Now, the fired employees are accusing Google of terminating their services unlawfully and are demanding their jobs back. They have reportedly approached the National Labour Relations Board with their complaint. The group, called No Tech for Apartheid, maintains that even those employees who had not actively participated in the protests were terminated without any explanation.

The Verge reported that these employees are upset that Google retaliated in such a manner following a protest that was peaceful and did not even disrupt work and had a direct bearing on the terms and conditions of their work contract. Some of them were apparently only watching the protests as passive onlookers.

Meanwhile, Google maintains that the terminated employees were definitely found to be participating in the protests and that is why they were fired.

Following the sit-in protests by the employee group, Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google had made it clear to the employees that although the company promotes an open work culture where people are free to voice their opinions and hold discussions, they have to be mindful of the limitations and avoid overstepping. He had conveyed that the employees are expected to concentrate on being productive and not waste time on protests and staging demonstrations.

The post Sacked Googlers file complaint, demand reinstatement appeared first on HR Katha.

Last week, 28 employees were asked to leave because they participated in protests at the company’s offices in New York and California, expressing their disapproval of Google working with the Israel government on a project. The protests have not gone down well with Google as the led to a lot of disruption.

Following this, Sundar Pichai, CEO, Google had made it clear to the employees that although the company promotes an open work culture where employees are free to voice their opinions and hold discussions, they have to be mindful of the limitations and avoid overstepping. He had conveyed that the employees are expected to concentrate on being productive and not waste time on protests and staging demonstrations.

This is not the first time that Google is collaborating with a government on a project. Employees have often raised their voices about the deals that the company enters into with various governments. However, Project Nimbus has caused Googlers to protest for some time now. The project is a deal between the Israel government and Amazon and Google, wherein the two companies offer cloud services solutions to the former’s military. The deal is worth $1.2billion for the two companies. Back in 2021, when the deal was signed, about 400 employees working for the two tech giants had signed an open letter to their respective senior leadership teams. The services include both storage and computational resources, which enable the user to train powerful artificial intelligence. The employees at both the were wary of how their technology could violate the human rights of Palestinians. They suspected that the deal would lead to systematic discrimination against the Palestinians

The post 20 more Googlers terminated for taking undue advantage of ‘open culture’ appeared first on HR Katha.

Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO, issued a blog post reiterating the importance of a vibrant and open discussion culture. He highlighted the role it plays in driving innovation and product development. However, Pichai emphasised the need for boundaries: “Ultimately, we are a workplace. Our policies and expectations are clear: this is a business, not a platform for personal agendas or disruptive political debates.”

Pichai’s message echoes a similar sentiment expressed a day earlier by Chris Rackow, Google’s head of security. Rackow emphasised the importance of professional conduct and the vast majority of employees acting appropriately. He delivered a stern warning: “Those tempted to violate our policies should think again.”

Pichai reaffirmed Google’s commitment to user trust and objective information delivery: “Our primary focus is organising the world’s information and making it universally accessible and useful. This supersedes everything else, and I expect employees to act accordingly.”

These statements from Google’s leadership suggest a desire to maintain a productive work environment while upholding the company’s core values.

The post Google CEO urges respectful disagreement as protests erupt appeared first on HR Katha.

The Bank does not encourage such relationships because they may result in bias or partiality during promotions and increments, which is what happened in this case with the other employee involved in the relationship.

However, it has been proved that neither Ahn nor her close associate mishandled the finances of the Bank or tampered with the financial statements in any way. They have been cleared of any behaviour that could have affected the financial institution’s performance, in terms of business or finances.

It is pertinent to mention here that Ahn was the first woman CFO among the major six Canadian banks. Her association with RBC began in 2002, when she joined as senior manager, funds transfer pricing, corporate treasury, based out of Toronto. Her first promotion came four years later, when she became senior manager, ALM, corporate treasury, in 2007.

Two years into this role, she had become the managing director and head of enterprise liquidity risk measurement, corporate treasury. Four years into this role, she was elevated yet again, to the position of vice president, global financial controller. Two years later, in 2016, she became senior vice president, wholesale finance and investor relations. It was in 2021 that she was promoted to CFO.

The post Royal Bank of Canada fires CFO for violating code of conduct appeared first on HR Katha.

The employee conveyed to his boss that he would be unable to report for work since he was feeling feverish and his body was aching. The boss, however, said he would not allow him to take leave without producing a doctor’s prescription or note.

The employee responded by expressing his financial inability to visit a doctor for small issues such as a fever since the cost of the same isn’t covered by the company.

The boss went on to tell him that he would be granted leave only if he produces a doctor’s note, and that if it is just a fever for which he can do without visiting the doctor, he may as well come to work. The boss also pointed out that ultimately it is his presence at the workplace and the amount of work that he does that will determine his earnings.

At this, the clearly disappointed and frustrated employee rudely responds, “Ok bud have fun sitting in the break room all day playing on your phone. I’m out.”

The exchange has drawn mixed reactions and over 6,000 upvotes. Some netizens made it clear that their hourly wages are too low, that it isn’t worth it to drag oneself to work despite sickness.

Others commented that given what the world has been through because of the coronavirus, employers should be discouraging people from coming to work with a fever that could be contagious.

The post Boss demands doc’s note, employee quits appeared first on HR Katha.

Being aware of the higher volume of cash flow into the office owing to the festive season deluge of orders, the former employee, Sumit, had strategically planned the robbery with Anil Tiger and Sandeep last month. Not only did they manage to carry out the plan on 16 October, but were able to evade the cops for a while.

Two of the three have reportedly been caught, while the third, Sandeep, is still absconding.

Of the total amount of Rs 21 lakh that was robbed, only about six lakhs have been recovered along with an abandoned car.

Frustrated laid-off employees have been expressing their anger in unusual ways of late. Recently, a former employee of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), who was laid off decided to vent her disgruntlement by making a hoax bomb threat call. The call, which was received in the B block of the Think Campus, at Hosur Road, Bengaluru, led to the bomb disposal squad being sent for. However, even after combing the area thoroughly the squad did not find any explosives anywhere inside or near the complex

The post Angry employee robs Flipkart office of Rs 21 lakh appeared first on HR Katha.

A former employee of the Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Think Campus, at Hosur road, Bengaluru chose to express her anger at being laid off in an unusual manner. She decided to make a fake bomb threat call, which naturally caused a lot of disruption within the campus, with people panicking and rushing out of the campus when they came to know of the call. The campus was evacuated after the call.

The call, which was received in the B block of the campus led to the bomb disposal squad being sent for. However, even after combing the area thoroughly the squad did not find any explosives anywhere inside or near the complex.

When the matter was investigated, it was found that an employee, from Hubli district of Karnataka, whose employment had been terminated, had made the hoax bomb threat. She was reportedly angry with the company for the layoff. Now, the police are on the lookout to nab the woman.

As per media reports, this isn’t the first time that TCS has received a hoax bomb call. In May this year, about 1500 TCS employees had to be evacuated from their office building following a bomb threat call at the Hyderabad office. That call was made by a former employee of the company’s security wing.

The post How a laid-off TCS employee chose to express her anger appeared first on HR Katha.

Akasa Air has decided to drag 43 pilots to court for joining Air India Express, owned by the Tata Group, without serving their six months’ notice period. The airline is now seeking Rs 22 crore from these pilots as compensation.

The carrier has told the Delhi HC that it is undergoing a crisis situation and may have to shut shop because 43 of its pilots left and joined Air India Express without completing their notice period.

The airline filed a petition in the Bombay High Court too demanding that its pilots pay Rs 22 crore in compensation because the airline claims to have spent that amount on training these pilots and in strengthening its operations. Since August, the airline has had to cancel many of its flights because it was short of pilots.

According to the airline, its ire is targeted at only a few pilots who just ditched the airline without bothering to serve their notice period, which is a part of their work agreement. These pilots violated their contracts as well as the rules of civil aviation. By doing so, the airline accuses these pilots of going against ethics and the law and causing inconvenience to thousands of passengers. Akasa feels that the behavior of these pilots also shows disrespect to the other employees who have been working sincerely.

The post Akasa Air suing its pilots amidst operational crisis appeared first on HR Katha.

Lakshminarayanan had sent a message on a WhatsApp group, which was critical of his superiors. As a result, he was issued a memo and had nearly got fired.

However, the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court observed that it is natural for employees to have some issues with their co-workers, or superiors, or even their employers; and that it is a good practice for organisations to allow their employees to express their issues or grievances, as that would only help them vent. As per the Bench, it is not harmful for the organisation to allow the employees to vent as long as it doesn’t tarnish their reputation in any way.

In this particular case, Lakshminarayanan had not gone public with his criticism, and therefore, his criticism could not be considered a misconduct. He had only “vented” within a private WhatsApp Group, which he himself had formed. The Group clearly had restricted access, and therefore, he could not be ‘thought-policed’. Incidentally, Lakshminarayanan holds an office in the Tamil Nadu Grama Bank Workers Union.

As per the Bench, had the exchange taken place in a public place or on a platform that anybody could access, the employee could have been charged with misconduct. The Bench also stated that even groups have privacy rights, just as individuals. So, if the employers plant a mole to get information about groups within the workplace, this could be seen as an unfair labour practice.

The post Employees have the ‘right to vent’, express grievance: Madurai Bench of Madras HC appeared first on HR Katha.

This disciplinary action was taken against 30 conductors and six drivers. Two drivers and a worker from the workshop are to be dismissed too.

This disciplinary action is expected to help improve the services of PMPML and enhance customer/passenger satisfaction.

The discipline will also ensure that maximum number of buses ply on routes and in the process ensure that absenteeism is reduced. Emphasis is also being laid on courtesy on the part of the employees to add value to the experience of the passengers.

While passengers who have had to deal with arrogant drivers and conductors in the past have welcomed the move, the workers’ union is not happy with the suspension.

Looks like organisations, especially government offices across the country, are increasingly emphasizing on punctuality to improve the productivity of the employees.

The offices of the Kerala government have already linked the staff payroll software, SPARK, with the biometric attendance punching system. The move was aimed at ensuring punctuality and regular attendance amongst the government employees, who would face a pay cut or loss of leave if they fail to mark their attendance within the allotted time slots for entering and leaving the office.

Last week, when an employee of Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam in Rajasthan was hauled up for being absent during a surprise audit at the office, he coolly pointed out how tardy his own boss was instead of apologising!

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GS Bairwa, chief engineer, Kota zone, Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam shot off a notice to Singh on finding that his signature was missing from the attendance register during the surprise inspection. The notice demanded an explanation from Singh for his absence at the said time and date of inspection, but Bairwa wasn’t prepared for the response that Singh gave.

Singh coolly responded on the same notice with a comment stating clearly that since the chief engineer himself was never on time, Singh also chose not to be on time! Singh of course maintains that his response, albeit daring, was an honest and fair one.

Talking of punctuality, the Tripura government recently ordered its staff to maintain punctuality and regular attendance . They have been told that they will face action if they fail to comply. Employees have been directed to reach office on time and not to leave office before 5:30 pm on working days. This is to ensure that services are available to the public from 10 a.m. on all working days. Those who wish to leave before 5:30 will need to seek special permission from the concerned seniors.

The post Discom employee reveals why bosses should lead by example! appeared first on HR Katha.

The ruling came while dealing with a plea by a woman who got a job at Bihar Bhawan post her husband’s death, on compassionate grounds. She was a Group IV employee.

About 14 years ago, when the woman was accused of getting drunk and creating disturbance in Bihar Bhawan, she was issued a show cause notice following which she was suspended.

An investigation later revealed that she had submitted fake documents at the time of joining. While her documents showed that she had passed Class VIII, it was found that the certificate she had submitted to prove that was not genuine. This discovery led to her being terminated from employment.

The woman claimed that she did not actually require to submit a certificate to prove that she had passed Class VIII to get a job in the Group IV category. In other words, she wasn’t required to be a Class VIII pass candidate for the post she had been appointed to. Therefore, the authenticity of the certificate should not really matter when it comes to her job.

However, the High Court ruled that no sympathy can be shown to any employee who furnishes fake or fabricated documents, and that such people did not deserve to be employed at all. Therefore, her termination was justified.

The post ‘No mercy for employees submitting fake documents’: Delhi High Court appeared first on HR Katha.

Not a new occurrence, quiet hiring has been present in the corporate world for a long time now. It referred to the practice of organisations hiring talent discreetly, with covert job opening announcements so that their competitors were not notified.

In the new Gartner report, McRae re-establishes what it means in the present context. Quiet hiring in the context of 2023 is the process of filling gaps organisations face in skills, without taking on full-time talent.

Jasmeet Bhatia, CHRO, Thermax, understands the organisational need for measures such as quiet hiring, “if attrition or hiring issues cause gaps in skill within the organisation, getting internal talent to fill in on a temporary basis is ideal, as the end goal for all parties is creating a better product for the customer.”

This can be done either by outsourcing talent through short-term contractors or by rotating the employees within the organisation to fill in the gaps.

“Getting internal talent to fill in on a temporary basis is ideal, as the end goal for all parties is creating a better product for the customer.”

Jasmeet Bhatia, CHRO, Thermax

Here is how McRae sees it taking place. An organisation assesses its workforce, looking for employees taking up more than their designated responsibilities. A thoughtful manager then recognises that the employees have basically begun working in the positions they’ve wanted to all along and uses it as a career-progression opportunity – a case of independent upskilling of sorts. Assuming all of this goes as per plan, the manager then compensates those taking up these added responsibilities accordingly, filling the internal skills gap and retaining employees without having to go through an entire hiring campaign.

McRae, however, urges organisations to use this method with caution, as the strategy is meant to address immediate needs.

Bhatia mentions the importance of drawing parallels when listing out the benefits for the employee and the employer, only then will quiet hiring be a success.

Can it be misused or misinterpreted?

Internal talent rotation and advancement isn’t a new concept in business. Talent rotation is an integral part of employee development and retention, though it has not been used in the manner McRae describes in her report.

Ramesh Mitragotri, CHRO, Ultratech Cement, expands on the same, “Organisations have been rotating talent to fill in gaps for years, but they do it as a planned or periodic rotation exercise. When flash occurrences such as the Great Resignation arise, they create unplanned moves within the organisation, which could lead to confusion.”

If an employee takes up added responsibility due to a lack of personnel at the workplace, it is incumbent on the employer to recognise, inform and compensate the employee in a manner agreeable to both parties.

An organisation should not take advantage of an employee’s ability to accommodate changes in the organisations. Rather, it should take this into consideration while giving out promotions and bonuses to further encourage such behaviour.

“When flash occurrences such as the Great Resignation arise, they create unplanned moves within the organisation, which could lead to confusion.”

