Author: Liji Narayan | HRKatha

Coinbase, the global trading platform for crypto currency, has announced that it will lay off 18 per cent of its workforce, that is, about 1,100 employees. In a letter to the employees, Brian Armstrong, CEO, Coinbase, has conveyed that the cost of employees is too much for the Company to handle, and that is why, the firm is taking this hard decision to reduce headcount. The letter further states that after more than 10 years of witnessing a boom, the crypto market is now heading towards heavy recession, and to prepare for the same, Coinbase will have to let go…

Mahipal Nair, who was CHRO- South Asia, Africa, Middle East at NielsenIQ, has now joined Trellix — the cyber security company carved out of McAfee and FireEye about six months ago — as vice president, human resources. Nair’s first major break in HR came in 2000, when he joined Malayala Manorama as deputy manager – human resources. In his almost seven-year long tenure there, he was able to set HR for the Group’s subsidiary company, MM TV and FM Radio stations. In the initial years of his career, he worked as a programme coordinator at IIHMR University in 1994, and…

Close on the heels of McDonald’s selling its restaurants in Russia to a local licensee, who has begun a rebranding exercise, now Starbucks is exiting Russia. The American chain of coffeehouses has closed its 130 outlets in Russia, a market it had entered about 14 years ago. Employees have been informed that they will continue to get their salaries for the next six month. Starbucks will also help the about 2,000-strong workforce find alternative jobs. Kevin Johnson, CEO, Starbucks Corp. has assured employees that the Company will remain transparent as it continues to make decisions in line with its mission…

AdmitKard, the edtech startup, which simplifies access to higher education opportunities, is on an aggressive hiring spree. It plans to onboard around 100 employees, to take the current headcount up from 150 to 250. That means, it is gearing to expand its team by 66 per cent. It is looking to add 75 candidates in the business team and 25 in the product and technology teams, who will have the option to choose either work-from-home or work-from-office, depending on the profile of the new recruits. The hiring will be primarily for the NCR location, where the Company is headquartered. Piyush…

MFine, the Bengaluru-based healthtech startup, has had to lay off at least 500 employees as it is facing a massive financial crisis. The exact number of employees asked to leave is not clear. The Company, which offers a platform for on-demand doctor consultations and facilitates ordering of medicines, is reportedly not in a position to pay salaries to its about 1,000-strong workforce. The affected employees belong to the engineering, data science, product and even talent-acquisition departments. The staff members have been told that the Company, which has presence in over 400 cities in India, is facing a dearth of finances…

Things are looking up for women in the job market across India. Down south, the Government of Karnataka has reserved 33 per cent of outsourced jobs in the state government for women. That means, 33 per cent of all outsourced jobs in all universities, urban local organisations, autonomous bodies and other government offices will be reserved for women. These outsourced jobs across all departments comprise mainly of data entry operators, housekeeping staff, drivers and other Group D employees. A circular was issued to this effect on 20 May, 2022, which said that women are as capable of performing well in…

The Government of Karnataka has approved about 60 industrial projects worth Rs 2,465.94 crore, which are expected to create employment opportunities for more than 8,575 people in the state. The 131st State Level Single Window Clearance Committee (SLSWCC) has given its approval to 10 important large and medium size industrial projects, with investment of over Rs 50 crore. These will offer a source of livelihood to about 3,190 people. The committee also cleared 49 new projects with investment of more than Rs 15 crore and less than Rs 50 crore. These projects, worth Rs 938.61 crore would generate jobs for…

The corporate world has been talking about the growing importance of HR for the business and the organisation. However, the big question is whether HR is also getting remunerated accordingly. According to the India Salary Report 2022 by Michael Page, an HR head with 15+ years of experience working in a large listed company can expect a base salary of anything between Rs 1-2 Cr., the average being Rs 1.5 Cr. The annual base salary of a CHRO or HR head of a small and mid-sized company can range between Rs 70 lakh to Rs 1.1 Cr. Compare this to…

