These new norms are being enforced by the DGCA following recent instances of pilot deaths. In a recent case, a pilot had died of a cardiac arrest just before he was to fly. These deaths were attributed to the taxing flying schedules of the pilots, which was taking a toll on their health. Therefore, DGCA had written to the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) on 14 March asking them to address the issue immediately.

The Federation, which comprises various airlines, including IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India had requested the DGCA to grant more time to be able to comply with the new Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms. This request was not considered by the DGCA, which is determined to bring the new FDTL into effect on 1 June 2024, and expects all airlines to do the needful to make this happen.

As per the new FDTL, pilots will now get 48 hours to rest every week and will not have to deal with more than two landings during night hours. Additionally, the earlier night hours, from midnight to 5 a.m. in the morning will now be extended to 6 a.m.

That is not all; it is mandatory for all airlines to follow a non-punitive confidential process of submitting fatigue reports every quarter.

As per the DGCA, the Civil Aviation Requirement or CAR provisions may be perceived as limiting by certain entities and liberal by others, but the main objective of the same is to ensure that passengers are flown safely and pilots’ health is not affected. The DGCA also asserts that the time required for recruiting and training new pilots has been factored in while setting the deadline for implementation of the new norms.

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These leaves are in addition to the maternity and paternity leaves that employees are already enjoying. That is not all; the B2B platform—which offers embedded supply chain financing and integrated raw material purchase solutions—has set aside funds to offer financial support to employees who opt for any of these procedures.

While most organisations offer insurance-based coverage for family planning, Bizongo offers flexibility and financial support to employees who opt for the same.

This support and coverage is offered to everyone in the workforce, regardless of their marital status, gender identity, or family structure. The company is clearly committed to promoting diversity, equity and inclusion at the workplace.

These benefits are aimed at helping employees effortlessly manage their professional and parenting responsibilities simultaneously.

“At Bizongo, we believe in creating a diverse and inclusive work environment where everyone feels empowered to pursue their personal aspirations alongside their professional goals,” said Sachin Agrawal, CEO and co-founder of Bizongo.

According to him, “The parenthood journey policy aims to educate and empower employees, normalising these procedures and bringing a fresh perspective that aligns with societal progress. We, as a company, want to respect individual choices and promote a positive shift in mindsets regarding these progressive procedures.”

Bizongo recently invited Aditya Tiwari, the youngest man in India to adopt a child with special needs, to share his experiences and insights on the challenges and processes involved in child adoption. The company has also been inviting gynaecologists to address queries that employees have about egg freezing procedures.

Through these initiatives Bizongo, the vendor digitisation platform, is creating a supportive and inclusive workplace for its employees along with a culture that values individual choices and well-being.

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Bangkok’s governor Chadchart Sittipunt emphasised the severity of the situation, with at least 20 districts experiencing unhealthy PM2.5 levels and calm weather expected to prolong the crisis. This comes as Bangkok ranks among the world’s most polluted cities, with experts warning of potential health risks from the noxious haze.

The city’s action reflects a growing concern over air quality in Thailand. Stubble burning, industrial emissions, and vehicle exhaust contribute to regular spikes in pollution during early months, leading to over 2 million people seeking medical attention in 2023.

The government has acknowledged the issue, vowing to make tackling air pollution a ‘national agenda’. A draft Clean Air Act was recently endorsed, and a court in Chiang Mai ordered the government to develop an urgent action plan within 90 days. However, the effectiveness of these measures remains to be seen, as Bangkok grapples with the immediate health risks posed by its current smog crisis.

The post Bangkok chokes on smog, city urges work-from-home orders appeared first on HR Katha.

What do these boys do? Well, they are trained to gently wipe tears. Basically, they help stressed and overworked employees vent by connecting with them on an emotional level. They even organise group weeping sessions where participants wipe each other’s tears or watch heart rending videos that cause tears to flow and lighten their heart.

This therapy is based on the philosophy of accepting and embracing vulnerability.

The boys, who can be selected from an online catalogue, are not only physically appealing, but possess expertise in getting people to express themselves. Most of them serve as weeping boys on the side while pursuing different professions.

Such therapies encourage people to see crying as an acceptable means of catharsis, not just at home but also at the workplace.

One of the advocates of this therapy, Hiroki Terai, came up with the idea of offering Ikemeso Danshi services on realising that seeking tears does not only foster an environment of open expression but also encourages people to respect emotional release.

Japan is already known for its ‘rent-a-friend’ services and affectionate ‘cuddling services’ to those who seek the same. The fact that such business ventures actually exist and are even doing well speaks volumes about the need for companionship and emotional support in the modern workplace.

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The stock broking company’s new ‘switch off’ policy ensures that the e-mail servers are shut down after work hours so that employees cannot send or receive e-mails either from within or outside the organisation. Of course, everyone is allowed 45 minutes of grace post their shift to wind up, but after that every employee is expected to leave the office premises.

Niren Srivastava, group chief human resources officer, Motilal Oswal, told ET that the move will not only ensure employee wellness but also enhance productivity. The move is based on the realisation that a human brain tends to get saturated after about eight hours of work.

Clearly, the company realises that the number of hours invested in work by its 9,500 employees (excluding the senior executives) is not as important as the satisfaction levels of the employees themselves. It is the mental and physical health of the workforce that is the top priority for the firm, which will automatically result in better productivity.

The policy excludes the senior-level executives and staff members of the private equity, asset, wealth- management, and investment-banking divisions as their work schedules are different.

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This will be a big relief to those who have been finding the work too demanding or taxing, especially during pregnancy. Women find it very challenging to discharge their duties given the limited facilities and the nature of job that may require them to sit for long hours at a stretch. Sometimes, they are unable to even use the washroom since the stoppage at stations is usually for just a few minutes.

Not only are the locomotive cabins very small and constricted, the loco pilots are often expected to be on duty for six hours at a stretch in express trains and nine hours in case of freight trains.

The trade unions have been trying to draw the attention of the Ministry to the challenges that women in these jobs have to face.

All the general managers of all zonal railways have been instructed by the Railway Board to give details about the number of women working as track maintainers and assistant loco who had sought a job category switch. They will then be given a one-time option to change their category.

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Going all out to support #MothersOfMahindra, the five-year inclusive maternity policy promises the women a stress-free motherhood experience.

As part of the pre-childbirth support offered for a year, the policy reimburses 75 per cent of the cost incurred on two IVF treatment cycles. The expectant women can travel premium economy within the country and business class for international travel. They will also be reimbursed up to Rs 600 for their daily commute to work in the last trimester.

As part of the maternity assistance, the new mothers are eligible for 26 weeks of maternity leave (even in cases of adoption and surrogacy). In the unfortunate event of a miscarriage, they can avail 45 days of miscarriage leave. Up to Rs 1.25 lakh of the expenses incurred during maternity can be reimbursed.

The policy also provides post-maternity assistance for three years. That means, for three years, the new mothers can enjoy flexible work schedules, provided they are at the base location and have obtained approval from their line managers. An allowance of Rs 5,000 is granted for two years, for baby care.

These benefits go a long way in putting expectant and new mothers at ease, mentally and physically, ensuring their overall health and well-being throughout their maternity journey.

That is not all, while these women are on leave, they need not fear that their career has gone out the window. They are eligible for performance pay for full year and also considered for promotions. When they rejoin work, same or comparable roles are made available to them.

That is not all. The ‘Back to Mahindra’ programme encourages women employees of Mahindra on a career break to get back into the groove. They are offered a year’s sabbatical for childcare (up to 12 years of age).

Additionally, all women at Mahindra are assured safe transportation facility between 8 pm and 6 pm.

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More than 120 employees have joined the ‘Kalaripayattu’ training of which 50 have already been fully trained. The employees are being taught by Gurukkal Dr S Mahesh, who is a fifth generation master or guru who was a disciple of the esteemed Agasthyam Kalari that has been teaching the martial art form for more than a century.

The training is aimed at ensuring that employees are physically fit, mentally resilient and emotionally strong. The sessions will serve as a stress reliever for the employees and in the process teach them essential self-defence techniques. This will not only keep them safe but also go a long way in making them more self-confident.

Another advantage is that the employees will learn more about their culture and develop a well-rounded personality.

The traditional workout sessions are designed to encourage team work and increase bonding amongst the employees.

Another company, called Acsia Technologies had begun offering Kalaripayattu training to its employees.

The employees are also given certificates on successful completion of the course. The certification comes from the Indian Knowledge System Centre for Kalaripayattu and Siddhar Tradition, run by Agasthyam Kalari and Trinity College of Engineering.

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A recent video that has gone viral on social media shows Sahil Sharma, a fitness instructor, teach the employees of an office some ‘bhangra’ moves.

The video has been viewed by millions of people and has received more than 1.7 lakh ‘likes’. The clip shows people in a corporate setting taking a break from their desk work to groove to bhangra music.

While many think this is a fun way to destress and get energised in the middle of a monotonous work day, others felt such sessions may further frustrate employees who are already tired of and burdened with work.

Most people who reacted to the video thought the session appeared to be fun and full of energy. Many yearned to be part of such an office that encouraged such sessions, saying they would work in such an office for no remuneration!

Dance is definitely an enjoyable form of physical workout. The music can uplift the mood and the moves can help relax those muscles that have stiffened from too much of sitting at the desk. Be it organized classes or dance breaks of an hour or less, corporates can encourage their employees to relieve their stress and refresh their minds and bodies.

The post Can ‘bhangra’ be the best way to beat workplace stress? appeared first on HR Katha.

The number of active COVID cases in Maharashtra reportedly stands at about 3,500.

Elsewhere in the country, in Haryana, masks have been made mandatory for all healthcare workers and at gatherings of over a 100 people.

According to the Centre, the new variant poses less risk and may not result in many hospitalisations.

In Kerala, The health department has issued directives making it compulsory for all health workers to wear masks inside the hospital. All district medical officers have been told to ensure compliance.

Considering the surging cases of COVID, the Supreme Court has allowed lawyers to appear before the court virtually, if they so wish. The hybrid model of work continues to be in place.

Meanwhile, in Canada, the Royal Bank of Canada recently eased COVID-19 protocols and asked its employees to return to office three or four days a week.

In fact, globally, organisations are expecting their employees to return to office, as fear of coronavirus ebbs.

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The judge accepted Thorley’s claims that her dismissal was due to her medical condition, and ruled that Donnelly had not followed a fair process in the sacking. Donnelly admitted that he should have followed proper procedures in dismissing Thorley. The judge ordered him to pay compensation for the unfair dismissal.

