Tag: employee

Employee Appreciation Day 2023 — 4 fun ways to thank your hard-working staff

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The first Friday of March is observed as the Employee Appreciation Day across the globe. This year, it is being celebrated today, March 3, across all sectors and geographies. The occasion celebrates the dedication and hard work of employees. Workers are given that much-deserved pat on the back by employers with some fun thrown in.

Here are a few things employers are likely doing today to make their employees feel special. (If not today, there’s always tomorrow.)

Award employees

An award ceremony is a great way to express appreciation to employees. What better way to acknowledge their work than with a trophy — it is good for morale and may even give a lasting sense of job satisfaction.

Other employees may also get inspired by their award-winning colleagues. The workplace award ceremony can have fun and goofy employee award titles.

ALSO READ | Bank employees may soon get 5-day work week but will have to work longer hours

Social media shoutouts

Social media now plays a gigantic role in making and breaking people’s reputations. It’s also a place to share life’s highs and lows. Thus, giving a shoutout to employees on social media is another fine way of recognising their hard work — in front of a huge crowd, which includes their loved ones.

It also enhances the company’s brand image on social media and may end up attracting some good talents.

A lunch experience

Hosting lunches for employees and organising fun activities like a lunchtime concert or a post-lunch walk/bike ride is another way to break the monotony and celebrate the day.

Lucky draws

Lucky draws can add to the thrill. Based on preferences, employers can give their staffers a lucky draw and thank them for a job well done. Multiple surprises could be kept in store, adding to the peppy mix.

ALSO READ | The new workplace trend is quiet hiring — but employees better look out

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Moonlighting FAQs answered: Is it illegal? How many jobs can employees do at a time?

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The moonlighting trend — working multiple jobs simultaneously — has been rising, especially in the IT sector. It made headlines when food delivery platform Swiggy allowed its full-time employees to engage in more than one job outside their office hours or on weekends.

Moonlighting policy has received a varied response. While Wipro’s Executive Chairman, Rishad Premji, considers it “cheating”, ex-Infosys director Mohandas Pai believes employment is a contract between an employer who pays their employee for working for them for ‘n’ number of hours a day and what a person does after that time is his freedom.

There is a lot of chatter about people moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating – plain and simple.

— Rishad Premji (@RishadPremji) August 20, 2022

Tech Mahindra’s MD and CEO CP Gurnani also recently said at an event that he might make moonlighting a policy in his company if he is given a chance, but workers should be open about it.

Also Read: Moonlighting techies share how they juggle multiple jobs

However, not all companies have a similar stance. HR heads have told CNBCTV18.com earlier that if employees are found moonlighting without informing beforehand, legal action could be taken against them.

But is it illegal?

Vaibhav Bhardwaj, a partner at IndusLaw, answers all your questions here:

How many jobs can I work at once?

There is no express restriction under law as to the number of places wherein an employee can moonlight, except when the employees work in factories. Hence, provided that the terms of employment with the current employer do not prohibit it, an employee can moonlight at any number of places.

Is moonlighting illegal?

Most employers generally insist on exclusive employment and incorporate robust non-compete clauses and other restrictive provisions in an employee’s employment contract or applicable policies. If the employment contract or company policies prohibit an employee from taking up dual employment, the employer would be well within their rights to take appropriate action.

Also Read: Slash variable pay or cut jobs? IT firms stuck between a rock and a hard place

Why does my employer have a problem with where I work outside my working hours in their office?

i) Conflict of interest: There is a possibility that employees take up second employment with an entity that competes with their current employer;

ii) Confidentiality: There is a significant risk that employees divulge confidential information or use their current employer’s intellectual property to work their second job;

iii) Resource/property misuse: Employees could be using company-provided laptops or using office internet/premises to work their second job;

iv) Diminished productivity in primary employment: This also includes the fact that worlers are typically expected to be available even after working hours.

Also Read: Great Resignation to Boomerang — Some employees are driving to old jobs, and why

Should I inform my employer I’ll be moonlighting?

Since the usual expectation and practice is that employees will devote the entirety of their time to a single job, employers are generally expected to be aware of other work engagements that an employee would be involved with.

What action can the employer take if they find out otherwise?

When the performance of an employee is adversely impacted on account of side engagement or otherwise, employers have the right to place the employee on a performance improvement plan. If employers find out about other engagements, they can initiate disciplinary action, including termination, or direct an employee to end other engagements.

What can I do if the company takes action?

While the employees can challenge it, the burden of proof would be on them to demonstrate that their performance was not adversely impacted for any reason whatsoever.

How do deal with the matter legally?

