What actions are you taking to create an engaging and inclusive culture in accenture

“At Accenture, we firmly believe that diversity and a culture of equality are powerful multipliers of innovation - when people are valued for their unique perspectives and contributions, they perform to their fullest potential."

Recognized as “Champion of Inclusion” in the 2020 Working Mother and AVTAR Most Inclusive Companies in India Index for the second consecutive year, Accenture in India fosters inclusion and diversity in the recruitment, retention and advancement of people, and creates an inclusive culture through leadership, accountability, communications and employee engagement. 

Well, not just that, but the company is also known to have been promoting the inclusion of LGBTQ community amongst the corporate world since long, thriving upon the motto "to attract, develop, inspire and reward top talent." In a Q&A with BW People, Lakshmi C, Managing Director and Lead for Human Resources, Accenture in India elaborates on how clear goals, leadership alignment and tangible action have helped the company create an equal and inclusive workplace. She has also thrown light upon how have they been coming out with flying colours in making their organisation a truly diverse one.

1. What are Accenture’s initiatives to build a diverse and inclusive workforce culture? And how is that Accenture is doing differently? 

At Accenture, we believe that achieving equality is the right thing to do, not just because it drives innovation and growth but also because it makes the world a better place. We take an intentional approach to equality, treating it as a business priority, backed by clear goals, leadership alignment and tangible actions. This approach has allowed us to set industry-leading benchmarks.  

Take gender equality for instance. In 2017, we were one of the first companies to set a bold global goal of achieving a gender-balanced workforce - with 50 percent women and 50 percent men - by 2025, a goal that we are well-positioned to achieve. We are also proud to have accomplished our commitment to growing the percentage of women Managing Directors at Accenture to 25 percent, globally by the year 2020. 

2. Can you elaborate on your hiring efforts to create a more diverse workforce? 

We have focused hiring initiatives for various segments. For example, we have dedicated recruiters who work with our hiring managers to increase the number of persons with disabilities (PwD) in our workforce. We work with specialized partners to identify talent and also have robust employee referral programs that encourage internal referrals of persons with disabilities. In partnership with the Leonard Cheshire Disability organization, we developed the ‘Jobability’ portal for India that matches persons with disabilities with jobs and even provides work-related advice. 

We have inclusive internship programs that focus on building relevant skills in persons with disabilities and transgender candidates, making them more employable. A majority of them are subsequently absorbed into Accenture.  

We have special campus connects, work with specialized partners, incentivize referrals of women candidates in our employee referral program and encourage our senior women leaders to leverage their networks to engage with and hire women candidates. We have a program called Career Reboot to enable women to seamlessly re-integrate into the workforce after a career breakthrough a structured journey with periodic leadership connects, domain training and ongoing learning interventions.   

Most importantly, we run regular sensitization programs for our recruiters and hiring managers as they are the first point of contact for candidates.

3. Kindly elaborate on your efforts build an inclusive workplace for the LGBTQ+ community? 

In order to create an equal workplace for all, we conduct sensitization sessions for teams to help people understand the nuances of gender expression and identity. At Accenture, our LGBTQ+ people have a safe internal platform to share their own stories and encourage others to confidently express themselves. Accenture was one of the first companies to introduce medical cover for gender reassignment surgery in 2016, offer other medical cover benefits as well as mentorship and counselling programs for our LGBT+ people. We have mobilized an ally network to create informed and vocal evangelists on the topic.

More recently, as a reaffirmation of our commitment to continuous progress towards making Accenture more equal, we modified our leave and life insurance policies to ensure all our people benefit equally. Our new parental leave policies focus on the importance of caregiving so that new parents get the time needed with their new child without being constrained by their gender. We have extended maternal leave to all people who can bear and give birth to a child instead of just those who identify themselves as women, and surrogacy and adoption leaves have been extended to all people who are primary caregivers. Our bereavement leave has now been extended to include partners of employees who identify as LGBT+. And the life Insurance nomination, which was previously restricted to spouse and family members, can now include any person nominated by the employee, irrespective of the legal definition of the relationship.

4. How focussed you were on D&I initiatives during the pandemic in comparison to the past ten months? 

Building an inclusive and equal culture is a business priority for us. The pandemic led to our people working under newer conditions and experiencing new kinds of pressures and therefore, needing the flexibility to work differently. We quickly shifted our focus to address these needs.

·For example, we introduced a Virtual Summer Camp for our parents with young children. The camp provided parents with resources to keep children between the ages of 5-12 constructively engaged through virtual hobby lessons, do-it-yourself tutorials, and other learning activities such as treasure hunts and puzzles.

• We worked with our people with disabilities to ensure that they have equal access to technology and collaboration tools required for remote work. 

·We focused even more on mental wellbeing to enable our people to overcome feelings of isolation wrought by social distancing through periodic connects and dialogue on managing stress and anxiety, family & relationships, work life balance, fitness, parenting etc. We have enabled access to helplines, experts and physicians for our people and their families. 

Our ‘Hues of the Rainbow’ virtual platform enables Accenture LGBT community members to share their journey with the Allies network in India, address questions and discuss ways to overcome challenges.                                           

5. How has the pandemic impacted inclusion in the workplace on the whole? Given that the pandemic has transformed life and work across spheres, how do you expect diversity and inclusion efforts to evolve in the post-pandemic era?

