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D2L, a global learning technology company, launched a new visual brand identity and narrative. This underscores D2L’s longstanding commitment to transform the way the world learns with a deeper focus on personalised learning, strategic partnership, growth, and human potential. The brand launch marks a new chapter for D2L as a public company. John Baker, Founder and CEO of D2L said, “As founder of D2L, it is, of course, hard to say goodbye to a logo you helped the team craft. That said, the real joy in a brand exercise comes from the fresh look at what our brand represents – why we are here, what we are doing and who we are doing it for. Our brand renewal deepens our connection to our mission and charts a path to our future. Great brands are alive and grow.” “We work hard to help people build engaging learning experiences that inspire learners to achieve more than they dreamed possible. Our work has never been more important. I am deeply grateful for the hard work of our team to help us strengthen our identity and story – as we focus on our next chapter of growth in close collaboration with our clients,” he added. Created in partnership with Zulu Alpha Kilo, an award-winning, Toronto-based creative agency – D2L’s new brand positioning and visual identity system distinguishes its industry-leading technology and approach: New Corporate Identifier D2L’s new master logo embraces green to reflect evergreen learning, an exponent to symbolise the potential of partnership and collaboration, and a bold, strong typeface that speaks to innovation, simplicity and accessibility. Expanded Market Category Learning is at an inflection point with unprecedented transformation underway that requires more than a learning management system (LMS). With this brand launch, D2L steps into an expanded category with a Learning Innovation Platform that defines the flexible, powerful and personalised experience and breaks free from the restrictive, one-size-fits-all limitations of a traditional LMS. D2L Brand Family The sophistication of D2L’s new logo carries throughout the design system – unifying a new brand family of orange and blue product logos for D2L Brightspace and D2L Wave respectively, introducing a stylised portrait approach to photography, and supporting a modern and clean look that complements the product sets. “Design is one of the most essential tools we have for conveying brand identity. Our new brand harmonises the evolution of our company with the transformative impact we’re making for learners around the world,” said Aly Scott, Chief Marketing Officer of D2L. “It has been an enormously exciting year for our business in solving challenges for our customers and delivering continuous innovation. We’re excited to usher in a new era of personalized learning with a new brand that is inspired by the people we serve and the limitless potential of learners around the globe,” he added. D2L customers, partners and learners will experience a new look and feel across the company and its channels, including a redesigned website and digital presence. To learn more about D2L’s new brand, visit D2L.com/brand. D2L is a global learning technology company transforming the way the world learns. They are leading the way into a new era of personalised learning, driven by the belief that everyone deserves access to high-quality education, regardless of their age, ability or location. Their signature technology products – D2L Brightspace and D2L Wave – enhance the learning experience for millions of learners at every stage of life, from the earliest days of school to the working world.

Swedish music streaming giant Spotify has shut down its podcast studio and laid off some members of the team, the media reported. It has laid off members of its Studio 4 team, popularly known as Spotify Studios. For the team of 10 to 15 along with the studio director — who were the brains behind shows such as Dissect and Chapo: Kingpin on Trial, according to a report, Spotify called them and said their last day would be January 21. The laid off employees will receive two months’ salary as severance pay. Some of the employees were reassigned work, whereas the rest were asked to register with the Spotify job board. The Swedish music streaming company is in the process of trying to become more agile and achieve faster and more significant progress. It is not very clear whether the team was dissolved because of their less than satisfactory performance. The firm had invested heavily on podcasting, adding thousands of shows in the third quarter of 2021. In an internal note, Julie McNamara, head of US studios and video, acknowledged the layoffs, according to the report. She said that shutting the studio down would enable the company to “move faster and make more significant progress and facilitate more effective collaboration across our organisation.” The team’s most recently produced programming are ‘Nosy Neighbors’, ‘We Said What We Said,’ and ‘Dope Labs’. Source: The Verge

As the protest of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation employees’ unions continues to hamper public transportation in the state, Sharad Pawar, veteran political leader urged them to resume work. The strike, which has been going on for more than two months, has led the state government to assure the employees that no action would be taken against them once they return to work. The government was compelled by the protesting employees to hike their salaries by 41 per cent, along with a raise in their basic pay. Pawar pointed out to the workers that even though MSRTC has been going through a financial crisis because of the pandemic, the employees have still been given a pay hike. He assured them that the government was going to take positive measures towards fulfilling the demands of the employees and requested them to return to work immediately. Regarding their demand to be treated as state government employees, Pawar said MSRTC being a government entity is a matter of sub-judice and the state government will act as per the judgement passed by the court-appointed committee, whatever that may be. The protest, which began with 96,000 employees of the corporation boycotting work on October 27, 2021, has been one of the most prominent employees strikes in recent history. The workers are demanding a hike in payment and inclusion of the corporation under the ambit of the state government.