The case highlights the challenges faced by employees with medical conditions, such as endometriosis, in the workplace. Employers have a legal obligation to make reasonable adjustments for employees with disabilities, including medical conditions that substantially affect daily life. Failure to do so can result in legal action and compensation for the employee.

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In a LinkedIn post, Maczko shared her experience of being laid off and expressed concern for the remaining employees who are now facing uncertainty due to the layoffs. While it is unclear if the Mental Health and Wellbeing wing will continue to function, Maczko’s post indicates that ‘many’ in the team have been let go.

The impact of the layoffs on the remaining employees has been significant, affecting morale and causing uncertainty about the future. A Google employee who recently shared their observations on the company’s morale ten days after the layoffs stated that morale is “okay” but has declined in the cloud division. This has led to concerns and questions from current and prospective employees about the stability of employment at the company.

Overall, the situation highlights the need for companies to consider the impact of layoffs on both the affected employees and the remaining workforce. The current environment may not be the best time for individuals to pursue employment at Google, especially in the cloud division. Maczko encouraged those who remain in the Mental Health and Wellbeing team to continue their important work, as the Googlers need their support now more than ever.

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Reportedly, Wells wanted to move on from the regular model of taking a flight and packing a bag to go somewhere. He required something that can hold his condo, gym, doctors, dentists, grocery stores and they can travel the world with him.

“The thing that most excites me is I don’t have to upend my daily routine, in order to go see the world,” Wells told CNBC.

The name of the extravagant suite on MV Narrative is ‘Global’. Wells’ is a more basic one dubbed ‘Discover’, with a pantry, shower, and a folding bed. In addition, he would have access to a co-working area, a gym, a spa, and 24-hour room service. Storylines is constructing the MV Narrative, which is scheduled to begin sailing in 2025. Wells intends to spend at least three years aboard the ship while it cruises the globe.

The ship is said to have over 500 private apartment and rooms. 

Furthermore, his 12-year lease for the entry-level apartment on the cruise ship cost him a whopping Rs 2.4 crore approximately.

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Religare Broking, a financial services company established in 1994, enjoys a good reputation among employees vis-à-vis other companies in the sector, as is evident from popular employee review websites. Today, it’s one of the preferred companies in the sector.

Besides, as Hina Dhamija, HR Head, Religare Broking, claims, the average tenure of an employee is 5.5 years. In addition there are also team members who have been working for more than 15 years.

The company claims that the power of retention has been achieved through employee happiness.

“Ever evolving values along with the constant focus on employee-centricity makes Religare Broking a place people want to work at for long periods of time,” says Dhamija.

Hina echoes the organisation’s dedication to employee happiness. “Satisfied employees means retaining them becomes much easier, allowing them to maintain a higher median tenure than most of the competition,” she states.

And how do they achieve that happiness level?

The first thing that they do is ensure an equal treatment for employees across functions.

This means employees who are on the non-business function roles are treated at par with those in the business roles directly impacting revenues for companies.

This is why the company also has both phantom and non-phantom benefits in place.

“We have an open door policy. We welcome all feedback and keep on improvising on our strategy in terms of retention,” says Dhamija.

“Besides, the retention policy remains open across the functions and each employee irrespective of their contribution towards the revenue is important to us as an organisation. There are regular interventions, rewards and recognition policies, and benefits,” she adds.

“Beyond that, it’s about how the employee feels or is being treated, that’s what leads to longevity, as a person in human resource,” Dhamija opines.

“When employees are happy and willing to communicate, not only does that allow the organisation to keep them for longer but also has a positive impact on the revenue the business makes,” she adds.

“The retention policy remains open across the functions and each employee irrespective of their contribution towards the revenue is important to us as an organisation.”

Hina Dhamija, HR head, Religare Broking

Happiness is key to retention, and work-life balance contributes towards employee happiness.

Dhamija says, “The organisation is always open to adapt as per the industry norms and practices.”

For instance, these days there have been talks around the 4-day work week. On this Dhamija says, “Depending on the kind of business we are in, we are required to work at the moment for five days as the market is open. If tomorrow the market shifts to a 4-day schedule, we are open to offer that flexibility to our employees.”

“In fact, banks and NBFCs work for six days, while we work for five days,” Dhamija draws a comparison.

When the company has higher number of tenured and vintage employees, there is also a need for upskilling them. Dhamija says, “Vinatges require to upskill in terms of the trends, behaviours and traits in the market, and we have regular programmes around it.”

While the company has a large number of vintages, it also looks for new and fresh talent from the market.

One of the outstanding qualities that the company looks for in a recruit is their willingness. According to her, if she sees that a person is willing to make an impact, then educational qualifications might not matter as much.

“If they have the zeal to excel then their degree might not make a difference when making a decision,” she says.

The company also has a robust induction and onboarding programme for the new joinees.

There is a detailed induction programme called Pravesham which is spread across a number of hours so that an employee can hit the floor knowing every business aspect and about the organisation as a whole.

Next, there is an orientation programme in which the new joinee gets inputs from several functions of the business thus making their induction more substantive.

Following which there is an onboarding and hand holding process and depending on the level, this ranges between 0-90 days.

Results speak for themselves and in a year plagued by layoffs and the after effects of the great resignation, Religare has stood firm in its stance to retain its internal talent pool and progress.

The post This 28-year-old broking company shows how to retain people appeared first on HR Katha.

Considering its workforce as its most valuable asset, the Company continuously supports emplyees’ long-term well-being, both within and outside the office. Augnito already offers a variety of programmes and benefits that help its team members remain healthy, both physically and mentally.

The highly engaged and motivated employees at Augnito are encouraged to take leave whenever required, to spend time with their families or just to enjoy a break, so that they remain healthy.

Rustom Lawyer, CEO & co-founder, Augnito reiterates how the Company puts people first, when it comes to building products or defining workplace policy. “The focus is on striving to build a work environment that’s conducive to their health and growth,” according to Lawyer.

The employees enjoy flexible work schedules, and most have been working remotely since 2020. This remote working arrangement still continues. The Company believes in investing in its employees and “ensuring that they have the energy and creativity to continue making Augnito a global healthtech success story,” said Lawyer.

Currently, Augnito — which offers a wide range of features such as real-time speech-to-text— is deployed in over 270 hospitals and used by more than 10,000 doctors in India, with a global footprint in the UK, the US and the Middle East. The two-year old company is bootstrapped by Scribetech, a two-decade old company that is a pioneer in the medical transcription BPO industry.

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Starting 14 November 2022, all the 500 employees of the consumer goods company in Australia will work only for four days a week with no change in their pay.

A similar trial by the Company in New Zealand that lasted from December 2020 to June 2022, gave very positive and encouraging results.

The official website admits that the Australian market is bigger in size and more complex than that of New Zealand and is looking forward to deriving more insights from this trial.

Initially, the Australian trial will last for a year before being evaluated. The employees will be paid their full salaries, but will work only for 80 per cent of the time, and hopefully exhibit great productivity by delivering 100 per cent business results, as per the 100:80:100 norm.

During the New Zealand trial, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Business School had monitored and measured the trial with the help of surveys, detailed interviews and so on.

A significant 67 per cent of the New Zealand employees admitted enjoying better work–life balance. Stress reduced 33 per cent and there was a 15 per cent increase in staff feeling more strong and energetic at work.

Unilever is committed to offering its employees flexible work options by 2030.

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The event is organized with the aim of spreading awareness about fitness and the need for a healthy lifestyle

The recently concluded 21-day-long challenge saw 1,874 employees and distributors from 27 countries come together for a common purpose — to improve overall wellness, spread awareness about physical fitness and mental well-being, and emphasise the need for a healthy lifestyle.

The 1,874 participants together clocked more than 85,648 miles by running, walking or jogging. Additionally, many daily mental and physical-fitness challenges, such as meditation, cycling and squats were also introduced to promote overall wellness.

Upholding its commitment to ensuring a healthy workforce, ELGi Equipments will power the 2022 Coimbatore Marathon scheduled to take place on 11 December,2022 with over 1,700 employees and their families expected to participate. This will be the 10th edition of the Coimbatore marathon, which ELGi has been sponsoring since 2013. The proceeds from the marathon will go into the Coimbatore Cancer Foundation, which works to spread cancer awareness among the masses.

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It is hoped that this day off will be used by employees to rejuvenate themselves and support their physical, mental, or emotional wellbeing. They can also use this leave to indulge in leisurely activities.

Through this initiative, Wakefit.co is looking to empower its workforce by instilling a wellness-positive practice that contributes to their holistic growth and development while enabling healthy conversations.

Umanath Nayak, head of HR, Wakefit.co reiterated that the Company’s “goal has been to create a culture that values creativity and collaboration, while empowering the holistic wellbeing of our employees”.

Therefore, the employee wellness leave policy is designed to give the employees “the freedom to be, the ability to grow and reach their fullest potential”.

The Company hopes this policy will “encourage our employees to unwind, focus on their health, and spend time with their loved ones by taking their wellness leave with no questions asked.”

A survey conducted in 2018 by British Airways said that close to 30 per cent of the Indian workforce find it difficult to fearlessly demand leave, as most of them believe that taking holidays is discouraged at the workplace.

Wakefit.co realises the importance of enabling a healthy balance at work for its workforce to thrive, and this wellness leave policy is in line with the Company’s attempt to integrate occupational wellness at the core of its organisational fabric.

The Company had grabbed headlines earlier this year with its ‘Right to Nap’ policy enabling employees to take a power nap between 2 and 2:30 pm. Additionally, Wakefit.co also recently launched the flexi work policy for new parents. These initiatives are aimed at enabling a healthy work-life balance among its workforce.

Established in 2016, Wakefit.co, a research and innovation-driven sleep and home solutions company was founded by Ankit Garg and Chaitanya Ramalingegowda.

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The Diwali break is applicable to all the employees across the Group’s offices, nationally. The objective is to let the employees have some quality time with their family, to relax and rejuvenate.

Aware that gratitude can have a positive impact on the physical, emotional and mental wellbeing of people, the Group follows an annual recognition programme, called Embassy Achievers.

Via this programme, top performers are recognised, appreciated and given awards.

Embassy is also organising a ‘thanksgiving lunch’ for its support staff ahead of the festive season. A grand Diwali party is scheduled for all its employees from across the country.

Maria Rajesh, CHRO, Embassy Group, says, “Employees really need this acknowledgment and appreciation, knowing they are indeed valued and important within the business”.

Aware that in the period before the festive season there is extra work pressure and longer hours, the focus on mental health and wellbeing should be more, according to Rajesh.