Things seem to be definitely looking up in terms of diverse views, trust and transparency in boardrooms across the globe. In India, diversity in the boardrooms is improving mainly because of regulatory pressures, demand by stakeholders and increased focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles. THE DIRECTOR PULSE SURVEY – 2021 was launched by KPMG member firms worldwide to obtain their perspective on inclusion and diversity, reasons and criteria for recruitment of new board members, key concerns, trust and transparency. It covered 707 global board members of which 81 were from India. With boards expanding and taking on members…

We may have heard many people grumbling about working from home or complaining about the challenges of remote work. However, despite all the hurdles, it seems professionals in India coped better with remote work and adapted better than many other countries, globally. In fact, they have become so comfortable that the majority do not even wish to return to office, reveals the ‘Reworking Work’ survey report by Atlassian. Hesitancy to return to office Workers in India and the US, are the most hesitant to return to office. Interestingly, these are countries where the COVID-19 cases are high. In the US,…

Imagine an experienced parent discussing with the child — who has just completed a professional course — how to go about preparing for a future in the corporate world. This book is that parent. Imagine an experienced executive advising a youngster about the companies to work for or ways to prepare for an interview. This book is that experienced executive. In short, just imagine the wise old man who has the answers to everything, this book is that wise old man. For a change, he is not sitting high up under a tree on a mountain peak, but whispering sound…

The hybrid work culture is not as welcome to people as it may appear. A good 70 per cent of the respondents, in a survey by ICICI Lombard partnered with Hansa Research, reveal that they would prefer to work regularly either from home or office. Amongst those who did not have a brush with COVID, 40 per cent are willing to work from office, whereas the others who have contracted COVID or have witnessed closed ones suffering from the same, prefer to work from home. More men prefer working from office than women. While 36 per cent prefer to work…

We have all read lessons on marketing, attended sessions on business strategy, read up about the nuances of consulting and searched the internet for tips on how to sail through interviews, but rarely do we remember what we have read. Why? Because it was all theory —page after page of fine print that just stared at us, waiting for us to make some sense out of them and also register it all to be retrieved at a later stage. Unfortunately the registering part of the exercise remains weak and the retrieval almost never happens. Sandeep K Krishnan has changed all…

While most employees blame leadership for the mental health issues that emerge at the workplace, the employers choose to underplay the role of leadership. This is clear from the Gi Group report on the state of mental health in corporate India. A good 77 per cent of the employers chose to blame erratic work schedules and peer pressure for the mental health issues in a corporate setup. While they underplayed the role of leaders in the mental health of the workforce, a significant 79 per cent of the employees contradicted this. They felt that leadership is the major reason for…

Due to the pandemic, the year 2020, saw the hiring activity plummeting. There was an 18 per cent dip in hiring in India last year. However, that was a year gone by, and the new year brings in lot of positivity. According to a survey by Michael Page, around 53 per cent of companies in India are looking to increase their headcounts in 2021. The sentiment is similar among employees as well. Among the respondents, 75 per cent of those employed anticipate looking for new job opportunities in 2021. This is not all. About 60 per cent of employers intend…

The way we need two eyes, two hands, two legs and yes, two brains – left brain and right brain – businesses also need both critical thinkers and lateral thinkers in order to be successful. It’s rather difficult to say who is up on the hierarchy of importance, as it would completely depend on the stage or phase the business is in, or on the nature of the problem or situation. Companies, of course, wish that they find both lateral thinking and critical thinking capabilities in one person, but that’s like finding a true gem from a pile of stones.…

SYKES, the global digital marketing and customer services outsourcing company, has opened its fourth centre in the Kokapet area of Hyderabad. The Company plans to take on at least 500 more people in its existing team of 2,000 employees. Spread over an area of about 44,000 sq. ft., this is the Company’s sixth centre in India, and the second one opened since the lockdown. This new vibrant employee-centric office space is based on advanced office architecture and is equipped with a first-aid room for medical emergencies and a separate prayer room to accommodate employee needs. Focussing on functionality and sustainability,…