As we have now entered 2022, the work scenario will yet undergo new shifts and will adopt new cultures to suit their workforce. The first thing to know about work in 2022 is that employees will prefer wellbeing, healthcare and compensation over any other parameters. Why wellbeing and healthcare? Well, it’s pretty obvious why employees are concerned about their overall wellbeing now more than ever. 2020 and 2021 were tumultuous years for a lot of people. Some lost their loved ones, while some people caught the COVID-19 infection and suffered complications. As a result, people are now more inclined towards companies who emphasize and poster mental and physical health, while offering healthcare benefits. Apart from health being the central focus, there are a few other parameters employees will expect from 2022. Let’s take a look! 1 The Future of Work Relies in Employee Wellbeing To establish concrete clarity, companies that keep employee’s health over all things will see a significant growth in their workforce and revenue. Why? Because employees prefer organizations that humanize their struggles and offer flexibility during work in their tough times. A very good example is Hewlett Packard (HP) which offered a program that extended healthcare benefits to the employees as well as their family members. So, a happy employee is a productive employee, which will ultimately contribute to a positive growth in your revenue. 2 Generous Employee Benefits Can Stem The Great Resignation Wave Apart from healthcare benefits, employees also desire recognition, compensation and benefits from the company. In the case of Gen Z, they give a lot of importance to organizations that offers them benefits like flexibility of work, little or no micro-management, emotional and mental healthcare availability and much more. Not only benefits, but recognition and due compensation for work should be rewarded to employees who deserve it. So, if you haven’t thought about it yet, you should definitely think about it now! 3 Diversity and Inclusivity To those who think this is not an important factor, you can never be more wrong! Only with proper diversity and inclusivity you can grow your organization in the true sense. Factors like people of colour, ethnicity, gender, religion, etc. should not be a sour point for your organization. Millennials and Gen Z prefer companies that offer a healthy work environment despite of their race, color, caste, creed, gender or religion. 4 Hybrid or Remote Working For employees internationally, the threat of the COVID-19 virus is still there. Also, remote working has helped a lot of employees to be more productive and work in proper coordination with their peers. Remote working also enables a person to prioritize tasks like leisure, mental and emotional health, family time and upskilling. So, in a way, most employees are habitual to a work from home environment and even in 2022, they would like to work from the comfort of their own homes. This doesn’t mean that everyone prefers remote working, some would love to work in an office environment for some days of the week or the month or the year. Therefore, going forward, hybrid and remote working will still be a key factor for employees selecting organizations for jobs. Conclusion As an organization, employer, leader and HR, it is a must for you to be well-versed with these new trends. If you want your organization to go places, you must be inclusive, conscious about the environment, your employees’ health and the flexibility in their work.

In a progressive move, the Supreme Court has said that any kind of disciplinary action against mentally troubled or ill employees at work is an act of indirect discrimination. The bench headed by Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant and Vikram Nath observed that any person suffering from a disability is protected under the Right of Persons with Disability (RPwD) Act if his/her disability is used as an excuse to discriminate against him/her. It is important to note that the RPwD shields people suffering from mental disorders as well as people suffering from other kinds of disabilities. The court came to this conclusion when they were hearing an appeal against an assistant commandant Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) officer. He was undergoing disciplinary action after he had used foul language, had appeared on television without prior departmental approvals, tried to cause an accident and physically assaulted a deputy commandant in 2010. However, during the proceedings, the officer defended himself saying that he was facing mental health issues after being posted in areas where anti-insurgency operations had taken place between 2003 and 2013. The CRPF countered his plea and said in their defence that there are a number of officers who are sent to areas with insurgency and they didn’t develop any kind of mental health issues. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court reasoned out that a person or an employee with any kind of mental illness would not be able to perform in a similar fashion when compared with an able-bodied employee. Therefore, any kind of disciplinary action against mentally ill employees at work would be considered an act of injustice and discrimination against them. Also, the SC said that the social discrimination against mentally ill people in the society is still rampant and it doesn’t encourage the scenario to take a legal discrimination turn.

No matter the amount of progress, new hiring and the availability of jobs, India still lags behind when it comes to the quality of the employees in the power sector. To satiate the lack of quality, Tata Power DDL — a power-distribution utility providing electricity in the North Delhi region has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Hitachi Energy. As part of this MoU, the two companies will come together, bringing their knowledge and expertise, to train people in the power sector and fill the talent gap. This partnership will help the power sector to grow and provide talented and skilled employees for the industry. The MoU has been signed between Subir Verma, CHRO, Tata Power DDL and Kondalarao Bavisetti, business head, Power Consulting, Hitachi Energy India. The training programmes under the partnership will be designed in accordance with new and emerging technologies and best practices for enhancing knowledge competency. It will aim to bridge the gap between theory and practical, imparting industrial training to students in engineering, technology, science and so on, to make them industry ready. “Tata Power-DDL is focussed on nurturing the talent pool in the power and energy industry, by sharing valuable experience and knowledge. This collaboration with Hitachi Energy is a step in the same direction and reflects our intent to help young talent to achieve their potential and the industry to create skilled manpower,” shares Verma. “Availability of qualified manpower is a major challenge, especially in evolving fields such as power. There is an urgent need to collaborate in areas of engineering, technology and technology management to support the clean energy transition, ensuring the people of India can enjoy reliable and quality power. We are glad to be partnering with Tata Power Delhi Distribution to train and shape future talent,” says Raja Radhakrishnan, HR director, Hitachi Energy India. Source: The article has been published by HR Katha with a few edits by the ArdorComm News Network Team  