The crisis has had a mixed impact on inclusion and diversity at the workplace. It has disproportionately impacted some pools of talent including a large number of women rendered unemployed in the retail, travel and hospitality sectors. There are also women who are now struggling to cope with the physical demands of simultaneously managing their homes while working from home.  On the other hand, acceptance of work from home or a hybrid working as a viable model and an increased demand for gig workers can potentially open up opportunities for women who have dropped out of the workforce because of life stage conflicts, persons with disabilities who have difficulty commuting to work and talent residing in smaller cities with limited mobility. Increased use of digital and virtual will be a big leveler. Similarly, the proliferation of online learning models can potentially remove geographic barriers to learning and can offer more access to skilling opportunities, which were earlier concentrated in urban areas.On the whole, while it is too soon to predict how things will shape over the long term, the opportunities presented by the pandemic must be maximized. And to do that, the industry, policymakers and society as a whole, need to come together to create enabling structures and attempt to change entrenched cultural attitudes – for example – those that expect women to entirely shoulder the responsibilities of running a home.

Page 2

The manufacturing sector accounted for 30 per cent of all employment in 2016- 17, but in 2020-21 it has come down to 21%

As per the reports by the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) nearly half of workers have lost their jobs in the manufacturing sector

The manufacturing sector accounted for 30 per cent of all employment in 2016- 17, but in 2020-21 it has come down to 21%.

"On a year-on-year basis, it employed 32% fewer people in 2020-21 over 2019-20. This has happened despite the Indian government’s push to improve manufacturing in the country with the ‘Make in India’ project. Under the project, India is aiming to create an additional 100 million manufacturing jobs by 2022 and to increase manufacturing’s contribution to GDP to 20% by 2025," said the CEDA-CMIE report.

In the year 2016-17 manufacturing industry employed 51 million Indians which fell drastically to 27.3 million in 2020-21 with a steep decline of 46 per cent. This indicates the severity of the employment crisis in India even before the pandemic.

According to the report, "Instead of increasing employment in the sector, we have seen a sharp decline over the last 5 years. When we look closely at industries that make the manufacturing sector, we find that this is a secular decline in employment across all sub-sectors, except chemical industries."

Ankur Bhardwaj, Editor, Centre for Economic Data and Analysis said, 

"With the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic battering India at present, the Indian economic outlook looks bleak for the second year in a row. In 2020-21, India’s real GDP growth is estimated to be minus 8%. This would also put pressure on India’s employment numbers."

Page 3

Family Business Network International re- elected Farhad Forbes as the global chairman

Farhad Forbes, co-chairman of heavy engineering firm Forbes Marshall, has been re-elected the global chairman of the Family Business Network International (FBNI). Forbes was the first non-European to hold the position.

FBNI is a group of business-owning families, based in Lausanne (Switzerland) and acts as a facilitator for business relationships within families to raise awareness about family-owned business models. FBNI’s 4,000 membership comes from 65 countries.

Farhad Forbes is the second generation of Forbes Marshall. Farhad completed his BS in 1977 and an MS in electrical engineering in 1979 from Stanford University. He also received an MS in Management in 1991 from the Sloan Master’s Program at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He joined the company in 1982. He is a former member of the Advisory Council, Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, and a former member of the Advisory Board of the MS Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Forbes Marshall has sixty years of experience building steam engineering and control instrumentation solutions with focused investments in manufacturing and research and development. It is a leading multinational engineering company, specializing in steam engineering and control instrumentation. 

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 4

With over 15 years of experience in Human Resource Function, Vishal Verma will be managing Human Resource services, Talent Acquisition, Talent Management of the company

Alumnus Software Ltd, a software engineering company providing solutions to the customer, appointed Vishal Verma as their new HR head. 

He will be based in Kolkata and will be actively involved in HR Automation and Analytics.

He holds a degree in Human Resource Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta. Vishal has over a decade of cross-cultural experience in Human Resource Function. He holds expertise in delivering sustained organizational growth in dynamic environments, driving vision and achieving critical strategic goals. 

Vishal Verma is well experienced in HR Analytics, Proactive Manpower Planning, Talent Management & Development and Performance Management. He is deft at people management, maintaining healthy employee relations and handling employee grievances, creating an amicable & transparent environment.

Previously he was associated with TEECL as the senior HR Manager for over five years. There he was responsible for HR Analytics, Organizational Development, Competency Management, Campus Recruitment and other HR functioning. 

He started his career with Times Press Pvt Ltd as Assistant Manager, in 2004. Verma was Sr. Manager Human Resource (Functional Head) at Jai Balaji group, Kolkata. He has also worked with Environ Solar Pvt Ltd.

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 5

He will be responsible for IT security, cloud services, SAP, IT Infra - Network, on-prem and end-user computing for the company

Apollo tyres appointed Kuldeep Goyal as their head of IT Infrastructure. He will be based in Bangalore and will be reporting to Hizmy Hassen, who is the Chief Digital Officer of the tyre company.

As the leader of IT in the company, he will be leading the company's IT security, cloud services, SAP, IT Infra - Network, on-prem and end-user computing. As a part of his role, he will be leading operations globally with a major focus on APMEA (Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa) and Europe Region.

With a vision of digital transformation and automation of several manufacturing processes, Apollo Tyres is an Indian multinational tyre manufacturing company.

Kuldeep is an accomplished Technocrat having more than 14 years of rich and extensive experience in IT Innovation, activation, operation, Project Management and Systems Management.

Previously he was associated with Unilever for over nine years, where he joined as the Lead Communication Services Manager and got elevated to Lead Tech and IT Infrastructure Services - IT M&A Integration.

He holds a degree in BE Information Technology from Engineering College Kota, Rajasthan. He started his career in 2005 as a System Associate at BMC Software Pvt Ltd. and has also worked with big firms like TechMahindra as a technical associate.

Page 6

Data from job portal Indeed India, suggests a huge hike of the keyword 'remote work' in April by 966%

“The Covid-19 pandemic has fast-tracked the adoption of technology across functions in India and has set in motion the largest 'work from home' experiment of our generation. Our data has reflected the same showing a consistent rise in searches for remote jobs," said Sashi Kumar, Managing Director, Indeed India

“As businesses transitioned digitally, it has become a norm for employees and companies to work from anywhere and this change enabled by technology will see more and more companies turning to hybrid work in the future. We believe that going forward, recruiters will focus on the role and skills-based hiring, thus blurring geographical boundaries,” Kumar added.

