Human Resource Community

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) Central Board of Trustees (CBT) has approved the development of a centralised IT- enabled system by C-DAC. It is aimed at initiating the integration of all EPF accounts to make it easier for employees to change their jobs without the worry of transferring their EPF accounts to their new workplace. In an official statement, Union Labour Minister of State, Bhupender Yadav, explained that after the centralised system is implemented, the field functionalities will be shifted to a central database in a phased manner, to help carry out operations in a smoother manner. The perks of the process are: It will facilitate the duplication and merger of all PF accounts of the members It will remove the requirement of transfer of account on change of job Despite digitization and new technologies, even today when people leave their jobs, they are required to open a new EPF account and then have the money transferred to the new account. They have to perform this process online, on the Member Sewa portal of the EPFO, using their Universal Account Number (UAN), which should be linked with Aadhaar. If the UAN is not linked with Aadhaar, then the employees will have to submit a new form to their new employer to get the process of money transfer started. To our joy, the new system will remove all the pain of transferring all the money to our new accounts when we shift our jobs. Source: The article has been published by HR Katha with a few tweaks from the ArdorComm News Network Team.

Samsung India are going to be seen recruiting a minimum of 1,000 young engineers from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and other engineering colleges across the country. About 250 pre-placement offers (PPOs) have already been made to fresh engineering graduates. These engineers will work at Samsung India’s R&D centres in Bengaluru, Noida and Delhi, in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT), image processing, cloud, networks, data analysis, camera technologies and OnDevice AI. India houses Samsung’s biggest R&D centres outside of Korea. While about 260 freshers are going to be picked from IIT campuses in Delhi, Kanpur, Madras, Mumbai, Kharagpur, BHU, Mumbai, Guwahati and Roorkee, the remaining about 700 engineers will be picked from other engineering colleges and institutes, including BITS Pilani and the National Institutes of Technology. The Company is open to hiring talent from streams like computer science, electronics and communications, mathematics and computing, electrical engineering, instrumentation and information technology. Samsung offers multiple upskilling programmes to its employees for growth. This includes MTech programmes with IIIT-B and BITS Pilani, to learn and contribute towards newer trends using future technologies. Millennials are filing the maximum number of patents. About 50 per cent of patent filers are first-time inventors while 27 per cent have less than five years of experience. So far, the company has filed over 7,500 patents globally of which over 3,500 are filed in India. Source: HR Katha

India’s IT services industry may witness a gross employee addition of 450,000 in the second half of financial year 2022 (H2FY22), according to a study by market intelligence firm UnearthInsight. The report titled ‘IT Industry Q2 Insights & FY22 Forecast’ said that the IT industry is predicted to have a net employee addition of 175,000 in H2FY22 as there’ll be an attrition rate of around 17 to 19%. Gaurav Vasu, Founder and CEO UnearthInsight, said, “The finding further brings out the very fact that the IT Industry’s perceived “War on Talent” is real and it’s getting intense with attrition is a rising concern for the industry. Also, one of the highlights of first half is the way top IT firms have delivered upskilling programmes in completely digital format and have developed robust infrastructure to support such initiatives. On the hiring side, the industry is expected to see a sharp momentum with addition of around 12% more employees in the second half of the year.” UnearthInsight also expects the FY23 likely to be around at 16% to 18% and therefore the fresher addition across subsequent 2 quarters is probably going to assist IT Services firms control overall attrition in the industry. The rise in Industry attrition is essentially driven by the supply-side challenges which are transient and are expected to normalize from FY23. Source: Mint

