Human Resource Community

Tata Motors on Tuesday reported 27 per cent year-on-year growth in total vehicle sales, including in the international markets, at 76,210 units in January 2022. The company’s total sales in January 2021 was 59,866 vehicles, Tata Motors said in a statement. Total domestic sales grew 26 per cent at 72,485 units in January 2022 as against 57,649 vehicles sold in the same month last year, it said. Total passenger vehicles sale was higher at 40,777 units last month as compared to 26,978 units clocked in January 2021, the company said, adding electric vehicle sales during the month surged nearly five times at 2,892 vehicles against 514 units sold in the year-ago period. Total commercial vehicle sales in January 2022 stood at 35,268 vehicles, registering a growth of 7 per cent over 32,816 units clocked in the same month last year. This included 31,798 units sold in the domestic market, which was 3 per cent higher over 30,671 units sold in January 2021, the company said. Total MHCV sales in January 2022, including M&HCV truck, buses and international business, stood at 10,655 units, compared to 9,452 units in January 2021, Tata Motors said. Source: PTI

Everyone in the business world is aware of the actions taken by the CEO of Better.com – Vishal Garg. Last year, the CEO was in the news for laying off more than 900 employees of the company over a Zoom call without any warning. A video of the grim Zoom call went viral on social media and amongst various news channels which caused great harm to the reputation of the CEO and the company. Now, the CEO is back to the company with reportedly good intentions but the staff is still upset by his behavior and actions. As a result, many employees from the company have started putting down their papers after the CEO’s return from a month-long break. Actions do we have consequences and after the negative publicity Garg received, he was sent on a break to reflect on his leadership style and actions. He had even issued an apology for the way he laid off his employees. However, when the company reinstated the CEO saying that he is back with a lot of positive changes and plans to take a more different leadership approach, it didn’t put the employees at ease. As reported by TechCrunch, the company’s employees started putting down their papers. Source: HR Katha and TechCrunch  

To ensure increased productivity and efficiency, the Government of Chhattisgarh has announced a five-day work week for its government employees. The state government has also increased the contribution to the Anshdayi Pension Scheme from 10 to 14 per cent. This was shared by Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Twitter. “In a bid to increase efficiency and productivity of government employees, Chhattisgarh government is implementing five-day working week. State government’s contribution in a pension scheme will also be increased from 10 per cent to 14 per cent,” said Baghel in a tweet. In addition, the Chhattisgarh state government will also introduce a legislation that will make small commercial operations in residential areas legitimate. This move will be beneficial to the innumerable small businesses that have otherwise been operating uncertainly. In order to create jobs, especially for the youth of the State, and also to ensure that the transport department remains accessible to the general public, the launching of several transport facilitation centres across Chhattisgarh has also been announced. Another good news for government employees is that 10 per cent of plots will now be set aside for entrepreneurship development in OBCs. This is a result of amendments in the inter-industrial policy of ‘Contributory Pension Scheme’. The ‘Mukhyamantri Noni Sashaktikaran Sahayata Yojana, that is, the Chief Minister’s Girl Empowerment Assistance Scheme, will lend support to the daughters of labourer families in the areas of education, employment, self-employment and marriage. The scheme will ensure that Rs 20,000 is deposited in the bank account of each of the first two daughters of labourers registered with the ‘Chhattisgarh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board’. Amongst other benefits that were announced, are the simplification of rules for issuing learning driver’s license and the establishment of safety cells for women in all districts. Source: ANI

The All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Monday said that around 15 lakh power sector employees will go on nationwide strike for two days from February 23 to protest against privatisation. “National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees & Engineers (NCCOEEE) has decided to resort to two days nationwide strike along with call given by All India Trade Unions on 23rd and 24th February,” an AIPEF statement said. In a statement, AIPEF announced that the striking employees associated with the union and the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees & Engineers (NCCOEEE) have had to resort to a two-day nationwide strike on February 23 and 24. The call was given by the All India Trade Unions. The major reason behind the strike is to stop the Government from implementing privatisation policies on the PSUs. Other demands include repealing of the Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021, disregarding the idea of privatisation of the profit-making power departments of the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Dadra Nagar Haveli Daman & Diu and Puducherry. The union is also demanding to integrate unbundled power utilities such as the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) in Kerala and the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) in Himachal Pradesh, and the implementation of the old pension scheme for all power employees. Another demand the protesting employees have is the regularisation of the employment of all outsourced workforce employed with power companies, as the Telangana government has already done. Source: PTI

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