Ramesh Mitragotri, CHRO, Ultratech Cement 

From the employer’s perspective, McRae cautions organisations not to think of it as a long-term fix to their hiring woes. It is possible that employees who have been temporarily reassigned to a new position may give their new role priority over their older one, as the organisation wouldn’t have hired anyone to backfill their older responsibilities, causing unnecessary confusion.

It should be noted that the possibility of organisations implementing such programmes can result in over-worked employees, leading to an inefficient workplace. That is why, it is important that organisations track the extra workload taken by the employees and ensure that it does not end up creating a situation where they feel burnt out or demotivated.

“Anything and everything could be misused. Smart managers will understand the overall consequences to abusing quiet hiring. Forcing your talent pool into quiet hiring will do you no good as it will only lead to a sub par product which the managers are accountable for,” says Kartik Rao, GCPO, Good Glamm Group.

How can quiet hiring be leveraged?

Quiet hiring opens up numerous opportunities for employees to initiate important conversations with their employers.

When an organisation announces its need for people to take up these pivot roles, it opens up the opportunity to discuss one’s long-term goals in relation to the position, which can possibly lead to a promotion.

A report from Inc’s Kelly Main suggests the same. In her report of Google’s very own quiet hiring strategy, she observes that employees brought on through the quiet-hiring programme tend to get more raises and promotions.

It provides employees the perfect time to sit with their managers and HR heads to discuss any career-advancement goals they have in mind, whether that be climbing the corporate ladder or better work-life balance.

If implemented well, quiet hiring can offer great benefits, with organisations witnessing a bump in employee efficiency and satisfaction.

“Organisation will have to be extremely contextual when looking to leverage this situation,” adds Rao.

How does quiet hiring relate to ‘quiet quitting’?

Quiet quitting, a trend made popular on social-media platform, TikTok, describes employees’ refusal to do any work beyond the parameters of their current role.

“Organisation will have to be extremely contextual when looking to leverage this situation.”

Kartik Rao, Group CPO, Good Glamm Group

Proponents of quiet quitting box themselves out of ever being able to take advantage of the opportunities quiet hiring provides. Thus, they never avail the career-advancement opportunities that are usually sought by employees, and end up leaving a lot of money that could have been earned on the table.

Quiet quitters believe this is just another way for organisations to take advantage of its workers.

“Employees who are already dissatisfied with their work, or are in an environment where they do not feel motivated enough will be able to look at some of the positives that come with quiet hiring,” says Bhatia.

It is pertinent to mention here that employees who are less likely to speak up on their career goals and aspirations are more likely to end up missing out on important opportunities such as quiet hiring. Organisations should try to broaden their horizons while looking for candidates to rotate, to help fill the skills gaps.

Communication is key

In the end, the backbone of an effective quiet hiring drive lies in how well an organisation can relay its needs to its workforce. It is imperative that the organisation and its managers express their needs in a clear manner, leaving no room for misinterpretation by the employees.

“The purpose for which these moves are being made today is bound to change tomorrow. Thus, it should not be made to seem like these rotations are solely aimed at filling in gaps, rather, they should be used to develop people,” advises Mitragotri.

It should be unequivocally stated that the moves made as part of the drive are temporary. If used as a career-advancement opportunity, both parties should come to a consensus regarding the details of the new responsibilities and the value they add to the organisation.

The post The pros and cons of ‘Quiet Hiring’: navigating the emerging corporate trend appeared first on HR Katha.

However, this saying doesn’t hold true any longer. Satisfaction doesn’t guarantee long-term employee loyalty. Even satisfied employees may wish to leave for various reasons, and hence, talk of quitting despite everything appearing to be going well for them at the workplace.

While the reasons why satisfied employees may choose to leave an organisation could be professional or personal, Udbhav Ganjoo, head – HR, global operations, Viatris, points out, “The age, tenure and specialty of the employees, as well as the size and age of the organisation also play a role in such decisions”.

Growth opportunities

“The most common professional reason is the desire to explore better career-advancement possibilities,” feels Ganjoo. Employees may leave to pursue an opportunity that aligns better with their career goals and will accelerate their career growth.

Sometimes, employees also feel the urge to try out a different career path, but their organisation is unable to give them that opportunity. This may lead them to consider quitting. Some employees may even be keen to switch to an entirely different sector.

These days, even highly satisfied employees may decide to move on for better compensation or a new, sometimes more grand title.

“An environment of free and powerful communication is required, where employees feel free to talk about their aspirations and career opportunities.”

Tanaya Mishra, VP & head – HR, Endo International

“The new crop of ambitious employees today have their own goals to pursue. Some seek to pursue higher education, while others desire to launch their own startups. No company has control over such situations or urges.” According to him, sometimes, a bad mix of individual aspirations leads to even satisfied employees quitting.

Unavoidable circumstances 

There are also many personal reasons that may urge an employee to quit. These are sometimes controllable but sometimes not in the hands of the company.  “They may leave for personal reasons such as relocation, family commitments, or health issues,” observes Tanaya Mishra, VP & head – HR, Endo International. She recalls an experience where one of her employees wanted to shift to his hometown to take care of his family, and hence, had to leave. “We couldn’t stop him as we had no branch or office there, and therefore, had to let him go,” she recalls.

In other situations, an employee may be satisfied on other fronts, but may be intrigued by the dictatorial environment. Mishra says, “In family-owned businesses or companies, the environment can get slightly dictatorial at times, making it difficult for employees to stay on. In such environments, employees may wish to move to a company that aligns better with their values or has a culture that appeals to them.”

Impact on organisations

Negative image

If satisfied employees leave for better career-advancement opportunities, it indicates that their employer is unable to provide them with the right career path, or a competitive pay package, or opportunities to grow and develop. “This can be interpreted as an organisation’s incompetency to meet employees’ aspirations,” opines Ganjoo.

It also shows that the organisation is rigid and unable to provide the flexibility to satisfy an employee who was successful there.

Employees leaving for better work-life balance may also indicate that the organisation is not supportive of employees’ personal needs. Post the pandemic, people prefer to work in the hybrid mode and require flexibility. However, when companies fails to offer the same, it may indicate that they are not engaging with employees and not understanding their needs.

Talent gap 

When satisfied employees leave, “It creates a gap of talent within an organisation,” points out Mishra.

“For organisations that require some niche skills, especially in the IT and pharma sectors, it becomes challenging to find new talent quickly to replace those who have left. In the absence of such niche skills, the organisation may even collapse,” she observes.

Loss of critical knowledge

“Satisfied employees who have been with the company for a long time often have valuable institutional knowledge that is critical to the organisation’s operations,” observes Ganjoo. Losing them can lead to inefficiency, loss of effectiveness and a setback in the company’s progress.

 

“It’s important to ascertain the root cause that triggers such quitting. Unless the company acts on the pain points, this trend will never end.”

Udbhav Ganjoo, head – HR, global operations, Viatris

 

Damage to reputation

Losing satisfied employees can also damage the company’s reputation both internally and externally. After all, employees who leave will share their reasons for leaving with others, leading to negative word-of-mouth advertising. It also creates a negative impact on the morale of the remaining employees, as they may feel uncertain about their own future with the company, or may feel that their contributions are not valued.

How to stop satisfied employees from leaving

Losing satisfied employees can have a significant impact on the organisation, and it is important for companies to take steps to understand why they are leaving and address any underlying issues to improve employee retention and satisfaction.

“It’s important to ascertain the root cause that triggers such quitting,” adds Ganjoo. Unless the company acts on the pain points, this trend will never end.

Communication

“An environment of free and powerful communication is required, where employees feel free to talk about their aspirations and career opportunities,” says Mishra.

“It’s important to check whether the company is losing key talent – ones with all the niche skills – that is important for business growth,” opines Ganjoo.

In such situations, they can reach out to the existing employees and even the ones leaving for an open discussion. It is important to try to understand their reasons to leave and then take necessary corrective action.

Flexibility

“Companies can offer employees the flexibility to help fulfil their personal responsibilities,” says Mishra. An employee with grown-up kids may not require a lot of flexibility, but one with elderly parents or very small children may need flexibility to take care of them. Mishra suggests that companies can also offer such employees better medical facilities and insurance cover, she adds.

Empowerment

Lastly, an organisation must ensure that even satisfied employees are empowered, respected, and given growth opportunities. Satisfaction doesn’t necessarily mean that the employee is complacent. “Companies must access and act on the reasons that are controllable by them,” advises Ganjoo.

The post When even satisfied employees quit appeared first on HR Katha.

According to the report, in India 76.07 per cent of employees would be willing to take a pay cut if that meant they would have the option to work remotely or be able to alternate between home and the office.

The report also added that 76.38 per cent of employees would begin to look for new jobs if they were forced to work full time.

Ideas like the introduction of a flextime system and the potential restructuring of employee workweeks to four days would have been scoffed at a few years ago but, currently, are worth serious consideration to retain and attract the best talent.

People who work from home are also discussing career advancement opportunities with their companies more frequently.

The data further suggests that around 73 per cent of the employees surveyed believe that even when working from home, employees are noticed and adequately appreciated, and 74 per cent believe that employers are receptive to discussions regarding upskilling and training requirements.

56 per cent of workers report feeling supported by their bosses regarding their mental health at work, even when working from home.

According to the report, introducing HR management tools and platforms that enable visibility on HR data could simplify decision-making, foster a more cohesive internal culture, and increase trust and loyalty between employers and employees.

The post Survey details new trends in employee behaviour in India appeared first on HR Katha.

The same passenger had allegedly been harassing the crew throughout the flight before the woman in the video interjected. She is seen telling the passenger that her crew was crying because of him and that they are employees, not servants.

This situation was cause for a huge debate on twitter that seemed to have ended with most siding with the crew.

Jet Airways CEO, Sanjeev Kapoor also had his say on the matter. He says he’s seen crew members being slapped and abused on board flights, called servants, or worse.

A senior official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the regulator is looking into the incident and shall take appropriate action.

Amid the debate, a fellow passenger took to twitter to clear the air on the situation. They shared that it was clearly the passenger’s fault in the situation and that he had been acting rudely throughout the flight.

“The IndiGo crew did take a lot of the brunt from this pax. Otherwise maybe they could have diverted and dropped him off somewhere in a foreign land with the cops there. He got to come home,” said a post on twitter.

A screenshot of a post on Instagram attached to the tweet said the person whose video went viral chose a very ‘smart’ moment to capture the incident and did not showcase both sides of the event. It further mentioned that most passengers were particularly ill mannered with the crew.

“They called them servants and were after their life for food when they knew that they were travelling on a low budget airline…I saw an air hostess crying before all this had happened…The flight crew is just doing their job with utmost integrity and hard work. They don’t deserve to be treated this way,” the message in the screenshot read.

IndiGo released a statement addressing the situation:

“We are aware of the incident that took place on flight 6E 12 from Istanbul to Delhi on December 16, 2022. The issue was related to meals chosen by certain passengers travelling via a codeshare connection,”

“IndiGo is cognizant of the needs of its customers and it is our constant endeavour to provide a courteous and hassle-free experience to our customers. We are looking into the incident,” the airline said in the statement.

The post IndiGo flight attendant called ‘servant’ on flight to Delhi appeared first on HR Katha.

Data collected from remote meetings on Zoom, MS Teams, and WebEx from 10 different global companies suggested that employees are more interactive now than they were in 2020.

The data collected ranged from companies in the healthcare industry all the way to energy. Seven out of the 10 were members of the Fortune 500.

They looked at data from April to May for the years 2020, 2021, 2022. Around 48 million meetings and an excess of 5,00,000 employees were included in the dataset.

The study found that remote meetings were 25 per cent shorter in 2022 than they were in 2020 – from an average of 43 minutes to 33 minutes. These meetings were found to be more frequent and spontaneous than a few years ago.

This frequency is reflected in the data that shows 59 per cent more meetings per employee in 2022. Employees went from having five meetings a week in 2020 to eight two years later.

It was found that two thirds of one on one meetings were unscheduled in contrast to the 17 per cent found in 2020. The number of participants also dropped in 2020 from 20 per meeting to just 10 in the most recent study.

The study concluded that workers were seen to be more engaged with each other with respect to meetings than what many companies believed.

Companies held the belief that employees began to lack creativity due to no in-person engagement.

Data from the study suggested that remote interactions had begun mirroring in-person interactions. As remote workers miss out on the casual, spontaneous interactions that happen in person, they compensate for those losses by having more impromptu meetings.

The post Remote employees interacting more since 2020: Study appeared first on HR Katha.

It was noticed by the manager of Oliver Garden — a popular Italian restaurant and part of the Darden Group, a recognised restaurant operator in the US — that many of the staff members at the Kansas location in the US, were taking too many leaves.

In response, the manager addressed a memo to all the staff warning everyone that if anyone takes a single day off in the next 30 days, he/she will lose the job. “If anyone calls out more than ONCE in the next 30 days, you will not have a job,” stated the memo.

According to the manager, people like him never took a day off in their 11 years of service, irrespective of circumstances. “I came in sick. I got in a wreck literally on my way to work on time, airbags went off and my car was totaled, but you know what, I made it to work, ON TIME!” mentions the manager. “There are no more excuses. If you’re here to work and want to work, then work,” the manager adds.

Angrily the manager states that, staying back late on weekends does not work for anyone, as everyone desires to spend time with their family . “I’m dedicated to being here. As should you. No more excuses or complaints,” the manager writes in the memo.

Such is the manager’s lack of empathy that even taking a day off to deal with family emergencies seems unjustified to him. “If it is a family emergency and you cannot stay, too bad. Work somewhere else,” the memo reads.

After the memo went viral, many have criticised this unprofessional behaviour of the manager.

Darden has, of course, sent the manager packing and confirmed the same. His behaviour, according to the Group, does not align with the Group’s values.

The post This restaurant manager gets fired for unpleasant memo to staff appeared first on HR Katha.

A clip from a recent podcast — which Singh also shared on Twitter— showing her talking about crying being a means of self-expression for women, has triggered a debate on social media as to whether crying at the workplace should be considered normal or just a sign of feminine weakness.

Singh is of the opinion that just because a woman professional chooses to express herself by crying after receiving feedback, she should not be looked down upon as weak or suffering from a breakdown. Crying, according to her, should be treated as a normal reaction from a sincere, genuine and passionate worker.

She goes on to say that the sight of a woman crying post feedback should not freak anyone out or stop anyone from giving her further feedback.

Singh has managed to increase her fan following for her remark implying that women should not be treated any differently just because they get teary and overwhelmed. She clarifies that women do not want to feel embarrassed about crying nor do they wish to gain any sympathy by shedding tears.