Courts in India have usually upheld terminations of employment of the employees who were working dual jobs without revealing the same to their employer and/or violating their terms of employment.

In such cases, the employment contract and company policies would need to be analysed to determine the validity of the termination and whether other engagements have resulted in the disclosure of confidential information, conflict of interest, and diminished productivity, amongst others.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Urban Company valuation rises 33% within 6 months to $2.8 bn in 4th ESOP sale

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Home services marketplace Urban Company has recorded a 33 per cent jump in firm valuation to USD 2.8 billion in the employee stock sale programme concluded recently, the company said on Sunday.

The company raised Series F funding of USD 255 million in June, led by Prosus Ventures, Dragoneer and Wellington Management, with participation from Vy Capital, Tiger Global and Steadview, at a valuation of USD 2.1 billion.

Urban Company shared that it has concluded the sale of ESOPs (employee stock ownership plan), worth USD 7.3 million (Rs 54.6 crore) that were allocated to 770 employees comprising shares of around 390 former employees. “Urban Company recently concluded its fourth and largest ESOP sale programme worth USD 7.3 million. The ESOPs sold in this transaction have largely been purchased by existing institutional investors of the company. The transaction culminated at a valuation of USD 2.8 billion, up from USD 2.1 billion for the Series F round in June 2021,” the statement said.

With this round, the company said that it has facilitated approximately USD 13.21 million (about Rs 100 crore) worth of liquidity for its employees and ex-employees in 4 ESOP sale programmes. Urban Company’s first ESOP sale occurred in June 2017, followed by the second ESOP sale in December 2018 and the third sale in August 2020.

“This is our fourth and largest ESOP secondary sale we have facilitated till date. In our experience, such liquidation opportunities strengthen the faith team members have in ESOPs as a wealth creation instrument. “Further, we have focussed on creating an employee-friendly ESOP programme, with features such as an exercise price of Rs 1, a linear vesting schedule and an unlimited hold period to exercise the ESOPs after an employee leaves the company,” Urban Company co-founder Raghav Chandra said.

In the past seven years, Urban Company said that it has issued ESOPs to 940 current and ex-employees. “A total of 550 of these 940 individuals have vested ESOPs, and were eligible to participate in this secondary sale programme. Employees and ex-employees could sell up to 100 per cent of their vested ESOPs as part of this sale programme,” the statement said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Employee can’t insist on transfer to particular place, says SC

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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An employee cannot insist on a transfer to a particular place and it is for the employer to shift the staff considering the requirement, the Supreme Court has said. The apex court observed this while dismissing a petition by a lecturer challenging a October 2017 order of the Allahabad High Court.

The high court had dismissed her plea against the rejection of her representation by the authority concerned for transfer from Amroha to Gautam Buddha Nagar. “It is not for the employee to insist to transfer him/her and/or not to transfer him/her at a particular place. It is for the employer to transfer an employee considering the requirement, an apex court bench of justices M R Shah and Aniruddha Bose said in its September 6 order.

In her petition filed in the high court, the woman, who was posted as a lecturer in Amroha district, had said that she had made a representation for her transfer to a college at Gautam Buddha Nagar and it was rejected in September 2017 by the authority. Her counsel had argued before the high court in 2017 that she was working at Amroha for the last four years and under the government policy, she was entitled to a transfer.

The high court had noted that the order passed by the authority concerned showed that she had remained posted at a college at Gautam Buddha Nagar for about 13 years from the date of her initial appointment in December 2000 to August 2013 and, therefore, her request for posting her again at the same institution was not justified. In its order, the high court had said the petitioner was not entitled to be posted at a place where she had already worked at a stretch for about 13 years. The high court had said that in case the petitioner has completed the requisite number of years at the place of her present posting, she may request for transfer to some other place but not to a place where she had already worked for 13 years.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Why your employees are your biggest brand advocates

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Advocacy in any form has been around for a long time. Whether it was about civilizations that prospered, armies that had more muscle, or economic perceptions of which countries held more financial clout – citizens, soldiers, financial experts, and society, in general, played an important role in building advocacy for what they felt closest to.

Today’s corporations are more than just businesses. These are now global communities – scaled-up communities. It is easy to overlook the power of the existing employee base when it comes to increasing the reach of a brand on social media. Employees already feel a connection with and care about the brand and its ethos. They are in the best position to convey and amplify the company’s messages. While brands spend time and money researching how customers perceive their brand, they spend less time listening to their employees, who are constantly in contact with customers and prospects.

