Author: Liji Narayan | HRKatha

India’s electronics-manufacturing sector is already among the fastest growing in the world. Great news, isn’t it? The projected growth rate of this sector is 25 to 30 per cent. That’s even better news, right? Yes, but let’s not rejoice. There is an issue. While there is significant growth potential, there isn’t skilled talent available to take up the jobs in this sector. A report by TeamLease Degree Apprenticeship reveals a mismatch between the demands of the electronics industry and capable workers. With the sector making fast strides into the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Industry…

Two senior vice presidents, five vice presidents, 29 senior directors and 23 directors are amongst the employees laid off by Visa in the Bay Area. Several engineers and technical programme managers have also been rendered jobless. The impacted employees will be paid severance packages and provided counseling. They will also receive outplacement assistance. The payments company from San Francisco had earlier let go four senior vice presidents, 17 vice presidents, 17 senior directors and 17 directors in a layoff round in early November when it had laid off 91. In October it was reported that Visa Inc. was preparing to…

Treasure Heinle—who has been the chief talent officer, Nike, since September 2022—has been elevated to the position of CHRO of the athletic footwear and apparel company. She will succeed Monique Matheson who has decided to retire after a more than two-decade old stint with the company. Matheson had joined Nike in 1998, as director-employee relations. After six promotions, she had been elevated to EVP, chief human resources officer, by 2017. She successfully drove the global HR strategy for NIKE, and lead business growth and transformation through the lens of people. She managed total rewards, talent acquisition & management, culture, diversity,…

Krish Shankar has been appointed to the Board of Advisors, Compport, the compensation software firm. Backed by about four decades of experience, this HR leader made a humble beginning as a senior officer-personnel, Eicher Tractors, way back in 1984. He joined Hindustan Lever in December 1986. There, he spent 15 years in various roles including personnel manager at the Kandla Factory, operations manager, in Chennai, as well as recruitment manager, corporate training manager, management development manager and HR business partner for the foods, beverages and exports business. September of 2002 saw him taking on the role of VP-HR, Asia AMET,…

An alarming 50 per cent of women in India are not part of the labour force. Do you know why? Well, for the same reason that only 10 per cent of women in Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia and Sweden are outside the labour force—due to care responsibilities! So what are these four countries doing that is allowing more of their women to be an active part of the labour force than their counterparts in India? They are investing in pre-primary education. In fact, they are putting one per cent of their GDP into Early Childhood Care Education or ECCE. India is…

Whether artificial intelligence (AI) will eat away their jobs is a question that has given employees sleepless nights across industries and sectors. Employers, on the other hand, are debating the possibility of technology helping them do what they have been doing till now in a more economical way and at a greater speed, saving costs and enhancing client experience. Wealth management is one sector where AI appears to have been embraced to augment the competence of wealth managers. Wealth-management firms are already using AI to empower wealth managers instead of substituting them. Wipro’s ‘AI in Wealth Management: Navigating an Evolving…

After a long and successful association with Microsoft, Stijn Nauwelaerts is moving to NTT Data, taking on the role of chief people officer, with effect from November 2024. Armed with a master’s degree in labour law and industrial relations, from the University of Liege, Nauwelaerts began his professional journey as legal counsel, Partena, in 1993. This role saw him working out of Brussels, Belgium for three years, advising employers on labour law and social security regulations. From 1996 to 2001, he worked with The Bank of New York as vice president, human resources. For five years, he ran the HR…

How much do you think is the average salary of a telecaller executive in the banking financial services and insurance space? According to the Jobs and Sales Primer for 2023-24, it is Rs 22,500. However, the role commands a premium salary of Rs 30,500 in Delhi, India’s capital. Second to the telecaller executive role is the role of relationship executive. This role earns an average salary of Rs 18,700, and a premium salary of Rs 35,000 (in Bengaluru). In third position is the average salary of a collection officer, which is Rs 18,500, whereas Bengaluru pays this role a premium…

