Human Resource Community

In collaboration with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a knowledge partner of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), has launched a project to identify the prior skills of 75,000 people in the 18-45 age group and upskill them. Through Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) and the training companies they have appointed, this initiative for previous learning recognition (RPL) and upskilling will be implemented in three stages. There will be two methods of implementation: RPL through camps, which will focus on traditional and industrial clusters, and RPL at employers’ premises, which will work with businesses and employers to provide orientation and training on-site. In addition to having their technical skills improved, the trainees will learn about digital literacy and entrepreneurial potential. These trainees will also receive two years of accidental insurance during the programme. The trainees will receive certification through the project, making them more marketable in the volatile job market and able to actively participate in nation-building. The project will be implemented by NSDC and funded by NDMC and SANKALP (a World Bank Project under MSDE). Aiming to upskill 25,000 individuals in a variety of industries, including plumbing, electrical work, construction, pottery, and so forth, the first part of the programme has already started. PMKVY, the flagship programme of Skill India, has a component called prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR). A person’s existing skill sets, knowledge, and experience acquired through formal, non-formal, or informal learning are evaluated through this procedure. The procedure aids in bringing the nation’s unregulated workforce’s competencies into line with the standardised National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF), which improves employment prospects and reduces the skill gap.

The software-as-a-service (SaaS) firm Zoho Corp., based in Chennai, is seeking to grow its staff both inside and outside of the country. In order to grow its staff by at least 2,000 employees, it is on the lookout for engineers, web developers, writers, support engineers, product marketers, and designers. With ambitions to start upskilling programmes like the Zoho Schools of Learning as part of its aim to extend operations and expand to other countries, it has already started hiring locally in India. With a global workforce of 10,000, Zoho already has a sizable presence in the US and India and is quickly growing in Cape Town, Jeddah, and Egypt. According to Prashant Ganti, head of products, tax, account and payroll at Zoho, the majority of the talent in India’s cities originates from small towns and rural areas, so it’s time to tap into this enormous talent pool and make investments in their upskilling. Even as Zoho works to enhance its audio and video capabilities, the company will keep making technology investments and also has money set aside to support the growth of India’s deep-tech ecosystem. In addition to Zoho Inventory, Zoho CRM, and Zoho Site, the company now provides HR solutions through Zoho People and financial management solutions through Zoho Books.

Pilots, technicians, and other airline employees have been systematically reporting ill to show their displeasure. The main problem is that the pandemic-affected employees’ salaries have not yet been raised to their pre-pandemic levels. Carriers all around the world were obliged to cease operations when the pandemic hit and international borders were sealed. Layoffs and wage reductions were also used by Indian carriers. Many workers received unpaid leave orders. The majority of employees have also been dealing with greater workloads since travel picked up, which only serves to exacerbate their discontent. They have come to the realisation that they are working just as hard, if not harder, than they were before the pandemic, but receiving much less pay. That explains why the staff of IndiGo and GoFirst, and later the technicians as well, took a collective leave of absence. The workers are not only concerned about the pay reductions; they are also angry about the lack of incentives, the fact that their salaries are not raised when they receive promotions, and the fact that they are sometimes not paid on time for their salaries. Stress and annoyance appear to be rising as the crew is frequently asked to fly on their designated weekly off days as well. There are allegedly more aeroplanes in the industry than there are pilots, engineers, and technicians combined. That implies that aircraft are also not being used to their full potential. Additionally, a lot of qualified and certified aircraft engineers are given the title “technician,” which by definition brings in a lesser salary—often less than 50% of what they should be making. As if that weren’t bad enough, there have recently been numerous technical problems and safety issues on Indian local and international flights. An Air India Express flight had to be diverted to Muscat after a burning smell was noticed in the cabin on an IndiGo flight that had to be diverted to Karachi due to an engine malfunction. Due to some strange vibrations in the engine, another flight was diverted, and in one event, a bird was discovered in the cockpit!

The Indian multinational software giant Wipro has announced that the majority of its employees will receive a 10% raise in September in an effort to reduce attrition. On the basis of pay scale, the top performers can even get an increment of more than 15%. Additionally, the company plans to run promotions every three months. These announcements are a part of Wipro’s efforts to increase the number of young people working there and lower turnover rates. According to reports, promotions will begin in July and continue every quarter up to middle management. Wipro has seen significant attrition for a long time. It was far higher than other IT majors in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2022, at 23.8%. Analysts projected high attrition. Rishad Premji, chairman of Wipro, stated a few weeks ago that the company is more focused on growth today than ever before and that it is counting on alliances, acquisitions, and cloud projects to boost growth in the near future. Wipro has recently concentrated on Wipro FullStride Cloud Services. In order to provide its stakeholders, including clients, partners, and cloud professionals, with an integrated and comprehensive cloud transformation capacity, Wipro’s chief growth office has partnered with other worldwide business lines. The IT services provider revealed a month ago that it anticipates expanding its employees in Norway from 85 to 350 over the course of two years. In order to do this, it is also stepping up local investment to provide customers pursuing digital transformation with improved support.