Indeed India commented on the new WFH culture, "companies lay their focus on hiring employees that offer the required skill set irrespective of the city of the applicants. It is expected that employers would increase work-from-home options, embracing hybrid work as the future of work."

According to the data, Technical Support Specialist (25 per cent) emerged as one of the most searched remote jobs followed by Data Entry Clerk (22 per cent), IT Recruiter (16 per cent), Content Writer (16 per cent) and Back End Developer (15 per cent).

The data also revealed that Bengaluru topped the chart for remote job searches with 16 per cent followed by Delhi (11 per cent), Mumbai (8 per cent), Hyderabad (6 per cent) and Pune (7 per cent).

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 7

The company said it has been able to hold almost 70 per cent of its 2,45,000 contract workers at its various project sites in return for medical care facilities and other support measures during the pandemic

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) said they have intensified their efforts to retain their labour force post the outbreak of the second COVID-19 wave

"What has happened after the first wave (of COVID-19) is that much of the labourers went back to their villages and towns. With huge efforts, I can talk about Larsen & Toubro, we brought many of them back," the company's CEO and managing director S N Subrahmanyan said.

The company said it has been able to hold almost 70 per cent of its 2,45,000 contract workers at its various project sites in return for medical care facilities and other support measures during the pandemic.

S N Subrahmanyan said, "we had about 2,45,000 labourers on our rolls. It has come down to about 1,71,000 now. So, there have been some people who have gone back, one could say that. But we have intensified huge campaigns at all our sites, especially the labour camps to tell them that they are safe with L&T."

Many state governments, he said, are also requesting the public to stay where they are because the movement of people also creates infection and therefore, there is a general feeling to keep people where they are. He believes labourers should stay back at their current places, as in the hinterland there is a certain amount of COVID infection and due to lack of medical infrastructure at these places, there are hardships.

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 8

This pandemic, unlike the last global recession over a decade ago, is primarily a human crisis. And the reaction to it, therefore must be people-first

As the COVID-19 Pandemic continues to ravage across the country and cries for assistance ring through our social media, there is a looming sense of isolation and helplessness in both personal and by extension, professional lives too. This pandemic, unlike the last global recession over a decade ago, is primarily a human crisis. And the reaction to it, therefore, must be people-first. 

The unprecedented magnitude of the pandemic has inadvertently jumpstarted many developmental and digitization plans that would have normally taken many more years to become industry norms. From a headfirst adoption of technology, digital learning, prioritizing employees’ emotional and mental wellbeing to introducing greater flexibility in working styles and hiring to name a few.   

How to process the Second Wave?  

With restrictions on mobility and travel, the hospitality and travel industries have been worse hit. Reports on the Impact of the Pandemic on Hospitability Industry in July 2020 showed that 60% of the hotel operators surveyed believed that it would take 13 to 24 months for their portfolio to bounce back to 2019 RevPAR (revenue per available rooms) levels. It becomes important to note, that these predictions were made before the more punishing second wave of the Coronavirus in India.   

Talking to BW People, Jacob Peter, CHRO of Sterling Holiday Resorts anticipates the struggle for the hospitality industry will be long and hard on revenue and operations. He said,

“Another major challenge that we could expect in the foreseeable future is the increased cost of revised operations. Considering the new norms of safety, hygiene, re-designing of in-room and outdoor activities, sanitation, and new practices like contact-less service, these factors will create a strain on the already shrunken revenue until the demand for travel is back.”  

On the other side of the spectrum, the increased digitization helped Neobanks flourish. While their learnings might not have been revenue-pressed, organizational culture and employee wellbeing have become important concerns.  Chitbhanu Nagri, Senior Vice President People Operations at Razorpay expects that this challenge will continue into the second wave, and we should be prepared for it. 

He added,

“We have been equally surprised by the impact that "wave 2" has had on the emotional wellness of employees. It is high time to move beyond "corporate wellness/counselling programs" and leverage direct managers and human resources teams as flag bearers of advising employees on their emotional wellness. More than professional competence, we need genuine empathy and a personal touch which only a direct colleague can offer.”  

Lessons Learnt  

The Future of Talent survey by LinkedIn revealed that many companies are warming up to the idea of a remote workforce, changing the traditional workforce structure. Talent is no more limited by geography and the reduced costs seem sensible to many. Almost 50 per cent of companies believed a hybrid workforce will help future-proof their organisation against future crises and help save fixed costs. The priorities in a mix of remote and in-office employees are more towards productivity and mental wellbeing.   

Keeping the above conditions in mind, Nagri pointed out two key learnings - 

“I believe we were collectively overoptimistic after ‘wave 1’ tapered down. There was a general assumption that COVID was on its way out. Hence, the general precautions and employee advisories got relaxed over time. Big learning has been to be prepared to assume a "worst-case" scenario and not let the guard down. The second important learning has been to put a much more concerted focus towards optimizing productivity in a remote-first environment. There is a lot of anxiety around higher work stress and extended working hours… I believe organizations need to skim beyond the surface and resolve (or at least improve) the root causes leading to higher stress and burnout.”  

Jacob Peter too echoes the sentiment that the pandemic has shifted focus to people.  He said,

“One thing which could have been addressed better earlier was the importance of mental health of employees across sectors…Organisations would be better advised to proactively create a positive environment and provide resources that allow the staff to consistently manage their stress and build resilience to nurture an optimistic mindset”  

The road posts the first pandemic might be riddled with lessons but it is not over. And Human Resource Departments are uniquely positioned to lead this change of pace for the ‘Future of Work’. The pandemic presents an opportunity to rebuild and redesign HR and shape the future of talent and operations.  