The conglomerate recently launched ‘Well-being on the Web’, an initiative aimed at supporting employee health and fitness through a holistic online platform. The initiative offers employees access to online consultations with doctors, dieticians and mental-health experts. Additionally, it offers pharmacy discounts, newsletters, webinars and games to help keep employees active and relieve stress.

Founded in 1993, Embassy Group has a broad portfolio of over 62 million sq. ft. of prime commercial, residential, retail, hospitality, services, and educational spaces across Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Noida and Trivandrum in India, as well as Serbia and Malaysia in the international markets.

The Group’s community outreach program empowers over 19,000 children across 150+ government and rural schools to create a positive social impact in India.

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The objective of the webinar was to promote awarenss about mental health at the workplace and also impart knowledge on how to enjoy work-life balance and remain health and happy.

Ira Trivedi, Indian author, columnist and Yoga teacher spoke about how work stress can take a toll on people’s mental health and how each individual has the right to work in a secure and healthy atmosphere. Pointing out how “human eyes are directly connected to the brain”, she stressed on the importance of protecting it by “reducing screen time”.

Jannat Zubair, the Indian actress gave her insights on performance stress and how to deal with someone who is depressed. She admitted how intimidating it can be at work “with people judging you and your work”. When a “sense of self-doubt” creeps in, she said “it is important to talk it out with your friends, family or counselor to cope with the situation. Interpersonal Communication is the key, and one must reach out to closed ones in tough times. She also stated that constant social media use can result in negative emotion including depression, loneliness, jealousy, anxiety and general dissatisfaction with life. She explained that a digital detox, that is, abstaining from technology and social media can help relax the mind.

Rajesh Kesari, founder and director Total Care Control, Delhi – NCR EC Member, RSSDI stated that it is crucial to make people aware about mental illnesses and stress, and how to make mental health a priority.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than half the world’s population is currently employed and 15 per cent of working-age adults live with a mental disorder.

In the absence of adequate care, mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety can have an impact on a person’s sense of self-worth and identity at work, ability to perform productively, absenteeism, and ease of retaining or obtaining employment. Work-life balance is crucial for a successful career and advancement, and therefore, it is necessary to emphasise on mental health at the workplace.

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These are figures revealed by Fiama’s Mental Well-being Survey 2022 in association with NielsenIQ.

Interestingly, one third of women feel their mental health is affected by how others perceive their body!

The survey reveals that 81 per cent millennials find the workplace to be the highest/strongest stressor for them. Stress at the workplace is caused by work pressure, bad bosses and a toxic work environment. One third of GenZ admits that body image issue has a negative impact on their mental health.

A significant 66 per cent people in Bangalore and 68 per cent in Mumbai admit that work-related stress is the major cause of concern. While 60 per cent of people in Bangalore will not seek help from a therapist, 27 per cent will approach a therapist basis a family or friend’s recommendation.

While 43 per cent Bangaloreans listen to music to destress, 36 per cent resort to yoga and 39 per cent to meditation. About 41 per cent people from Mumbai listen to music to destress, 28 per cent rely on yoga and 36 per cent on meditation. Six out of 10 Mumbaikars will avoid seeing a therapist, but one in three will seek help if recommended by a friend or family member.

About 66 per cent of Delhiites say that work causes stress. About 46 per cent of people in Delhi listen to music to reduce stress, while 39 per cent meditate and 36 per cent do yoga. About 71 per cent people in Delhi will not see a therapist, but 35 per cent will go for therapy if recommended by a friend or family.

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The business of WeWork, the flexible workspace providing company, has grown “and surpassed all internal benchmarks set for employees and member experience”. This ten-day Diwali vacation will help employees “reset and re-energise themselves”. The Company intends to make this “an annual ritual”.

This holiday, which is applicable to the entire organisation, is part of the Company’s continued focus on mental health and employee well-being. This is WeWork’s way of prioritising flexibility and work-life integration.

The objective is to allow employees an opportunity to break away from the busy routine and rejuvenate themselves by spending some quality time with their loved ones this festive season. First initiated in 2021, as part of their employee-first practices, this is an extension of the continued efforts to ensure that employees are able to focus on health and wellbeing.

Some of WeWork India’s initiatives include wellness leave, employee-assistance programmes providing access to professional counselling, impact leave for community service, workations, inclusive medical insurance policies, a purpose-driven employee resource group culture to promote diversity, and a further education programme among others.

WeWork India has been providing flexible workspace solutions for companies of all sizes since 2017. It has over five million square feet of assets in about 40 locations in the country.

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Through the Company’s social-impact initiative, ‘Nand Ghar’, the movement is aimed at ensuring that no child in India goes to bed hungry.

Senior leaders from Vedanta will also be running the half marathon. The leadership has called upon Vedanta’s 75,000+ strong workforce to participate in the run. Treadmills are being set up at all office locations to encourage people to participate in the marathon.

In the month-long Pre-Run, all Vedanta business units are competing with each other virtually and the employees’ daily runs are being kept track of team-wise using the StepSetGo app.

Priya Agarwal Hebbar, non-executive director, Vedanta, said, “As part of our commitment to creating a malnutrition-free India, our Nand Ghars are working towards impacting the lives of seven crore children and two crore women across the country. To further this mission, we are calling each one to #RunForZeroHunger – Together we can make it happen.”

Madhu Srivastava, group CHRO, Vedanta, said, “We have gone a step further and called upon our employees’ families and business partners to participate with us and join the cause as a community. We encourage like-minded individuals and organisations to join us in our mission of eradicating malnutrition and be part of this national movement as they #RunForZeroHunger. As we run together towards this noble cause, we hope we can together accomplish our goals as a company and reach the finish line as champions”.

Amongst the various activities, Vedanta has set up a townhall with International Brand Ambassador Haile Gebrselassie, a fitness talk with Milind Soman, runner stories, flash mobs, fitness challenges, bicycle rally and so on to create a sense of energy and zeal among the employees to not just prep up for the marathon but adopt a fitness culture in the organisation.

The marathon is an eagerly awaited sporting event for the residents of Delhi. Post the pandemic, the enthusiasm and participation is expected to be high.

The 17th edition of the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon will be flagged off from the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on 16 October 2022. Registrations for both the physical and virtual races have already begun. Details are available at vedantadelhihalfmarathon. procam.in

Vedanta is a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources, the global oil & gas and metals company that operates in the areas of oil & gas, zinc, lead, silver, copper, iron ore, steel, and aluminium & power across India, South Africa and Namibia.

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The latest documents comprising global guidelines on mental health at work recommend measures for dealing with risks to mental health, including behavioural factors, excessive work pressure/load and so on that may trigger distress at work. The WHO also recommends training for managers so that they develop the capabilities to ensure that the work environment remains free of stress.

The United Nations has acknowledged that safeguarding the mental health of employees at the workplace is an area that requires a lot of attention. The two documents published by WHO and ILO warn that psychological distress may take a toll on individuals and the society in general. Therefore, the needs of employees with mental health issues should be addressed and accommodated better so that they receive adequate support and are able to smoothly return to work. The guidelines also point out the need for interventions that will protect the mental health of those employed in the health, emergency and humanitarian space.

About 12 billion work days are reportedly lost annually owing to depression and anxiety, which costs the global economy almost $1 trillion! In fact, WHO’s ‘World Mental Health Report’ published earlier this year revealed that out of a billion people suffering from a mental disorder in 2019, about 15 per cent of the adults (of working age) had experienced mental disorder. The work environment only worsens mental health issues. For instance, bullying is common at the workplace and a primary form of workplace harassment, which adversely affects mental health.

The policy brief offers practical strategies and ways — not just for governments but also organisations/employers and employees in the public and private sectors—to preserve and promote mental health at the workplace. The guidelines point out how important a healthy work environment is to a working professional’s mental health, as he or she spends a significant part of his/her life there.

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The move is in keeping with Meesho’s commitment to the holistic well-being of its employees.

As Ashish Kumar Singh, chief human resources officer, Meesho, rightly puts it, “Building a great company culture requires one to acknowledge that work-life balance, rest and rejuvenation are key to employee well-being”.

‘Reset and Recharge’ allows employees “to decompress however they want – whether it’s spending time with near and dear ones, travelling or picking up a new hobby”, pointed out Singh.

He added that “such progressive policies have helped augment our employee centricity and industry-leading retention rates.”

This is just one among the many forward-looking policies that Meesho has launched. Its boundaryless workplace model, infinite wellness leave, 30-week gender-neutral parental leave and 30-day gender reassignment leave have already created a buzz.

Meesho’s comprehensive MeeCARE programme, designed to boost holistic well-being for Meeshoites and their families, enables employees to balance their professional and personal goals. MeeCARE covers a wide spectrum of wellness initiatives through a combination of policies, benefits and other interventions. The Reset and Recharge policy is further proof of its efforts to create a dynamic workplace that offers flexibility and empowerment.

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The scheme will cover more than 1,920 medical procedures, and will have over 200 private and government hospitals of the rank of taluk hospital and above, in its network.

MEDISEP will offer a cashless facility at the empanelled hospitals, and will cover all pre-existing disease.

However, in case of accidents, and medical emergencies, employees can go to other hospitals which are not part of the network, and the cost will be reimbursed on the basis of approved rates or package of the scheme.

The medical insurance plans will also cover new-borns and twins of an insured mother from day one to the end of the current policy plan period.

Though Rs 6000 will be deducted from the beneficiaries, the government will pay only Rs 4800 (Plus GST) per beneficiary to the Oriental Insurance Company, which has been awarded the tender to implement the MEDISEP.

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It’s now a serious concern for organisations across sectors. According to a study by Cigna, loneliness costs employers in the US more than $154 billion per year due to loss of productivity and absenteeism.

On June 25, Ahmedabad-based Pharma major, Cadila relaunched its employee wellness programme – Soul Mantra – and this programme now intensely focusses on ‘loneliness at work’.

Kinjal Choudhary, CHRO, Cadila Pharmaceuticals, shares with HRKatha, “The programme ‘Soul Mantra’ has been there, in the organisation, for long years, but the focus was limited to physical wellbeing of employees. Now with this re-launch, the company is trying to focus on all four dimensions of employee wellbeing.”

Besides the physical body, Soul Mantra now focuses on the mind – which sharpens intelligence – emotional and social wellbeing, and also spiritual wellness.

“Our belief is that every human being brings her whole self to work – heart, body, mind and spirit and it is not just the hands and legs,” asserts Choudhary.

As part of social wellbeing, the company has identified that employees do go through the problem of loneliness at work. The renewed wellness programme has been launched for the manufacturing and R&D facilities of the company, which comprises almost 50 per cent of the workforce.