In her own words, “Crying it out is an important coping mechanism for a lot of women and it just helps us release the pain and come back stronger!”

Singh was part of the panel of judges on Shark Tank India, a reality television show that sees aspiring entrepreneurs presenting their business ideas to the judges and convincing them to invest in their business.

The post ‘Crying is self-expression not breakdown’: Vineeta Singh, CEO, Sugar appeared first on HR Katha.

What would seem like a harmless form of greeting to many apparently led to an argument between the two parties involved. The employee who starts his WhatsApp message greeting the boss with a ‘Hey’ wasn’t prepared for the boss’ reaction at all. The latter clearly took offence to the casual greeting and proceeded to explain why such language is “unprofessional”.

The language used by the new generations has definitely changed the very tone of conversations and texture of communication. HRKatha attempts to understand why language is changing and creating a divide between the ‘old-timers’ and ‘millennials’ at the workplace.

To understand what exactly happened, let’s revisit the exchange between the said boss and employee.

The young professional recently shared his WhatsApp chat with a senior officer, who had objected to being greeted with an ‘unprofessional ‘Hey’”.

The youngster had no idea this informal mode of greeting will become the bone of contention between the two and would draw the attention of netizens across the world.

The youngster responded to a query from the boss about a test report, with a ‘Hey’, which upset the senior who decided to school the employee on ‘professionalism’.

“Hi Shreyas, My name is Sandeep. Please don’t use the word ‘hey’,” the boss wrote, asking Shreyas to at least use a “Hi” instead of ‘Hey’. Sandeep then goes on to list out words that should not be used in professional exchanges. The list comprised, ‘Dude, ‘Man, and ‘hello’ and “Hi there” amongst others.

Shreyas of course pointed out that the conversation was a casual one taking place over WhatsApp and not over LinkedIn or a mail chain.

However, the question here is why did Sandeep get so offended with the word ‘Hey’ in the first place? After all, aren’t we all living in a world full of millennials, who are clearly ruling the roost?

Even organisations today have started encouraging more informal and friendly ways of communication, so that their employees feel good and perform better.

“Sandeep was right in contacting him as the deadline was over. In fact, it was Shreyas’ duty to inform him of his inability to complete the test for whatever reasons. But this was completely uncalled for. It puts the candidate in poor light as well.” 

Ravi Mishra, VP-HR, Advance Materials Business, Aditya Birla Group

Communication today has become more flexible in comparison to the past. However, there are certain seniors at the workplace who are still stuck in time and suffering from what can be called the old-school decorum syndrome.

Hari TN, senior HR leader, says, “The use of ‘hey’ or ‘hi’ is widely acceptable now. Times are changing and so is the language and the way people address one another”. Therefore, he would not consider it as a “breach of the office decorum” at all.

Ravi Mishra, SVP-HR, Advance Materials Business, Aditya Birla Group,  agrees with TN, but also adds that it all depends on the organisational culture.

Sunil Singh, CHRO, Stellar Value Chain Solutions, feels that a lot has changed in the way we communicate these days, as most of the workforce comprises youngsters. Hence, it doesn’t really matter.

“Shreyas is also in some ways Sandeep’s customer. Therefore, he should have been more thoughtful before flying off the handle”

Hari TN, senior HR leader

Who is right — Sandeep or Shreyas?

Both Hari and Singh agree that Sandeep should have shown some maturity while dealing with the youngster. He should have simply ignored the harmless greeting and moved on.

Kumar feels that both Sandeep and Shreyas had conveniently ignored the nature of the platform they were chatting on and the rank of the person they were interacting with.

The manager, who clearly belonged to the old school, must have found it difficult to adjust to the jargon used by Shreyas. But again, Sandeep should have shown some restraint.

According to Hari, “Shreyas is also in some ways Sandeep’s customer. Therefore, he should have been more thoughtful before flying off the handle.”

Mishra feels that “Sandeep taking an offense was natural because of his upbringing and cultural ethos.”

Kumar goes on to reveal that personally, when he communicates with his global HR leader, he takes his first name but when he is dealing with his Indian senior, he uses the formal way of greeting.

Singh does not think Shreyas was wrong, as “he was being approached on social-media platforms”.

“The working environment has become more open”

Sunil Singh, CHRO, Stellar Value Chain Solutions

Sandeep or anyone shouldn’t be expecting youngsters to be old school, as times have surely changed. “The working environment has become more open,” points out Singh.

Did Sandeep overreact?

All three HR leaders unanimously agree that Sandeep has overreacted.

“It would have been perfectly fine for Sandeep not to extend the deadline for the test, but it wasn’t ok to take umbrage to the use of ‘Hey’ and get upset about it,” says Hari.

Singh wonders why Sandeep waited for Shreyas to complete the test in the first place. After all, Singh points out, “Shreyas could have been looking for other options or was merely not interested in the job”.

However, Mishra has a different take on this. He says, “Sandeep was right in contacting him as the deadline was over. In fact, it was Shreyas’ duty to inform him of his inability to complete the test for whatever reasons. But this was completely uncalled for. It puts the candidate in poor light as well”.

It will not be incorrect to say that today’s leaders have to deal with youngsters with a very open mind, a humble approach and in a simple manner, unlike the earlier days, where the bosses always called the shots.

To ensure proper decorum, companies should offer training in soft skills and other creative activities, which will let the millennials differentiate between formal and informal conversations, when it comes to mails, chats and meetings. Ultimately, the answer to ‘How much is too much?’ lies in the culture of the organisations.

The post Who is right — Sandeep or Shreyas? appeared first on HR Katha.

Speaking to HRKatha, Melvin Gladstone, CHRO, Edelweiss General Insurance, reveals that recently the company has introduced some new set of behaviours which have been identified by the company for further growth of the organisation.

Gladstone shares that the company had actually gone back to its purpose and vision and reevaluated them and made some changes as per the new business environment.

Major changes have come due to the new offering the company wants to give to its customers.

As per Gladstone, Edelweiss wants to position itself as an insurtech company and some major digital transformation is underway.

“As per the new vision and purpose of Edelweiss, we have identified some new behaviours which will make people succeed at Edelweiss and in turn, the company will taste success,” says Gladstone.

The company has introduced six new behaviours which are mentioned below –

Customer first – Someone who keeps the customer at the core and centre of every decision in the company.

Hustle and make it happen – A person who has the ability to take decisions fast but also has the flexibility to change course if required.

“Behaviours cannot be built or taught, but skills can be taught”

Melvin Gladstone, CHRO, Edelweiss General Insurance

Play as a team, win as a team – Someone who is a team player. A person who knows how to celebrate success as a team and respect each team member for the skills he/she brings on the table. Further, helping team members to learn and grow in the organisation.

Be bold, be creative – A person appreciates innovation and is not afraid to do things differently. Further someone who comes with an ever learning attitude and embraces digitalisation of things. Also people who have the ability to challenge the status quo and look beyond the obvious.

The buck stops here – A person who takes the accountability of work and never says no to any responsibility. Who makes sure that the work gets done and comes with solutions while not only identifying problems.

Do more with less –Someone who realises that we are working with limited resources in the company and approaches every commercial decision as if the money is owned by you and not the company. At the same time the person should not compromise on quality over cost.

With the introduction of these new behaviours of success in the company, the company has seen a change in its performance review system and the evaluation process of candidates.

Edelweiss has decided to make these behaviours a part of a performance review system where all employees will be rated on these behaviours which can impact their annual appraisal.

“Managers will be rating employees on a scale of five against all these behaviours in the company,” says Gladstone. The rating system is quite simple with five being perfect, four reflecting good, three being satisfactory, two meaning ‘needs improvement’ and one being not satisfactory at all.

The company has also aligned the new set of behaviours with the rewards mechanism where good performers will be rewarded with monetary bonuses ranging from Rs 2,000 to Rs 4,000. Apart from that, gifts and vouchers will also be presented to employees exemplifying these behaviours.

Edelweiss will also evaluate candidates on these new behaviours by using psychometric tests to evaluate candidates on these behaviours. Moreover, the company has developed its own assessment process where all hiring managers have trained to evaluate candidates in 45 mins on all these behaviours.

The hiring managers are given a set of questions that they can ask the candidate to evaluate people on these behaviours. For instance, if the hiring manager wants to evaluate a candidate on ‘Play as a team, win as a team,’ then the recruiter can ask ‘When was the last time you had a disagreement with a peer? How did you resolve the situation?’ or ‘Tell us about the most difficult challenge you faced in trying to work cooperatively with someone who did not share the same idea?’

Or for instance, if the recruiter wants to evaluate someone on ‘hustle and make it happen’ the recruiter might ask, ‘What do you do when priorities change during work? Give one example’ or ‘Have you ever made a decision before consulting your boss? What was the impact?’

As per the training which is given to the hiring manager, he evaluates the candidates and gives ratings on each behaviour.

As per Gladstone, Edelweiss takes these assessments seriously and really gives a lot of emphasis on the same. If some candidate has scored less than three in any of the behaviours, as a process the candidate is rejected confirms Gladstone.

“Behaviours cannot be built or taught, but skills can be taught,” says Gladstone.

But depending on the roles and function and the level of the role, things may vary. There will be some behaviours which will have no to very less importance to carry out the role. Accordingly, there might be some exceptions.

“We are still working on jotting down how much weightage should be given to which behaviour in a particular role and a particular level,” mentions Gladstone.

The post Edelweiss General Insurance adds 6 behavioural aspects while evaluating candidates appeared first on HR Katha.

The study, undertaken by sRide, a social platform that helps millions of people to commute via carpooling, covered 10,000 users of the sRide app across the metros.

The survey found that amidst efforts by employers to get their employees back to working from office safely, about 95 per cent respondents in the metros admitted they were willing to carpool to work. Of course, the majority preferred to commute in ‘car bubbles’ with a fixed set of people they were comfortable travelling and socialising with. About 53 per cent of the respondents from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata expect to return to working from their offices with effect from September 2021.

Some of the top IT companies in India are considering reopening their office spaces by October 2021, provided employees are completely vaccinated and the Government permits.

Lakshna Jha, founder & CEO, sRide, reveals that regular carpoolers have become friends and acquaintances. Since there is “a greater sense of familiarity”, because of having traveled together in the past. These riders are “creating their own social bubbles with people they travel with on the same route.” Such social bubbles give rise to small communities of people who travel together and establish long-term relationships. With hikes in the fuel prices, many find it economical to carpool than use their own personal vehicles. It has been observed that commuters tend to repeatedly choose the same set of co-riders for their commute to work or for shopping, and even vaccination drives.

The post 25% people willing to travel to office thrice a week, 30% 5 times a week appeared first on HR Katha.

As per the study, mindfulness makes independent-minded people more selfish or reduces their willingness to offer help. On the other hand, interdependent-minded people become more generous and helpful after a mindfulness or a meditation session.

“If findings of this study are accurate, anxiety, frustration, strained interpersonal relations and resentment will become common at workplaces”

Amit Das, director – HR & CHRO, Bennett Coleman & Company

Hard to digest, but true! The study suggests that in Buddhism, mindfulness is a practice connected to Buddhist teachings and spirituality. In America, however, it is practised in a more secular way. It is merely seen as a tool, which can increase concentration and reduce anxiety and stress, which most studies in the world confirm. However, nobody has really studied how it can impact different behaviours which are more connected to the culture one comes from.

Michael J Poulin, the researcher, feels that the prosocial effect of mindfulness is influenced by different cultures, and that is why, the practice of mindfulness which originated from the Eastern and Asian parts of the world makes more sense to them. However, Poulin also says that within cultures as well, each individual can think differently at times. In a media statement, Poulin does mention that there is also variability within each person or individual at any given point of time. He/she can think either way, either in a singular or plural fashion.

“I believe that there are different kinds of people in every culture and society, whether we talk about the Western world or the Asians,” says Mahipal Nair, CHRO, Nielsen IQ.

There are thousands of practitioners and studies in the world promoting the benefits of mindfulness. Practising mindfulness leads to less stress, improves wellbeing of the self, and develops a sense of hope and optimism. However, do we know how it impacts our pro-social behaviour? How does it really impact our behaviour in terms of extending a helping hand to others?

In today’s times, the emphasis on employee wellbeing and mental health is on the rise. In fact, companies have been trying to outdo each other in terms of their employee-wellbeing initiatives and programmes, especially focussed on the mental well-being of the staff.

In the last six to seven months, there has been a surge in organisations introducing policies pertaining to the mental wellbeing of their employees. One-day offs, extended holidays, hourly breaks and so on at the workplace have become common offerings now. This shows that mental stress amongst employees really exists and employers are acknowledging it. With staff working overtime, without any boundaries between work and home, many companies are also encouraging employees to practise mindfulness. Meditation and mindfulness practices have become really popular amongst people.

For HR leaders, understanding the outcomes of this research can be really beneficial as it would make them understand the effects of mindfulness practices at the workplace.

“I believe that there are different kinds of people in every culture and society, whether we talk about the Western world or the Asians”

Mahipal Nair, CHRO, Nielsen IQ

As per Ravi Kumar, people leader, Roche Diabetes Care, India, Middle East and Africa, if this research is accurate, it will impact the employee behaviour at the workplace, but the changes may not be seen immediately. “It takes time to master the practice of mindfulness. Therefore, the behavioural change may not be rapid. It will take time,” says Kumar.

In fact, “We will have to create a balance as per the job roles, in terms of who needs mindfulness. There are job roles which require collaboration and teamwork, and if people start thinking selfishly, it will impact the team itself. On the other hand, there are roles where immense attention and concentration are required,” adds Kumar.

Kumar points out that in such a situation, where mindfulness starts impacting employee behaviour drastically, the culture will get impacted.

Amit Das, director – HR & CHRO, Bennett Coleman & Company, describes what such cultures may look like.

“Workplaces centred around ‘I’ or ‘ME’ are generally characterised by cultures that are high on fear and low on trust. Employees don’t feel or believe they can speak with candour or contribute ideas and opinions freely. In such workplaces, employees feel the need to protect their turf. Leaders are perceived as autocratic and self-protection is the dominant feeling,” explains Das.

In fact, if findings of this study are accurate, the interpersonal relationship will be destroyed, and “Anxiety, frustration, strained interpersonal relations and resentment will become common at workplaces,” mentions Das.

This research at the New York State University had two parts to it. One was an older study, which was conducted in pre-COVID times and another was done recently. Both the studies examined how mindfulness impacted people with independent behaviours as well as interdependent behaviours.

In the first part of the study, the pre-study stage, there were 366 participants who were characterised in terms of who possessed an independent way of thinking about themselves and who possessed an interdependent way of thinking about themselves. Then, all 366 participants were called to a lab, where they engaged in both kinds of activities.