Page 9

Avinash will be based out of the Gurgaon office and this appointment comes on the heels of other critical and strategic additions to the leadership team of Mamaearth

Mamaearth, one of the fastest-growing FMCG brands, appointed Mr. Avinash Dhagat as Vice President, Operations. In this role, he will be leading the operations and supply chain for the brand.

Mr. Dhagat is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience across automotive and FMCG sectors, most recently as head of supply chain at Loreal India’s consumer division. Over the years he has gained in depth understanding of Demand & Supply Planning, Inventory Management & Customer Service, in India and GCC markets. After graduating from NIT, Warangal, he pursued his master’s in supply chain and Logistics. With his pragmatic approach, he has been instrumental in making supply chain processes coherent and orderly.  

Speaking about his new role, Dhagat said, “Mamaearth has displayed disruptive growth over the last 4 years and has displayed exceptional abilities in managing supply chain processes with scale up. It is extremely exciting to be a part of a brand which is on the upheaval, both on how to keep pace with the scale up and introducing newer practices to make the processes even more efficient in this journey. I look forward to working with the fastest growing brand in India and becoming a part of every household in the years to come.”

Commenting on this crucial onboarding, Mr. Varun Alagh, Co-Founder and CEO, Mamaearth said, “I am delighted to welcome Avinash as Vice President, Operations. Avinash’s experience combined with his commercial and planning expertise over the last decade in FMCG, will help make Mamaearth supply chain processes more systematic and streamlined. We wish him great success in his new role.” 

Avinash will be based out of the Gurgaon office and this appointment comes on the heels of other critical and strategic additions to the leadership team of Mamaearth.

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 10

Goenka has just retired from Mahindra and Mahindra after 27 years. He was the Managing Director and has led big projects for the company

Bosch Limited, a German company, said in a regulatory filing, Dr Pawan Goenka has joined its board as an independent director for a period of 5 years with effect from May 21, 2021, till May 20, 2026. This decision was based on the recommendations of the nomination and remuneration committee and was approved by the shareholders. 

After a 27 year-long stint with Mahindra and Mahindra, he has recently announced his retirement. Mahindra and Mahindra is an Indian multinational automobile manufacturing corporation. He joined Mahindra in October 1993 as the general manager, R&D. In April 2003 he became the Chief Operating Officer for the automotive sector. He was appointed to the post of Executive Director of Mahindra & Mahindra in 2013 and in April 2014, he took over the additional responsibility of the two-wheeler business. In Nov 2016 Dr Pawan Kumar Goenka was elevated to the post of Managing Director of M&M. 

He became famous for the development of the Scorpio, one of the most famous SUV from the brand. It boosted the company's presence in the Commercial Vehicle space as also pushed the electric vehicle agenda in the country.

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 11

He was the former vice president -sales and marketing for Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL

Tricolite Electrical Industries appointed Rajiv Gupta as the chief executive officer (CEO). He was associated with Honda Cars India for over five years as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing. 

Tricoli Electrical Industries is involved in the manufacturing of custom-built electrical panels and switchboards. Rajiv will be reporting directly to the board. 

Rajiv is a Sales, Marketing, Business Development Professional with a long experience of 29 years in sectors as diverse as Automobiles, Fuel Retailing (Gas Stations) and Educational Services Start-up. 

He holds a degree from Harvard Business school in General Management Programme and has completed his Engineering from BITS Pilani. 

His career can be divided into 3 broad stints: VP of Marketing & Sales in Automobiles (Honda Cars), VP & National Head of Franchising, Dealer Development & Channel Mgt. for Fuel Retailing (Reliance Industries) and CEO of an Educational Services start-up (EGE Global Education). 

In 2013 he joined EGE Global Education Pvt ltd in 2011 and was the chief executive officer for 3 years. He led the company to multi-fold growth in annual revenue. He was a part of Reliance Industries Ltd as the Vice President & Head - Retail Channel Management for more than eight years. He was also the National Head of Franchising & Channel Management for Petroleum Retail Business of Reliance Industries Ltd. based in Mumbai. He was a part of the core team that set up a new retail network across the country for a technology-intensive fuel sales process. 

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 12

Tata steel takes a one-of-a-kind step by launching a social security scheme for its employees where the family of a deceased employee will continue to receive the salary. Additionally, the company will bear all the housing and educational expenses of the family.

According to the announcement made by the company, “Tata Steel's best-in-class social security schemes will help ensure an honourable standard of living for their families, whereby the family will get the last drawn salary till 60 years of the age of the deceased employee/nominee along with medical benefits and housing facilities.”

The statement released by the company further stated that for all its frontline employees, who as part of their job, met with an unfortunate death due to COVID-19, the company will bear all the expenses of their children’s education till graduation in India.

“The Company has always been a shield of steel, supporting its stakeholders at all times. This time is no different. Tata Steel family stands stoically with its entire people, committed to their security and well-being,” it read.

Additionally, Tata Steel had recently announced that it has increased its daily oxygen supply limit to 800 tonnes to centres where COVID-19 patients are being treated.

According to reports, Tata Group is also making arrangements to airlift 60 cryogenic oxygen tankers from overseas, of which 14 have already arrived. The Group is working on setting up about 400 oxygen-generating units to be used in smaller towns.

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 13

As the bank reports an annual growth in operating profits, the staff get PLI as per the wage agreement

According to the reports, around 2.5 lakh employees of SBI are likely to get 15 days' salary as a performance-linked incentive.

As per the wage agreement with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) in November 2020, "if any of the public-sector banks report annual growth in operating profits, an increase of 5 to 10 per cent, the staff of the bank are to be given an incentive of five days’ salary, and if the increase is 10 to 15 per cent, they will get 10 days’ salary as an incentive. In case of an increase in operating profits of over 15 per cent, the staff are entitled to an incentive of 15 days’ salary.