The Emirates group will hire over 500 candidates for IT posts within the next six months. The roles on offer are in the areas of cyber security, technical product management, DevOps, hybrid cloud, modern architecture, software engineering, service management, digital workplace, agile delivery and innovation. The Airline has been spending and can still spend on the newest technologies so as to bring out innovative solutions. These smart solutions, driven by AI, data and so on are aimed toward better products and efficient services to its valuable customers. In October, the airline company had announced that it’d be hiring over 6000 people for the posts of pilots, engineers, cabin crew and ground staff. the majority of these jobs are based in Dubai. With restrictions associated with the pandemic easing up across the globe and more people getting vaccinated, travel has also picked up. Emirates has also hired back pilots, cabin crew and other staff members who had lost their jobs during the pandemic. By 2022, the Group hopes to return to 100 per cent service. In a bid to secure 70 per cent of its pre-pandemic capacity, Emirates has invested in various innovation programmes, internally as well as externally. For programmes like Aviation X-Lab, it has partnered with GE, Airbus, Thales and Collins Aerospace.

Air Corporation Employees Union recently moved the Madras High Court with a request to stop Air India and the Centre from proceeding with the disinvestment of the carrier, without first taking definitive measures to protect the rights of the staff. The Madras High Court (HC) has granted interim relief to the Air India staff, by restraining the Ministry from evicting members of the petitioner union, from their current accommodations provided by Air India. Further, the authorities will have to continue to provide the medical benefits and facilities presently being extended to the members and their families under the Contributory Family Medical Scheme. The employees, according to the service rules applicable, are entitled to remain in service till the age of retirement, that is, 58. This, among other points, has to be properly addressed before taking the disinvestment process forward. The case of the petitioner, which is the Air Corporation Employees Union, is that the terms of share purchase agreement signed between the Government of India and Talace were not shared with the employees; and that the agreement was signed without any prior consultation with the employees. This, the petitioner points out, is in direct violation of the employees’ constitutional rights as mentioned under Article 19(1)(a). Air India and the Centre should have shared the draft of the agreement with the union before signing it. Through this petition, the employees’ union had sought appropriate legal measures to protect the terms and conditions of their service post disinvestment. Source: HR Katha

This year more offers are being made at the IITs of Roorkee, Guwahati and Madras compared to the previous year. Placement offers went up by 43% on the very first day of the placement drive at IIT Madras. In this placement season not only has the number of participating companies improved, but the offers have become more attractive too. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee managed to bag the highest international cost-to-company (CTC) of Rs 2.15 crore on the first day of the final placements process, which began on 1 December, 2021. At most IITs the placement sessions carried on well into the night. While 176 offers were made by about 34 employers at IIT Madras on the first day’s first session, about 200 offers were made by 38 companies at IIT Guwahati. The figures are much higher compared to the last academic year. In terms of international offers, IIT Madras received 11 from four companies. The prominent names amongst the recruiters are McKinsey, JP Morgan Chase & Co., Baja Auto, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and Boston Consulting Group. Offers went up by 43 per cent on the first day of the placement session. At IIT Guwahati and IIT Bombay, Uber offered the highest international CTC of Rs 2.05 crore in the first session of the first day of placements. Some of the known names that participated were, Google, Graviton, JP Morgan Chase, Uber, Microsoft, Bajaj, Qualcomm, Texas Instruments and Goldman Sachs. Source: Mint

  Parag Agrawal, who has recently been named as the CEO of microblogging platform Twitter, will receive an annual salary of USD 1 million along with other perks and bonuses. The India-born executive – who succeeds Jack Dorsey in this role – served as Twitter’s Chief Technology Officer since 2017, and has been responsible for the company’s technical strategy. He joined the company in 2011 as a software engineer, leading efforts on scaling Twitter Ads systems, as well as reaccelerating audience growth by improving Home timeline relevance. “…Agrawal will receive an annual salary of USD 1,000,000 and will continue to be a participant in the company’s executive bonus plan with a new target bonus of 150 per cent of his annual base salary. Under the terms of the Offer Letter, in December 2021, the Board will grant to Agrawal restricted stock units (RSUs) with a grant date face value of USD 12,500,000,” a regulatory filing by Twitter to the US SEC, said. Agrawal will be entitled to restricted stock units (RSUs) worth USD 12.5 million, vested in 16 equal quarterly increments beginning February 2022. He had received RSU earlier this year too. Agrawal, 37, holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford University. He completed his BTech in computer science and engineering from IIT-Bombay. During his career, Agrawal has also been involved in research for Microsoft between 2006 and 2009, as well as Yahoo. Before joining Twitter over a decade back, he also did a short stint with AT&T Labs in 2010. On social media, Agrawal expresses his gratitude to Dorsey and his excitement for the future. Dorsey resigned after 16 years of serving the Company, of which he is a co-founder. His social-media posts reveal that Agrawal was a unanimous choice for CEO because of his deep understanding of the Company and its needs. He is open about his appreciation for Agrawal’s creativity, curiosity, self-awareness, probing nature and humility. Source: PTI