To resolve the shortage of staff, the Railway Board has decided to fill the 25,000 vacancies across zones on an urgent basis, to ensure that operations continue safely and smoothly. It has also given general managers across railway zones the authority to temporarily hire retired personnel for two years, that is, till 31 December 2026. This period may be extended based on the performance of those concerned. Rehiring personnel backed by experience can be very helpful in ensuring efficiency of operations. Only those below the age of 65 can be hired, provided they come with a perfect track record and…

While members of Gen Z or post-Millennials are spending much of their waking hours poring over their phones, connecting with people on social media, primarily Instagram, when it comes to connecting with organisations that they dream of working for, their chosen path of connection is not social media. In fact, social media campaigns ranked fourth for e-school students and were the last option for b-school students as a preferred way of connecting with companies. Surprising, isn’t it? Especially in a world that has been taken over by social media; where youngsters, especially Gen Zers are seen posting videos instead of…

Mariya Rajput would never have imagined that failure to serve the notice period would cost her Rs 5 lakh. Yes, Rajput was ordered by a local Ahmedabad court to pay her employer Rs 5 lakh to cover for the damage she caused for not giving prior notice before quitting the job. Rajput had been appointed as trainee associate (finance) at Jensen Kobain Solutions in February 2021. She was on probation for six months following which she was given a letter confirming her appointment. Her employment contract mentioned that if she wished to quit, she would have to submit a resignation,…

Are CEOs across the world thinking alike in terms of their growth strategies over the next few years? The India CEO Outlook Report by KPMG makes some revelations. In India, 22 % CEOs compared to 15 per cent CEOs globally will focus on employee value proposition to attract and retain top talent as an operational priority to achieve growth objectives over the next three years. The report also reveals that when it comes to advancing digitisation and connectivity across the business on priority, 18 per cent of CEOs in India and 18 per cent globally are on the same page.…

With the spate of layoffs in recent times, it is no wonder that involuntary attrition rate has increased to 4.3 per cent in 2024, from four per cent in 2024. When it comes to employees opting to leave a company on their own, rather than being laid off, the figures have improved from 2022 to 2024. While voluntary attrition was 17 per cent in 2022, it dropped to 14.7 in 2023 and 12.6 in 2024. That means, more employees are trying to hold on to their jobs, realising the uncertainty that prevails in the job market and the economic environment. Attrition…

Does the status of a woman as the primary bringer of income into the household improve her mental or physical health? Does such a status make her happy? Not really, because such a woman still shoulders the greatest responsibility for childcare. They suffer from health issues that they cannot or do not discuss. The better way to highlight this would be to say that even women who are primary earners of the house are no better than the ones who are so bogged down by their household and domestic responsibilities that they do not have time to go out and…

With an aim to ensure more efficient operations and customer service, which will eventually lead to a better market share in the automotive sector, Assurance Intl is gearing to hire 2,000. The company that operates in the automotive space is looking at expanding its team in two years’ time, that is, by 2026. This is a step towards operational excellence and innovation, positioning the company for enhanced market presence. The firm is looking to draw top talent across key regions in India, offering diverse opportunities in engineering, sales, customer support and operations. Assurance Intl is dedicated to cultivating a skilled…

Is Gen Z getting too much attention? Why shouldn’t it? After all, their entry into the workforce has had a significant effect on the workplace and its culture, in addition to technology and consumer behaviour. The way they look at life is far too different from the way the older generations did. Their definition of success at work differs too. No wonder then that only 25 per cent of Gen Z job seekers prioritise money. The majority, a good 77 per cent, prefers role or brand over the remuneration offered! Unstop’s Talent Report 2024 reveals that 40 per cent of…

Should human resource (HR) talent be worried? They should if ‘AON India’s 13th Campus Study 2024-25’ data is to be believed. The report indicates that the demand for human-resource roles is likely to fall across sectors. For instance, the roles in the engineering/manufacturing sector that are likely to witness decrease in hiring are human resources, marketing and analytics. Financial institutions too are likely to hire less for human resource, data science and operations/supply chain roles. In the technology space again, the demand for HR, product management and sales will be less. The consumer space will also see a fall in…