SBI has reported a net profit of over 6,000 crores in quarter four of FY21, which is greater than the profit of over Rs 3,000 crore it reported in Q4 of FY20. The bank has recently reported an 80.15 per cent hike in net profit.

Other banks like Canara Bank and Bank of Maharashtra have already paid their employees their performance-linked incentives. 

Canara Bank posted a net profit of Rs 2,557 crore for FY21, the Bank of Maharashtra posted a net profit of Rs 165 crore for Q4.

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 14

Christine holds over two decades of experience in public relations and HR. She will report directly to the Co-founder and CEO, Ben Silbermann

Christine Deputy joins Pinterest as the Chief People Officer (CPO). As CPO, Christine will be responsible for all aspects of Pinterest’s human resources strategy, including talent management, leadership development, pay and benefits, and helping to ensure that the company fulfil its commitments to improving workplace culture.

Previously she was associated with Nordstrom, an American luxury department store chain, as the Chief Human Resources Officer.

Ben Silbermann, co-founder and CEO at Pinterest, said,

“As we continue to build an innovative and diverse global company, we’re excited to have Christine join Pinterest. Christine has a wealth of experience across a number of high-profile international brands and shares our vision for building a culture of collaboration, where all employees feel included and supported.”

Christine brings two decades of HR experience leading teams at iconic brands like Nordstrom, Barclays and Starbucks. Most recently at Nordstrom, where she served as CHRO, Christine supported more than 70,000 employees, helping the company reach many milestones. She was associated with Starbucks for 11 years at various senior levels including VP- HR Asia Pacific.

“What attracted me to Pinterest was their mission of inspiration and passion for sharing creativity on the platform,” said Christine Deputy. “Bringing this same experience to life for Pinterest's 2,700 global employees and embracing diversity and inclusion across every aspect of the business will be a key part of my mission as Chief People Officer."

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 15

More than 100 companies visited the campus this season. The campus saw a multi-fold increase in recruiters across sectors

IIM Sambalpur, one of the most promising and dynamic management institutions among the new generation IIMs of the country, witnessed close to 140 companies visiting the campus this season with prominent participants and recruiters such as Nielsen, Reliance Retail, Ramco Systems, Tech Mahindra, Mindtree, Amul, Vedanta, HCL, SBI Life, Tata Steel BSL, Accenture, IBM, BYJU’s, Infosys, ICICI Prudential, Trident Group, Bajaj Allianz, ZS Associates, Deloitte India, KPMG, Ernst & Young, etc. 

The graduates were offered a myriad of lucrative roles across Marketing, Sales, BFSI, Operations, Consulting, Analytics, ITeS and bagged highly coveted roles in Fintech, E-Commerce, FMCG, among others. With more than a 90 per cent increase in the companies visited for recruitment, IIM Sambalpur set new standards and surpassed its previous placement records. This season recorded the highest annual CTC offered at INR 26.4 LPA, with the top 25 per cent CTC at INR 14.91 LPA.

Prof Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, IIM Sambalpur, stated, 

“IIM Sambalpur has yet again bettered its previous records and will continuously strive to exceed expectations of all its stakeholders. Despite the current market dynamics, we are proud of our students who have achieved this feat owing to sheer hard work and dedication. I congratulate our graduating students on receiving such coveted employment offers. These demonstrate the high value of the blended pedagogy imparted at IIM Sambalpur and our students' remarkable skills and capabilities. We would like to extend sincere gratitude to the esteemed recruiters for partnering with us and reposing faith in the quality of talent and its distinct academic culture.”

The IIM also announced 100 per cent Summer Placements for the sixth batch (2020-22) of its flagship MBA program. With more than 110 companies participating in the on-campus Summer Internship placement process for a batch strength of 157 students, this year concluded with one of the best placement seasons beating previous years' records. 

The institute has witnessed a highly coveted pool of first-time recruiters like Google, Adani Ports, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Bank of Baroda, IMCD India, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, DSM Group, IBM, Justdial, Tata Steel BSL, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), V Guard, ICICI Bank and many more. The influx of recruiters saw an increase this year providing opportunities in multiple domains like Advertising, Apparel, Automobile, BFSI, Chemicals, Consulting, Consumer Goods & Services, E-Commerce, Edu-tech, Financial Services, FMCG, Insurance, IT/ITES, Mining, Pharmaceuticals, and Retail. 

This year the highest stipend offered was INR 1,70,000 domestic and the top quartile of the batch received an average stipend of INR 72,511. The top half of the batch secured an average stipend of INR 56,644 wherein the average and median stipend of the whole batch stood at INR 48,222 and INR 47,700, respectively. This year also saw a sharp increase in companies of Automobile, E-Commerce, and Pharmaceutical industries visiting the campus with a considerable percentage of students getting offers from these organizations.

Speaking about Summer Placements, Prof. Diptiranjan Mahapatra, Placement Chair, IIM Sambalpur, stated, 

“The speed at which our students received the offers are unparalleled and phenomenal. The outcome bears testimony of the recruiters’ continued trust in exceptional talent and academic excellence at IIM Sambalpur. With changing times, Consulting, BFSI, FMCG, IT/ITES, and Edu-Tech emerged as most sought after and lucrative amongst others with more than 50 per cent of the batch opting for these industries. IIM Sambalpur would like to thank its various stakeholders including the recruiters for reposing faith in the institute, its students, and its distinct academic culture. With such strong support and collaboration, we wish to continue our journey of harnessing talents at IIM Sambalpur and providing students with the best opportunities to excel.”

Page 16

The staff will be given an option to work from home for six days every fortnight.