Elon Musk’s Space X has proudly announced two vacant positions for Indians in India at its satellite internet service – Starlink. The announcement was posted by Sanjay Bhargava, country director, Starlink, India on his LinkedIn page. He said, “I am pleased to announce that we are now officially looking for two rockstars to join the Indian subsidiary.”. He says that the prospective candidates shouldn’t send their resumes to him, but should apply directly if they think they fit the job role and description. He further clarifies, “executive assistant position is not a chief of staff position and the director rural transformation has to be technical as well.” Criteria to apply for the post of director – rural transformation: Only Computer Science graduates or graduates from engineering background are eligible Minimum 10 years of work experience is a must Apart from the abovementioned criteria, candidates with additional development work in companies, communities, and related stakeholders, may also apply Criteria to apply for the post of executive assistant: Graduates with over three years of experience at an executive level and proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and project management software tools can apply for the post. The job of executive assistant entails: Close work with Starlink’s HR and the management team Aid in planning events Ensure the smooth functioning of day-to-day official activities Bhargava’s sentiments with these job opportunities are that they will work “towards catalysing and accelerating transformation starting with rural India.” The company will post further openings will be only after it receives a commercial license. Source: HR Katha                  

Apple Inc., one among the world’s most valuable companies with a market cap of over $2.5 trillion, said it already supports around one million jobs in India, both directly and indirectly, and is investing significantly to develop its operations further in the country and engage with more suppliers. The company said its estimates of employment in the country include its own employees, developers of apps for its iOS ecosystem, and workers with its supplier partners who support its manufacturing operations for several models of its flagship product, the iPhone, in the country today. Apple has been operating in India for more than two decades, and in 2017, we began manufacturing iPhones at a facility here in Bengaluru. Since then, we’ve expanded to Chennai, manufacturing several iPhone models for the domestic market and for export, said Priya Balasubramaniam, VP of operations at Apple. Balasubramaniam, who is a native of Bengaluru and lived in the city before moving to the US to pursue higher education, told audiences at the Bengaluru Tech Summit on Thursday that, “Today, Apple supports around 1 million jobs in India from our own employees to the fast-growing iOS app economy to our work with supplier partners.” Unfolding about the views of Apple in India she mentioned that the company is looking to open physical retail stores after making available its entire range of products to customers in India through its online storefront last year. She also mentioned that Apple views India can play a role in the transformation of the manufacturing sector that is unfolding globally. “Our manufacturing operations in India achieved the goal of zero waste to landfill very quickly, and went further by talking the learnings of waste reduction into local communities where employees live. In India, our suppliers achieved a record for gaining platinum Zero Waste certification, seven suppliers in just six months,” she added. Source: Indian Express

The employees of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) have returned to office, starting November 15. With the pandemic which is seemingly to be in its way out, the company has asked its employees working from their hometowns to return to their work locations. The Indian multinational eventually hopes to implement the 25/25 model, wherein only 25 per cent of its workforce will work from physical offices at any given point in time. Employees will, it is hoped, spend only 25 per cent of their time in office. The Indian software giant has a 5,28,748 strong workforce, of which only 5 per cent are currently working from offices. Though this model is expected to come into effect by the year 2025, until then most employees from its half a million strong workforce, will be working from their base offices, at least initially. The clients of TCS have no objection to this model and the Company has been further encouraged by the support received from them. In fact, the Company is bagging more work and projects than ever before. The 25/25 model will be implemented gradually, in phases, in consultation with the various team leaders and on the basis of the projects. In October, other companies such as Wipro, HCL Tech and Infosys had also started planning ‘return-to-office’ for their staff. TCS had also revealed its intention to recall its staff the moment 70 per cent of its workforce got fully vaccinated and at least 95 per cent got the first jab. Source: Mint

Delhi: The national capital of India, Delhi has been recording hazardous levels of pollution since the past few years. The air quality in the region has become non-breathable. Therefore, the Supreme Court has asked the Central and State governments to implement certain measures to reduce the pollution levels in Delhi NCR. The SC has asked the governments to address these five aspects of pollution to reduce air toxicity: 1. Construction activities 2. Power plants 3. Industries 4. Transport 5. Road traffic The SC has directed the central government along with the government of the Delhi NCR region to consider implementing ‘work from home’ for employees working in the capital. The Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had also informed the press and the citizens on November 14 that the SC has requested to gauge the possibility of implementing a complete lockdown in Delhi. Till further notice, schools will remain closed for the week and students will resume classes from home, while the Delhi government has directed all its employees to work-from-home. Following in the footsteps of the Delhi government, the Haryana government has also directed its workforce to work-from-home. The move is aimed at reducing vehicular emissions into the extremely polluted air of the national capital. Source- HR Katha