“Having friends at work increases retention and engagement in employees. Moreover, it also helps in increasing productivity”

Kinjal Choudhary, CHRO, Cadila Pharmaceuticals

As per Choudhary, before re-launching ‘Soul Mantra,’ the HR team had gone back to the employees to take some feedback and one of the issues that cropped up was loneliness at work.

As part of enabling employees to have friends at work, the company has organised various group talks and individual talks in the company to encourage people to have at least one person with whom one can spend time with at work.

“There has to be someone at work with whom you can talk to. Not just about work, but casually as well,” mentions Choudhary.

Choudhary believes that generally people do have someone at work as friends, but sometimes it is difficult for some employees to make friends at work.

“It would be very difficult to drive such a thing if it was a mandate for employees to have friends at work. It can be only done through small talks and internal communication.”

The company has asked its managers to be vigilant and observant of such cases, and in case they find any such incident or case, they should speak and encourage that person to find a friend at work.

“Having friends at work increases retention and engagement in employees. Moreover, it also helps in increasing productivity,” adds Choudhary.

Apart from focussing on social wellbeing of employees, the second key highlight of the ‘Soul Mantra’ programme is where the company is encouraging employees to have a passion outside work, be it dancing, singing, painting, gardening or anything else which provides happiness.

The idea is to help the person find relaxation. “There are some activities in life, during which we do not count time-spent. They help us rejuvenate and act as a recharging point,” opines Choudhary.

To encourage other employees, the HR and the internal communication team finds and shares similar stories of leaders from within the organisation.

For instance, Cadila’s plant HR head, Himanshi Jain finds peace in painting. “From my busy schedule, I do find time for art which helps nurture my soul. When I am painting, for those few hours my mind is completely focused on the canvas and I let my creativity take complete control of myself. This helps me in coming back re-charged and reignited to deliver my best at work,” Jain shares with HRKatha.

Choudhary says that enabling people to find friends or identifying a passion is a big culture change and building activity and will take time to develop these behaviours over the period of time.

As part of ‘Soul Mantra,’ Cadila is also focusing on controlling stress management at work and has organised focussed workshops on the same.

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To mark the occasion of Father’s Day, IntrCity decided to recognise the hard work and dedication of the Company’s bus staff, that is, the drivers and cleaners of its fleet of buses. The Company arranged for ‘A Gift of Health to #PapasOnDuty’, for these employees who are dedicated to ensuring that inter-city travellers arrive at their destinations safely and on time. IntrCity acknowledges the fact that just like fathers anywhere in the world, its bus drivers ensure the safety of their passengers on a daily basis while ferrying them.

IntrCity SmartBus boasts of 98 per cent punctual bus departures, with a 95 per cent fill rate across over 700 routes in India.

Vivek Madhukar, chief business officer, IntrCity, said, “It is our constant endeavour to appreciate the effort and hard work of every member working as a part of IntrCity platform, including drivers and cleaners employed by bus operators”.

The company used Father’s Day as an opportunity “to applaud the tremendous contributions of the drivers and cleaners of the IntrCity SmartBus fleet. They have always been important to us, and their betterment has remained one of our top priorities. We are delighted to offer comprehensive medical check-ups for them across the country. This campaign was one such gesture to show that they matter to us, as much as our other stakeholders.”

IntrCity offers both train and bus services to budget travellers. Its flagship brand IntrCity SmartBus offers safe, trusted, and standardised travel options around India’s long-distance routes, across 700+ routes in 18 states. RailYatri, its companion brand, offers train travel information, serving more than 12 million users a month.

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Companies such as Bumble, a social-media platform, recognised the rising stress amongst the its employees and gave their entire workforce in the US one week off to relax. There is no doubt that companies are aware of this issue at the workplace but somehow, the steps that have been taken by firms to address the same have not really created the desired positive impact on the workforce.

A report released by Deloitte which studied the behaviours of GenZs and millennials, states that both the groups are highly stressed out due to work and more than 50 per cent agree that their employers have been talking about mental health at work but there has hardly been any real impact.

“As an organisation, we have to become partners in this journey because mental health issues are not solved so easily.”

Suchishmita Burman, HR leader & life coach

According to the data released, more than 70 per cent of millennials and Genzs admit that their employers have started to focus on the mental wellbeing of employees, no significant positive impact has been experienced by the employees in their lives as a result of their efforts.

So, where are the employers going wrong? Are they following the right steps in addressing the issue or we are they just resorting to meaningless gimmicks?

“As organisations, we need to reflect on the real purpose of our actions. Are we just doing it because we see others doing it or do we really want to help our employees address their mental health issues?”

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

The HR leaders HRKatha spoke to, agree that it is a good sign that employers have at least put the spotlight on the issue. They feel it would be wrong to be critical of the intentions of companies in solving mental health problems at the workplace.

“First of all, we should be thankful that at least companies have brought this issue of mental wellbeing to the table, because earlier it was nowhere part of the agenda of the HR team,” points out Sunil Singh, CHRO, Stellar Value Chain Solutions.

“If organisations do not have the right expertise to start an employee mental wellbeing programme, they should simply avoid doing it. In India people, become ‘gurus’ very fast. They think they know everything, but it is not true.”

Sunil Singh, CHRO, Stellar Value Chain Solutions

However, we cannot totally rule out the fact that there do exist organisations that just want to tom-tom about their diversity and inclusion practices. Activities pertaining to mental health have also become a fad these days. There are some facts that we need to understand and accept:

It is a societal issue – If someone is suffering from a mental health issue, there is always a hesitancy in talking about the same at the workplace, because mental health problems are still a taboo in our society. “If anyone takes this issue to the HR or the HR gets involved in this, it becomes a hot topic of discussion at the workplace because employees lack privacy at the workplace,” explains Singh.

There is lack of specialised skills – Mental health issues are not unknown. People are aware of such problems but ever since companies have started taking steps to recognise the same, a serious lack of knowledge or subject matter expertise has come to light. That means, HR leaders feel the need for psychologists or trained specialists / professionals, capable of dealing with workplace stress and mental health issues.

It is this scarcity of specialists that leads to employees failing to benefit even from the employee assistance programmes or EAPs. It is essential for organisations to have psychologists and mental-health specialists as part of their team to drive the agenda.

Lack of trust is a reality – While many progressive organisations have various programmes and windows that can help employees, there is an underlying lack of trust between the employees and the employers. The mental/emotional disconnect between them wo actually discourages the employees from availing such services.

As a strategic focus area to build an engaged high-performing workforce, most organisations express their intent to enhance the total wellness quotient for their employees by driving a balance of mind, body and soul, admits Amit Das, CHRO, Bennett Coleman & Company.

However, he also admits, “At times, lack of trust, empathy and psychological connect, creates a barrier making employees feel uncomfortable sharing their mental health challenges in a transparent manner”.

As a result, employees are unable to avail the counselling platforms and associated support ecosystem provided by the organisation, says Das.

Intent has to be genuine – Just the way companies love talking about their DE&I agendas, mental health has also come to be another fad for them. It is important for organisations to reflect and ask themselves exactly why they are doing this. They need to ask themselves whether they really want to genuinely help their people, or are they simply doing things for the sake of it. “As organisations, we need to reflect on the real purpose of our actions. Are we just doing it because we see others doing it or do we really want to help our employees address their mental health issues?,” questions Mangesh Bhide, head-HR, technology & FTTx business, Reliance Jio Infocomm.

Singh believes that if organisations do not have the right expertise to start an employee mental wellbeing programme, they should simply avoid doing it. He observes that in India people, become ‘gurus’ very fast. They think they know everything, but it is not true.

Similarly, while trying to address the mental health issue at the workplace, organisations think they know everything and are taking the right steps. However, Singh suggests that in the absence of expertise, organisations should refrain from starting mental-wellness programmes. “We have to understand that it is no joke, but a serious matter. Without expertise, organisations may actually be playing with the lives of their people,” Singh warns.

Measuring impact is essential – The issue of mental health is not a one-dimensional problem. Merely creating a platform is not enough. “That is like a tick in the box activity for most companies,” says Suchishmita Burman, HR leader & life coach. Burman stresses upon the need to build an ecosystem where people can discuss such issues openly. “As an organisation, we have to become partners in this journey because mental health issues are not solved so easily,” asserts Burman.

Therefore, it is important to measure the impact by finding out how many people actually availed the EAP services and benefited from them. This would require proper evaluation of the ecosystem. “The basic and most important step is to ensure that people are comfortable talking about their mental health,” points out Burman rightly.

The issue of mental health at the workplace cannot just be addressed as another activity. Human resource leaders suggest taking small steps and reflecting upon the extent one can go to help the workforce tackle this issue. A deep analysis and thorough study is required before deciding on the steps that can be taken to efficiently address the issue at the workplace.

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The finance department sent an order to the administrative secretaries, divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners on Wednesday, December 22, with instructions about what to do in the matter.

According to the order an employee who has received one dose should register the number of the certificate. If vaccination certificate details are not furnished, the employee’s salary will not be released. The order also suggested that employees link their COVID vaccination certificate number with the salary module. If this process is not completed by adding information regarding vaccination, then they will not receive their salary.

The order doesn’t specify what action will be taken against employees who haven’t taken any dose of vaccination yet.

Employees can enter their vaccination certificate number in the Integrated Human Resource Management System (iHRMS).

As the threat of Omicron variant engulfs the world, vaccination and booster shots are being recommended as the only way to keep oneself safe from the infection. India has reported 236 cases of Omicron variant infection so far. Punjab has become the first state in India to issue a vaccination mandate for its employees. Other states may also do the same if the situation doesn’t improve in the coming days.

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With an aim to promote health and wellness amongst the emplopyees, the Company has tried to provide a world class health facility centre with exemplary amenities. Bajaj has named this new recreational facility ‘Utsah’.

The Company feels that newer and better healthcare facilities are required to attend to the health and wellness needs of the staff.

The new facility includes an indoor games area, such as air hockey facility, pool table, foosball table, table-tennis area, carrom area, and board games. It also has a multipurpose hall for games, such as basketball, futsal, volleyball, handball and rock-climbing.

The facility also has small areas for collaboration and meaningful conversation between employees. Keeping in check the healthy eating habits of the employees, Utsah also has a health bar, a food and beverage centre for fresh fruits, juices and protein shakes, to promote healthy eating habits.

It also includes an amphitheatre which can accommodate around 600 people at a time.