First was the practice of mindfulness, where participants were instructed to focus and concentrate on their breathing pattern. The participants were then engaged in the mind-wandering activity where they were asked to think freely, of whatever came to their minds, and let their minds wander across multiple areas. Post that, the participants were asked to help prepare envelopes containing mailers requesting donations, which were supposed to be sent to potential donors for charity purposes in the name of the university.

When the results were analysed, it was observed that people who were interdependent minded were more generous and helpful after going through the mindfulness session. They were able to prepare and seal more envelopes — 17 per cent more envelopes in a mindful state as opposed to a mind-wandering state.

“We will have to create a balance as per the job roles, in terms of who needs mindfulness. There are job roles which require collaboration and teamwork, and if people start thinking selfishly, it will impact the team itself. On the other hand, there are roles where immense attention and concentration are required”

Ravi Kumar, people leader, Roche Diabetes Care, India, Middle East and Africa

Consequently, it was observed that the independent-minded individuals became less generous and willing to help after a mindfulness session as compared to when they were in a mind-wandering state. They readied 15 per cent less envelopes in a mindful state than in a mind-wandering state.

The study did establish that mindfulness impacts different-minded people differently, but it also gave a solution to fixing this issue. The second part of the study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. An earlier research, by Marilynn Brewer and Wendi Gardner, had discovered that the behavioural pattern of people can be influenced; that a shift can be brought about in the way they think about themselves. It involves a simple practice, where the individuals are made to read a passage, altered to include several instances of ‘I’ and ‘me’ or ‘we’ and ‘us’ and then asked to identify the pronouns.

So, in the second part of the study, the researching team first conducted the pronouns identification exercise and later asked the participants to volunteer for a charity. The results were quite striking. People who identified ‘I/Me’ words were 33 per cent less willing to volunteer after engaging in a short mindfulness session. On the other hand, people who identified ‘We/Us’ words were 40 per cent more generous to volunteer in the charity activity.

This clearly indicates that mindfulness will have different effects in case of a small momentary shift in the way people think and perceive the world.

The post Why the effect of mindfulness changes as we move from Asia to America appeared first on HR Katha.

Many houses in India, especially in a city like Mumbai, are too small and unfit for office work. It wasn’t long before people started facing problems such as extended work hours and burnouts due to immense workload. Managing house and office work at the same time started taking a toll on professionals. Then came the second wave of the pandemic, driving home the harsh reality that remote work is here to stay for a long time. When this realisation dawned, people once again resigned themselves to the work-from-home situation and started to adjust their lives and routines accordingly. Now, they have more or less adapted themselves to the remote-working model. Calling them to work from office, full time, after all this while, will naturally create challenges for employers.

“I believe customised managerial roles will emerge to fulfil business needs and to provide personalisation to all employees and meet their needs. Companies may have to create roles meant to fulfil or attend to the personal needs of employees”

Unmesh Pawar, senior HR leader

The biggest challenge would be the change in employee behaviour. After over 18 months of tweaking their daily routines around work-from-home, these employees will now need interventions on the part of their employers to help them mentally re-adjust to the long-forgotten office routine. While most may be physically present in the office, mentally they will be in the remote-working mode.

Reetu Raina, CHRO, Quick Heal, agrees that there has been a psychological shift in people as they have all adapted to remote working, and if they are asked to work full time at the office, companies will certainly have to deal with some behavioural changes.

Collaboration issues: Employees have been working in silos most of the time. On returning to office, it will be difficult for them to accept interruptions, such as people peeking at their screens or their work. As a result, some employees may also find it tough to collaborate with others and build bonds like old times.

Sharing issues: People have, by now, come to accept their own workspace at home. In fact, they have probably even started loving that fixed and private ‘my space’, which is all theirs. On the other hand, in the office, they will be part of a common workspace that has to be shared with other team members. It will definitely not be easy at first to get used to sharing space or even having people around.

Supervision issues: During remote work, employees did not have managers calling them or checking on them every few minutes. Therefore, once they return to office, they will expect the same pattern to continue and will be averse to being micromanaged by their managers and supervisors. “When office resumes, managers cannot afford to micromanage at all,” tells Raina.

“When office resumes, managers cannot afford to micromanage at all”

Reetu Raina, CHRO, Quick Heal

Raina suggests that companies employ some learning and development modules to help develop behaviours of team building and collaboration in employees, so that psychologically they can get back to normal. At some point, employers may even have to consider accepting certain behavioural changes.

Unmesh Pawar, senior HR leader, believes that human beings are used to adjusting themselves to situations. In fact, he rightly points out that a larger number of employees would want to come back to offices because they do not have proper workstations at home. Citing the example of cities like Mumbai, where space comes at a premium, he draws attention to the fact that not all employees have proper workspaces at home.

Additionally, expectations of employees will also change along with their behaviour. Many people have come to realise that remote work and work from home is possible with limited impact on productivity. Therefore, many already consider flexibility as a must-have policy at work, rather than just a perk. “Earlier, employees worked from home only in particular situations, but now, they will start demanding it,” feels Raina.

“I believe customised managerial roles will emerge to fulfil business needs and to provide personalisation to all employees and meet their needs. Companies may have to create roles meant to fulfil or attend to the personal needs of employees,” shares Pawar.

Pawar does, however, insist on employees getting back to office, as he feels it will make them more disciplined in some ways. They will be forced to start planning their work and scheduling activities in advance to avoid wasting time.

Besides, there will be more emphasis on the hygiene factor at the workplace. People will be more cautious about touching surfaces and getting close to people.

The post How ‘return to office’ will change employee behaviour appeared first on HR Katha.

There are many ways to air out one’s grievances against the bosses and all are supposed to be heard. At a time when there is so much talk about empathy and hearing out employee grievances, how fair is it to sack people for such a reason?

A safe place to vent

A senior HR executive of a leading manufacturing company believes Netflix is doing the right thing. “They clearly want to discourage such activities, but human beings are used to venting out their displeasures. They need a safe place to do so, because everyone knows how powerful bosses are. Nobody wants to be in their bad books. However, if senior people indulge in this, they are actually encouraging the culture. Also, people are not letting their bosses understand what is affecting them about their conduct.

“The employees’ action could be looked at positively, as a venting-out mechanism that should be encouraged at a workplace. If resorting to this mechanism invites punishment, it will only create pressure chambers for everyone to suffocate in”

Sachin Narke, chief learning officer, head- talent acquisitions, and head- HR, Forbes Marshall

There has to be a middle path. This senior HR leader also believes, however, that firing is quite extreme an action to take in this context. Ideally, Netflix should have sacked all four — the three executives and the boss in question. Nobody will feel safe in that organisation, given its environment of fear.

A people’s organisation

It is never easy to speak up about one’s boss, even if it’s just to another colleague. Sometimes venting out to a friend at work helps one calm down and get on with the job. Everyone needs to find that space in an organisation for it to be a people’s company. Netflix’s work ethics has often been questioned. Sachin Narke, chief learning officer, head- talent acquisitions, and head- HR, Forbes Marshall, feels if there is not more to this story then prima-facie, it is obviously not a thing to do. The law of natural justice should prevail. “Also, the employees’ action could be looked at positively, as a venting-out mechanism that should be encouraged at a workplace. If resorting to this mechanism invites punishment, it will only create pressure chambers for everyone to suffocate in,” Narke asserts.

“Workplace issues are inevitable. Employees are human and humans do have differences of opinion. Grievances, if not addressed, can be quite fatal for the organisation. On top of that, if an organisation decides to sack people for airing their views with each other, it only shows the company in poor light. The employee grievance redressal system should be leveraged here,” feels Jayati Roy, director – HR, Barco.

“Just for ranting, nobody throws anybody out unless there is a past history or someone is maligning others for some fictitious reason despite repeated warnings. If that’s the case, it’s a different story altogether. Otherwise, it is not ethical to sack an employee just because he/she has vented out to a colleague”

Jayati Roy, director – HR, Barco

A question of ethics

“Just for ranting, nobody throws anybody out unless there is a past history or someone is maligning others for some fictitious reason despite repeated warnings. If that’s the case, it’s a different story altogether. Otherwise, it is not ethical to sack an employee just because he/she has vented out to a colleague. There needs to be some kind of investigation before sacking, which is the nature of justice that is followed. At many organisations, including ours, there’s a grievance-redressal policy where employees can share their issues. That’s the whole concept and point of psychological safety that everyone needs to have at a workplace,” Roy says firmly.

Clearly, it is unethical to sack employees simply because they ranted about their bosses with each other. There’s a systematic way of dealing with such people, which does not warrant an extreme step, such as what Netflix took.

The post Ranting about the boss can lead to sacking, it just happened at Netflix appeared first on HR Katha.

Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motors, used to send committees to workers’ homes to check their behaviour at home. This would allow him to gauge the integrity and honesty of his employees. The behaviour of the workers with their family members was studied to see whether they kept their homes and kitchens clean or to find out if they were alcoholic.

Ford believed that such traits and behaviours revealed useful information about the integrity and reliability of his employees. In other words, too many beer cans in an employee’s trash, meant that he could get fired!

“Doing a reference check with people not mentioned by the candidate works the best to test integrity or honesty of a candidate”

Sailesh Menezes, CHRO, HPE

There are several personality tests and assessments that can give a fair idea of the integrity of a candidate, but as per experts, their efficacy always remains questionable. The best way to gauge the integrity of employees, therefore, is to ask the right questions and analyse their responses during an interview.

Ashish Anand, CHRO, SAR Group, says that one way to find out how much integrity a person has, during the interview, is to pose real-time instances to the candidate and ask ,‘What would you have done in that situation?’ and then deeply analyse their response. This is something that Anand has practised in his career. Of course, one has to be cautious of well-rehearsed and prepared answers too. The only way to tackle this is to delve deeper into the responses of the candidates and ask counter questions. This way, it is possible to analyse the pulse of the candidate.

“One practice that has truly helped in my career is to find out exactly why candidates have left their previous organisation. This has always helped me check their integrity,” shares Anand.

A small experiment or sample interview by a researcher revealed that asking only one simple question does the trick — ‘Could you tell me about a time you experienced failure at work?’ He got three different responses to this question from different candidates.

Candidate A said he never experienced any failure in his career, and bragged about his track record being pretty clean in that area. Candidate B described an incident where he set his monthly sales increase record at 35 per cent but failed to achieve it. He admitted that he failed because he was a perfectionist. Candidate C described an incident where he struck a wall while working on an assignment and had to consult his team members and redo everything from scratch. This way he felt he had failed in that particular project.

“One practice that has truly helped in my career is to find out exactly why candidates have left their previous organisation. This has always helped me check their integrity”

Ashish Anand, CHRO, SAR Group

The first two candidates seemed to have taken a very safe route, and appeared to be trying to hide something from their past. Every working professional faces some kind of failure in their career. The third candidate exemplified it with honesty, without hiding anything. After this exercise, the researcher established that people who did not try to hide anything from their past and are open about their failures are really high on integrity.

Anand shares another way to gauge the integrity of people—by asking them to describe their personal traits and then giving them some real time situations. This gives the recruiter an opportunity to check whether the candidates are able to showcase the traits they had revealed in the given situation. This can be a good indicator.

Additionally, HR leaders believe that doing a reference check with the previous employers is a great way to check the integrity of a candidate. “Doing a reference check with people not mentioned by the candidate works the best. These are called informal reference checks. At HPE we do not follow this practice, but there are companies that do such informal reference checks and try to find out about the past of the employee,” says Sailesh Menezes, CHRO, HPE.

Companies can still afford to compromise on knowledge and skills but compromising on integrity and honesty is something that can cost them millions. After all, it is a question of the reputation of the firm and the brand.

The post How to evaluate a candidate’s integrity appeared first on HR Katha.

This trend is not restricted to the IT and tech sectors alone, even Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages announced last year that people who are not required to work from office can opt to work from home permanently. However, with so much of flexibility there are bound to arise challenges that companies will be required to tackle at their workplaces.

“This is going to be a real problem for managers rather than the organisations. And it will come into play when things start getting normal and employers begin opening up workplaces in a staggered manner. The conversations and encounters that one has at the workplace are very informal. However, communication with remote employees is formal and scheduled, which makes a difference.”

Amit Sharma, CHRO, Volvo Group India

While all this talk of flexibility at the workplace sounds nice, this hybrid approach is not devoid of challenges. Some of them may have already started becoming visible by now. One such challenge is that of proximity bias.

Proximity bias is a phenomenon where managers and leaders start to favour or are more inclined towards people or employees, who are seen in the office or frequently visible or present in person.

Interactions with people who are working remotely are limited, formal and scheduled. In-office interactions, however, are very informal and they help build relations. Let us take a scenario where some employees are coming to the office and the rest are working remotely. The bosses and the managers will tend to favour them more in terms of performance reviews, benefits or other career development opportunities. While this often happens unconsciously, it is a problem nevertheless, which can lead to conflicts, bad employee experience and engagement at work.

Additionally, employees who visit the office will get the chance to be part of informal chats and unplanned encounters with the leaders. This can lead to favouritism at the workplace, while remote workers not getting enough face time with their managers and leaders may get sidelined.

“Leaders in the pharma industry never really advocated remote working before the COVID crisis emerged. However, now things have changed, but those with a negative mindset towards remote working will definitely give rise to proximity bias.” 

Ajay Tiwari, VP-HR, Lupin

“This is going to be a real problem for managers rather than the organisations. And it will come into play when things start getting normal and employers begin opening up workplaces in a staggered manner. The conversations and encounters that one has at the workplace are very informal. However, communication with remote employees is formal and scheduled, which makes a difference,” says Amit Sharma, CHRO, Volvo Group India.

Though we hope that the pandemic would have changed people’s perception, thought processes and mindsets, there will always be some people with a fixed mindset towards remote working. Such people may not promote the idea at all. They will favour those who are physically present at the workplace. “Leaders in the pharma industry never really advocated remote working before the COVID crisis emerged. However, now things have changed, but those with a negative mindset towards remote working will definitely give rise to proximity bias,” shares Ajay Tiwari, VP-HR, Lupin.

“The solution should be more culture driven, and organisations should strive to create a culture where only output level is recognised and appreciated, whether one is in the office or not. Good work has to be appreciated.Ultimately, I believe that companies who are output driven and measure performance only on the basis of output level, will not face the issue of proximity bias.”

Saba Adil, chief people officer, Raheja QBE

Post the second wave of the pandemic, which resulted in heavy loss of life in India, now the daily cases have started dipping in many cities. With talk of a third wave, however, companies will be cautious about opening offices in real time. With many having adopted a hybrid model and having asked a significant portion of the workforce to permanently work from home, chances of proximity biases arising are high.