Attention employers! A whopping 70 per cent of the Indian workforce is unhappy at work, according to the Happiness at Work report. That means, at least two out of three members of the workforce are dissatisfied. This is not good news. Why? Well, as the report aptly says, “Individual happiness is the summum bonum of all those palpable and impalpable things which make up a thriving, buoyant enterprise.” And guess which sector has nailed it or is the closest to doing it? Which sector do you think is able to keep its employees the most happy? The fintech sector! Yes,…

Has hybrid work helped women professionals? To some extent it has says a Deloitte Women at Work 2024 report. The hybrid approach to work has improved the work experiences of women professionals, albeit slightly. For instance, compared to 37 per cent in 2023, only 30 per cent women professionals feel they are excluded from formal meetings or decision-making as well as information interactions. In 2022, about 49 per cent women felt left out. While things appear to have improved somewhat, the fact remains that three in ten women still do feel excluded from important formal interactions and even informal ones.…

About 3150 employers from India were asked about their hiring intentions for the fourth quarter, so that the net employment outlook or NEO could be calculated. The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey reveals that India’s NEO is 37 per cent. This has grown stronger (by 7 per cent) since the last quarter, but remains unchanged compared to the same period last year. Sectorwise, the highest hiring demand was seen in the finance and real-estate space, followed by information technology (IT). Asia-Pacific countries expect the second strongest regional outlook of 27 per cent. While this is four per cent higher than the…

‘Did you experience loneliness a lot of the day yesterday?’ This was the question posed to the participants of Gallup’s survey. The answers were a cause of concern, for they lead to the conclusion that 20 per cent of the world’s employees experience daily loneliness. Globally, one in five employees admitted to feeling lonely for a major part of the previous day. Surprisingly, those under the age of 35 seem to be experiencing daily loneliness more than the older employees. Employees following a 100 per cent remote working model or work-from-home approach seem to be experiencing more loneliness than those…

Why are apprenticeship-integrated programmes more sought after? It is because they are considered more productive and result oriented than the traditional education or training programmes. They are more valued than even the training provided by industrial training institutes (it is) or polytechnics. Degrees embedded with an apprenticeship are more attractive. What is more, 70 per cent employers in India engaged apprentices in the first half of the April to September 2023 period, says the Apprenticeship Outlook Report for HY1: April-September, 2023 and HY2: October – March, 2023-24. A good 63 per cent employers were satisfied with the performance of apprentices…

Google’s monthly ‘TGIF’ (short for Thank God its Friday) meetings were once looked forward to by the employees but not anymore. At these town-hall meetings, the employees posed questions, often tough ones, which the leaders of the organisation were required to field. Dory, an internal system was used by employees to submit their questions. In fact, Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google himself would answer the questions that received the maximum votes on the system. However, now, Dory has been replaced by Ask, an artificial intelligence (AI) based system, which summarises similar questions and makes them easy for leaders to answer. In…

IBM, the American tech multination, is trimming its workforce in China. It is doing away with its research and development (R&D) activities in the country. That means, it is shutting down its China Development Lab and China Systems Lab. The move will affect at least a thousand employees across Beijing, Shanghai and Dalian. The impacted employees reportedly found their access to the company’s intranet system denied over the weekend. On the morning of 26 August, the job cuts were announced in a meeting. It is pertinent to mention here that IBM has always acknowledged the important contributions made by its…

A significant 20 per cent of women are reluctant to take time off work stating mental health as the reason, simply because they feel it will adversely impact their chances of progressing in their career! Mind you, we are not talking about women from the underdeveloped countries or women who are uneducated. We are talking about women workers from our very own country, India, along with their counterparts in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Japan, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States. When Deloitte Global surveyed 5,000 women across 10 countries and seven sectors from October 2023 to…

Are you a fresher seeking to become employable in India’s competitive job market? You can try obtaining a certification in either of these sought-after fields: financial planning, graphic design, digital marketing and data science. As per the Career Outlook Report for the second half of 2024, by TeamLease Edtech, in the list of top 15 roles that are in demand for freshers, the role of data analyst ranks no. 1. The skills associated with this role are, data visualisation, statistical analysis and programming languages (Python, R, SQL). The second most in-demand role is that of a full-stack developer. Employers look…