Let’s understand how employee advocacy catalyses branding:

Employees are one of the company’s most trusted sources of information. Employee advocacy also means that employees pretty much own the brand themselves so much so that they propagate the company through social media via their views of the work they do, the colleagues they work with, and all the cool stuff they do together as a team. This brings about the best shades of the company both internally and externally. Such advocacy helps create employee ownership organically and automatically over a period.

Also Read | Delighting Customers: How to go the extra mile to develop your business

Companies provide personalised experiences for their people. This instills pride among workers. Leveraging this pride, companies create stories that raise the level of exposure and awareness for their brand through various media platforms. Employees feel more connected, have more fun, all while helping create brand recall.

Aside from products and services, employees have proven to be the most effective referrals and ambassadors in promoting the brand over the past half-decade. They can influence their family members and friends, and this again creates a sense of trust and pride wherever they work. People are 15 times more likely to read a social media post from a friend who works for company X than a post from company Y themselves. For instance, job seekers usually search for reviews and information about the workplace culture. An employee’s post about working for a company adds a great deal of authenticity.

Social media and online branding play a large part in society’s perception of a company. Today, especially with the advent of remote working, more and more people are spending time online each day for work, study, and entertainment. According to studies, the average amount of time spent on social media is highly distributed today. People on average spend 40 minutes on YouTube, 35 minutes on Facebook, 25 minutes on Snapchat, 15 minutes on Instagram, and a minute on Twitter. Customers are usually intrigued by authentic social media posts and tend to seek out more information about a company or product.

Storyboard: Here’s how brands are using Twitter to engage consumers

Cutting-edge workplaces of today are constantly looking to ensure that business and cultural integrations happen with minimal disruptions to the ways of working. There is a lot of community participation on various virtual and physical platforms, where a diverse set of talent (new-age individual contributors, innovators and domain experts) from new-age companies come together to talk about the next wave of disruption, ideas that enable customer success, work practices that transform their business, trigger cost efficiency or enhance people experiences.

These forums bring out real-life stories through the lens of employees on how many of these initiatives influence the world’s outlook towards business, customers, and most importantly, a company’s brand. The impact of these stories traverses the length and breadth of how companies like to be perceived and importantly how employees are at the forefront of advocating their experiences to the world.

Employees of a company are the best people to understand its products and services. Their word in the digital space on the power of what a company produces, or is known for, is the ultimate voice that propels business, attracts talent, and makes them credible spokespeople for a company. The pandemic has only reinforced the importance of employee advocacy for branding. There is no company too small to take advantage of employee advocacy for brand building and every company, big or small, will benefit from investing in it.

The author Satyajit Menon is SVP and Head – People & Culture at Hero Vired. The views expressed are personal.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

From financial aid to extra leaves, here’s how India Inc is helping employees combat COVID-19

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The companies in India are taking several measures to support and help their employees and their families during this distressing phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many corporate houses have taken initiatives like financial aid, vaccination camps, health insurance, extra leaves, and medical help for their employees as the country battles with rising COVID-19 cases.

Apart from the initiatives for employees, many corporate houses have also extended the support for the family members of the employees in terms of paid leaves, health insurance, monetary support, and vaccination.

Here is a look at how corporate India is rising to the occasion during this pandemic. 

Godrej Properties

Godrej Properties Ltd (GPL) Godrej Properties has asked its employees “to heal” by offering three days of extended leave. Also, GPL told employees that it has decided that its teams will be on a complete break from everything work-related for three days starting May 5 plus the weekend.

OYO

Hospitality firm will be shifting to a 4-day work week, OYO founder and Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said in a tweet on Wednesday, as the company also launched a no-questions-asked flexible infinite paid leaves initiative. Agarwal in a tweet noted that COVID-19 continues to test the physical and mental well-being of people. Agarwal said employees can take off when they want and they just need to inform their manager about it.

Lodha Group

Mumbai-based realty major has announced that it will pay 12 months salary to the family of any of its associates who dies of COVID-19 while in the service of the firm.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries

India’s largest drugmaker announced that it would pay an amount equivalent to 2 years’ salary to families of employees who died of COVID-19 in India. The payout will be a minimum of 25 lakh and a maximum of 1.2 crore, depending on the employee’s salary.

Borosil

The company has announced that in the event of any of their employee losing their life due to COVID-19, his or her family will continue to receive the salary for the next two years. The company said it will also pay for the education of the employee’s children.

Tata Consultancy Services

The country’s largest IT services firm has been a front runner in this initiative by establishing a COVID-19 help desk, a 24×7 TCS Medical Hotline to reach doctors, and TCS Cares services for counselling.