How can firms deal with this malady?

Many steps can be taken to keep proximity bias at bay. Some of them are as follows:

Making roaster charts – Many HR leaders believe that it is very important to call team members to office in rotation. This will ensure that every employee gets equal amount of face time with their managers and other team mates. “This way, everybody in the office will get a fair chance to interact with the leaders and their managers,” shares Tiwari.

Fixing one day for 100 per cent attendance – Managers can also fix one day when all team members would be required to be present together at the office. Of course, it will be mandatory to follow all social distancing norms. “I have a friend who follows this practice at his firm. He has set aside one day of the week where he encourages all his teams members to come into the office and interact with him and each other,” says Sharma.

Communicating regularly – Team members should feel encouraged to have regular informal chats with their managers. While it is important that both managers and their team members share this responsibility, according to Sharma, the burden of this should lie majorly with the team members. “The onus of regular communication between the managers and team members should be largely shared by the team member rather than the manager,” believes Sharma.

Building a culture of appreciating only the output level – It is high time organisations focussed on appreciating the output level of employees, irrespective of where they are working from. With the future being so uncertain, it is important to build a culture that recognises the output and quality of work. This is the only permanent solution to avoid proximity bias. “The solution should be more culture driven, and organisations should strive to create a culture where only output level is recognised and appreciated, whether one is in the office or not. Good work has to be appreciated,” opines Saba Adil, chief people officer, Raheja QBE.

“Ultimately, I believe that companies who are output driven and measure performance only on the basis of output level, will not face the issue of proximity bias,” concludes Adil.

The post How managers can keep proximity bias at bay amidst hybrid working appeared first on HR Katha.

However, HR practitioners believe giving such people a leeway just because they have proved their mettle at work is not the right approach. It will eventually backfire and affect the organisation itself. Also, good performance isn’t only about delivering results. Good performers are all-rounders, who not only exceed expectations at work, but also have a good personality. Terminating them should be the last resort, because at times, people do things without knowing the consequences.

“Such people go by several names — corp-crawlys, gnomes, spyder, and so on. Mostly, they comprise tenured people with shallow knowledge, attention and credit seekers, and employees who have hit the glass ceiling in the organisation.”

Praveer Priyadarshi, former CHRO and now an HR consultant

The problem

Former CHRO and now an HR consultant, Praveer Priyadarshi reveals that such people go by several names — corp-crawlys, gnomes, spyder, and so on. Mostly, they comprise tenured people with shallow knowledge, attention and credit seekers, and employees who have hit the glass ceiling in the organisation. Typically, they have good interpersonal skills. Alternatively, they have a victim mentality, and are able to get into the good books of influential people in the organisation, which gives them protection from action. It allows them access to information, which they use as bait in their conversation and are able to influence the emotions and behaviours of people.

“They are very active when the organisation goes through transformation or change as that is when people are impacted and these corp-crawlies can visibly see the impact of their instigation. Their success for them lies in them not being identified and they get protected by vested interests and at times their own effort of self-preservation,” Priyadarshi points out.

“In public sectors, people who indulge in such activities are mostly aligned to unions. In the private sector, many people do it to get noticed. Some people also have a bad tendency of loose mouth.”

Pradipta Sahoo, HR advisor & consultant, Bank of India

Performance is an inclusive term. Mere high productivity without the right behaviour is in essence bad performance. Hence, it’s wrong to treat them as good performers.

Pradipta Sahoo, HR advisor & consultant, Bank of India, feels that nothing can be worse than to see good performers exhibiting such a personality trait. That’s because, many juniors look up to them and this propagates a wrong value system.

He is of the opinion that performance can’t be an alibi, and organisations should get rid of them. However, it’s not so easy. The dissenters can also be innovative in damaging the organisation.

Further classifying these dissenters, Sahoo, says, “In public sectors, people who indulge in such activities are mostly aligned to unions. In the private sector, many people do it to get noticed. Some people also have a bad tendency of loose mouth.”

They can be spotted through their conduct while in group meetings or how they respond to various initiatives of the organisation.

“Being strict and stringent will definitely help to keep a check on their behaviour, but the key is to impose this strictness in the beginning itself, when they start to develop this toxic trait. The longer they are provided a space to behave this way, the tougher it will get to correct their behaviour.”

Minakshi Arora, head – strategic human resources & global talent acquisition, Trident Group

The probable solution

However, Sahoo advocates that before junking an employee, coaching, counselling, training, performance improvement plan (PIP), and so on should be tried in earnest. An organisation should segregate the anarchists from the dissenters. In case it’s not possible, then they should be dispensed with, lest they corrupt others and spoil the work atmosphere. Such types of employees mostly hamper teamwork and are value destroyers.

“I have seen many such performers, who, when counselled about their behaviour, take it as cultural mismatch and quit voluntarily. I think that’s good,” Sahoo recounts.

Minakshi Arora, head – strategic human resources & global talent acquisition, Trident Group India, believes such behaviour should be nipped in the bud. First of all, such employees must be called out for their behaviour at the very start. Their behaviour must not be encouraged by their seniors. If the situation persists, they must be counselled with the help of a committee so that they don’t feel targeted. “Being strict and stringent will definitely help to keep a check on their behaviour, but the key is to impose this strictness in the beginning itself, when they start to develop this toxic trait. The longer they are provided a space to behave this way, the tougher it will get to correct their behaviour,” Arora opines.

Priyadarshi is of the opinion that to manage such situations, it’s important to have very robust lines of communication ensuring that the loop is closed. Appraisal should be based on performance and behaviour. Rewarding good behaviour and censuring the undesirable should be the mantra here, according to him.

Just as a festering wound has the ability to get more infected and become chronic, these attention-seekers have the tendency to grow more harmful. Hence, the sooner they are spotted, the better, so that they are unable to cause any damage to the organisation.

The post How to identify and deal with dissenters appeared first on HR Katha.

When one individual fails to understand what the other person is trying to convey, or takes it in the wrong spirit, the phenomenon called misunderstanding takes place.

While speaking, people often fail to take note of the tone or words they are using. Very often, what the speaker means and what the listener interprets are way different. This happens due to lack of clarity in communication or the listener’s inability to comprehend. Whatever may be the reason, such kind of ineffective communication does generally lead to misunderstandings and then a big conflict.

The phrase ‘this work is going nowhere’ is commonly heard at the workplace. For most, this phrase carries a negative connotation, as it implies that speaker is unhappy with the way things are turning out or the way the team is functioning. However, the person who used these words may actually have intended to simply seek a vision to go ahead. In such situations, managers are supposed to understand where the issue or problem is and solve it appropriately. All it takes is a bit of listening.

“People tend to use inappropriate words which are taken very differently by the recipients, leading to unnecessary conflicts at workplaces.”

Sharad Sharma, CHRO, Pramerica Life Insurance

Communication

“Many a time, the reason for a misunderstanding lies in the communication channel used and the level of clarity of thought in people. To avoid misunderstandings, it is important to take a feedback from people to know whether they correctly understood what was said,” says Praveer Priyadarshi, HR Consultant & former CHRO, Jindal Stainless.

As per Mangesh Bhide, head – HR, technology & FTTx business, Reliance Jio Infocomm people tend to make assumptions and fail to clarify things.

“There is often a gap between what has been conveyed by the speaker and what the listener understood. So in such situations, we need to clarify it with the other person whether he/she understood what exactly was communicated. Also, we should have the habit of summarising our conversation so there is no room for any confusion,” says Bhide.

Bhide shares an instance where two leaders, an HOD and his immediate reportee, equally powerful and knowledgeable got into a conflict. After a discussion it was found that many a times the one who use to report to the HOD bypassed him in a lot of matters and conversations and directly reached out to the HOD’s boss. This made the HOD think that the other person disrespects him. And the reportee clarified that he thought that the HOD never had a conversation with him and did not recognise his knowledge.

“Misunderstandings generally arise when there are changes in company policies related to compensation, salary or benefits and also during layoffs. In such situations, the communication has to be very precise and accurate. It is crucial to explain to the employees why this is happening and avoid any misinformation.”

Praveer Priyadarshi, HR Consultant & former CHRO, Jindal Stainless

“This happened because between these two leaders, there was no rapport built, no exchange of ideas and no face-to-face conversations in the past. Even the boss of the HOD did not feel the need to understand why this was happening,” says Bhide. The problem got resolved after they sat and discussed their differences.

Electronic media

Sharad Sharma, CHRO, Pramerica Life Insurance, is of the opinion that most misunderstandings happen due to excessive use of electronic media for communication.

“People tend to use inappropriate words which are taken very differently by the recipients, leading to unnecessary conflicts at workplaces.”

Let’s take the example of someone writing ‘Let me clarify’ in a mail. While some people would take it positively as it means ‘sorry I meant to say this,’ but it can also be interpreted negatively by someone, depending on the emotional intelligence of the person. It can be read as ‘Oh you dumb ass! You got it all wrong.”

“There is often a gap between what has been conveyed by the speaker and what the listener understood. So in such situations, we need to clarify it with the other person whether he/she understood what exactly was communicated. Also, we should have the habit of summarising our conversation so there is no room for any confusion.”

Mangesh Bhide, head – HR, technology & FTTx business, Reliance Jio Infocomm

Misinterpretation

“Misunderstandings also take place when one fails to listen to the other person. People think that whatever they say is right and the other person is wrong. The situation gets worse when people start taking stands,” adds Sharma.

Ideological differences

A difference in opinions and ideologies also leads to conflicts and disagreements between team members or functional heads.

How HR sorts it out

As per experts, there is only one way to sort out such issues. Before it gets too ugly and out of control, both the parties need to sit together, face to face, and clear things out. The HR has to play the role of a moderator in such cases to understand the root cause of the situation and empathise with both parties. A detailed discussion paves the way for an appropriate solution to sort out things.

Since we all are working remotely, video calls and virtual meetings should be used to sort out such issues.

Sharma admits to being caught in such issues at work and reveals, “Such cases generally come to HR only when the misunderstanding has transformed into a major conflict.”

According to Sharma, “Rather than any other method of conversation, we need to sit together with the other party and sort things out. In my experience, only dialogues and conversations can effectively resolve such issues,” says Sharma.

Sharma cites the example of organisations working in a hybrid model today. There are some people who are working from home and others who are regularly working in the field or in the office. So chances of conflicts and misunderstandings between the functional heads of such teams is high. They will often come up with questions, such as ‘Why can’t our team work from home?’ In such cases, the HR has to explain the problem at hand to both the groups, facilitate a dialogue, and try to make them sit together and understand the objective, as well as appreciate the benefits of such a work model in the continuity of business.

Sometimes, even conversations may not help to clear the air. “This usually happens when people’s egos grow bigger than the company. As professionals, people should learn to discuss and weed out issues, and move on,” says Sharma.

In such cases, the HR should empathise with both the parties, try to understand both their points of view, find out what exactly is the root cause of the conflict and come up with fair and appropriate solutions. Most importantly, the HR should not take any sides.

Priyadarshi believes that it is the HR’s duty to guide and train individuals to communicate better with the other party.

“At every level the HR can play a role in resolving such differences by being neutral and understanding the cause of the issue,” mentions Bhide.

Misunderstandings generally arise when there are changes in company policies related to compensation, salary or benefits and also during layoffs, feels Priyadarshi. “In such situations, the communication has to be very precise and accurate. It is crucial to explain to the employees why this is happening and avoid any misinformation,” says Priyadarshi.

To avoid such conflicts, as individuals, first and foremost, we need to communicate clearly, listen intently, and understand correctly what the other person is trying to say. Second, if any misunderstanding snowballs into a conflict, we need to sit together with the other party and sort out everything.

“I think such issues need to be addressed without delay. If they are not tackled at the early stages, they will unnecessarily grow, and impact people’s relations in a big way,” concludes Priyadarshi.

The post How HR deals with workplace misunderstandings appeared first on HR Katha.

However this happiness didn’t last for long. Remote working turned out to be monotonous and people started missing their commute to office. For many, commute time was the ‘me’ time.

There are several other reasons why people miss their commute time, or rather why it is important.

Three very prominent benefits come to mind when we think of the commute time to office.

“It was like a personal time for people to carry out small activities to re-energise themselves and also broaden their horizons, which really helped them stay engaged at work.”

Jacob Jacob, group CHRO, Malabar Group

Switch on – switch off phenomenon

If we were to ask someone what they thought was the most challenging part of working from home, the most common answer would be, the inability to mentally draw a line between work and personal time. The commute time helped us create that line. When one dressed up and travelled to work, a ‘switch-on’ button seemed to get enabled automatically. It would turn on and the day would just begin. On the commute back home, the sense of having completed certain tasks made that switch turn off. The feeling of ‘Yes, my work is over, so let’s switch-off’ used to take over and help one unwind. However, now, that switch is gone, and as a result, many people are facing mental health problems.

Sharing one example, Kamal Vatnani, India leader – people & culture, Ensono, admits that sometimes he is tempted to respond to a mail or a call just after his morning exercise. At other times, he even skips a bath in the morning if there is work. In pre-COVID times, the commute helped him create a mental divide between work and home.

“There is an interesting change that I am noticing these days. Earlier people used to request for work-from-home to skip commuting to the office. But now, they are so mentally exhausted, they are requesting for working-from-office,” shares Vatnani.

“There is an interesting change that I am noticing these days. Earlier people used to request for work-from-home to skip commuting to the office. But now, they are so mentally exhausted, they are requesting for working-from-office.”

Kamal Vatnani, India leader – people & culture, Ensono

‘Me Time’

For many people, the commute to work was their personal time — the ‘me time’ they had to themselves. This time was used to listen to music, catch up on reading, tune in to the news, watch a movie or a show or simply take a power nap. That precious one- or two-hour long journey helped one recollect and reenergise oneself.

“It was like a personal time for people to carry out small activities to re-energise themselves and also broaden their horizons, which really helped them stay engaged at work,” says Jacob Jacob, group CHRO, Malabar Group.

Introspection

The commute was also a time when people could introspect and examine their own self to see how they could improve at their work. Serious thought was given to what had been said and what should have been said at a meeting; or different or better ways of doing the same routine task.

“Whether people are missing their commute time or not depends on which part of the country or city they are living in.I do agree that 80 to 90 per cent of employees will be missing office, but are they really missing their commute time? I personally don’t think so. I live in Bangalore and the city traffic is so bad that I feel blessed that I don’t have to commute to work every day.”

Jitender Panihar, CHRO, MoEngage

A global study found that managers and team leaders were more impacted by the elimination of the daily commute, more than the average employee. Ever since work-from-home became the norm, managers have been spending more time than usual on responding to mails, calls and messages.

What can be done?