“Utsah is meant to trigger healthy habits. Waking up every morning with enthusiasm and zest translates to good health. That is Utsah. I hope everyone will use the Utsah facility throughout the day, enthusiastically,” says Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto.

The Utsah facility also includes a library with 4000 books, where employees can check-in with a music and dance hall.

The terrace of the Utsah facility can be used for events and meaningful collaborations. The design of Utsah is inspired by the Yin-Yang Concept, which channels both the masculine and feminine energies positively, through spatial effects for lateral and transformative activity.

The facility was inaugurated by Mr. Rajiv Bajaj, Olympian Abhinav Bindra,Formula 1 driver Narain Karthikeyan, and social therapist Edi Golara at the Bajaj Auto headquarters in Akurdi,Pune.

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This is not the first time that the Company has announced a day off on a Friday. In the past, during the second wave of COVID – 19, the Company took similar initiatives when it sensed the increasing stress levels amongst its employees. This is the third time that Godrej Housing Finance has declared a Friday off to allow a prolonged weekend to its workforce.

The pandemic has created turmoil in the lives of people, with many suffering personal loss. Therefore, the Company, recognising the mental and physical toll that the pandemic took on people, decided to allow its employees to stay away from work for three days, to relax and recharge before returning to work with renewed energy on Monday.

The overall purpose of these ‘switch-off’ days is solely to give employees a much-needed break from work, to unwind, especially since the boundary between personal and professional life has been blurred for most of late.

The HRBP team at GHF has a finger on the pulse of its employees and is in regular touch with them to take feedback on their health. It keeps a close watch on the stress levels of the employees, and whenever the onset of burnout is sensed, the Company announces a ‘switch-off day’ to allow the employees to pause.

“At Godrej Housing Finance, we aim to create a culture where taking breaks is normal. Thus, we will continue to announce ‘switch-off’ days from time to time”

Ruhie Pande, CHRO, Godrej Housing Finance

The organisation encourages all employees to spend such extended weekends with their kids, partners and other family members and truly enjoy the day off, while following all COVID-19 protocols set by the state government. The idea is to allow employees the time to take care of their health, pursue their hobbies and spend quality time bonding with their family members.

During these breaks, GHF advises all employees not to engage in any work-related activities or schedule official calls or meetings. It asks them to refrain from responding to any official mails till Monday.

Pande shares that the Company has observed that after such extended breaks, employees return to work with a lot more energy, as they get adequate time to recharge and unwind. “Switch-off days, is a great way for employees to get a complete downtime from their professional responsibilities,” she points out. After all, these extended breaks help them reduce stress by unwinding and spending quality time with family and friends, or using the opportunity to pursue their passions. “With these periodic breaks, we have observed employees coming back to work relaxed, rejuvenated and recharged,” shares Pande. She feels such breaks have “become essential, especially during the pandemic, when work-from-home has become a normal culture and the boundaries between work and leisure have blurred.” Besides, with other forms of relaxation such as vacations and outings having become impossible, “this initiative has certainly had a positive impact across the organisation,” shares Pande with HRKatha.

“Such breaks help employees to be more motivated and productive at work,” points out Pande. She explains that “studies have shown that employees who take adequate breaks are better equipped to be innovative and engaged. And as the adage goes, an engaged employee is a productive one!”

The decision to declare Friday an off and allow an extended weekend to employees was a collective decision taken by the HR team at GHF.

Pande also assures that such day-offs and extended weekends will not remain a one-off activity, and that GHF will continue to announce such pauses periodically from time to time. “At Godrej Housing Finance, we aim to create a culture where taking breaks is normal. Thus, we will continue to announce ‘switch-off’ days from time to time,” reveals Pande.

The Company has also re-launched its Employee Assistance Programme or EAP, with some new offerings that cover the immediate dependents of employees as well. Additionally, GHF consistently encourages employees to make use of their privilege leaves.

As of now, GHF is working on a hybrid model with employees coming to the office on rotation and the field sales team working as per their regular routine.

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The Company realised that the pandemic-imposed sedentary lifestyle, physical inactivity and work-life imbalance had led to the deterioration of its employees’ fitness levels.

To get the employees to make an attempt to improve their health and energy levels, the Company encouraged them to adopt healthier alternatives. It has asked its employees to set a health goal, which they would achieve over a period of 12 months. They will have to make a major change in their lifestyle or living pattern for the better. They will have to track their progress and also update the same regularly, so that they are accountable for their actions and improvements. Their efforts will be well rewarded by Zerodha, of course. Those who manage to achieve their goals in a year’s time will get a month’s salary as bonus. There will also be a lucky draw for Rs 10 lakh!

A post by Nithin Kamath, founder and CEO, Zerodha, on social media revealed that the realisation that the employees were at their worst level of fitness post the lockdown inspired the Company to come up with this initiative.

Encouraged by the successful transformation experiences of people, post the Get Healthy programme, the Company decided to make this a long-term scheme.

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Even outside the US, the Company is encouraging all its employees to get vaccinated as soon as possible as per the availability of doses in every country. As of 2020, Pfizer had 29,400 employees in the US. Companies such as Alphabet and Walt Disney have already mandated their employees to get vaccinated.

Pfizer in collaboration with BioNTech was the first company whose COVID-19 vaccine was authorised in the US. As of now, 70 per cent of the US population has been vaccinated with its first dose and seeing a sharp increase in the number of cases, New York has asked every individual to produce their vaccination certificate to enter the state.

In a survey conducted by CNBC , covering more than 800 people, it was found that there is a sharp divide in the views of the people in making inoculation mandatory. About 49 per cent of the people favoured mandating the vaccine, while 46 per cent were against it with five per cent people not being sure what should be done.

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As part of the drive, the Company had set up vaccination camps across its 14 production units across Karnataka in partnership with the local government authorities. The employees had to voluntarily register using the COWIN app prior to the vaccination in compliance with existing government regulations. The voluntary COVID-19 vaccination drive is in addition to following COVID-appropriate behaviour besides various other initiatives to ensure employee health and wellbeing.

Commenting on the initiative, Minor Ganesan, senior VP – HR, Page Industries, said, “With the second wave of COVID 19 making a severe impact, we wanted to ensure that our employees are safeguarded against the deadly virus. We are taking all possible measures to provide a safe work environment to our employees and the vaccination drive is our effort to contribute towards their physical and mental health.”

Page Industries has conducted training programmes to ensure that necessary hygiene standards are met across its production units. It has also taken care of the mental and emotional wellbeing of its employees by providing them with the option of working from home during the pandemic. Employees at the manufacturing units were given leave with pay to ensure their safety, despite the government allowing reopening of offices.

Through the Page Cares initiative, employees have also been provided with 24/7 online doctor consultations, support for hospital admissions, provision of company ambulances in times of emergencies, amongst others. The insurance limits of employees were also increased to help them tide over any medical emergency.

The Company also partnered with the government authorities to help the community during the pandemic, by donating oxygen cylinders and concentrators to government hospitals and by distributing over three lakh masks to district administrators. As part of its CSR objective, Page Industries continues to actively engage with the government to provide support in pandemic-related efforts.

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The ten-second long footage shows the staff of a California McDonald’s outlet walking out enmasse in the middle of their shift. The video begins with a note, “Everyone quit, we are closed.”

The inside of the outlet is clearly empty, while uniformed staff are all gathered outside. When the video went viral via TikTok there was discussion on social media on the stress and poor work conditions that are causing employees to quit these days, especially after the pandemic-induced home isolation and mobility restrictions.

In response to the footage, someone wrote that the outlet was run by teenagers and wasn’t a comfortable environment to work in. The person also stated that the management did not respond or try to help them despite their complaints.

Even before the actual story behind the footage could be established, social media was busy discussing the stress in jobs post pandemic and how employees were buckling under work pressure. There were also discussions around fair pay.

Recently, a Missouri outlet of McDonald’s was in the news when its manager was attacked by a man with a rake. The attacker was the father of a former employee who had been fired. The manager lost an eye in the attack.

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The tyre manufacturing company has directed that every Monday, till 1 p.m., all employees will follow a ‘No Meeting’ zone. This will give them almost half a day to organise their work and priorities for the week. The Company also has a fixed lunch time for all employees, with no online meetings scheduled during that time. These steps ensure that employees follow a healthy regime.

In addition, for the next three months, there will be one Friday off for all employees so that they get an extended weekend to spend quality time with their families. Employees have been instructed to log off by 5 p.m.

Yet another initiative, ‘Take 5’, allows employees to take five consecutive days off work to energise and reinvigorate themselves. These initiatives have been introduced in both the Bridgestone plants, in Pune and Indore and across its offices in India.

“Our initiatives are aimed at addressing these issues and ensuring that our team-members work destressed and have quality time for themselves and their families,” says Apurv Choubey, CHRO, Bridgestone India.

Like so many other organisations, Bridgestone has helped set up two oxygen generator plants in Pune and at Devi Ahilya Covid Care Centre, Indore. The Bridgestone Group has contributed 56 ventilators, 120 oxygen concentrators and 10,000 N-95 Masks during these challenging times. It has also been fulfilling the need for PPE kits and other safety equipment of Covid care centres in Pune and Indore.

It has thoughtfully reached out to the trucker community, providing them COVID safety kits and quarantine/isolation facilities, as they are the ones who ensure smooth transportation and supply of goods across the country.

“We are grateful to be able to mobilise global support from the Bridgestone family towards procuring essential medical equipment and help us reach out to many more in need,” says Parag Satpute, MD, Bridgestone India

Another company that has focussed on relieving the stress of its employees, is Publicis Sapient (PS). This three-decade old digital consulting firm runs a 30-minute live meditation session for its employees every day. It has been organising mental health sessions with specific focus on vulnerable groups – women, people facing domestic violence and more. Online sessions have been conducted to teach employees to manage anxiety, depression, loss and grief in these times. Other than ensuring that calming Zoom backgrounds are used for soothing effect, the Company has been doing its bit to spread awareness around mental health, through mental health first aiders and mental health playbook. Free counselling is available for the employees and their dependents 24×7. The sessions with the counsellor are kept anonymous.

Vestige Marketing, on the other hand, has come up with a unique initiative called Vestige Radio. This on-demand radio channel is aimed at engaging and connecting with employees and distributors across geographies in India. Vestige Radio is designed as a platform to thank everyone for putting in their best efforts, to listen to people’s challenges, and to interact with them to create solutions. It was launched to meet the expectations of the employees shared via webinars, and has episodes on motivation, ‘Sochne ki Himmat’, ‘Muskurahatein’, and the Vestige Helpline, to keep everyone’s spirits up.

