Author: Liji Narayan | HRKatha

All H1B visa holders employed with Twitter, and who have been laid off will need to find another job within two months to be able to continue living in the US. There are many Indians with H1B visas who have been asked to leave by Twitter. If they fail to find an alternate job within 60 days, as per visa rules, they will have to return to India. In such cases, Twitter, the Company that originally employed them, is bound by law to bear the expenses of their return to their home country. As reported by India Today, many H1B…

Metropolis Healthcare (MHL), the diagnostic service company has launched its employee value proposition (EVP) based on the five pillars of trust, openness, innovation, compassion and growth mindset. The EVP statement aptly reads, ‘Taking Life up a Notch’. The EVP has been derived post many internal surveys and various discussions engaging senior leadership teams, as well as managers and their employees, across levels and functions in India as well as abroad. The objective is to strengthen MHL’s commitment towards employees and to become the ‘Employer Brand of Choice’. Acccording to Ishita Medhekar, chief human resources officer, Metropolis Healthcare, “Our EVP reiterates…

Are your employees increasingly taking leaves due to some pain or the other? Have you noticed your team members complaining of frequent headaches, neck pain and back pain? Did you know that a significant 76 per cent of employees complained about work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) while working from office? A whopping 82 per cent of employees are concerned about body pain while working from home. Factors such as sedentary postures, absence of ergonomic remote workspaces, and prolonged working hours definitely aggravate WMSDs in those working from home. That means, whether your employees are working from office or from home, they…

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has grabbed headlines yet again for promoting the work from office culture. The Company has been very openly critical about the 100 per cent work-from-home culture always. It has promoting a hybrid work model wherein it expects its employees to come to office at least three days in a week. As per the latest development reported by TOI, the Company has asked its employees to furnish a medical certificate or reports of treatment and diagnoses, if they wish to work from home. These proofs, reports or certificates will be examined by TCS’ internal panel of doctors…

Meddo Health, the Indian 360-degree connected health-tech platform has hired 30 people, including senior leaders in its team, within two months. It has also revealed its plans to keep on growing and hiring. Since its inception in 2018, Meddo Health has recorded a growth rate of 120 per cent. Having established a presence in the tier 2 and 3 cities across India, the platform has recently added 30 senior leaders, including regional heads, managers and team leaders in the operations and IT department. Saurabh Kochhar, CEO and founder, Meddo Health said the hiring plans prove the Company’s “commitment to accelerate…

What is digital transformation all about? Is it easier said than done? What does it really take to be able to ride the waves of automation? Is the impact of digitalisation same at all levels of the organisational hierarchy? These were just some of the innumerable relevant questions for which answers were provided by the panel of experts from the HR fraternity who graced HRKatha’s Automation.Nxt. This was the first ever conference in the country where HR leaders shared their automation-related experiences and the challenges they posed for the HR function in particular. The panel comprised Sanjay Bose, EVP-HR and…

As part of its new diversity goals, Citigroup plans to make 3.5 per cent hires from LGBTQ community. Earlier, only 2.1 per cent of the hires were lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and questioning. Now, the Bank has decided to increase the representation of women in senior levels, including assistant vice president (AVP) and managing director (MD). Presently, only about 40 per cent of women are found in such senior ranks. From now on, the Bank will endeavour to improve this figure and take it to 43.5 per cent by 2025. Upholding its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, it plans…

The new rates would be effective from July 11, 2022, and the labourers will be given arrears The Government of Sikkim has hiked minimum wage by 67 per cent, from Rs 300 to Rs 500. That means, even unskilled workers will be able to earn at least Rs 15,000 in 30 days. The new wage will come into retrospective effect from 11 July, 2022, as per Labour Minister Lok Nath Sharma. Semi-skilled workers will now be able to earn a daily wage of Rs 520 as compared to the Rs 320 that they used to earn earlier. Skilled workers who…

The CEO of HCL Tech is reportedly the highest-paid CEO in India, receiving about Rs 130 crore in compensation. The CEO of Wipro earns about Rs 80 crore annually, while the Infosys CEO was paid about Rs 71 crore in FY 2021-22. What whopping amounts! But why are CEOs paid so much? Is it because they make important decisions? But surely they aren’t the only ones making decisions. Aren’t managers in organisations also making equally important decisions all the time? And so much more frequently? These are questions that have plagued all of us at some point, but only Harjeet…

Over 10,000 contractual employees from more than 40 Odisha government departments held a day’s peaceful protest on 11 September 2022, seeking change in policy. These employees want to be paid salaries as per ‘equal pay for equal work’ policy. They want the state government to do away with the rules of contractual appointment. The protestors comprises welfare extension officers and teachers as well who protested despite the heavy rainfall. The protest was held under the aegis of the Odisha Government Contractual Employees Association. The Association has been demanding an end to the system of contractual employment for some time now.…

In a weekly interaction with employees, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta, which owns Facebook, has indicated that the Company will up the heat in terms of performance reviews. Zuckerberg made it clear that there are some people in the company who are not able to meet their targets and that such people should realistically not be present in the company. Zuckerberg further mentioned that the company will need to be more strict in terms of employees meeting their targets and hinting that non-performers should realise that Facebook is probably not the place for them. The CEO has indicated that the company…

After receiving much flak for its new hiring guidelines that called pregnant women ‘medically unfit’ for recruitment, Indian Bank has now received a notice from the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW). The public-sector bank has been ordered by DCW to withdraw the rule, which has been labelled as misogynistic. Earlier this year, State Bank of India (SBI) had also introduced new rules according to which women candidates who are three months or over three months pregnant would be considered ‘temporarily unfit’ to join and that they would be allowed to join only within four months post delivery. At that time…

The railway network in Britain is set to face a lot of disruption given the strike call by the railway employees. This is the biggest strike by the country’s railway network in over 30 years. About 50,000 employees will participate in the strike to demand a minimum hike of seven per cent in pay, to be able to deal with the rising inflation. Thousands of Network Rail staff members as well as 13 rail operators are planning to walk out on 21 June. This 24-hour walkout is expected to cause much inconvenience in major routes, those walking out will include…

Ever since the Agnipath scheme was announced, protestors have been vandalising public and private property and indulging in violence in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam. The Government has rolled out incentives and concessions for Agniveers, while the three services have warned that those who participate in the protests or indulge in any kind of violence will not be recruited. The main grouse of the protestors is that only 25 per cent of the Agniveers will be absorbed into the Army after the four-year contract. The remaining 75 per cent will…

As part of its expansion plan, Wipro is set to enhance its team in Norway, which is emerging as one of the most successful regions for the tech major. Currently, Wipro employs about 85 pople in the region and is now planning to take this number to 350 in the coming years. Local talent accounts for about 95 per cent of the workforce in Norway presently. In the coming years, Wipro plans to further improve this figure and provide major jobs to local talent in the region. As per the hiring plans, the Company is looking to hire in areas…

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…