“While it is next to impossible to replace the commute time, one can certainly block an hour or so for oneself in the entire day,” suggests Vatnani, who has factored this into his daily work schedule.

There is also another interesting side to this story. Jitender Panihar, CHRO, MoEngage, feels that whether people are missing their commute time or not depends on which part of the country or city they are living in. He and some other close friends at work, personally do not really miss their commute time. They are enjoying the flexibility to manage their work well.

“I do agree that 80 to 90 per cent of employees will be missing office, but are they really missing their commute time? I personally don’t think so. I live in Bangalore and the city traffic is so bad that I feel blessed that I don’t have to commute to work every day,” admits Panihar.

However, there are also stories from Mumbai, where people have made good friends while travelling to work on local trains. It was part of their social life.

All said and done, people do look forward to commuting to work once again. It keep them active, moving and in good health. Whether it impacted their productivity at work or not, is feed for another discussion.

The post Why people miss ‘commute time’ in WFH appeared first on HR Katha.

He noticed that while he was talking, there was no proper eye contact with the interviewer or the audience. To him, it all appeared very disconnected. After this incident, he noticed the same problem during weekly update meetings with his colleagues on Zoom.

“It is easy to make an immediate connect when one meets a person physically. This is because the body language is visible and there is proper eye contact, which makes it easier to build a strong relationship.”

VDV Singh, former VP-HR, JK Cement

Today, when professionals and employees everywhere are collaborating through virtual tools, the impact of the missing eye contact is felt more strongly during interactions.

VDV Singh, former VP-HR, JK Cement believes that eye contact does impact relationships a lot. With even the body language of the other person being invisible sometimes, there is definitely an adverse effect on relationships. He explains that this particularly affects the relationship between colleagues who are interacting for the first time.

“Colleagues who have known each other for years may not find it difficult to connect, because they understand each other very well and their bond is already a well-established one. New joinees, on the other hand, who interact for the first time, will find it extremely tough to establish a connect. As a result no bond is formed during the very first interaction. Frequent calls —audio and video — are required to build on the relationship and this takes time. On other hand, it is easy to make an immediate connect when one meets a person physically. This is because the body language is visible and there is proper eye contact, which makes it easier to build a strong relationship,” enunciates Singh.

Prasad Kulkarni, SVP-HR, The Citco Group, if of the opinion that in the new normal, organisations should acknowledge this as a challenge. “Absence of eye contact during a virtual interaction, reflects disinterest or inattentiveness, which is certainly not a good signal to send,” says Kulkarni. However, he also admits that this is not a new issue. Many global organisations have teams working in different geographies that have been following this form of communication for a long time.

“Absence of eye contact during a virtual interaction, reflects disinterest or inattentiveness, which is certainly not a good signal to send.”

Prasad Kulkarni, SVP-HR, The Citco Group

Research has also shown that eye contact during a video call can also result in the same kind of psychological responses that are derived from a face-to-face physical interaction. Eye contact while addressing someone further leads to certain kinds of expressions, such as a simple smile on the other person’s face.

There are a several benefits of establishing eye contact during a conversation. Not only does it establish a better connect, but the other person feels cared for and becomes aware of the other’s interest to listen or pay attention.

From the speaker’s point of view too, it leads to a feeling of confidence with regard to the message being delivered.

Lastly, it does lead to a better and more meaningful engagement with people. When the audience is attentive, their expression say it all. The interested ones will be nodding, frowning or smiling at the right moments during the interaction and participating actively. This naturally results in establishing a better connect.

Singh shares that in universities today, students are being taught and trained on how to present themselves on a video call.

Having worked in different organisations, Kulkarni admits that he has seen people being trained on the proper way to attend meetings on a video call or a virtual platform. There are proper guidelines on how to have a video call chat. “Although this is not something new, now there is a larger part of the workforce that requires to collaborate on virtual platforms. We just need to think of different ways to communicate with each other and also decide on the frequency of calls and video interactions,” says Kulkarni.

Another technological challenge is that we are used to looking at the screen while talking and not at the web cam. This gives an impression of absence of eye contact to the other person. While this is a technical challenge, we can train ourselves to overcome this issue so that better connect can be established even over virtual platforms. After all, during these challenging times, we have to make the best use of technology to bring people together and build bonds.

The post The missing eye contact at work appeared first on HR Katha.

Apart from the requisite skills for each job which somewhat remains unchanged in a remote environment, the generic soft skills required for any job has experienced some alterations. New age soft skills have become important for a successful remote working practice. This has also changed the way, organisations are evaluating the employees or potential candidates for hiring.

According to a global survey, adaptable and resilient candidates, who are self-starters or self-motivators top the chart of preferred hires in a remote working environment. Time management and communication skills are the other soft skills that are a ‘must-have’ in the hopeful candidates.

“There are two skills or abilities that a manager must have in these times. First is the ability to engage and build morale in remote-working teams. Second is the agility to handle ambiguity and volatility.”

Kamlesh Dangi, group CHRO, Incred Financial Services

Talking to HRKatha, Kamlesh Dangi, group CHRO, Incred Financial Services, says that for managerial roles, they have now started to evaluate people on traits which can help them to manage and lead remote-working teams.

As per Dangi, there are two skills or abilities that a manager must have in these times. First is the ability to engage and build morale in remote-working teams. Second is the agility to handle ambiguity and volatility.

Only a person with effective communication skills can help build the morale of people and inspire them. As Dangi rightly explains, there is a difference in saying “Don’t worry about COVID, everything is fine. Let’s work’ and “We understand there is a problem at hand and the first thing in our mind should be our health. But still, we should continue to strive to perform well and deliver our best’”. The difference between the two is in acknowledging the problem and threat, and then motivating people to perform.

   “I think soft skills, such as communication skills, team work, time management or adaptability will continue to remain important, but the only thing that has changed is the way to bring these skills into practice in a remote-working environment.”

Abhay Srivastava, CHRO, IKS Health

Problems will continue to prop up, especially during such challenging times, so a manager may have to face new challenges every day. Therefore, adapting to those conditions and responding to the situation is something which is very vital at this time.

“I believe, somebody who has a bad track record of performing in a remote working role or a work- from-home scenario, may not be taken seriously by hiring managers these days” mentions Dangi.

Abhay Srivastava, CHRO, IKS Health, agrees that there are some additional abilities and soft skills that they evaluate when it comes to managerial-level employees. As mentioned by Dangi, the ability to engage teams in a virtual environment is a skill that they are looking at while hiring and also the ability to ensure productivity keeping the well-being of people a priority.

“I think soft skills, such as communication skills, team work, time management or adaptability will continue to remain important, but the only thing that has changed is the way to bring these skills into practice in a remote-working environment,” says Srivastava.

“We have moved from competency-based hiring to a value-based hiring method. Even psychometric tests are being done on a value-based assessment approach.” 

Prashant Khullar, SVP-HR, Max Life Insurance

On the other hand, Prashant Khullar, SVP-HR, Max Life Insurance, shares that during the pandemic last year, they implemented a new process to evaluate people. Now, the company has moved from competency-based hiring to a value-based hiring method. Even psychometric tests are being done on a value-based assessment approach.

Essentially, Max Life Insurance has four core values — caring, collaboration, customer obsession and growth mindset. And now, candidates are assessed on these values at the time of hiring.

The first two values sit together perfectly in these times. Employers would definitely want to hire people who are caring and collaborative at work.

In fact, Khullar shares that they have also moved to a value-based performance management system in which, individuals are rated on whether they have exhibited the core values, while performing tasks to achieve goals.

When Khullar talks about the value of caring, he emphasises on making people come forth and share their ideas because now, “we do not have faces, we just have windows to look at each other”.

“These values come from within a person. It is very important to have a sense of empathy to understand someone. It is easy to say that one is not performing, but it takes time to understand and find out the actual issues the other person is facing, which are resulting in failure to deliver,” shares Khullar.

With a lot of changes around us, the evaluation process to assess soft skills is also upgrading. While communication skills, time management, team work, problem solving and work ethic continue to remain important, some new skills, such as adaptability, empathy, and resilience have been added to this list.

The post Companies reset ‘soft skill parameters’ for remote working appeared first on HR Katha.

“The pandemic has been treating everyone equally, irrespective of who they are or which economic strata they belong to. It is affecting one and all, which is why people are coming out to help each other, and in doing so, establishing bonds at the workplaces.”

Reetu Raina, CHRO, Quick Heal

While the general impression was that people would feel left out and the bond-building exercises conducted remotely would lose their real essence, the second wave of the pandemic actually proved otherwise. Yes, people have suffered, families have lost their loved ones and companies have had to struggle to stay afloat. However, on the other hand, there is no denying the fact that this global crisis has also brought human beings closer to each other. In fact, while making professional calls, irrespective of who the other person is, I personally have developed the habit of enquiring after their and their family’s health. I can sense, it means a lot to those at the other end of the line. Many organisations have focused on developing these habits within their teams — of checking on each other regularly.

Examples abound, of employees stepping up and coming forward to help each other in these gloomy and challenging times. Irrespective of the rank of the people or the department or location they belong to, co-workers and colleagues have gone out of their way to lend support to each other. This has truly facilitated the creation of new bonds and friendships at work.

           “One of my national heads in Europe arranged for necessary kits — comprising essential items such as bed sheets, food, groceries — which may be required for someone working in a different location and admitted to one of the COVID Care centres arranged by the Company. There are many such stories at Essar.”

Tanaya Mishra, global CHRO, Essar Projects

Interestingly, building of bonds has not just been limited to the office, but has gone much beyond the workplace. Reetu Raina, CHRO, Quick Heal, shares one such example where one of her ex- colleague’s friend’s husband was battling COVID. Raina’s ex-colleague reached out to her seeking help. Raina put them in touch with her brother, who is a doctor, and now her brother is in constant touch with the patient’s wife and family, guiding them through the crisis. The point to be noted is that, Raina does not even know that lady personally and neither does her brother. Yet, they went all out to support her. This has laid the foundation for a new relationship between them.

Likewise, Raina shares that many colleagues have reached out to her, whom she may never have met or heard of before, but whom she has helped in her full capacity. In fact, she shares that amongst her own employees, she has observed people coming together and assisting each other. She can see that new bonds and friendships are being built all around her.

“Whenever there is a crisis, I believe that it is human tendency to come together and stand firm for each other. I have seen many of my employees helping each other to organise beds, food supplies, medicines or injections, creating stronger bonds between them.”

Ranjith Menon, SVP-HR, Hinduja Solutions

“The pandemic has been treating everyone equally, irrespective of who they are or which economic strata they belong to. It is affecting one and all, which is why people are coming out to help each other, and in doing so, establishing bonds at the workplaces,” mentions Raina.

Tanaya Mishra, global CHRO, Essar Projects, tells HRKatha that there are many instances of employees at Essar Projects — working in different countries and belonging to different nationalities — reaching out and coming forward to help each other.

“One of my national heads in Europe arranged for necessary kits — comprising essential items such as bed sheets, food, groceries — which may be required for someone working in a different location and admitted to one of the COVID Care centres arranged by the Company. There are many such stories at Essar,” shares Mishra.

“Why just the workplaces, even within our society people are making new relations by extending a helping hand to one another”

Ravi Mishra, SVP-HR, Global epoxy business, Aditya Birla Group

“I truly see an environment where new bonds and relationships are being developed as people are connecting with each other from across locations, to offer help and support,” adds Mishra.

Ranjith Menon, SVP-HR, Hinduja Solutions, talks of one of his colleagues who has helped over 20 people in her office procure beds and medicines. Having helped each one who reached out to her, little wonder that many are grateful to her and cherish the fruitful bonds that these interactions with her have been converted into.

“Whenever there is a crisis, I believe that it is human tendency to come together and stand firm for each other. I have seen many of my employees helping each other to organise beds, food supplies, medicines or injections, creating stronger bonds between them,” tells Menon.

At Aditya Birla Group, employees made contributions to provide financial assistance to some of the contract workers who were not on the rolls of the Company. Almost 99 per cent of the workforce came forward to donate towards the cause. In this case, even though there may not have been a direct physical contact, any contract worker who may have benefited from the fund, would have developed deeper and stronger feelings for the Company and its employees.

“Why just the workplaces, even within our society people are making new relations by extending a helping hand to one another,” points out Ravi Mishra, SVP-HR, Global epoxy business, Aditya Birla Group.

If we give it some thought, we may be able to come up with innumerable incidents in our professional lives, where we have witnessed the development of such bonds. These may be short-lived, but at times they may last a lifetime. However, irrespective of how long they last, helpful gestures from colleagues and fellow workers in times of crisis are rarely forgotten.

The post Pandemic bonding at workplace appeared first on HR Katha.

Following the George Floyd murder in Minneapolis in May 2020, the Company had introduced a ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy.

According to the diversity report, there are just 6.4 per cent of Blacks working in the aerospace firm, as compared to 69 per cent Whites. Apart from that, seven per cent of the workforce comprises Hispanics and 14.2 per cent Asians. Boeing is now working to increase the percentage of Blacks in its workforce to 20 per cent in the next five years.

The data shared by the Company also reveals that 22.9 per cent of the workforce comprises women, out of which 22.4 per cent are managers and 16.6 per cent are engineers.

Boeing has a history of discriminatory cases within the Company and it has, in the past, faced a lot of criticism for not acting against employees indulging in discriminatory or racist behaviour. One case in South Carolina involved an employee alleging that the Company’s managers regularly sent Black employees to unhygienic areas, whereas the White employees got to work on the better and more desirable assignments. The Company of course denied all such allegations.

In the US, several companies, such as McDonald’s are aligning bonuses of their executives with hiring from underrepresented groups. In companies such as Citigroup and Johnson & Johnson, investors have called for independent racial audits of their operations.

The post Boeing fires 65 employees for racist conduct appeared first on HR Katha.

Team members suck up to their bosses making the latter feel good about themselves. While the subordinates manage to find a place in the good books of the decision makers, the supervisors’ positions are never threatened.

As Ravi Mishra, senior vice president, HR, global epoxy business, Aditya Birla Group, says “Most managers like people in the team who are faithful to them rather than the organisation.”

Mishra calls it a ‘Do-Mo theory’ — donkeys and monkeys — who always dominate an organisation. Managers always feel safe with the donkeys, as they don’t challenge the status quo. Donkeys will always be there and never leave the company.

On the other hand, the monkeys are the people who may not be doing a great job, but keep a tab on everyone else. Therefore, the managers feel the need to rate them well, fearing they will complain to the higher authorities, if they don’t.

While the good performers get a lot of opportunities elsewhere, the Do-Mo are well aware that they may not get jobs in other organisations. Therefore, they make sure they please their bosses.

