk about the relationship between managers and employees or subordinates, it is often perceived that managers are the ones responsible for keeping their subordinates engaged, inspired and motivated. That is why, they are taught to manage relationships with them, fulfil their training and learning needs, coach and mentor them, and create successful and happy experiences for all. In fact, in many organisations, first-time managers are trained on people-management skills so that they can take care of their employees. What about the other half of the story? Don’t employees have any responsibility towards their managers? Don’t they need to…

The term ‘glass cliff’ was coined by University of Exeter’s researchers, Michelle Ryan and Alexander Haslam, in 2005. What does this term actually mean? In their research, Ryan and Haslam examined the Fortune 500 companies and firms listed on the London Stock Exchange and found that whenever organisations are in crisis, in terms of performance, it is more likely that they would turn to women leaders to lead the sinking ship. A trend was noticed where women and other minority groups were brought to the forefront to get promoted to a leadership position at a time when organisations were in…

Godrej Housing Finance (GHF) announced a day off on September 3, 2021, to give an extended weekend to all its employees, confirms Ruhie Pande, CHRO, Godrej Housing Finance, to HRKatha. The Company decided to give a day off to all its employees on Friday so that they can enjoy a longer weekend, to rest, recharge and rejuvenate and get back on Monday with a fresh mind, full of energy. This is not the first time that the Company has announced a day off on a Friday. In the past, during the second wave of COVID – 19, the Company took…

Rajeev Singh, who was the CHRO at Yokohama Off Highway Tires, has now entered the pharma space, by joining Solara Active Pharma Sciences as CHRO, sources close to this development confirm to HRKatha. In this new role, which Singh takes up effectively from September 1, he will provide leadership to the HR and CSR function and also be part of the Solara executive team, reporting directly to the MD. Singh carries over two decades of experience in HR and has worked in diverse sectors, such as energy, manufacturing and consulting. Known for leading organisational transformation as a progressive HR practitioner,…

Ask anyone whether transparency is good for the company, and the answer is an emphatic ‘Yes’. Since many people and studies have proved that transparent employers build trust and motivate people. However, too much of transparency can lead to chaos in the business environment. Studies and real-time examples from the corporate world have shown that too much of transparency is also not good for the company. It can lead to mistrust, a culture of blame, lack of creativity, and inability to generate and share good ideas. Tanaya Mishra, global CHRO, Strides Pharma, believes that too much of transparency is not…

There are conversations going on in the organisations about which working model fits best — a 100 per cent work-from-office model, or a fully remote working model. Many employers are afraid to take the extreme route, and instead, prefer to find a middle path, that is, a model that allows employees to work partly from office and partly from home. In India, the lion’s share of domestic workload is shouldered by the women of the house. They are expected to juggle the house work, including handling the kitchen and children, along with their professional commitments. A LinkedIn opportunity index report…

Tata Consumer Products, the FMCG arm of the Tata Group has launched the Caregivers Support Programme ‘CUSP’ for its employees, to help them through the parenthood journey. The programme is designed to balance the professional and personal life of employees, who have just entered the parenthood stage of their lives. The CUSP programme will act as a guide to support and help new parents, managers, and HR colleagues for the journey ahead through policies, benefits and comprehensive handbooks. These handbooks will guide all managers and the HR team at Tata Consumer Products to demonstrate behaviours which are apt at different…

Expectations of customers in the insurance industry are now changing. With so many processes going digital, customers in the insurance sector are also demanding a digital change. While talking to HRKatha about the current digitisation wave, Jaishankar Balan, head – HR, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, shares that, Bharti AXA Life Insurance is not only competing with similar companies in the insurance sector, but also with e-commerce giants in India. Pointing out that now people want digital solutions for everything, Balan says, “Just like how we order food using an app and track the order from end-to-end, similarly, in the insurance…