KPMG has announced that it will follow a strategy of ‘four-day fortnight’ and will also invest in introducing collaborative spaces and remote-working technology. The Company had consulted its employees in March 2021, before introducing such changes, and many of them expressed the desire to work from home.

This decision will be implemented on over 16,000 employees in the UK. The staff will be given an option to work from home for six days every fortnight. PWC also announced some long-term changes to its working week by introducing flexible schemes for its employees.

Jon Holt, Chief Executive, KPMG said, "Our new way of working will empower them and enable them to design their working week. The pandemic has proven it's not about where you work, but how you work. We have listened to our people and designed this strategy around our staff and how they can best support our clients."

In an email to the workforce, spokeswoman Zoe Sheppard said

“As part of the firm’s new hybrid way of working, from June onwards, the expectation will be that KPMG’s people spend up to four days in the office spread over a fortnight, with the rest spent at home or client sites.”

Page 17

Over 1000 front service executives already vaccinated under the drive Pan-India

India's leading digital financial services platform Paytm today announced that it has begun the vaccination drive for more than 8,000 Field Service Executives (FSEs) who are an integral part of its business development and merchant support network. The company has already completed the first dose of vaccination for over a thousand FSEs in collaboration with leading hospitals across the country. It will extend the drive to the family members of FSEs as soon as the overall supply of vaccines in the country goes up.

Ever since the beginning of the pandemic the company has given utmost importance to the health and well-being of FSEs who play a key role in Paytm's business development. It is providing them with all possible support including helping them to buy health & well-being supplements to boost their immunity. They have also been provided with a special COVID-19 Mediclaim option to manage hospitalisation and medical costs in the unfortunate event of them or their family members getting affected by the pandemic.

The company has further eased sales targets as well as deadlines for all FSEs. This move will help FSEs to stay more at home and spend time with their families. Paytm has also set up a dedicated team that is in constant touch will all FSEs nationwide & providing them with all possible medical support and financial assistance as necessary.

Paytm Spokesperson said, 

"The FSE workforce is the backbone of Paytm. We believe it is our duty to ensure that every FSE & their family member are safe and healthy. We have also increased the flexibility on targets & work deadlines to ensure that employees get time to spend with their families. We will continue to take more measures to ensure that our FSEs come out of this crisis stronger."

Page 18

For continued growth of the company HGS is hiring 250 frontline workers to fill management positions, including a new Human Resources Manager

Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) announced today that it is looking to hire up to 250 remote customer service representatives in Quebec to support the ongoing growth of its Canadian entity. Global leader in business process management and optimizing the customer experience lifecycle, HGS will be offering local expertise to Quebec companies who want to stand out in the area of customer service, a sector HGS has been excelling in for over forty years.

In addition to the 250 frontline workers, HGS is looking to fill management positions, including a new Human Resources Manager, who will be responsible for managing and coordinating employees for the continual growth of the company in Quebec

In Canada, HGS has had customer service representatives working from home for over ten years now, using a platform developed exclusively for the needs of their main business clients, which include several Canadian companies specialized in telecommunications and different Crown corporations that want to increase customer loyalty by offering familiar voices over the phone.

Steven Belham, Director of Client Services for HGS said, “We are delighted to be able to offer this option for the first time in Quebec and are excited to have these new talented individuals join our North American team. Speaking as a proud Quebecer and having worked in the industry for over 15 years, I know the importance of local talent. Hearing a familiar voice on the other end of the phone makes a world of difference to the customer. The application process for these new positions is completely virtual (an undeniable advantage in pandemic times), from the beginning to the very last interview. The HGS work-from-home program is designed to make employment more accessible to people living in rural communities, as well as parents, employees with mobility issues and anyone looking to reduce their commute times.”

Ross Duff, Senior Vice President of Operations at HGS, said, “This past year has been difficult for everyone. With that said, we are extremely proud that we have been able to keep our employees safe and sound by swiftly and effectively adapting our operations and work methods. Throughout this unprecedented time, HGS has retained the trust of its clients and now we’re searching for new talent to grow with us. Given its economic vitality and skilled workforce, Quebec is the ideal place for these new job opportunities.”

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 19

The NEC India COVID Task Force is supporting employees and their families across India

NEC Corporation India (NEC India), a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, has stepped up efforts towards COVID-19 relief initiatives in India. The organization is channelling INR 10 crores to support employee well-being and community welfare in the fight against the pandemic.

The NEC India COVID Task Force is supporting employees and their families across India by providing real-time details about hospitals, ICU beds, plasma donors, and access to medication and continuous online medical consultation. NEC India is also providing timely updates of patients, procurement and circulation of oxygen concentrators and five days of wellness leave for its employees. To further protect employees, the organization is providing an enhanced medical insurance policy - one of the best in the industry - that covers COVID-19.

In addition, the company has pledged to undertake CSR initiatives to aid COVID relief efforts in the country. This includes a donation of oxygen generating plants in rural hospitals; contribution of hundred oxygen concentrators to the needy and sponsoring ICU beds in rural hospitals, and efforts to start crematorium to handle the unexpected COVID pressure. NEC is committed to support other local communities and augment medical infrastructure in different states.

Aalok Kumar, President and Chief Executive Officer, NEC Corporation India, said, "As India grapples with the relentless wave of the pandemic, it is our responsibility to come forward to help and support the people and community at large. We share the pain, and we are grateful for the resilience shown by the frontline workers as well as our team members during these testing times. NEC has had a presence in India for the last seven decades and our teams have played an instrumental role in improving the lives of all.”

Mr Kumar added, "NEC India grieves with the families of those taken by this illness. The loss of human life is immeasurable, especially for our organization that functions like a family. For family members of our on-roll and off-roll employees who have passed from COVID-19, we will provide a one-year equivalent salary as additional support. We hope our continued efforts will help ease on-ground pressures on healthcare and other essential infrastructure. We will continue to stand in solidarity with frontline workers and those impacted across the country, and together we will overcome these difficult times."