“It’s a ‘Do-Mo theory’ — donkeys and monkeys — who always dominate an organisation. Managers always feel safe with the donkeys, as they don’t challenge the status quo. Donkeys will always be there and never leave the company.”

Ravi Mishra, senior vice president, HR, global epoxy business, Aditya Birla Group

Agreed, bootlicking is rampant when people are working out of physical offices, but one does wonder how it manages to stay afloat during the work-from-home arrangement.

Earlier, it was easy to spot flatterers — people who said ‘yes’ to everything the boss uttered, never questioned the boss’ decisions, and were ready to sacrifice their personal life to please the boss and even become the boss’ trusted whisperer. It was possible to watch out for and judge such people in pre-COVID times.

Now, this has become quite tough. Virtual meetings do not give enough room to such people to suck up efficiently, because they are timed and monitored. In the last one year, to reach out to their employees— working from all kinds of places, remote places, metros and even foreign locations — organisations have developed several communication channels.

Does that imply that the pandemic and the work-from-home model have impacted sycophancy in both good ways and bad?

People seem to be divided on this.

“We have moved through the pandemic to an environment of outcome-based performance rather than focusing on the process. Therefore, if people are not directly adding value, chances are that their survival is going to be difficult. So, mere sycophancy will not help people sail through now.”

Unmesh Pawar, advisor, KPMG

One argument is that in the post pandemic era, organisations have been moving to an outcome-oriented performance system now which completely discounts the amount of time spent on the work, and it’s the completion of project or work that matters. That alters the basic principle of offline sycophancy in a big way because now nobody can prove his or her worth by putting in more than their assigned hours without any significant output.

Unmesh Pawar, advisor, KPMG, enunciates, “We have moved through the pandemic to an environment of outcome-based performance rather than focusing on the process. Therefore, if people are not directly adding value, chances are that their survival is going to be difficult. So, mere sycophancy will not help people sail through now.”

On the other hand there is a counter argument that flattery has got a new lease of life in the remote working environment.

“Flattery is well protected now. In the office, one could spot these people sucking up to their bosses. For instance, they were the ones who spent more time in the boss’ cubicle. In many cases, the bosses themselves ended up talking to these people more than the others. In a WFH model, however, one cannot spot such behaviour easily. Also, in the office, one could gauge how productive a person was. With remote working, it is not possible to find out who the boss is giving a good feedback about,” Mishra says.

“Life is difficult for sycophants for sure, but people do evolve and find newer ways to continue. The smarter ones are leveraging technology for their cause. There have been cases where people who are not supposed to be part of a video call still manage to barge in. In all likelihood, they may be planted in these meetings by managers to extract certain information.”

Anurag Verma, VP, HR, Uniphore

It’s also the fear psychosis is at play now, because job losses have been on the rise and to save their own, people try to impress their bosses.

“These days, with many organisations considering  cutting down manpower, such people are even more keen to flatter their bosses,” Mishra opines.

In fact, work from home or  work from office, the issue of skill incompetency has always persisted. Incompetent employees do not oppose a manager’s flawed reports, because they are not competent to speak up. It’s a ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’. When a crisis crops up or restructuring happens, the bootlickers are often in the safe zone.

“When the need to please is strong, it plays out from both sides – supervisors and subordinates,” Pawar comments.

Insecure individuals, whether subordinates or supervisors, embrace sycophancy to survive and succeed.

“If one feels the need to please, one will refrain from providing feedback to team members out of fear that they will end up disliking one for doing so,” he explains.

However, it’s not always a bootlicker’s day. The flaws of sycophancy come to light, when it’s time for rewards and recognition.

If an organisation has a robust rewards and recognition system, a good performer will outdo the bootlickers, and that’s when such managers or leaders lose face because they can’t live up to their promise in return.

For some flattering their bosses during remote working could have become easier and for some it may have been difficult, but there is also another side of the story, where bootlickers have found innovative ways to keep the practice afloat.

Even sycophants are evolving with each passing day. With this new setup they may have suffered an initial setback, but they have come up with innovative ways to combat the same.

Anurag Verma, VP, HR, Uniphore, says, “Life is difficult for them for sure, but people do evolve and find newer ways to continue. The smarter ones are leveraging technology for their cause. There have been cases where people who are not supposed to be part of a video call still manage to barge in. In all likelihood, they may be planted in these meetings by managers to extract certain information.”

Verma also reveals that initially, these people were in fact connecting with everyone on a humanitarian level, trying to understand how they were. However, over a period of time, they got a little too over-communicative. The thing about the virtual medium is that one cannot indulge in it openly because of the transparency.

Their regular sources are non-existent in the virtual medium of work. For instance, there may not be a pantry guy giving them tip-offs. So now, these sycophants have put in more effort to find out what extra they can do to please their superiors.

“The pandemic has definitely made things quite tough for them, but then what good are human beings if they cannot evolve and adapt to changes?” Verma quips.

All said and done, such practices can be counter-intuitive or counter-productive to the organisations’ performance.

These are times when one doesn’t need yes men. One needs someone who can quickly iterate and do things smoothly,” Pawar concludes.

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Intrinsic motivation is when people are motivated by internal factors, such as interest, passion and the joy derived from what they do. Because of intrinsic motivation, work ceases to be just work, but becomes one’s passion.

Organisations should try and make intrinsic motivation a part of their culture. It is something that will not just boost their employee-engagement agenda, but also enhance the performance of the company, which will gradually turn into profits.

 

“At Tata, motivation is driven by our core values. We give them a feeling of pride and purpose in what they are doing. They believe that their work is going to benefit others, and this belief drives them to perform better and bring their true self to work every day.”

Subir Verma, head – HR, Tata Power DDL

On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is very short term. It is motivation driven by an external factor, such as rewards or benefits, or the salary that one gets at the end of the month, and other monetary benefits. Such extrinsic motivation does not last for long. It is not sustainable.

For instance, one may strive hard and put in 100 hours of work in a week in pursuit of a promotion. But this high lasts only till the promotion is achieved and does not continue long beyond that. On the other hand, if one is motivated from the inside, one will always experience success at all times and this will help one perform even better as one grows in life.

According to Anant Garg, director – HR, India & South Asia, Becton Dickinson, when people are driven and motivated by internal factors, they are more willing to go the extra mile, “Intrinsically- motivated people are more likely to take ownership, put in the discretionary effort and deliver with lesser supervision, which is more effective and productive for any company,” enunciates Garg.

“Intrinsically- motivated people are more likely to take ownership, put in the discretionary effort and deliver with lesser supervision, which is more effective and productive for any company.”

Anant Garg, director – HR, India & South Asia, Becton Dickinson

He also states that if someone is not internally motivated for a task or a role, it is very difficult to fundamentally change that. He suggests performing a strong assessment at the hiring or staffing stage itself. This requires a higher focus on behavioural competencies and attitude, as opposed to just matching the CV with the job description and looking for experience/ technical skill match.

Subir Verma, head – HR, Tata Power DDL, states that giving a sense of purpose and pride to the people for the work they do is the key to internally motivating them.

“At Tata, motivation is driven by our core values. We give them a feeling of pride and purpose in what they are doing. They believe that their work is going to benefit others, and this belief drives them to perform better and bring their true self to work every day,” shares Verma.

As we all know, during the pandemic, salary cuts and trimming down of benefits had become common. Still, in some companies, people continued to work very hard. As per Srinath Krishnan, country manager – total rewards, HPE India, companies have trained themselves to motivate their people from within.

“Investing in employees means upgrading their skills, showing them a clear career path, standing by the staff during pandemic, charting out clear development plans and also appreciating employees. This helps employees remain motivated and focused on physical, emotional and financial programmes.”

Srinath Krishnan, country manager – total rewards, HPE India

There are many small ways to cultivate intrinsic motivation in the organisational culture.

Purpose: One way is to give people a greater purpose to do what they are doing. Link the missions of the organisation to a bigger purpose and greater good of the people, which will motivate people to work towards fulfilling that goal.

Learning & development: It is important to keep investing in the learning and development of the people. This will help them stay relevant and prepare them for bigger roles in their career.

“Investing in employees means upgrading their skills, showing them a clear career path, standing by the staff during pandemic, charting out clear development plans and also appreciating employees. This helps employees remain motivated and focused on physical, emotional and financial programmes,” opines Krishnan.

Rewards: Giving employees small rewards — not necessarily expensive but thoughtful enough to satisfy and touch them — will also help them stay motivated. For instance, a personal letter of appreciation from the CEO with a small voucher can create a lot of impact.

Promotions: People can be put in roles which have growth and continuous learning. This will allow them to expand their horizons and keep challenging themselves to achieve greater heights.

We need to understand that it is not just money that drives people to work hard, but other factors too, that have long-term impact on the overall engagement levels of employees.

The post It’s intrinsic motivation that matters appeared first on HR Katha.

Now that we live in a world where a sizeable part of the workforce is operating from home, has there been any change.

In March 2020, a leaked e-mail from the Wall Street Journal revealed how a manager wanted remote workers to inform about every break they were taking, including scheduled meetings. Basically, the employees were supposed to keep their manager informed of every minute that they were not available. So, has the pandemic made matters worse?

It’s true that initial days of lockdown wasn’t easy either for the manager or the teammate, but eventually both learnt to trust each other.

“If the project is mission critical, micromanagement increases. The level of management also differs with the confidence a manager has in his team member. If the team member is competent, he may need less instructions and guidance — he is largely autonomous. If, on the other hand, a team member needs help, the management needs to focus more on him, giving him more time.”

Lalit Kar, senior VP & head – HR, Reliance Digital

“It is a fact that after companies were forced to move from physical to virtual all of a sudden last year, there was a plethora of meetings initially, where managers sought visibility of everything. They wanted to ensure that the team members were engaged and focused. However, with ‘work from home’ having become a way of life, focus has moved to output and deadlines. The frequency of meetings is on the wane,” says, Lalit Kar, senior VP & head – HR, Reliance Digital.

Agrees, Prasad Kulkarni, senior vice president – HR Business Excellence, The Citco Group. “There is a rise in trust and regular communication now. Due to remote working, there are multiple channels of communication. Whether it’s over a call, or an internal chatting software or e-mails, everybody is communicating. There is also a rise in structured meetings or reviews on a weekly or monthly basis, since we aren’t all at one place. So, automatically, good insights are being provided to the managers,” he says.

Irfan Shaikh, head – HR, Gits Food Products, believes the pandemic has definitely put a check on micromanagers simply because it is not possible to micromanage now.

“In a way, it is good as it allows employees to take responsibility of their work. It pushes them to be productive and give quality output. It also helps managers identify good resources from amongst the team members. Now, it’s a game between quality output and quantity of time spent,” Sheikh summarises.

“There is a rise in trust and regular communication now. Due to remote working, there are multiple channels of communication. Whether it’s over a call, or an internal chatting software or e-mails, everybody is communicating. There is also a rise in structured meetings or reviews on a weekly or monthly basis, since we aren’t all at one place. So, automatically, good insights are being provided to the managers.”

Prasad Kulkarni, senior vice president – HR Business Excellence, The Citco Group

However, Kar does point out that micromanagers who cannot help being themselves, will keep following up on the virtual medium as well.

Not to be blamed, managers have, after all, been used to receiving daily reports in person. It is this daily reporting which put them in a better position to understand how the employees performed.

As it has been portrayed time and again, micromanagement is not all that negative. It would be wrong to assume that micromanagement is an completely irrational way of working with the employees. Sometimes, certain workers need supervision, be it in the office or in the virtual medium.

Kar points out that it depends on the situation. “If the project is mission critical, micromanagement increases. The level of management also differs with the confidence a manager has in his team member. If the team member is competent, he may need less instructions and guidance — he is largely autonomous. If, on the other hand, a team member needs help, the management needs to focus more on him, giving him more time,” he elaborates.

Micromanagement is a managerial style. To an extent, it is accentuated by the organisational culture. Similarly, empathy has been the buzzword in the last one year. Organisations stress upon the same for having a harmonious work culture even when everyone is logging in from home. Empathy or trust can only work if there’s transparency. That has been significantly achieved in the last couple of months for a few reasons.

“It is the leader who has to instil trust in his team/employees to be able to ensure that they exceed expectations. Work from home has always existed in the West. However, with the pandemic it has now become the obvious need of the hour, worldwide. Despite WFH, many companies have booked substantial profits precisely in the core work-from-home scenario.”

Irfan Shaikh, head – HR, Gits Food Products

The pandemic has put everyone in the same situation, making them go through similar issues. Therefore, now managers too are putting themselves in others’ shoes, believes Kulkarni.

“If an organisation is promoting a culture, where teams are monitored closely and hourly reports are sought, then it could be a challenge. But most organisations are now supporting open work environments. Hence, micromanagement should have gone down considerably,” informs Kulkarni.

However, can micromanagement raise the productivity bar of an employee?

“It is the leader who has to instil trust in his team/employees to be able to ensure that they exceed expectations. Work from home has always existed in the West. However, with the pandemic it has now become the obvious need of the hour, worldwide. Despite WFH, many companies have booked substantial profits precisely in the core work-from-home scenario,” reasons Sheikh.

Sheikh strongly believes that employers are required to encourage employees by way of introducing incentives and new benefits that can reassure them that the employer is being fully supportive of them. Motivated employees do not require micromanagement. They only require appreciation and recognition for the tasks done well and on time.

The post Why ‘micromanagement’ as a managerial trait is hard to do away with appeared first on HR Katha.

A reminder has been given to employees that Google’s meeting rooms and spaces should be used strictly for official work alone. Staff running internal discussion groups on e-mail have been directed to learn to moderate them to ensure that there is no use of ‘disruptive’ language.

Recently, Google made headlines when about 400 of its employees got together to form a union, the first ever of its kind in the Silicon Valley, with the sole objective of ensuring transparency and inclusivity within the organisation and adequate ethical standards. In just over a week, the membership of the Union has increased to 600.

For some time now, Google has been criticised for retaliating against employees who attempt to speak up against discrimination or unethical projects.

The tech major has attracted a lot of negativity on social media after Timnit Gebru, its AI ethics co-lead alleged that she was terminated over her research paper that did not favour the Company.

The Company had promised to take a relook at its policies after its employees staged a worldwide walk-out almost two years ago, protesting against the stand the Company took against some senior executives who were accused of sexual harassment and let go with hefty severance packages.

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The incident took place on October 25 following which the puppy was rescued by animal rights activists and an FIR was lodged against Mehra. The puppy had apparently sustained fractures from the beating. Mehra had used a belt to thrash the ten-month old lab and even banged him against the floor.

Fortunately for the puppy, a neighbour who is a volunteer from People for Animals (PFA) saw the beating taking place and captured it on camera as evidence.