In these turbulent times, there is good news for youth seeking jobs in Noida and Greater Noida. The Noida Authority, the Greater Noida Authority and the Yamuna Expressway Authority are collaborating to organise a two-day job fair on November 13 and 14. The local development authorities are organising the fair for the youth of the area, at the Noida Shilp Haat in Sector 33A. The job fair is being organized to employ the family members of farmers who have had to give up their lands for the developmental projects in the area. As the farmers had to sell their lands, they have been demanding jobs for their children in the private companies in Noida and Greater Noida as compensation. They have demanded their children receive jobs in the private and industrial bodies of the region. Candidates who wish to work in these bodies can directly apply at the venue by presenting all their necessary documents and certificates. The fair will be a great way to connect the local youth with aspirations, ideas and innovations with the employers. The fair is open to provide employment to the family members and the locals of the region. The farmers have been disrupting local developmental work by agitating at the sites and near the Noida authority office since September. Their only demand is decent employment for their children and family members. Source: HR Katha

The Punjab government has decided to regularise employment for 36,000 contractual, ad hoc, temporary and daily-wage workers. The cabinet has approved the decision ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in the presence of Chandrajit Singh Channi, the chief minister of Punjab. The draft ‘Punjab Protection and Regularisation of Contractual Employees Bill-2021’ was introduced by the state government in the new session and was also approved by the cabinet. As per the statement given by Channi, contractual staff with over 10 years of experience in the government will be regularised. With this decision, another approval was given by the cabinet to add extra deemed posts in the government. The move brings relief to several contractual and temporary wage workers who have been protesting and demanding regularisation of their employment. In another decision, the Punjab government has also approved the increment of minimum wages in the state. It has now been increased by Rs 415.89, that is, from Rs 8,776.83 to Rs 9,192.72. With this increment in minimum wages, workers will now also receive the arrears of Rs 8,251 from March 1, 2020 up to October, 2021. In December 2016, the then SAD-BJP government had also passed the Punjab Adhoc, Contractual, Daily Wage, Temporary, Work Charged and Outsourced Employees’ Welfare Bill, 2016, in a special session convened ahead of the 2017 state polls. This was meant to regularise the services of 30,000 employees of various government departments, but the same did not happen. Source: HRKatha

The civic staff of the Thane Municipal Corporation are told they’ll not be paid their salaries if they fail to get fully vaccinated within the prescribed deadline. The Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has made vaccination a mandate for its civic staff. In a meeting held by the TMC officials on November 8, which was also attended by Vipin Sharma, Commissioner, TMC and Naresh Mhaske, Mayor. After the meeting, it had been decided that civic employees who have yet to receive their first jab of the COVID vaccine won’t be given their salaries if they do not get vaccinated as soon as possible. Not just that, even those who have received their first dose of the vaccination but fail to get their second dose within the prescribed timeline won’t receive their salaries. It is a clear message from the officials that all civic staff will need to get fully vaccinated at any cost. In a statement given to the media, Sharma said that the TMC has taken this decision to encourage vaccination drive in the district and ensure 100 per cent vaccination. On November 9, the Thane district formed 167 teams of nurses and ASHA workers to assist in collecting data on what number people have been vaccinated, by going door to door. Mhaske also revealed to the media that they are taking help from universities and schools to spread awareness about getting vaccinated at any cost. Earlier in the week, even in Nagpur, R Vimala, the district collector, issued orders that unvaccinated civic employees won’t be allowed to enter the govt. offices and can be deprived of other medical and health benefits as well. Source: oneindia