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 20

BW People’s CEO and CHRO Conclave is an all-day Leadership summit on the theme ‘Looking beyond the Epidemic: Leadership perspectives’

BW People proudly presents the CEO and CHRO conclave, an exclusive virtual event on the aspects of Leadership and Human Resources on the 29th of May 2021 from 10:30 am onwards. The event will include expert panels and eminent keynote addresses that will focus on the 'act now' parameters and look into the future of business in India.

The panels will comprise an array of experience and insights on topics ranging from Employee Centricity, Employee Retention, Work life-balance, Employee Well-being & Resilience, Adaptable Workforce and Neurodiversity in Talent among others. 

The expert speakers who will inform the panels include- Aalok Kumar- President and CEO of NEC India, Anurag Gupta-CEO IT Staffing of FirstMeridian Business Services, Rajendra Shrivastav-President of AES India, Rajiv Sikka-CEO of Indian Oil and Adani Gas, Shivam Puri-CEO of Cipla Health, Rakesh Bhutoria-CEO of SREI Infra, Ramkumar Narayanan- VP Technology & Managing Director at VMware India, Anjali Raghuvanshi- CPO of Randstad India, Rajesh Srivastava-CHRO at Capital Foods, Maneesh Menda - Head of HR, India at Natwest Group, Subhash Menon CHRO of Angel Broking, Vishpala Reddy- Head of HR Indian Subcontinent at Philips, Julie Sachde- Director of HR at JW Marriott, Suchismita Burman - CHRO of ITC Infotech, Sandhydeep Puri- CPO of Sapphire Foods, Joyeeta Chatterjee- CPO of Future Consumers, Ruchira Bhardwaja-Joint President & CHRO at Kotak, Ganesh Subramanium- CHRO of More Retail and Deepti Verma HR Leader- Corporate, APAC and MENA of Amazon India.

The Keynote addresses will be delivered by Paul Dupuis- MD & CEO, Randstad India, Arup Datta- Founder, Khadder, Manoj Tandon, CEO, Dalitso, Paramjit Singh & Mr Sandeep Kaul, Authors of ‘The Accountability Clock’ and Paul R Kessler, Founder and Managing Director of Altus Group and Co-Author of “Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton's Antarctic Expedition” & Rajiv Verma, Former CEO of HT Times Ltd along with Media Mogul Dr Annurag Batra- Chairman and editor in chief of exchange4media and Business World.

The event will also feature an exclusive fireside chat with Mr Harsh Mariwala, the Chairman of Marico.

BW People carries a four-year old legacy as an exclusive HR community. We aim to impart the latest insights of erudite CEOs, Corporate HRs, Recruitment and Staffing firms, HR Tech Providers, Solutions Companies, Government Skilling Organizations and NGOs on our active webpage. The community caters to the needs of Freshers, Job seekers, Employers, Employees, Policy Makers, Service Providers and each stakeholder related to the job market and the HR community. 

  Register now to watch live on 29th May at https://bwevents.co.in/bw/CEO&CHRO/  

For partnership, queries reach out to Talees Rizvi- . (+91) 9310634007

For speaking opportunities contact Janani Janarthanan-  (+91) 99864 64372

Page 21

Register now to watch the exclusive CEO and CHRO Conclave keynote live-streamed on 29th May 2021 from 6 pm onwards

In an exclusive conversation at the CEO and CHRO conclave Paul Kessler and Rajiv Verma will engage in a leadership discussion with Dr Annurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief at BW Businessworld and exchange4media. The topic will include insights on bridging the trust deficit while mastering Leadership in a truly VUCA world.

Register now to be alerted of the event at: https://bwevents.co.in/bw/CEO&CHRO/ 

Paul Kessler is the Founder and Managing Director of the Altus Group, a consulting firm specializing in increasing individual, team and organizational performance. As an expert in the forces of industry disruption, he helps organizations define a strategic direction in increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous business environment conditions. He is also a co-author of Leading at the Edge: Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition, which summarizes 25 years of research on individuals and teams attempting to perform at “The Edge” – the highest possible levels of performance.

Rajiv Verma on the other hand is a media veteran with three decades of cross-sectoral experience in the field.  He joined HT Media as CEO in 2004. Under his leadership, HT grew leaps and bounds in various businesses such as growing the vernacular segment with Hindustan or creating big national brands – Mint, Fever 104, Shine.com. Previously, he served as Whole Time Director at HT Media Limited from September 1, 2009, to March 10, 2016. His international experience spans South-East Asia and European geographies, having worked with Whirlpool in Thailand and with Nestle in Philippines and Switzerland.

This edition of the CEO and CHRO Conclave 2021 is hosted by BW People, the exclusive HR Community of BW Businessworld and presenting partner Randstad India. It will be a virtual conversation that will host and garner leadership opinions on braving and moving beyond the Pandemic. The crisis we face has upended business operations and processes, prompting Leadership minds to juggle a paradoxical praxis that caters to employee wellbeing and ranks high on emotional empathy while strengthening the business outlook to be resilient and anti-fragile. The discourse will focus on the 'act now' parameters and look into the future of business in India. BW People finds itself in a unique position to host an event that will bring CEOs and CHROs across domains together and reveal their best-kept leadership secrets.

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 22

Balaji has been associated with Citi for over 24 years. Previously he was working as the Director & Head of Citi Service India Pvt Ltd

Citi bank announced the appointment of Balaji Nuthalapadi as Head of Operations & Technology (O&T) for South Asia. He will lead O&T for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

According to a statement, he has led several roles in the retail wealth management business across Asia, India and the UK for over 13 years. Balaji has 24 years of experience in Banking & Financial Services. He has been with Citi throughout this period. He has worked in multiple geographies across Asia & EMEA and in a variety of roles such as Wealth Management, Consumer Business and O&T.

He holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He started his career with Citi Bank in the UK as a full-time head of Non-Resident Indian Business in the Philippines. His association with Citi Bank UK lasted for about 12 years. He then moved to Singapore as the head of Non-Resident Indian Business.

Balaji flew back to India in 2012 and joined Citi Corp Services India as the Director & Head of Consumer Core Operations. After working in his previous position for more than five years, he has been elevated as the Managing Director & Head of Citi Solutions Centres, India. He will be based in Chennai, India.

In 2018, in addition to his responsibilities for consumer banking operations, Nuthalapadi was appointed as the Head of India Citi Solutions Centers (CSC). He will continue to provide oversight to the network of five CSCs in the country.

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 23

Igarashi Motors India has closed its manufacturing units and corporate office in Chennai adhering to the state-wide lockdown. The shutdown will be observed from May 24 to May 30, 2021

Auto components maker Igarashi Motors India Ltd, in view of Tamil Nadu government directives, has announced, "our manufacturing units and corporate office at Chennai will be closed from May 24, 2021, until May 30, 2021."

The company will continue to closely monitor the situation and take appropriate action as per regulatory guidance, it added.

Igarashi Motors said, " employees at senior level will continue to work from home, except for those whose physical presence is necessary to run the day-to-day essential services." A task force set up by Managing Director R Chandrasekaran will be monitoring the developments.

“The task force will roll out a slew of measures to ensure that business operations, safety and wellbeing of employees, which are the top priority, through regular video and teleconferencing,” the company added.

Igarashi Motors India Ltd (IMIL) was established in 1996. It is a leading component Automotive market player in actuator motors. It is primarily engaged in the production of Permanent Magnet DC Motor for the automotive sector, especially for passenger cars. The company has two manufacturing units in Chennai.

Tags assigned to this article:

Page 24

The company said hiring will strengthen the supply chain and will help in the fast delivery of products while creating additional employment.

The hiring was done keeping the growing demand for e-commerce services across the country, as people continue to remain indoors to fight the pandemic, which has necessitated a ramp-up of the supply chain, the company said in a statement.

"The growing demand for e-commerce services across the country as people continue to remain indoors to fight the virus has necessitated a ramp-up of our supply chain, creating thousands of employment opportunities," Senior vice-president, Supply Chain at Flipkart, Hemant Badri.

He added, "all new hires will be covered with our healthcare and wellness initiatives to ensure their safety during these testing times."

Regarding the training of recruits during COVID times, the company said, the new hires are being trained virtually via a mix of classroom and digital training to enhance their understanding of supply chain management."

Through a mix of classroom and digital training, enhancing their understanding of supply chain management, these trainings are being undertaken through mobile applications such as WhatsApp, Zoom and Hangout, along with Flipkart's own Learning Management System, the company said.

A month ago Flipkart announced to expand its grocery supply chain infrastructure to provide its customers safe and seamless access to ordering daily essentials through quick and contactless doorstep delivery.

To cater for the increased need for contactless grocery shopping across Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Coimbatore and Hyderabad, the company will increase the infrastructure. It will bring ease to online grocery shopping.

Page 25

Currently, the bank has 600 senior officials, with just about 24 per cent of them being women

Deutsche Bank, a German multinational investment bank and financial services company, aspires to become gender equal in five years. The company is now aiming to reach 30% by 2025. According to the reports, this aspiring target can only be met if the lender chooses female candidates in at least every other senior hire and promotion.

Deutsche’s global head of human resources, Michael Ilgner has reportedly said,

"Greater diversity among senior executives is a business necessity for us. This will make us stronger as there is plenty of evidence that more diverse teams achieve better results and adjust faster to a changing environment.”

Ilgner acknowledged in a speech to investors that Deutsche had so far “fallen short of the wider gender diversity goals we set in 2019”. Over the past three years, the share of women in the lender’s senior management has largely flatlined.

In 2018 the company witnessed 18 per cent of women-involvement at the managing-director level, which in turn increased marginally to 18.4 per cent in 2020.

The bank said, they will choose candidates based on their talent, no compromise will be done on the quality of work.

Along with achieving gender targets, the company is also focusing on green finance targets as part of a wider push to make environmental, social, and governance principles “the new normal for Deutsche Bank”.

Page 26

ESIC is running social security scheme, which shows a rise in the number of members joining. For March, ESIC observed around 12.24 lakh new members as against 11.77 lakh in February.

ESIC is running social security scheme, which shows a rise in the number of members joining. For March, ESIC observed around 12.24 lakh new members as against 11.77 lakh in February.

Gross new enrolments with the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) were 8.87 lakh in June 2020, 4.89 lakh in May and 2.63 lakh in April. This shows the increase in enrolments after easing the lockdown, as per the data.

In 2020 due to the global pandemic, 2020 observed a dip in enrolment. In July 2020, gross enrolments dipped to 7.63 lakh but improved to 9.5 lakh in August, 11.58 lakh in September and 12.13 lakh in October 2020. It again dipped to 9.58 lakh in November 2020.

The NSO report showed that gross enrolment of new subscribers with ESIC was 1.49 crore in 2018-19. From September 2017 to March 2018, around 83.35 lakh new subscribers had joined the ESIC scheme.

The report said gross new enrolments with ESIC from September 2017 to March 2021 period were nearly five crores. The report is based on the payroll data of new subscribers of various social security schemes run by ESIC, Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). It has been releasing the data of these bodies since April 2018, covering the period starting from September 2017.

According to the report, net new enrolments with retirement fund body EPFO stood at 11.21 lakh in March, down from 11.28 lakh in February 2021.