Senior managers, employees and guest speakers share motivational speeches, followed by live performances to de-stress. ‘Sochney Ki Himmat’ allows employees to share their stories of courage and excitement. These stories reach out to over I crore 35 lakh distributors across India and keeps them motivated and engaged.

The health and wellness company has also organised a vaccination-for-all programme, offered insurance cover for all employees and facilitated critical care equipment for the needy.

Gautam Bali, MD, Vestige Marketing, reiterates the Company’s commitment to “steadfastly stand by our employees, distributors and stakeholders in their hour of need.”

Its COVID support initiative called SAMVAAD encourages regular interactions with COVID positives, as well as those recovered and affected so that they can share their stories of inspiration, information, and encouragement. Aseem Nath Tripathi, VP – HR explains, “This is aimed at letting everyone know that they are not alone in this battle. Under our SAMVAAD initiative, we have been in constant contact with those afflicted, ailing and those who have suffered loss.” This renders a feeling of security to the employees and brings in positivity and motivation.

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Sanjiv Mehta, MD & chairman, HUL, wrote on social media, “Every single day, I am grateful for my team – each and every person who makes up the Hindustan Unilever family, for their unstoppable passion, for their strength and resilience, for their undaunted spirit, that has steered the business through the most challenging times. I salute the frontline heroes who ensured a steady flow of essential products to the people of India. Tomorrow, we celebrate #GratitudeDay – a day when everyone at HUL will pause and take a moment for themselves, stay away from the meetings and emails, and reenergize. Together with my management committee, I would like to say a big thank you to every member of HUL and their family.”

In the wake of the COVID – 19 situation, Raheja QBE, the insurance company, also observed May 19, 2021, as Wellness Day, when all employees enjoyed a day’s holiday. The objective was to give a small break to all employees from work during these tough times, when people are working with a lot of stress. Many are dealing with corona infections at home and there is a lot of negativity around people, with news of the loss of near and dear ones.

“Every single day, I am grateful for my team – each and every person who makes up the Hindustan Unilever family. I salute the frontline heroes who ensured a steady flow of essential products to the people of India. Tomorrow, we celebrate #GratitudeDay – a day when everyone at HUL will pause and take a moment for themselves, stay away from the meetings and emails, and reenergize”

Sanjiv Mehta, MD & chairman, HUL

Talking to HRKatha Saba Adil, chief people officer, Raheja QBE, shares that they announced the holiday last Friday, that is, May 14. It was a big surprise for everyone as one does not just get a day off work just like that. The objective was to give employees one day to focus on their own health and spend some quality time with their family. “We wanted to keep this as a surprise for the staff. Many people asked me why the leave was being granted, and I simply replied, that it was to allow them to do anything apart from work — ‘to spend extra time with your family, focus on your health, hobbies or simply do nothing’,” shares Adil.

As we have seen in the past, many companies have given holidays to their employees so that they can rejuvenate and comeback. Most of them gave this holiday at the end of the week so that employees could enjoy an extended holiday. But in Raheja QBE’s case, the holiday was given mid-week. “We intentionally planned this because of two reasons. First, mid-week is the time when the workload is at its peak and people gasp for a break. Second, we did not want to give an extended leave, which would have felt normal. We wanted our employees to actually experience a ‘pause’ followed by a ‘restart’ of work,” mentions Adil.

“We wanted to keep this as a surprise for the staff. Many people asked me why the leave was being granted, and I simply replied, that it was to allow them to do anything apart from work — ‘to spend extra time with your family, focus on your health, hobbies or simply do nothing’”

Saba Adil, chief people officer, Raheja QBE

Apart from this, Raheja QBE is also providing financial assistance to employees who are suffering from COVID-19 and giving paid leaves for COVID care over and above the annual leaves. Adil also shared that they are planning to tie up with a hospital to facilitate a vaccination drive at Raheja QBE.

This month, Godrej Properties and Goldman Sachs also provided ‘wellness leaves’ to its employees for recuperation and rejuvenation.

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“At HPE, volunteers who join this group are people who have contacts in government agencies, hospitals or pharmaceutical firms, so that they can leverage their wide network and help people in need.”

Srinath Krishnan, country head – total rewards, HPE India

However, certain organisations have realised, that it is not enough to extend financial support to the families of employees who have lost their lives to COVID. It is more important to help those who are currently suffering, so that precious lives can be saved. Such companies have formed groups of volunteers within the organisation, where employees from different functions or departments come forward willingly to help co-workers or their families battling COVID, by searching for bed availability, arranging oxygen concentrators or cylinders, helping with meals for infected families, and so on.

Amazon India

What began as a noble cause at Amazon India turned into a countrywide movement, with employees stepping up to extend support to their colleagues in need of medical help. These COVID warriors at Amazon, numbering almost 900, are spread across 30 cities. Every team of volunteers operates in a decentralised framework, with a team leader at the helm. They receive required support from the HR, benefits and compliance teams. For instance, a COVID Warrior recently helped a colleague in Noida who was infected with COVID 19. While the patient’s oxygen level kept dropping, his wife tried in vain to look for a hospital that could provide him a bed. Finally, she reached out to a COVID warrior for help. After trying for two hours, one of his friends in the customer-service team convinced one hospital to send an ambulance, just in the nick of time. The life of that patient was saved and he is now recovering well.

These COVID warriors at Amazon, numbering almost 900, are spread across 30 cities. Every team of volunteers operates in a decentralised framework, with a team leader at the helm.

“We have informal chat groups for every vertical. If a person needs anything, say plasma, they can post their requirement in the group and someone will take this to the concerned team of experts who will immediately extend the required help.”

Jayant Kumar, Jt. president-HR, Adani Ports & SEZ

HPE India

At Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) India as well, there is a team of volunteers, which has stepped up to help their colleagues in need. Srinath Krishnan, country head – total rewards, HPE India, shares that this volunteer programme was started in the Company last year itself, with eager participation from staff from across locations. They also receive support from the senior management teams. These volunteers help their colleagues find beds, oxygen supply, injections, medicines or any other medical equipment.

Krishnan shares that the volunteers who join this group are people who have contacts in government agencies, hospitals or pharmaceutical firms, so that they can leverage their wide network and help people in need.”

“Our volunteers have helped many of our team members and their dependants during the second wave with requests for hospitalisation as well as procuring of medicines/injections,” reveals Krishnan. All employees have been made aware of the helpline numbers through which they can reach out to these volunteers.

“Our team of volunteers now have been divided into three groups with specific KRA of vaccine procurement, distress service and managing emergency services for business purpose, such as transportation, due to lack of cabs and public transport on the streets now.”

VS Ashok, executive vice president and CHRO, Bluestar

Bluestar

Bluestar is using an SOS button for its crisis management team to reach out to the employees in distress. VS Ashok, executive vice president and CHRO, Bluestar, says, “The team of volunteers who respond to employees across India was formed last year itself. However, with the challenges increasing this year, we had to redevelop the team. The team comprises people from across different functions, and has twenty members from various parts of the country providing pan India emergency services to our employees and their families.”

The need to restructure the team of volunteers was felt by the board of directors of the Company, after the unexpected surge in the number of cases within the workforce in March, 2021.

Ashok shares, “Our team of volunteers now have been divided into three groups with specific KRA of vaccine procurement, distress service and managing emergency services for business purpose, such as transportation, due to lack of cabs and public transport on the streets now. This rebuilding was necessary because the initial team of six volunteers could not cope up with the increasing number of distress calls. We still invite more employees to join the team, irrespective of the functional area and geographical location.”

Even though the Bluestar team of volunteers is being led by the zonal HR heads, people from across various functions have come forward to be a part of it.

K Raheja Corp, the real-estate firm, has started a 24×7 war room where a team of volunteers from the workforce work round the clock to help those who have a medical emergency.

Explaining how active the volunteers are, Ashok shares an instance when one of the members of the volunteer group itself was infected. The infected lady, who has a baby, had to be isolated but the team made sure that the child was taken care of. Another woman employee took the child under her wings until the mother recovered. “We are always alert about any sort of requirement, such as hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and family well-being. Our team is working almost round the clock on these.”

Adani Group

At Adani Group, a team comprising the HR, administration and an internal medical team, assists employees who need medical attention. “We have informal chat groups for every vertical. If a person needs anything, say plasma, they can post their requirement in the group and someone will take this to the concerned team of experts who will immediately extend the required help,” explains Jayant Kumar, Jt. president-HR, Adani Ports & SEZ. Also, the Company has converted a hotel into a COVID care centre, where beds have been arranged for the employees if required.

K Raheja Corp

K Raheja Corp, the real-estate firm, has started a 24×7 war room where a team of volunteers from the workforce work round the clock to help those who have a medical emergency. These employees are committed to assist any colleague and even non-employee who needs help at any hour.

With the pandemic wreaking havoc across the country, and at a time when the infrastructure has buckled under the unexpected pressure, there are certain committed volunteers from various organisations who are efficiently doing their bit to save precious lives.

(With inputs from Sudeshna Mitra)

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According to a survey, once the situation improves, guests and travellers will prefer to stay in hotels where the staff have been inoculated. Aptly named ‘VaccinAid’, it is hoped that this initiative will help the travel and tourism sector recover. This will also encourage the employees directly employed by OYO and by the partner establishments to get inoculated without delay.

The details of whether the staff have received their first or second dose of the COVID vaccine will be visible on the app for users to view. This will help travellers who are worried about their safety to decide on a facility or property which has immunised staff. Those afraid to venture out may even be encouraged to do so if such details can convince them that they would be staying amongst inoculated staff.

In April, OYO had announced the launch of a feature on its app, which would allow users to book their quarantine stay, extending a facility the firm had provided in collaboration with various hospitals, ministries and government authorities last year. In 2020, it had offered quarantine facilities to stranded tourists, frontline workers, as well as members of the medical community and asymptomatic patients.

Presently, OYO platform offers more than one lakh small hotels and home-stay facilities across 800 cities in 80 countries.

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The move is aimed at ensuring that not only the Amazon frontline employees are safeguarded from infection, but the communities they reside in and work in are also protected. With a shortage of vaccines being reported from all over the country, this move by Amazon to inoculate its staff will also help reduce the pressure on various centres conducting vaccination drives.

The Company is encouraging all its employees to get inoculated as soon as possible and had earlier offered to pay Rs 750 to employees for off-site vaccination.

It has already incorporated COVID protocols at all its buildings, fulfilment centres and delivery stations, and is strictly maintaining social distancing norms to ensure that its employees remain safe and protected.

Amazon India had earlier announced its intention to cover the vaccination cost of its staff, associates and sellers.