Simplilearn, the global online skilling programmes provider, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for a Ministry of Education initiative, called the National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT 2.0). The collaboration is aimed at upskilling higher education students from Indian engineering and technical institutes. This unique initiative by Simplilearn, will benefit millions of students. As part of the MoU, Simplilearn will offer six programmes in data science, DevOps engineering, business analysis, big data engineering, big data hadoop and spark development and AWS big data certification training on the NEAT 2.0 platform.…

We run into them all the time. In the markets, shopping for provisions; in the bookshops browsing through classics; at the traffic light, observing vehicles around them while waiting for the light to turn green; at cafes, indulging in sudoku while sipping coffee; in the parks jogging early in the morning; and even at art exhibitions, book launches and film screenings. They are fit, smartly turned out, conscious about their health and eager to keep up with the changing pace of life. They look at the youngsters with amusement and admiration. They have learnt not to interfere with them, but…

IDEMIA, a global market leader in augmented identity solutions, today announced the appointment of Matthew Foxton as its new regional president for India. Matthew has been the executive vice-president, branding & communications, member of the Group Executive Committee at IDEMIA, a role thathe will continue to fulfil. Matthew will succeed Sanjeev Shriya, who played a central role in the development of IDEMIA India over the last 25 years and who will now move to a non-operational role as an advisor to the Global CEO. Matthew has a wealth of experience working with multinational companies serving both the government and enterprise technology…

Sriharsha A Achar, who was CHRO, HDFC Ergo General Insurance Services, is now the joint executive director and CHRO, at Star Health & Allied Insurance Company. His stint at HDFC Ergo was a very short one, considering that he joined in February, 2020. Achar had taken a short break spending time helping with COVID-related relief activities and indulging in social work, before taking on his new role at Star Health, Chennai. Backed by over 34 years of HR experience in several industries, Achar has held HR leadership positions at Xchanging Technologies (now DXC), America Online, First Ring India, Astra Zeneca…

Gone are the days when unused sickness leaves were carried forward by employees to the next year. Times are such that organisations are surprising their workforce with wellness holidays and encouraging them to take leaves to rest and unwind. Yes. The realisation has dawned that while sick leaves can take care of physical illness, psychological exhaustion also requires time to be treated. Thus has emerged the trend of employees being urged to take a day off just to relax and do nothing — a holiday to rest their exhausted minds and bodies. Why are wellness leaves necessary? To correct work-life…

Come rain or sun, human resources professionals always have their hands full. The pandemic, however, seems to have brought fresh challenges their way. This is also the best time for HR professionals to hone their skills. While there are a whole lot of courses to choose from, and even more modes to access them, the best way to learn remains the digital route. Irrespective of the career stage an HR professional is in, the truth is that there is always scope for improvement and growth. Also, developing oneself professionally is the best advice leaders can give to their juniors, in…

Will I still be employed at the end of the year? Will my children be able to attend school anytime soon? What if there is another phase of complete lockdown? Will my son have a normal childhood? What if the business doesn’t pick up? When will I be able to travel to my hometown to visit my parents? How will I repay the car loan? Who will buy my car even if I decide to sell it? Innumerable questions like these plague the minds of employees amidst the pandemic. News of layoffs, retrenchment, downsizing and furloughs on a daily basis…

The Government has taken various measures to ensure that more women participate in the labour force. These include childcare facilities, increase in paid maternity leave from 12 weeks to 26 weeks, compulsory crèche facilities in all establishments employing 50 or more employees, and even allowing women to work in the night shifts with appropriate safety measures in place. The Code on Social Security gives immense importance to women workers and their health. According to Chapter VI of the Code, all women will be eligible for maternity benefits. Employers are liable to pay them benefits at the rate of the average…

Sudden silence in the middle of a serious and important debate, can be quite uncomfortable. However, many leaders actually strategically plan such a prolonged pause. This requires skill too and emotional intelligence. After all, one has to pause at the right juncture. One has to know exactly when to stop speaking. Some thought has to go into creating a gap at the opportune moment, for others to fill, meaningfully, so that the discussion gets directed towards a logical and desired conclusion. Says Bhawna Kirpal Mital, general manager, human resources, Hero Future Energies, “I have certainly used this tactic to my…