In the first week of December, Gandhi stated on Twitter that no action had been taken against Mehra and that the man was absconding. She mentioned Cognizant as his employer and demanded that action be taken against the heartless man.

Activists maintain that a person who can be so heartless and brutal towards a helpless little animal can neither be a good human being nor a worthy employee.

A Change.org petition started by the PFA volunteer who had caught the act on camera, also accuses Mehra’s wife of being present during the beating and not intervening to stop her husband.

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Posts on both Dory and Memegen have very often been flagged as harassing and discriminatory by employees.

The social-media company realises that there is an urgent need to concentrate on moderating discussions while employees are working remotely so that no unnecessary or heated political or social debates occur.

Therefore, Google is going to ensure that the owners of discussion groups actively moderate the content. These group owners will be adequately trained to become active moderators and enable them to lay down a meaningful purpose for the groups. These moderators will also be responsible for making sure that discussions are contained within the set guidelines and frameworks and ensure inclusivity.

Given the tensions arising out of ‘Black Lives Matter’ and the distressing pandemic situation, with China in the centre of it, and the ensuing mental depression caused by the imposed remote working, Google wishes to ensure that the working atmosphere does not become stressful or toxic for employees.

The leaders at Google are trying to ensure that the work environment remains friendly and welcoming for its employees; a certain level of transparency is maintained; and open dialogue is encouraged even while restricting disrupting political discussions amidst the work-from-home arrangement, which is going to last till next year.

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Easterbrook had admitted to sending inappropriate messages to an employee, following which he was asked to leave with a hefty severange package, last year. However, recently, the Company learned that Easterbrook apparently had multiple affairs with subordinates and many issues with the HR department also came to light. This led McDonald’s to sue Easterbrook to reclaim the millions of dollars that it had paid to him as compensation

The investigations have now expanded with a law firm being hired to find out whether Easterbrook, who was terminated in November, had tried to cover up the misdeeds and misconduct of the HR department.

Employees of the Company have alleged that some of them lost opportunities to grow or get promoted simply because they did not participate in a social gathering that took place after work hours.

For a couple of months now, Heidi Capozzi, chief-HR, McDonald’s, who was appointed in March, has been formally reviewing the department, including its performance evaluation process and the manner of investigating employee grievances and issues. She is said to be relying on surveys and listening session with employees to culturally assess the organisation.

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The concerned trainee pilot, Asif Khan, however, has claimed innocence, saying that the objectionable and hateful tweets were posted by someone else with the same name.

Recently, Khan has revealed on Facebook that he has filed an FIR against the person who used his identity to send the hateful comments and post objectionable statements on social media. The imposter’s act has led to Khan being wrongly accused and ending up losing his job.

A complaint has also been filed with the Mumbai police cyber cell stating that the .. controversial tweet was posted from impostor’s account.

Khan also claimed that he had been receiving death threats and hateful messages full of abuses. According to him, even his mother and sister are being threatened with rape, just because someone carrying the same name as his has posted objectionable comments against Hindu gods on Twitter.

Following this, GoAir changed Khan’s termination into suspension. He is to remain suspended till internal and external inquiries and investigations get to the root of the matter and establish his innocence.

The post GoAir suspends trainee pilot over objectionable social-media behaviour appeared first on HR Katha.

The allegation is that the workforce of the Indian multinational information technology (IT) company in the US comprises of at least 80 per cent South Asians— majority being Indian— whereas only 12 per cent of the IT industry in all of the US comprises South Asians. This has been termed as “grossly disproportionate”.

Bangalore-based Wipro has more than 1,60,000 employees across the world, of which 14,000 work in the US alone. The fact that the majority of Wipro’s workforce consists of Indians and South Asians indicates that it is purposefully favouring them when it comes to hiring and promotions. According to the lawsuit, another fact that proves that Wipro favours Indians and South Asians is that, it tries to maximise the number of visas it is permitted every year by the US government. Not only has it been amongst the top five companies to receive H-1B visas, it has been accused of submitting visa petitions for far more than the actual positions existing in the US, just so that it has an increased chance of receiving the maximum number of visas in the lottery process. This allows it to receive visas for more employees than it actually requires.

The lawsuit claims that in 2015, Wipro managed to get 5,968 new visas, while the very next year, that is, 2016, it received about 6,831. This is a huge number, considering that the Company employs barely 15,000 people in the United States.

While a trial by jury has been demanded, the lawsuit requires Wipro to make impartial employment decisions and follow lawful, and unbiased methods to hire, promote or terminate people.

The post Wipro accused of favouring South Asians & Indians in the US appeared first on HR Katha.

The COVID-19 Employee Safety and Business Continuity Tracker app comes with a live dashboard ‘visualising the scope’ of COVID-19 in their workforce.

Employees will be provided with a set of risk-assessment questions and they can provide details about their circumstances amid the COVID-19. The organisation can then take necessary measures based on their answers saved in the dashboards. 

In an official statement, Alan Trefler, CEO and founder, Pegasystems, said, “Speed and accuracy are critical elements in times of crisis. With the state of the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly evolving, Pega quickly developed this app to help our clients ensure the well-being of their employees and customers, while also helping to mitigate their business risks.”

Trefler hoped the app will contribute to the fight against the virus. 

Interestingly, the tracking app was inspired by a client, a healthcare provider in the US. The organisation, with over 200,000 employees and volunteers, was in search of a solution as many of its employees were doctors and nurses fighting against COVID-19. 

Pegasystem used this idea and developed its own app to be used across organisations and industries.

The organisation deployed a system to clarify who is cleared to work, and determine when infected or at-risk staff can re-enter the schedule rotation.

Pega says that companies can customise this app and configure according to how the software reacts to different risk scenarios.

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An interview is essentially an artificial construct, where the candidates trying to show their best side and at times even the interviewers do the same in an attempt to project the company in the best light. In such a scenario, it is difficult to truly gauge the other person. Fortunately, there are a few methods that can help

Psychometric test

The first tool of choice, a psychometric test helps measure a candidate’s suitability for a role, based on the required personality characteristics and aptitude. There are many tests to choose from, and the goal is to find out how a candidate measures up in terms of behaviour.

Despite all measures one might find few surprises later in the workplace, however they still ensure that there is a lower error rate

The psychometric test, however, is not a rejection tool, and should never be used as one. Chandrasekhar Mukherjee, CHRO, Magic Bus, says, “The test is a way to reconfirm the feedback gathered from the test in a competency-based interview.”

For instance, the psychometric test will reveal the trigger points for any person and then the interviewer can work on those trigger points to confirm the feedback from the test. Therefore, if the psychometric test says that a person gets angry under stress, the interviewer should put that person under stress and then observe the reaction to that stress to find out whether it actually happens or not.

Handwriting analysis

A lot of employers use handwriting analysis or graphology to determine a candidate’s suitability for any role. Graphologists can determine many aspects of a person’s personality— from mental status to sexual preferences— from their handwriting. Handwriting analysis has been in use since the 1990s. However, it is relatively new in India.

For instance, graphology relies on the belief that those who have a fast and cursive writing are result oriented, possess excellent communication skills and are suited for front-office jobs. Those with disconnected lettering are more calculative in their approach and are suited for management-level jobs.

Reference checks

A rigorous reference check is a must. This is a relatively basic method but one has to be careful that requires caution. While such checks are usually outsourced to third parties, there needs to be a check from the company as well. Also, one needs to be careful with whom one is checking. Each and every person in the organisation will have some people who dislike her/him. A reference check including only those few people may lead to losing good talent.

The competency based interview is a way to reconfirm the feedback gathered from the psychometric test results

CIBIL score

One may think this is unrelated. However, the credibility of people, to a large extent, is determined by the way they manage their finances. Even if there are genuine reasons for the bad credit score of people, employers may read them as a sign of irresponsible behaviour. Moreover, a person with a bad credit score may be seen as dishonest and a potential threat to the workplace.

There is also the fact that financial difficulties are likely to affect a person’s performance at work, and any employer would prefer to minimise the risk.

Sudheesh Venkatesh, CPO, Azim Premji Foundation, concludes, “Despite all measures one may find few surprises later in the workplace. However, they still ensure that there is a lower error rate.”

The post Identifying toxic behaviour before hiring appeared first on HR Katha.

It is reported that AmEx employees went as far as checking credit scores of customers without their prior permission. On finding a satisfactory credit score, they issued cards to customers even when they did not want one. In addition, they misquoted the annual charges and rewards schemes attached to the cards in order to increase sales.

Some business owners have complained that they received bills for AmEx cards, even though they had not given their consent to sign up for the cards. Only when the aggrieved parties raised a concern with the Company were their cards cancelled.

Many of these small business owners were frequent shoppers at Costco. They were not only frequent visitors at the wholesale chain’s outlets but also its high-value shoppers. AmEx employees targeted this cohort and lured them by overstating the benefits attached to AmEx cards with respect to their partnerships with airport lounges.

Apparently, the BFSI sector is facing disruption, and banks are finding it onerous to keep their businesses profitable. In an attempt to increase sales, AmEx employees seem to have taken the aggressive path.

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The results of this study go against the belief that insecure people tend to work harder so that they can hang on to their jobs. But then, there has been a rise in job insecurity of late, mainly due to rampant restructuring of organisations and cost-cutting measures being taken. Therefore, the number of contract and casual workers is rising, and labour recruiting practices are also changing. Such employees are unlikely to feel any sense of belonging to their organisation, which will naturally have a negative impact on their productivity.

Experts from RMIT University, Australia, feel that job insecurity affects the physical health of a person and also his/her self-esteem. This will affect their performance and productivity in the long run.

The study applied a tried and tested personality framework called the Big Five, which divides human personality into five broad classes based on certain traits: emotional stability, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion and openness.

It was learnt that long-term job insecurity had a negative impact on emotional stability, agreeableness and conscientiousness, which pose a hurdle in the person’s ability to accomplish tasks, fulfil goals, collaborate with others, and handle stress.

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The concerned employees have been asked to furnish a valid reason for not abiding by the rules. Their salaries will now be paid subject to the reasons furnished by them.

The order had been given last year to ensure that the practice of proxy attendance is checked. It was also a way to monitor the employees, as the biometric attendance system uses smart devices to record the time at which the employees report for work and the time they leave. The employees are required to use their fingerprints to register their arrival and departure.

The municipal commissioner also made it clear that those who fail to mark their biometric attendance will be marked absent.

The Corporation is also determined to distribute wrist watches enabled with the global positioning system (GPS) to keep track of the whereabouts of its field staff. The sweepers’ association, however, does not approve of the plan and the employees have been protesting the move, claiming health hazards from using the gadgets. But the municipal corporation has turned a deaf ear and is expected to purchase these watches soon.

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While Bengaluru ranks in the number one position, four other metropolitan cities of India find a place in the top ten congested cities. The two cities of Maharashtra, Mumbai and Pune are in the top five, the other two non-Indian cities being Manila and Bogota.

New Delhi has the eight position in the list, with 56 per cent congestion level, the silver lining is that we have improved by 2 per cent since the last research. Bengaluru’s congestion level is 71 per cent and Mumbai – 65 per cent with no change.

Greensboro High Point in the US is the least congested city (rank 416) followed by Cadiz in Spain. The congestion level in both these cities are in the range of 9 -10 per cent.

The study was released on 29 January 2020 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The purpose of this study is to raise a concern about traffic conditions worldwide and help governments, city planners and policy makers to tackle traffic in congested cities.

The TomTom Traffic Index has the potential to help city planners to think about alternate routes or find unique solutions to handle traffic in their cities. The suggestive report also lays down strategies such as following peak-time traffic statistics to avoid commuting during those hours.

According to the study, traffic congestion has increased globally, 239 cities demonstrate increased congestion since 2018.

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This tendency surfaces very early on in our lives, but we realise it only when it looms large — in high school or college, and at work, when it becomes our dual personality.

In a business organisation, a line manager is responsible to get work done by a bunch of people. Should the manager allow her/his people to procrastinate? Can procrastination have some benefits at the workplace or is it just an actual waste of precious time?

When employees are given some flexibility, to ponder over their tasks, and to overthink, they sometimes come up with rather creative procedures that can be very significant for the organisation.

“Procrastination is typically  advantageous in case of negotiations and disputes”

Another instance where a delay to act can be beneficial in a business scenario, is at the time of negotiations. Taking some extra time helps to calm the other party. Here, being patient actually helps to close the negotiation in a favourable way. Also, in the case of disputes, by not reacting quickly, the tide can change to benefit both parties. “This typically is advantageous in case of union negotiations. Whether you call it procrastination or delay in responding, taking time to give a response helps to influence the decision in such scenarios,” says Rajorshi Ganguli, president and global head HR, Alkem Laboratories.

Ganguli adds, “Personally my temperament and working style is such that I would like to make sure, the deadlines are met promptly. We have to be careful that procrastination does not become a habit.”

“With mindfulness becoming a part of their daily lives, employees are able to overcome procrastination at work. They are more alert and aware of their deadlines, commitment, and repercussions”

Procrastination has been a subject of many studies and some of them have shown, that there are certain positive effects of finishing tasks at the last minute. When people are chasing deadlines, they become very efficient with high degrees of focus and attention span. The body also releases adrenaline, which provides immense energy to the brain.

In some organisations, where the culture demands promptness, managers are bound to expect their teams to submit their work a little ahead of the deadline. In such workplaces, delays due to procrastination are not acceptable.

Harshvendra Soin, CPO, Tech Mahindra, says, “Our organisation is high on action orientation, and we want our people to have competencies to execute work. But, as a part of our leadership agenda, we do allow mindfulness.”

Tech Mahindra encourages its employees to practise mindfulness as a leadership-building skill. Mindfulness-based skills can be integrated into our daily lives to reduce stress, manage pain, enhance sleep, strengthen positive qualities, and improve the overall quality of life.

“With mindfulness becoming a part of their daily lives, employees are able to overcome procrastination at work. They are more alert and aware of their deadlines, commitment, and repercussions,” says Soin.

He adds, “The DNA of our organisation is correlated to the sector in which we work. In technology, there is no room to procrastinate. We drive positive change and enable all movements.”

Procrastination helps us to overthink an activity in our minds. Even while we are not doing these tasks, we are thinking about them all the time. This may help the mind devise certain creative ideas, which would not have been the case had we jumped immediately into the project at the very onset.

When there is a challenging task at hand, procrastination helps us prepare ourselves and gear up for it. By giving it some time, our bodies devise mechanisms to cope with the pressure that comes with the difficulty in the task.

While procrastrination is a personal trait that people have, in a business organisation, it provides a unique balance. Every team has a place for both precrastinators and procrastinators!

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