The Company is offering its frontline delivery personnel salary advances, special leaves, and isolation facilities in case they get infected and are not in a position to self-quanrantine.

Amazon has a group of COVID Warriors dedicated to offer assistance to their colleagues in need. They have been collaborating with other across India to support those who require medical help.

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Urban company was probably the first organisation in the country to officially announce leaves specifically for mental health.

Last week, Godrej Properties announced a ‘Taking a pause to heal’ initiative, wherein from May 5 onwards, employees were given a break for five days, which included a weekend. They were not required to do any official work during the period, and the clients and customers were informed of the same in advance, so that the sales and customer-centric teams could also take a break.

Another instance is that of Goldman Sachs, where Friday, May 7, was announced as a ‘self-care day’ for all employees so that they could take a break from work, rejuvenate and return charged up.

The number of organisations formalising leaves for stress or mental health issues is very few in India, however, the encouraging factor is that there is a growing concern and acknowledgment of employee stress especially during the pandemic.

“Ensuring mental wellbeing is more about understanding people, empathising with them and creating such policies and practices that can reduce their stress at work. More than mental-health leaves, people need mental peace at this moment.”

Ramesh Shankar S, senior HR leader & former CHRO Siemens

It may be that people are talking about it now because as a society we are all affected due to loss of family and friends. What were just numbers in the previous wave of Covid-19 has turned out to be names we all know.

Add to that people continue to struggle to juggle official work and domestic chores, with employees across ranks battling similar challenges. All of these have added to a lot of mental stress among employees.

However, most companies are yet to structure and formalise a mental health leave policy. The question also is whether or not we need a specific mental health leave policy. It has to be noted that there is still a lot of taboo around mental health issues, though there seems to be prejudice and misconception.

Mental peace

Senior HR Leader and former CHRO, Siemens, India, Ramesh Shankar S feels that giving a mental health leave makes no sense at all. According to him, ensuring mental wellbeing is more about understanding people, empathising with them and creating such policies and practices that can reduce their stress at work. “More than mental-health leaves, people need mental peace at this moment,” explains Shankar.

Shankar cites an example from the past, when he was working with a company as a CHRO. He observed a regional sales manager making calls at 12:30 a.m. for sales reports. When Shankar, who happened to be travelling with that regional manager, caught him taking updates at that unearthly hour, he was very angry with him. He was almost about to fire him for the act.

“Instead of calling them mental health leaves, why can’t we just call them leaves? We can simply increase the number of overall leaves for employees, because many people will not even avail such leaves otherwise. It is just like what happened to the concept of period leaves for women. The policy was totally lost because most women are still not comfortable revealing such personal facts about themselves.”

A senior HR leader who preferred to stay anonymous

“After that incident, I made it a point to personally follow up with his regional team members regularly to find out whether he had been calling them up at odd hours for sales-related discussions,” mentions Shankar. He strongly believes that organisations should strive to ensure that every employee gets to enjoy their personal time with family.

Open, stress-free environment

Manoj Kumar Sharma, CHRO, Aarti Industries, also feels that mental health of the workforce is not just about giving leaves and breaks. It is about creating a stress-free environment at the workplace. In fact, Sharma believes that the main reason for stress and anxiety is that people do not find anybody with whom to share their thoughts or difficulties in life. Therefore, creating an environment where employees feel comfortable and encouraged to open up, talk and share their feelings is what is required to ensure their mental health.

“Creating a culture of stress-free work is a long-term solution that will have a deeper and more positive impact. Of course, if required, stress leaves can be used as an incentive in the process. However, focussing on stress leaves alone will simply be a ‘tick in the box’ activity, which will definitely not address the issue, but offer just a temporary solution.”

Manoj Kumar Sharma, CHRO, Aarti Industries

Expert help

Sharma is of the opinion that it is best to consult specialists in mental health cases and seek their expertise to address the problem of mental health issues at the workplace. These benefits should be extended to the employees’ family members as well. Aarti Industries has tied up with a wellness partner and Sharma claims that his employees and their family members use these services.

“Creating a culture of stress-free work is a long-term solution that will have a deeper and more positive impact. Of course, if required, stress leaves can be used as an incentive in the process. However, focussing on stress leaves alone will simply be a ‘tick in the box’ activity, which will definitely not address the issue, but offer just a temporary solution,” explains Sharma.

Awareness and education

A senior HR leader from the e-commerce industry tells HRKatha, that in India, employers do not understand the problem of mental health and stress. That is why, for them, it is difficult to even come up with good policies. He reveals that at his firm, they focus on educating leaders on what mental stress actually is and the signs to look for, so that they can identify symptoms in their team members and take timely action.

He also points out that people are not comfortable talking about such things openly, and therefore, offering mental health leave will certainly not work.

“Instead of calling them mental health leaves, why can’t we just call them leaves? We can simply increase the number of overall leaves for employees, because many people will not even avail such leaves otherwise. It is just like what happened to the concept of period leaves for women. The policy was totally lost because most women are still not comfortable revealing such personal facts about themselves,” enunciates another senior HR leader.

Just by granting some ‘stress leaves’ to people, we cannot address the issue of mental health. Organisations should focus more on creating a stress-free environment at work and practise this continuously, making it part of the culture, for genuine results.

At Wipro, an initiative, MITR (friend) was started way back in 2004. After thorough analysis and surveys, the Company found that many people were going through high levels of stress. The Company’s MITR counsellors, a group of volunteers, assist employees battling mental stress issues, and the Company has a policy of maintaining anonymity through the entire process.

Probably that’s the way to go ahead.

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Care portal

What makes this initiative unique is its personalised approach for each member of the team, as well as families, ensuring no one is left out. With 24/7 live support and assistance, the portal and call centre track all queries logged and the data of team members in relation to vaccinations.

The 24/7 COVID-19 Care portal initiative is led by Sundar Narayanan, chief people officer, Virtusa, along with other local leaders and volunteers.

“Every day, we review the dashboard with our goal being to create a perfect model that introduces more offerings over time to be certain every Virtusan and their family is taken care of,” says Narayanan. “The objective is to build a scalable, replicable and digitised model that can be perfected on the go and used in any crisis situation around the globe,” he explains.

War room

Virtusa has created a war room to dispense a range of COVID-19 care and services, including pre- and post-COVID-19 care in hospitals, homes and quarantine centres. Additional help is also being provided in terms of transport, medication, food, assistance in procuring hospital beds, ambulances, oxygen cylinders and homecare. Till date, the Virtusa team has been successful in its efforts to provide assistance whenever requested.

COVID centres

A critical part of this effort is the makeshift COVID centres that were created for employees in isolated parts of the Virtusa facilities in Chennai and Hyderabad. These facilities are supported by Virtusa staff and medical experts from renowned hospitals of the region. In addition, an active database of Convalescent Virtusan Plasma donors is also being maintained.

As Narayanan points out, “At Virtusa, it is our endeavour to provide the best of care to our Virtusa family. This means that everyone has access to best-in-class healthcare from the safety of their homes.”

Virtual connect

Virtusa has placed orders for oxygen concentrators to be made available for support in medical emergencies. Free on-line consultation with doctors, nutritionists and well-being experts is available around the clock. That is not all. Virtusa is leveraging its employee-welfare fund to help with medical exigencies, as well as Virtual Connect initiatives for mental and physical well-being that are being offered to any team member in need. All of this is being done while keeping delivery and customer centricity intact.

Insurance and vaccination

Earlier, Virtusa conducted a vaccination drive for team members and their families in partnership with hospitals. The Company also introduced the Home Quarantine medical insurance policy.

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The firm has divided all its factory workers and supervisors into small teams and has assigned safety champion auditors who are chosen from within the employees. These auditors keep an eye on all the employees and if somebody is found following an unhygienic routine, such as not wearing the mask properly, or not wearing a helmet or not following social distancing norms, marks are deducted for those teams.

In fact, the Company has a leaderboard, which lists the team leading the competition and winners are announced every week.

As revealed by Manish Kumar, head of human resources, Minosha India, it all began when the Company noticed that its shop floor workers were not following the COVID safety norms at the factory and not even wearing their masks properly. Some of the workers were not wearing their helmets at times or wiping sweat inside an operational area, which is rather dangerous and unhygienic in these times.

Kumar goes on to share that despite repeated requests, messages and communications being sent out, there was no improvement. However, the Company did not wish to enforce social distancing norms through punishment, and that is how this activity was devised.

“We received some complaints from people, and so we decided to start this activity to encourage workers to promote employee safety in these times,” says Kumar.

“This activity really became a hit and gained popularity amongst our employees. It helped our safety champion auditors too, who were really finding it difficult to monitor the workers, find faults and correct them, which meant that we were able to achieve what we wanted”

Manish Kumar, head of human resources, Minosha India

The firm thought that instead of punishing people for flouting safety rules, why not take this opportunity to play a little game, which will ensure proper adherence to the safety protocols at the factory and at the same time not make people feel bad about being shamed for non-compliance of safety norms at the factory.

On May 6, the firm completed its second week of the game at its Goa factory, and in the next week they are planning to launch the same at its Rajasthan plant. Accordingly, the Company intends to replicate this in all other factories after a three-week cycle.

As the weeks pass, new modifications will be introduced to the game in consultation with the employees and the workers.

This initiative is just for workers at the factories and not for the corporate employees, as they all are working from home.

According to Kumar, people have really supported this small but effective game, which made them follow the COVID safety norms. “As expected, this activity really became a hit and gained popularity amongst our employees. It helped our safety champion auditors too, who were really finding it difficult to monitor the workers, find faults and correct them, which meant that we were able to achieve what we wanted,” points out Kumar.

From the full-time workers to the contractual labourers and even senior officers at the factory, everyone is playing this game with true spirit and team play, which has given some positive results to the Company.

Not surprisingly, when companies across India are struggling to contain the spread of COVID-19, things at Minosha India have been quite stable. “By god’s grace, at Minosha, we are all safe and the credit goes to our pro-activeness in initiating changes and getting people vaccinated as quickly as possible,” shares Kumar.

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Given the fact that aviation crew have also been risking their lives amidst the pandemic, just as frontline workers, their jabs should have been prioritised feel these personnel. After threatening a stir if not inoculated on priority, Air India crew finally got their management to draw up a vaccination schedule.

If the schedule is adhered to, the entire staff will be vaccinated by end of May.

Meanwhile, the vaccination drive for the 4,400-strong workforce of GoAir is already underway. While more than a 100 have already received the jab, the objective is to get most of the staff vaccinated by end of May 2021.

With the Government also waking up to the need for aviation staff — belonging to both public as well as private airlines— to get their jabs on priority, dedicated vaccination facilities will be set up at airports across the country.

The guidelines provide for air traffic controllers to be inoculated first, along with cockpit and cabin crew and the critical staff who face passengers.

According to the guidelines, operators should tie up with government or private hospitals without delay to set up camps at the airports, so that all aviation personnel can be covered as soon as possible.

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Understanding the situation at hand, the Company has shown some compassion towards its people. With its employee’s wellbeing at the centre of its culture, the Company has allowed their workforce to channelise their mind towards something more important at this point of time — their health and family. The Company realises that many people are going through mental trauma with tragedies in their families. Employees are granted leave extensions, if required, without any questions asked.

As per the CEO of the company, Archit Chenoy, this is the time to support employees when the whole nation is going through a national crisis. He believes that during these stressful times, this is the least the Company can do to support its employees. He hopes, that other organisations will also recognise this fact and give their employees some breathing space.

Additionally, RepIndia has started an Instagram page called @Cov.id911, where its posts verified information related to COVID-19 in terms of vital resources, leads and treatment. The employees of RepIndia have teamed up to not just extend a helping hand to each other but also to the outside world.

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The pilots had made it clear that without any insurance cover, and despite the pay cuts, they were actually taking a huge risk flying amidst the raging pandemic. Therefore, the least Air India could do was to ensure their health and safety, which, in turn would also ensure the health and safety of the passengers.

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) had said that if Air India failed to take up the vaccination of its staff across the country, on priority, the pilots would stop risking their lives to fly.

The carrier now claims to have already organised camps to vaccinate those above the age of 45 and has revealed that a proper schedule is being drawn to vaccinate the others, starting next week. The objective is to get all employees vaccinated by the end of the month. The schedule will take into account the crew members who do not have fixed days of work.

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However, people do need to work, albeit from home. They are still expected to deliver, despite imagining the worst every time the phone rings. They cannot stop working even though somebody known to them is struggling for oxygen in some part of the city. They cannot forget work just because they are taking care of a child whose parents are infected and in hospital, along with their own regular domestic chores. Imagine the stress employees are going through, having to fulfil official commitments even while trying to coordinate with friends for a bed or an oxygen concentrator for someone in need! If work from home was challenging in 2020, it is even more so in 2021, because the feeling of helplessness — of being unable to help near and dear ones in distress — is adding to the mental stress.

Time to choose

This is the time for organisations to prioritise the mental and physical health of their employees and allow them some relaxation in terms of deliverables and outputs.

“During this tough phase, organisations can choose to keep aside growth and profitability and focus on survival. If we can ensure that every employee is safe and healthy at our workplaces, it would be a very big achievement for any company.”

Paramjit Singh Nayyar, CHRO, Bharti AXA General Insurance

HRKatha spoke to HR leaders from different industries, and all of them agree that organisations should allow their employees to slow down a bit and go easy on their output amidst this crisis.

“Every organisation needs to understand that these are not normal conditions and that each and every person is impacted. These are tough times when it is essential to show empathy towards the employees and support them,” says Nilay Nilay, CHRO, Indian Shelter Finance Corporation.

Adding to this, Paramjit Singh Nayyar, CHRO, Bharti AXA General Insurance, says, “During this tough phase, organisations can choose to keep aside growth and profitability and focus on survival. If we can ensure that every employee is safe and healthy at our workplaces, it would be a very big achievement for any company.”

However, with employee wellbeing and mental health topping the list of priorities now, will it be possible for companies to ensure a sustained level of output and productivity?

Going the extra mile

Recently, HCL Technologies announced its plans to shift some of its workload from India to other geographies, to maintain business continuity, as the company is reeling under the impact of the second wave of the pandemic in the country. It is constantly interacting with clients and prioritising work accordingly, ensuring smooth and continuous operations.

“Every organisation needs to understand that these are not normal conditions and that each and every person is impacted. These are tough times when it is essential to show empathy towards the employees and support them.”

Nilay Nilay, CHRO, Indian Shelter Finance Corporation.

An HR leader from one of the global IT firms has revealed that they are also following the example set by HCL and are trying to manage projects and assignments by shifting the work to other geographical locations, such as Europe and America. “Our people understand that these are very tough times and have shown support and extended help, even if they have to put in some more extra hours for a few days. We had followed the same strategy last year, when some of the European countries and America were reeling under the effects of COVID-19. Some amount of work was shifted to India at that time too,” she says.

Sharing yet another example, Anurag Verma, VP-HR, Uniphore, an IT tech company, says, “With the safety and wellbeing of our employees at the core of our culture, we have managed to create a balance between employee wellbeing and business continuity. We are aware that many families are infected by the virus, and therefore, we have allowed our employees to take as many leaves as they need to attend to any situation at home. They should take care of their own and their family’s health first.”

“With the safety and wellbeing of our employees at the core of our culture, we have managed to create a balance between employee wellbeing and business continuity. We are aware that many families are infected by the virus, and therefore, we have allowed our employees to take as many leaves as they need to attend to any situation at home. They should take care of their own and their family’s health first.”

Anurag Verma, VP-HR, Uniphore

The leadership team at Uniphore has also made an effort to check on their immediate team members from time to time to find out whether they or their family members require any kind of assistance. They are encouraging everybody to do the same.

“Generally, on weekends, the leadership team takes stock of the situation. We do not just discuss work, but also each other’s health and that of our families too,” adds Verma.

Uniphore has also announced that every first Friday of the month will be an off for each employee, so that they have enough time to attend to any personal need.

What about productivity?

Yes, we need to focus on employee health and lend as much support to the workforce as possible in this hour of need, but what happens to productivity and business needs? How can we create a balance between business needs and employee well being?

“Mentally, we have prepared ourselves to accept that for a few months, there will be less business for the company. In fact, we have asked our employees to make their own and their family’s health the first priority, even if it means being unable accomplish day-to-day tasks at work. We can always make up for the business losses in the coming times,” mentions Nilay.

“Our people understand that these are very tough times and have shown support and extended help, even if they have to put in some more extra hours for a few days. We had followed the same strategy last year, when some of the European countries and America were reeling under the effects of COVID-19. Some amount of work was shifted to India at that time too.”

An HR leader from one of the global IT firms

Verma is aware that there will be some delays in deliverables, and productivity will go down, but Uniphore is trying to manage this by requesting extended team members to put in a little extra effort and hours so that they can cover up. “Sometimes, the entire team is infected or is busy handling situations at their respective homes. In such cases, we proactively inform our partners and customers about the delay, and they also understand,” shares Verma.

“We need to enable and encourage employees to think about health and safety. Being part of the essential services sector, we have had to scale down our work by indentifying what is more important and prioritising each task. Also, we have tied up with hospitals and doctors so that immediate assistance can be given to employees in need of help.”

Udbhav Ganjoo, head – HR, Viatris

Bharti AXA General Insurance, had in the past proactively invested in ensuring every employee’s good health by introducing a programme called ‘Step Masters’. Under this initiative, employees were encouraged to walk everyday and they had seen significant participation from everyone. As per Nayyar, the company was prepared for such situations. “From last year itself, we focused on formulating business plans which did not require our employees to go an extra mile or take unnecessary stress upon themselves to achieve business goals,” shares Nayyar.

What about essential services?

Many industries have the option to choose their people’s well-being and health over business outcomes, but what about sectors that fall under the essential services category? They have no option but to continue their operations.

Udbhav Ganjoo, head – HR, Viatris, a pharma company, says, “We need to enable and encourage employees to think about health and safety. Being part of the essential services sector, we have had to scale down our work by indentifying what is more important and prioritising each task. Also, we have tied up with hospitals and doctors so that immediate assistance can be given to employees in need of help.”

Every company is focussing on giving that extra care and support to its employees so that everyone can sail through these difficult times. “At this time we need to show empathy and team work as an organisation, with leaders enabling employees to deliver. After all, at this hour, if we support them, our employees will support the firm in its hour of need,” concludes Ganjoo.

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The Framework provides for employees to avail certain benefits during such difficult times, as follows:

Sick leaves: Employees can take up to two weeks of sick leave, if their immediate family members have contracted COVID -19 or developed similar complications. It will be treated as a special sick leave and will be an addition to the annual 30-day leave they are entitled to. The immediate family members will include people residing in the same house. The leaves will also benefit those employees who are required to travel to look after parents or an immediate family member in another city. This policy is effective from January 21, 2021.

Recuperation leave: The firm will give two to three days of leave for recuperation purposes when a fee earner has worked to achieve a critical milestone, working extra hours for a prolonged period of time. This is being allowed to ease up on workload.

Switch-off period: As every employee is working from home, there is a very thin line between work hours and personal time. Henceforth, only urgent work will be assigned to the employees during weekends. Apart from that, reasonable and realistic timelines will be given by the partners for an assignment.

Depending on the need, a switch-off period of 24 hours for every week should be provided to all the members, either on a Saturday or on a Sunday. During this time, employees will not be expected to take any calls or respond to any e-mails. It is also recommended that employees reduce responding to calls and e-mails during weekends.

Wellness leave: If employees are facing any kind of mental health issues, such as chronic stress, anxiety, or burnout, they can request for a wellness leave from their respective team leaders. The time period for the leave will be determined after a discussion between the regional/cluster HR head and the respective team leader.

Best practices for communication: It is important that every employee and partner respect each other’s personal time during the course of the workday and other times. They are NOT supposed to call any other employee without prior notice (either through e-mail or message) unless there is an urgent client need or situation. The firm trusts that employees will work in a professional manner to meet client needs.

Wellness engagement: The firm is also organising Small Group Engagement sessions on employee wellness and work-life balance. Anyone can reach out to the HR for any specific requirement relating to individual wellbeing. The team leaders should also set up weekly or frequent catch-up calls with their respective team members.

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Of the 3,000-strong Secretariat staff, about 100 seem to have tested positive and many more are awaiting their test results.

The employees feel that if not 100 per cent remote working for everyone, at least the staff members who are above 50 or have comorbidities should be allowed to work from home.
More than 6,500 cases have emerged since April 18, with the total number of cases rising to over nine and a half lakhs. The number of deaths have risen to over 7,000 with at least 22lives being lost in one day. Maximum deaths are being witnessed in Chittoor district. However, at the same time, over 2,000 more people have recovered from the disease as on April 18. The number of recoveries has gone up to over nine lakhs, while the active cases are over 44,000. 44,686.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh Special Police (APSP) that guards the secretariat has been directed not to allow any visitors, including contractors, to meet senior officials or ministers.

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