HDFC Bank

Private sector lender has tied up with doctors through apps including Apollo 24/7, MediBuddy and PharmEasy. The lender has converted its training centres in Gurugram, Bhubaneswar and Pune into isolation facilities for its COVID-affected employees with nurses, doctors and immediate medical help if needed from nearby hospitals. Also, it has tied up with hospitals to provide vaccines for their employees and hotels to provide isolation facilities if required.

L’Oréal India

French cosmetics major has offered one-time COVID-19 insurance for those who test positive and has extended this to its field ecosystem of distributors and sales representatives. The company also offered 3 years’ salary as insurance cover in case of the demise of an employee, not limited to Covid-related deaths.

PwC India

The audit firm has created a holiday pool for its employees and also announced extended personal time off which allows workers to take three paid offs during the month of May

Microsoft

The Seattle-based technology giant has announced advance salaries and increased insurance cover for its employees in India to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

Other biggies such as Tata Steel, Google, Amazon, Schneider Electric, and Deloitte have granted 14 days of special sick leaves for their employees. ITC, Optum, and Phillips have told employees to take unlimited leaves with the affected ones to rest and not resume work until they fully recover from COVID-19.

Bajaj Auto

Bajaj Auto announces new policy for employees affected by Covid-19. Under the new policy, in the unfortunate event of an employee’s death due to Covid, his / her family will receive monetary support up to a period of two years after their demise

The company will also assist in dependant children’s education till graduation in any field of their choice.

In addition to this, there will be a 5-year hospitalisation insurance for all family members of the deceased employee.

Bajaj Auto has also extended the support of its engineers who have worked closely with government authorities to audit the oxygen systems at more than 70 hospitals across districts in Maharashtra.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Employee headcount increases in Delhi-NCR offices, not so much in Mumbai yet: Report

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Almost a year ago employers cutting across industries in India instructed their employees to work from home due to the novel coronavirus that wreaked havoc not just here but all over the world. However, now with the vaccination drive underway and the situation comparatively under control, office spaces have started filling up. The Economic Times reported that top office-space operators and co-working companies were reporting an occupancy ranging between 10-35 percent across India in what could be described as the beginning of a post-COVID era.

It said that IT hubs such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad still have a large number of employees working from home and hence they were behind the national average of people now operating from their offices. But offices in the national capital region (NCR) are showing increased numbers.

The rising numbers in the NCR could also be attributed to the continuous fall in covid infections. Delhi, for example, recorded only 145 infections and two deaths on Sunday. Authorities have hinted that they are open to lifting more restrictions in the weeks to follow.

The case is not the same with Mumbai, though. The maximum city, according to the report, is still showing low numbers because employers continue to discourage workers from using the local transport, partly due to the recent rise in cases. The city’s office occupancy is still hovering around 10-15 percent, says the report. Maharashtra on Monday recorded over 5,200 cases. As part of its measures to contain the spread of the virus, the state government has also restricted the employee headcount in offices at 30 percent.

SK Sayal, whole-time director and CEO, Bharti Realty Limited told ET the last two months had seen an increase in occupancy. The office operators also say that the numbers are expected to rise significantly once the vaccination drive gathers steam.

According to the report, the spaces were occupied in the range of 15-20 percent until December. They have, however, shown marked increases since then, going up to 20-25 percent in some cases.

Neetish Sarda, the founder of Smartworks, says the occupancy in Hyderabad and Bengaluru was yet to reach 25 percent but in Kolkata and Delhi-NCR it had already gone past 35 percent, it reported.

Most companies, including MNCs, experts say will start focussing on increasing headcount in offices from March onwards. A lot also depends on where the pandemic is headed in the country. India, last week, recorded over 100,000 cases in a week after five weeks. A new wave of the virus in the country could once again delay the return of employees to offices.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Supreme Court employee tests positive for COVID-19

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

Listen to the Article (6 Minutes)

An employee of the Supreme Court, who had come to work on the court complex on April 16, has tested positive for COVID-19.

According to apex court sources, the employee had worked full day on the court complex on April 16, and later he tested positive.

Two registrars, who had possibly established contact with this employee, have been put under mandatory quarantine for two weeks. A source familiar with the developments said that the infected employee came to the court for just two days during the lockdown that’s in place to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Contact tracing has already been initiated to ascertain the people who had come in contact with this employee.

Currently, the apex court is taking up matters for hearing through video-conferencing. Chief Justice S.A. Bobde on several occasions have emphasised the necessity to follow social distancing guidelines in order to contain the spread of coronavirus.

The judges are taking up extremely urgent matters from their residences and through a video-link, the petitioners and lawyers are participating in the hearing. The registry has been asked to share the video link with parties concerned in the matter.

The contact-tracing team will conduct complete screening of all the employees who have been working in the top court complex since April 16.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow