A ban on hiring smokers? It’s not that simple

More companies than ever are announcing they won’t hire people who smoke. But is that actually legal — and is it worth it in the for employers?

The University of Pennsylvania Medical System is the latest employer to announce it will no longer hire smokers.
The firm joins a number of companies who’ve closed their doors to tobacco user, as Molly DiBianca of the Delaware Employment Law Blog pointed out in a recent post.
But just because these organizations have decided not to hire smokers doesn’t automatically mean that you can.

Banning smokers – is it legal?

First, you and your supervisors should understand there’s no federal law that protects smokers or entitles them to equal protections when it comes to hiring, promotions, etc. That’s because the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission doesn’t recognize smokers as a protected class.
That said, there are 29 states (along with the District of Colum






That said, there are 29 states (along with the District of Columbia) that do offer protections for smokers.
If your company is in one of those states, you can’t refuse to hire people just because they smoke (although you can turn them down for other, legitimate reasons).
Here’s the list of states that provide employment protections to smokers, according to the American Lung Association:

California Colorado Connecticut District of Columbia Illinois Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Maine Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nevada New Hampshire

New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Oklahoma Oregon Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Virginia West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

Is it worth it?

If you’re not located in one of those states, you’re likely permitted to enact a smoke-free hiring policy and keep people who smoke out of your workplace.
But is a ban on hiring smokers really the right way to go? Opinions differ.
On the one hand, a 2009 study by the Journal of Tobacco Policy & Research did find that smokers take more sick days than their non-smoking co-workers.
It also found that even if a smoker is in relatively good health (isn’t obese, doesn’t have chronic health conditions like diabetes, etc.), there’s a good chance he or she will still have higher medical costs than a comparable non-smoker over a three-year period.
But a smoking ban is worthwhile only if smokers quit for good. If the prohibition causes people to quit until they’re hired — and then they take up smoking again as soon as they pass the nicotine test — it’s not an effective cost-cutting tactic.


NEELU KUMARI  PGDM 2 SEM

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Increase in number of Singaporean workers made redundant

HRM 29 Apr 2013

In Singapore, redundancy has increased by 10% from 2011 to 2012, despite an increase in overall employment over 2012. However, this is no call for concern, as it is still at the low end of the rage. Also, re-entry into employment declined slightly after rising in 2011 but this remain above recessionary levels still, as the Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) “Redundancy and Re-Entry into Employment, 2012” report found.
Redundancy increased to 11,010 workers in 2012 from 9,990 in 2011, which meant 5.8 workers were affected per 1,000 employees, a slight increase from 5.5 workers in 2011. This was still at the lower end of the range for non-recessionary years, as compared to the recessionary highs of 11 and 14 workers per 1,000 employees in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
The group most affected by redundancy would be the Professionals, managers, executives & technicians (PMETs), with 7.4 made redundant for every 1,000 PMETs in 2012. PMETs form the slight majority of workers laid off, at about 54% of 5,960 laid-off workers in 2012.
Top reasons for redundancy include restructuring of business process for greater efficiency (37%), poor business or business failure not due to recession (23%), reorganisation of businesses (21%), high operating costs (21%) and labour cost (20%), and downturn in the industry (16%).
After rising in 2011, the rate of re-entry into employment declined slightly in 2012, but remained above recessionary levels. Zooming into PMETs, their below-average re-entry rate (63%) could be due to competition from the increasing supply of tertiary graduates. Also, some PMETs could also have savings and prefer to spend more time to look for jobs that match their skill sets, qualifications and salary expectations.

BISHWA SRIVASTAVA

PGDM 2ND SEM

IIMT COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT

Singapore’s labour movement aims to reach out to more PMEs

HRM 30 Apr 2013

As the economy moves towards a focus on professionals, managers and executives (PMEs), Singapore is looking to reach out to more PMEs by bringing them into the realm of tripartism, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said.
Speaking at a May Day Dinner with 1,400 guests on Sunday, DPM Teo said with the current economic restructuring, labour-management relations and unions will become "even more important". With about two-thirds of working Singaporeans to shift into professionals, managers, executives and technicans (PMET) positions in 2030, unions have to endeavour to strike a balance between taking care of blue-collar workers and reaching out to PMEs as well, Channelnewsasia reported.
Furthermore, better education in Singapore is a reason for this change as well. In two years' time, 45% of each workforce cohort will have access to polytechnic education. By 2020, half of each cohort will have access to a public-funded university education, DPM Teo said.
With these needs to meet in mind, Singapore is trying to progressively increase representation of PMEs, yet maintain employers’ flexibility of managing their own human resources. "A tripartite work group has been studying this issue closely. The government looks forward to receiving their joint proposal. With our constructive approach towards tripartism, I believe it is possible to achieve a win-win-win arrangement for the PMEs, unions and management.” Teo said as quoted by Channelnewsasia.
Currently, PMEs make up about one-quarter of the 700,000 union members.
BISHWA SRIVASTAVA
PGDM 2nd SEM
IIMT COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT

Government announces employment law changes under new Act

John Ecclestonhe Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill received Royal Assent on 25 April 2013, making it the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and opening the door for a number of employment law changes. The new Act will bring about key changes to employment law and tribunal procedures, some of which will come into force as early as June 2013.
These include an amendment to the Employment Rights Act 1996, which will mean whistleblowing disclosures will not be protected unless the employee believes they are in the public interest, as well as changes to the "good faith" requirements relating to whistleblowing disclosures.
Also, from June 2013 the two-year qualifying period for unfair dismissal claims will no longer apply where the reason for the dismissal is the employee's political opinions or affiliation.
The Government confirmed that the provisions in the Act simplifying the procedures and costs of deciding tribunal cases will come into force on 25 June 2013.
A number of other changes under the act will come into force in October 2013 or April 2014. These are likely to include:

• shareholders being given binding votes on pay policy;
• repeal of a section of the Equality Act 2010, which makes an employer liable where an individual is harassed by a third party;
• repeal of the questionnaire procedure under the Equality Act 2010, whereby an individual can apply to obtain information about discrimination from the employer and use this as evidence in tribunal proceedings;
• the addition of "caste" to the definition of "race" under the Equality Act 2010;
• that power will be give to tribunals to impose financial penalties against employers where they have been found to have breached employment rights;
• that details of a proposed employment tribunal claim be given to Acas by potential claimants before commencing proceedings, and that Acas will offer the parties the opportunity to engage in conciliation with a conciliation officer; and
• that tribunals hearing an unfair dismissal claim will be unable to take into account discussions between an employer and an employee or an offer made prior to the termination of employment with the aim of ending the contract on agreed terms. 

In addition, compromise agreements will be renamed "settlement agreements" to encourage parties to settle employment disputes. A statutory code of practice will also be introduced, setting out the principles for using settlement agreements, which will include model letters, a model agreement and supporting guidance.
A detailed implementation timetable will be published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills shortly.
For detailed coverage of the changes due to be introduced under the Act, visit XpertHR.


 NEELU KUMARI  PGDM 2 SEM

The Final Four Verdict: Rutgers Fouls Out

 

When college basketball's Final Four landed in Atlanta this year, I got a chance to experience the tournament's excitement up close with my cousin Michael and his son Dan.

They introduced me to their friends—coaches, former players and devoted fans. I don't know much about basketball, but I got a sense of school, game and sporting values from the event that leaders of the basketball program at Rutgers University should have learned a long time ago. The university's head basketball coach Mike Rice was fired April 3 for engaging in abusive, unprofessional treatment of his players.
During the week leading up to the Final Four, video clips surfaced showing multiple incidents involving Rice screaming, shoving, cursing and throwing basketballs at his players.

The Ethical Workplace

Stephen Paskoff is a former Equal Employment Opportunity Commission trial attorney and the president and CEO of Atlanta-based ELI, Inc., which provides ethics and compliance training that helps many of the world's leading organizations build and maintain inclusive, legal, productive and ethical workplaces. Paskoff can be contacted at info@eliinc.com.

No one in Michael's and Dan's group is a lawyer or HR professional. But they all know the sport. I asked them what they thought about Rice's conduct as Rutgers' head basketball coach. They'd watched the video, heard the stories and were unanimous: "They all have to go."They meant Rice, athletic director Timothy Pernetti, university President Robert Bianchi, and maybe others. What they read and saw enraged them.
They didn't need months to figure out whether to determine if some state statute or federal law may have been breached or whether there were procedural defenses from blunt legal risk in visibly abusive, out-of-bounds acts.
The point you don't do this to students; they're young adults and that's not how to motivate them or treat them. That's not what student athletics is all about.
Days after the tape aired, Rutgers fired Rice. A few days later, the athletic director resigned.
A day or so before the Final Four started, Rutgers released an investigative report of the incident prepared by the firm of Conley. It dissects the specific incidents, attempts to present them it in the context of a team trying to improve its culture and performance. Overall, the legal analysis concluded that while Rice's conduct might warrant dismissal, it did not violate any applicable statutes.
Too bad legal reports can't be scored like basketball games, as this one would have fouled out on technicals. Arguing, for example, that multiple episodes of abusive conduct need to be considered in the context of hours of "proper" behavior, as the report did, is akin to saying that a physically abusive spouse should not be prosecuted because he or she only beat their mate up badly once or twice during their marriage.
We don't need to look at conduct that narrowly in our athletic, academic or industrial workplaces. There are many violations that can withstand legal scrutiny but not principles of basic human decency.
Rutgers is a fine institution committed to building a respectful community. Parsing abusive conduct without regard to its impact on that community, its organizational values, reputation and overall brand is narrow, shortsighted and unworthy of the university.
It also poses an object lesson for other employers, executives and organizations. Limit yourselves to looking at behavior through a small legal lens and the losses you suffer may be far worse than a single claim or lawsuit will ever be.
Leaders who myopically accept such analyses abdicate their decision making and leadership roles when they do. They also create extraordinary risk. For many schools, it's a disappointment not to qualify for the Final Four, let alone March Madness.
But seeing your students abused, clearly outrageous behavior ignored, and your reputation besmirched is a disaster.
BISHWA SRIVASTAVA
PGDM 2ND SEM
IIMT COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT

 

More Employees Unhappy With Work-Life Balance: Survey

 

While Yahoo Inc. CEO Marissa Mayer's decision to end telecommuting for her employees is old news, the debate around working from home continues.
Most executives find telecommuting boosts productivity and allows working parents to continue their careers, according to a recent survey published April 12 by Korn/Ferry International, a global provider of talent management solutions.
Nearly 80 percent of survey respondents indicated that their companies allow employees to telecommute, while some 58 percent say they telecommute themselves. And an overwhelming 94 percent believe working from home is an important option for parents who work, the survey says.
A 2012 survey also conducted by Korn/Ferry shows that 80 percent of female executives believe being able to connect with the workplace whenever and wherever they are has allowed them to better balance life and work.
Even though almost all responses to both surveys believe telecommuting has a positive effect on employee work/life balance, 60 percent also believe working from home can limit career upward mobility, according to the April 12 survey.
"While working at home can be beneficial for both companies and workers, it can also lead to 'invisibility' that can limit opportunities for career advancement," said Ana Dutra, Korn/Ferry's CEO of Leadership and Talent Consulting, in a written statement. "It is important for telecommuters to remain networked as closely as possible with peers and leaders in the office."

Max Mihelich is Workforce's associate editor. Follow Mihelich on Twitter at @workforcemax. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

BISHWA SRIVASTAVA
PGDM 2ND SEM
IIMT COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT

    

HR leaders need new skills to add value to cross border M&As: Report

NEW DELHI: With cross border deals emerging as a significant element of global merger and acquisition activity, HR leaders need to be well-versed with the broad array of regulations, cultures and practices, that might impact the overall deal success, a Mercer report says.


According to the global staffing consultancy, cross -border M&A activity comprises a significant portion of global deal activity and in such a situation, HR leaders need new skills and information to add value.

"When M&A deals cross borders, a foundational understanding of key people issues in a given country is critical to any M&A planning or decision-making process," Mercer Partner and Global M&A Engagement Manager in Mercer's M&A consulting business Gareth Williams said.

The overall deal activity in 2012 reportedly totalled $ 2.6 trillion, and cross-border deals constituted more than one third (36 per cent) of this total.

"What we often see is that the degree of complexity related to unique benefit plans, social programmes, employment rules, and cultural considerations requires expertise not available within most business organisations," Williams added.

According to Mercer, this complexity can be particularly acute when Asian-based organisations acquire assets outside their markets, especially in Europe.

"Asian-based multinationals see great opportunities for investment in Europe," Mercer Partner and UK M&A Leader Adam Rosenberg said adding that "acquisitions in Europe pose unique people-related problems, which, however, may not always be apparent to the Asian acquirer."    

Anamika singh                

PGDM 2nd sem

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todays news .........

Women bearing the brunt of labour market challenges

John Eccleston

Wednesday 24 April 2013 16:58

Women are suffering most due to the impact of the recession on the labour market, according to a report published today by equality campaign organisation the Fawcett Society.
The report, "The changing labour market: delivering for women, delivering for growth" set out to evaluate the position of UK women workers since the recession, and found that unemployment among women has risen to a 26-year high while unemployment among men is decreasing.
It also found that almost three times as many women as men have become long-term unemployed in the past two-and-a-half years - 103,000 compared with 37,000 men.
The Fawcett Society said women have borne the brunt of cuts to the public-sector workforce so far, and predicted that around 75% of these are yet to emerge, and warned that if the current pattern continues, approximately 1.48 million women will be unemployed by 2018.
Ceri Goddard, chief executive of the Fawcett Society, said: "While unemployment has fallen overall, our research shows that the situation for women is bleak. Female unemployment has started to rise - and this will continue unless the Government does more than tinker around the edges of this issue.
"The Government's various plans for growth continue to leave many women behind, with the majority of new jobs being created in the private sector going to men.
"If the Government doesn't address this growing problem, we risk returning to a much more male-dominated labour market, with record numbers of women unemployed, those in work typically earning less, and the gap in pay between women and men beginning to grow instead of shrink.
Goddard called on the Government to tackle the gender pay gap and to encourage progressive working practices in order to overhaul the "female unfriendly" labour market and also called for investment in sectors other than those that are currently dominated by men.
XpertHR has a good practice guide on gender equality.
For more on recruitment and labour market, sign up to receive Personnel Today's Recruitment and Resourcing e-newsletter.



by : Sumeet .L.Barla  pgdm 2nd sem

HCL Tech: An employee’s trust in the management today is the lowest

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Vineet Nayar, vice-chairman and joint MD of HCL Technologies.

Can a philosophy that reads, 'Employees First, Customers Second' ever help a company's revenue to increase fivefold? Vineet Nayar, vice-chairman and joint MD of HCL Technologies Ltd who architected this unconventional strategy tells Viren Naidu why the time now is right to put the 'human' back in 'human resource'

'Employee first, customer second' has become a global phenomenon and set a benchmark for good people-management practices. What was the philosophy behind this?
High-performance individuals just want an opportunity. A painter seeks an opportunity to paint, a singer to sing and a football player to play. In that opportunity, they find the inner strength to ignore all that is wrong around them and focus on that one thing that they are passionate about. Highperformance organisations are those that help you discover what you are passionate about and then give you the opportunity and support to excel in that one thing that matters the most.
The questions we asked ourselves in 2005 were: Could we create such an organisation? Could we excite our employees by openly sharing with them challenges and problems and not instructions and tasks? Could we invert the organisational pyramid and make the management equally accountable to the employees as they are to the management? The answers to these questions took shape as a series of experiments we undertook, which eventually evolved into an idea called 'Employees First, Customers Second' (EFCS).

bishwa

pgdm 2ND seM

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There are 4 new ways to keep up to date on everything HR.

Now on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn, HR Morning provides you with easy access to the latest news. Catch up with friends and stay current — all in one place!
Follow us to:

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ANANIKA SINGH         

PGDM 2nd sem

.

Ford India showcases Chennai-built EcoSport in Hyderabad

Get Latest News on : Auto Sector, Ford

Agency

April 19, 2013 20:19:18 IST

HYDERABAD : Going further with its largest product experiential campaign EcoSport Urban Discoveries, Ford India, today showcased its Chennai-built urban SUV EcoSport to customers in Hyderabad. The product was displayed today at the EcoSport Urban Hub at Inorbit Mall in Madhapur, Hyderabad.

This EcoSport Urban Hub, part of the 12-city campaign roadshow will excite and engage consumers at the popular shopping mall this weekend of April 12-14, 2013. Ford India had kicked off the multi-city roadshow with the simultaneous opening of EcoSport Urban Hub for the first time on March 15, 2013 in New Delhi and Mumbai, followed by Gurgaon, Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Kochi and Jaipur over the past weekends.
EcoSport Urban Discoveries Campaign launched on March 1, 2013 by Ford India has unlocked the first-of-its-kind opportunity for a hundred consumers to drive the urban SUV starting May 2013 and share their product experience with family and friends. The selection of consumers for the drive will be done by a neutral jury basis following or votes and other participation criteria enclosed in the campaign platform www.ecosportdiscoveries.co.in
Joginder Singh, president and managing director of Ford India said, “We are excited to go live with our game changer EcoSport at the EcoSport Urban Hub as we bring our urban SUV closer to our consumers in Hyderabad. We have taken a step further by giving them an opportunity to drive and experience the Chennai-built EcoSport out in the open and share their product experience with their family and friends. With this experiential drive commencing in May we will go further in meeting their aspirations.”
Ford India also announced that the EcoSport line-up will include four trims, giving consumers a choice of three engine options with options including manual transmission and an automatic transmission option in petrol.
                                                                 birendra kumar
                                                                 pgdm 2nd

Ford India showcases Chennai-built EcoSport in Hyderabad

Get Latest News on : Auto Sector, Ford

Agency

April 19, 2013 20:19:18 IST

HYDERABAD : Going further with its largest product experiential campaign EcoSport Urban Discoveries, Ford India, today showcased its Chennai-built urban SUV EcoSport to customers in Hyderabad. The product was displayed today at the EcoSport Urban Hub at Inorbit Mall in Madhapur, Hyderabad.

This EcoSport Urban Hub, part of the 12-city campaign roadshow will excite and engage consumers at the popular shopping mall this weekend of April 12-14, 2013. Ford India had kicked off the multi-city roadshow with the simultaneous opening of EcoSport Urban Hub for the first time on March 15, 2013 in New Delhi and Mumbai, followed by Gurgaon, Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Kochi and Jaipur over the past weekends.
EcoSport Urban Discoveries Campaign launched on March 1, 2013 by Ford India has unlocked the first-of-its-kind opportunity for a hundred consumers to drive the urban SUV starting May 2013 and share their product experience with family and friends. The selection of consumers for the drive will be done by a neutral jury basis following or votes and other participation criteria enclosed in the campaign platform www.ecosportdiscoveries.co.in
                                                 
                                                                               Birendra kumar
                                                                               PGDM 2nd

CIL fixes coal production and increases off-take targets for 2013-14

KOLKATA: Coal IndiaBSE -0.21 % (CIL) has fixed coal production & off-take targets of 482 million tonnes (mt) and 492 mt respectively for 2013-14 against last year's coal production and off-take target of 464.1 Mt & 470 Mt respectively.
The coal mining Maharatna PSU signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with its administrative ministry - Ministry of Coal - for its key performance areas for the fiscal 2013-14.
Off-take in the current fiscal till 20th March 2013 has been close to the MoU off-take target. Coal off-take has increased by about 32 mt, as of 20 March 2013, over same period last year whereas the total increase in coal production over last year has been about 18 Mt. The required growth rates for achieving coal production and off-take targets of 2013-14 are about 7.11 % and 5.80 % respectively.
For 2011-12, CIL's performance was rated 'Excellent'.
Under the present MoU for 2013-14, Quality & Customer Satisfaction, Research & Development, CSR & Sustainability, Human Resource Management and Project Implementation have been made as major thrust areas. To attain the targeted off-take for 'excellent' rating, CILBSE -0.21 % has sought 212.2 railway rakes/day, on an annual basis for 2013-14, against the average availability of 167.7 rakes/ day during 2011-12 and about 184 rakes/day during 2012-13. Average growth of coal movement through rail was around 5.21% during the last 4 years whereas CIL envisages a growth of around 8.67 % through rail for achieving the above target.
The component of performance evaluation mainly consists of financial and non financial parameters which carry equal weight of 50% each. The key parameters are gross margin, gross sales, financial ratios, quality of coal & customer satisfaction, project implementation, coal production, off-take & productivity, safety, HRD, CSR & Sustainability etc.
The MoU formulated on the guidelines laid down by Department of Public Enterprises is a negotiated agreement and contract between Government and the Management of Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) to evaluate the performance of the CPSE at the end of the year vis- a-vis the targets fixed in the beginning of the year.
PRIYA SINGH
PGDM 2ND SEM

What’s got HR’s ear for the rest of the year?

What are the latest trends in hiring, social networking and drug and alcohol testing?
Here’s what the rest of the year is going to look like for many HR pros, courtesy of the annual Employment Screening Benchmarking Report from HireRight.

2013 outlook

The biggest concern for many employers this year: finding, retaining and developing the right talent. Over 50% of respondents said that was their top business challenge, far outpacing regulatory changes and compliance (33%) and revenue growth (32%).
Of note: Over 40% of companies surveyed said they have no plans for talent management this year, an astounding leap from a scant 5% last year.

Hiring

Nearly 70% of respondents said they expect hiring to increase in 2013. That’s on par with the 71% of people who answered in the affirmative last year, showing that the economy remains on the up-and-up, albeit slowly.
That’s tempered slightly, though, by the amount respondents think hiring will increase. The majority (30%) said they only expect to see a 1% to 4% uptick in hiring. Plus, 50% of those respondents said those positions will be filled with temp or part-time staff.

Social networking

Social media continues to ebb its way into all aspects of the workplace, with nearly 55% of employers saying they use social media for recruiting. That’s up 4% from last year.
The number of firms using social media for background screening (14%) is significantly lower, however:

Given the regulatory and personal privacy concerns surrounding the use of social media for background checking, respondents who do so were asked if they have a company policy to govern the process. Fewer than one-fourth (24%) of respondents indicated they do.

You can probably guess the social media networks that respondents gravitated toward — Facebook (83%), LinkedIn (68%), Google+ (33%) and Twitter (24%).

Drug and alcohol testing

No surprise here: The majority of companies (78%) conduct drug and alcohol tests, with a majority of those (88%) coming before the first day on the job.
While there have been rumblings about more sophisticated drug and alcohol tests involving saliva, blood or hair becoming common, 95% of respondents still stick by the tried-and-true urine test and 42% still use a breath alcohol test.
And with marijuana use in the news, HireRight asked firms a

                     ANAMIKA SINGH             

PGDM 2ND SEM

What should be your salary expectations while switching a job

 

BANGALORE/MUMBAI: This may not an easy market to hunt for a new job. But many executives disappointed with their appraisals and ensuing increments may want to consider just that. ET spoke to HR and recruitment heads and placement firms across many industries to map out the kind of pay hikes executives could expect if they choose to switch jobs now. With the exception of employees in sectors like healthcare, which are doing relatively well or even those with niche skills, most professionals looking to change jobs have adjusted their expectations to market conditions.

Where employees across sectors would in earlier years expect a hike of 20% to 30%, they are willing to settle for less or even move at the same level if they think there's a better career path, a more stable job and better long-term prospects, says Gaurav Lahiri, MD of HR consulting firm Hay Group India. A 15% to 20% hike seems to be the norm for a new job. "If every other aspiration of an employee is met and salary increment is more than 15% to 20%, then the employee should make the change," adds Muninder Anand, director, information solutions, Mercer.

A candidate applying for a post in junior-to middle management can expect a 20% to 30% raise while a senior professional should make do with a 15% to 20% raise, adds Prashant Deo Singh, head - HR & general affairs, Panasonic India. A junior management employee has less than eight years of experience; middle management has 8 to 15 years while anyone above 15 years belongs to the senior management cadre. The best market, says Mercer's Anand, was in 2008, when a candidate across sectors would move for nothing less than 35% to 40%.Here's a sector-wise look at the current scenario:

Automotive: A junior candidate can expectget a 15%, while a senior employee will get 10% to 15%, says Sekhar Arora, executive director, HR strategy for Ashok Leyland. If they are hiring at all, that is. Ashok Leyland, for instance, has called for a hiring freeze. "We will recruit only on a strict-need basis and are hiring at a marginally lower raise than last year," says Arora.

Real Estate: Companies are using brand value as their trump card, and not money. "We follow a strictly no-negotiation policy and only if the candidate is exceptional do we hike the raise by another 5%," says Milan Khurrana, chief human resource officer for Bangalore-based Prestige Group. The company is offering a 15% to 20% raise to rope in employees at the junior level, 20% in middle management and 30% for the senior lot.

IT, ITES: Employers are offering a 25% increment for junior management, 20% for the middle segment and 15% to get senior professionals on board. "The deal pattern is better than the same period last year, and this would translate into more work, especially at the junior level," says Ankita Somani, IT analyst for brokerage firm Angel Broking. But for an industry that is heavily dependent on international markets, the period of uncertainty will force companies to adopt a wait-andwatch approach on what kind of deals come in and then decide on hiring.

Hiring Firms: Nearly half the senior management professionals at firms like Kelly Services, which focus mainly on the IT and ITeS domains, have seen a mere 10% to 15% increment on shifting jobs last year. And this year looks the same, says Kamal Karanath, MD of Kelly Services.

BISHWA SRIVASTAV

PGDM 2ND SEM

HR Responds to Boston Bombing and Manhunt 

 

 

 

Christine Lahey wasn’t sure at first what the cryptic text she received on her cell phone around 3 p.m. on April 15, 2013, meant. The message read: “I’m safe. Turn on the news.”
The text came from a co-worker who was watching the end of the Boston Marathon near the offices of Liberty Mutual Insurance, where Lahey is vice president of employee relations and human resource services.
“I was at home and received this text within 10 minutes of the blast,” Lahey recalled. “I didn’t know up until that point that there had been an attack.”
Both explosions that tore through the crowd gathered near the marathon’s finish line were just a few blocks from Liberty Mutual’s headquarters. As Lahey learned more about the extent of the bomb attacks, she began to focus on the safety of the nearly 4,000 employees who worked downtown and their family members.
Several Liberty Mutual employees were running the marathon, while others were volunteering along the race route, and Lahey had no idea how many could have been spectators near the finish line, where the bombs exploded. According to Lahey, corporate training and preparation for emergency situations paid off as the business-continuity plan kicked in.
“It actually ran fairly smoothly,” she said. “Everyone knew what they had to do, and the emergency response plan worked just like it was supposed to.”
Members of the management and HR teams began communicating with each other, and Lahey learned that one employee was injured in the blasts and taken to the hospital.
“But the injury wasn’t severe, and that person was treated and released pretty quickly,” she said.
Liberty Mutual’s offices were closed for the day, which may have been a stroke of good luck for the company. Lahey said she hates to think about what might have happened if dozens of Liberty Mutual employees had left the office to check out the finish line. The company normally closes its headquarters the day of the marathon because the building is adjacent to the finish line and the street is blocked off to set up aid and medical tents for the race.
“So our offices were really right next to the explosion sites, and we knew that could mean serious disruptions on Tuesday [the day after the bombing] and that we might even have to keep the office closed,” she said.
Liberty Mutual’s management team had several conference calls the evening of April 15 and early the next morning to as                               ANAMIKA SINGH           
PGDM2nd sem

Companies increasingly using their own workers to find new hires

Big companies like Ernst & Young are increasingly using their own workers to find new hires, saving time and money.

ET SPECIAL:

Samsung Galaxy S4

Riju Parakh wasn't even looking for a new job.

But when a friend at Ernst & Young recommended her, Parakh's resume was quickly separated from the thousands the firm receives every week because she was referred by a current employee and within three weeks she was hired.

"You know how long this usually takes," she said. "It was miraculous."

While whom you know has always counted in hiring, Parakh's experience underscores a fundamental shift in the job market. Big companies like Ernst & Young are increasingly using their own workers to find new hires, saving time and money but lengthening the odds for job seekers without connections, especially among the long-term unemployed.

The trend, experts say, has been amplified since the end of the recession by a tight job market and by employee networks on LinkedIn and Facebook, which can help employers find candidates more quickly and bypass reams of applications from job search sites like Monster.com.

Some, like Ernst & Young, the accounting firm, have set ambitious internal goals to increase the proportion of hirings that come from internal referrals. As a result, employee recommendations now account for 45 percent of nonentry-level placements at the firm, up from 28 percent in 2010. The company's goal is 50 percent.

Others, such as Deloitte and Enterprise Rent-a-Car, have begun offering prizes like iPads and large-screen TVs in addition to traditional cash incentives for employees who refer new hires.

Economists and other experts say the recession has severed networks for many workers, especially the long-term unemployed, whose ranks have remained high even as the economy recovers.

Nearly 4.8 million Americans have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, according to the U.S. Labor Department, three times as many as in late 2007. The typical unemployed worker has been jobless for 38 weeks, compared with 17 weeks before the recession.

While the overall unemployment rate has edged downward recently, little improvement is expected for the long-term jobless when data for December is released by the Labor Department on Friday.

"The long-term unemployed and other disadvantaged people don't have access to the network," said Mara Swan, executive vice president for global strategy and talent at Manpower Group, which provides temporary help and job placement services. "The more you've been out of the work force, the weaker your connections are."

Although Ernst & Young looks at every resume submitted, "a referral puts them in the express lane," said Larry Nash, director of experienced and executive recruiting there.

Indeed, as referred candidates get fast-tracked, applicants from other sources like corporate websites, Internet job boards and job fairs sink to the bottom of the pile.

"You're submitting your resume to a black hole," said John Sullivan, a human resources consultant for large companies who teaches management at San Francisco State University. "You're not going to find top performers at a job fair. Whether it's fair or not, you need to have employees make referrals for you if you want to find a job."

Among corporate recruiters, Sullivan said, random applicants from Internet job sites are sometimes referred to as "Homers," after the lackadaisical, doughnut-eating Homer Simpson. The most desirable candidates, nicknamed "purple squirrels" because they are so elusive, usually come recommended.

"We call it Monster.ugly," said Sullivan, referring to Monster.com. "In the HR world, applicants from Monster or other job boards carry a stigma."

Monster.com did not respond to a request for comment.

Even getting in the door for an interview is becoming more difficult for those without connections. Referred candidates are twice as likely to land an interview as other applicants, according to a new study of one large company by three economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. For those who make it to the interview stage, the referred candidates had a 40 percent better chance of getting hired than other applicants.
BISHWA SRIVASTAVA
PGDM 2ND SEM

Gamers Are ‘Greatest Untapped Human Resource’ 

 

LAS VEGAS—Did you know there are currently 1 billion gamers worldwide? And did you know that a 2012 Gallup survey revealed that 71 percent of U.S. workers are not engaged on the job? The connection between these two facts and the impact gaming can have on employee engagement and talent management were the subject of game designer and futurist Jane McGonigal’s April 16 keynote presentation at the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2013 Talent Management Conference & Exposition. The cost of lost productivity as a result of workforce disengagement is $30 billion annually, McGonigal said. Worse, “when 71 percent of workers aren’t engaged, it’s impossible to innovate.” Gamers, however, “spend 70 hours per week looking for a sense of engagement.” Engagement Economy There is an urgent desire among workers “to connect, to feel as though we’re a part of something bigger than ourselves and to perform meaningful work,” McGonigal said. Gaming, particularly co-op gaming, provides people with the opportunity to collaborate en masse and to develop their skills while solving a problem or addressing a challenge. This engagement is great news for creativity, she said. McGonigal shared data from a growing body of scientific research that shows that gaming participants experience 10 positive emotions—including curiosity, excitement, contentment, surprise and pride—that, over time, can be developed and employed under any set of circumstances in any situation. Casual gaming, which outperforms pharmaceuticals for treating anxiety and depression, “makes us more mentally, socially and emotionally resilient,” she said. Even though gamers experience failure nearly 80 percent of the time they participate in games, “they continue to be comfortable with trying new things and doing things that they don’t do well,” McGonigal noted. “They are superempowered, hopeful individuals who are more inclined to help others and seek help,” she said. “These are people you, as human resource professionals, need to look for and to hire.” Theresa Minton-Eversole is an online editor/manager for SHRM.                             ANAMIKS SINGH            PGDM 2nd sem

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Future Group's key managers moving out: D Mall joins Reliance Retail

Almost half of Future Group’s key mangers have moved out over the last one year when the group is realigning itself to sharpen focus on performance and execution.

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Damodar Mall, president (foods strategy) and a long time KishoreBiyani loyalist has joined arch rival Reliance Retail to handle customer strategy and special projects. Mall will report to MukeshAmbani's key aide ManojModi, officials in Reliance Retail said.


Almost half of Future Group's key mangers have moved out over the last one year when the group is realigning itself to sharpen focus on performance and execution. Some have joined Reliance Retail.

When contacted, Kishore Biyani said the group has disbanded management layers to focus on just three companies: Future Lifestyle Fashion, Future Foods and Future Hypermarkets (Big Bazaar). "We don't want thinkers in the system; we want people focused on execution. We want to be the direct eyes and ears of the organisation and be in direct touch with the consumer," he said. Just last month, Sumit Dabriwala, managing director of Future Group's realty firm, Agre DevelopersBSE 4.00 %, quit. Both Mall and Dabriwala were in the eight-member executive committee board of Future Group.

Upamanyu Bhattacharya CEO of Future Group's neighbourhood supermarket format KB's Fairprice, is also in exit mode and has been replaced by Arun Agarwal who was next in charge of operations. Officials said Biyani was impatient to scale up the format quickly through the franchisee route to 900 stores in the next two years from 300 odd stores. Bhattacharya is speculated to be moving out on an entrepreneurial venture.

Some officials who quit recently found themselves distanced from Biyani in the last few months, according to two people close to the development.

Before joining the Rs 12,000 crore Future Group, Mall, an IIT-Bombay and IIM-Bangalore alumnus, used to head Unilever's Sangam Direct, a home-delivery retail business. Mall was also a co-founder of D'Mart, a supermarket chain in Western India.

Mall, president, integrated food strategy was responsible for future businesses apart from overseeing rural retailing venture Aadhaar, small neighbourhood supermarket format KB's Fair Price and integrated food parks. Vibha Rishi, who was the group strategy and consumer director, too, quit Future Group after a stint of two years to join insurance group Max IndiaBSE -0.38 % in April last year. Almost at the same time, Human Resources head Sanjay Jog left to join Reliance Retail aftter spending nearly seven years with Biyani. B Anand, finance director, too, had quit in June 2012 to join Dutch commodity trading and logistics company, Trafigura. In recent months, Kishore Biyani has moved back into an operational role to lead Big Bazaar from the front. In fact, during the recent Republic Day- Sabse sasta week offer, Biyani travelled across 12 cities within a week to get a direct insight of consumer behaviour in several Big Bazaar stores.

The demerger of Pantaloon retailBSE 0.48 % format (following the majority stake sale of Pantaloons deparment chain to Aditya Birla group) has come through and shareholder approval for the fashion lifestyle demerger has also come in afthis month, officials said.

The group's realignment into three separate entities is likely to be completed by September 2013. These developments are also expected to help the group reduce debt by Rs 2,800 crore.

Abneesh Roy, director of EdelweissBSE 0.17 % Securities, said: "Given the fact that the promoters are directly involved in operational roles, exit of management executives is not a real concern. The real issue is how successful is the company in reducing debt and inventory levels, both of which are very high in the group."

BISHWA SRIVASTAVA

PGDM 2ND SEM

Docking pay for exempt employees: What’s allowed?

by Tim Gould February 27, 2013 98 Comments

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Don’t feel bad if you have trouble understanding the pay-docking rules laid out by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The regs are pretty murky.

As a rule of thumb, FLSA doesn’t permit deductions from exempt employees. The regs state that the amount of money a salaried employee earns can’t be dependent on the number of days or hours he or she works. You also can’t deduct money based on the quantity or quality of work the employee produces.
But – no surprise here – there are several exceptions. What happens if your company accidentally makes an improper deduction? Nothing, so long as it’s an isolated incident and the company corrects it. But if there are repeat violations, entire departments of exempt workers can suddenly transform into OT-eligible ones by the magical powers of FLSA.

Permitted and prohibited deductions

Here’s a rundown of the situations in which you can dock exempt employees pay, courtesy of TrackSmart:

• Exempt employees do not need to be paid for any workweek in which they perform no work.
• Exempt employees who are absent for a day or more for personal reasons other than sickness or accident. (Note that these deductions must be made only in full-day increments – not for partial-day absences.)
• Exempt employee absences of a day or more caused by sickness or disability, if the company maintains a plan that provides compensation for loss of salary caused by sickness and disability and the employee exhausted his or her “bank” of leave.
• Penalties imposed for violation of safety rules of major significance
• To offset any amounts received by an employee as jury or witness fees or military pay; however, beyond those offsets, deductions may not be made for absences caused by employee jury duty, attendance as a witness or temporary military leave.
• Unpaid disciplinary suspensions of one or more full days for breaking workplace conduct rules.
• Partial weeks worked during the initial or final weeks of employment. For example, if Joe resigns in the middle of a workweek, pay him only for the days actually worked in that week.
• In some cases, when a salaried/exempt employee has worked a reduced or intermittent work schedule under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). (You can convert a salaried employee to an hourly rate during the time he or she is on intermittent or reduced-workweek FMLA leave without destroying the person’s exempt status.

Red flags

On the flip side, the following deductions are FLSA red flags. These deductions can make a formerly exempt employee eligible to collect overtime:

• Business trips. You can’t deduct salary (or run the clock on paid time off benefits) for absences related to business trips, and

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IIMs plan to conduct road shows abroad to attract foreign students

NEW DELHI: The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are gearing up to make a bigger mark in the global arena in order to attract more foreign graduates and make the country's top business schools operationally and financially more autonomous.

The IIMs plan to conduct road shows abroad to attract talent that will make the batch of students more diverse. Some foreign students are already studying at some IIMs but the government expects the number to rise after the proposed law empowers them to award MBA degrees instead of the diploma currently offered.

The majority of the IIM s agree that the power to grant degrees will make the institutes more attractive to foreign students. Currently, many foreign students come to IIMs in exchange programmes and a few of them also take regular courses.

To cater to international students, the IIMs plan to upgrade residential facilities and the standards of faculty and academics, particularly at the new IIMs. This would be financed either through a grant from the UGC or through interest-free loans. The human resource development ministry is keen to set up a 300-crore fund to attract world-class faculty to the newer IIMs, government officials said.

The IIMs are also focusing on steps to become financially more independent. While older IIMs do not depend on annual budgetary support from the government, the new ones get government grants. The IIMs will consider recommendations of the committee headed by Hari Bhartia, such as naming classrooms and buildings after major donors. The Bhartia committee had been appointed by former HRD minister Kapil Sibal to look into the aspect of fund raising as part of an effort to improve the autonomy of the IIMs. The IIMs have suggested that the HRD ministry should pilot a proposal to provide tax breaks for philanthropic contributions.

The IIMs have suggested that workshops be held for each of the institutes. International consultants such as William J Conner and Julian Marland, who have years of experience in improving the fundraising potential of organisations, will conduct these workshops. IIM Raipur has already conducted a workshop on fund raising.

As part of its effort to stake its claim in the global arena, IIMs plan to bring out a management journal, IIM Business Review. This effort will be spearheaded by IIM Bangalore while IIM Calcutta will take charge of a world management conference to be held during May 31-June 1.

The heads of all 13 IIMs are scheduled to discuss these issues at a meeting with HRD Minister MM Paalam Raju on Monday. The issues include external peer review from attracting foreign students to improving fund raising capability to improving the quality of faculty and teaching.

As part of a roadmap to greater autonomy, IIMs had agreed to institute a system of periodic external peer review. In the next few months, with the approval of the board of governors of each IIM, modalities for conducting such a review will be worked out.

The meeting will consider setting up a system of accreditation for management institutes. Though initially opposed to the idea, the institutes will strive to put in place an annual work plan system and some standardisation of teaching hours to ensure maximum flexibility. 

BISHWA SRIVASTAVA

PGDM 2nd sem