Women HR Leaders- Business Manager-HR magazine

F
inally Women in HR have made India Inc. to believe that this function is
no more a male domain and it is done through their sensibilities,
commitment and leadership acumen. The changing attitude of
organizations also ratify the perspective that women in HR can very well
climb to the top of the corporate ladder.
No doubt that the journey of women from home manager (HM) to human
resource manager (HRM) has not been very easy in the back drop of cultural
context but social change coupled with determination and believing in self has
opened the doors for women to attain senior roles in Corporate India.
The visibility of HR women at higher levels has been slow but not disappointing
as compared to last two decades. In fact whatever changes in the perception of
India Inc. have occurred, it was only in these two decades when MNCs entered the
country and encouraged gender diversity.
Many research studies on women mangers in India have repeatedly revealed that
the strengths making them successful at work are their ability to perceive
situations, multitasking, empathy, crisis management skills, collaborative work
style and sensitivity in relationship. But it has not been so easy for women to
achieve respect and social /workplace acceptability. The journey towards
corporate higher up is not devoid of any hurdles still there are many mental, social
and behavioral challenges lie ahead of women in the career world. Few are due to
social and cultural taboos, whereas others are due to self behavior. Social and
cultural taboos include the mindset of families where daughter is still treated no.2
in comparison to son in the family. Many qualified women do not reach to the top
primarily due to the work environment essentially developed over decades in
favor of men. Long unpredictable work hours, discriminatory practices, macho
culture and gender stereotyping are deeply embedded at many workplaces.
Self behavior related challenges are about attempt to pleasing everyone at
workplace taking more and more responsibilities and not fully leveraging their
team. It also becomes challenge when women interpret leadership as quality that
requires harsh / strong action against their values and beliefs trying to copy male
counterparts' behavior. It is also seen that women do not speak out and hold back
when they are confronted in many situations. Women HR leaders need to choose
appropriate situations to speak up and make their presence meaningful.
But our Women HR leaders of this anniversary issue have proved that glass
ceiling stands shattered and is no longer a barrier as they stepped in with more
knowledge strategic function across the globe as they believe in self with high
confidence and "why not" attitude.They successfully strike a fine work life balance
and handle social pressures with the support of their husbands, family members
and excellent home environment. BM salutes to women power and recognizes
their contribution towards the growth of organizations and nurturing human
power.
Now the time has come where providing opportunities to women in organisation
is not a 'Nice to have' any more, it is 'must have'.
If you like it let us know. If not, well, let us know that too.
Happy Reading!
Women Power
Anil Kaushik
Editor’s Note
Comprehensive View
Your cover feature on Hiring practices,
attrition and retention presents good insight
and Compel the readers to analyse the
practices they have which directly impact
the attrition and retention. It is right that
hiring practices are Considered less
important than other HR interventions. I am
of the opinion that all employee related
problems are some how and some where
related to the hiring practices of the
organization. Other surveys also indicate
and ratify your survey findings. Man Power
survey also indicated that hiring in India
will remain robust in coming three months.
Employers across four regions and seven
sectors reported positive hiring plans . Most
opportunities are expected in service,
finance, real estate and Insurance sectors
whereas weakest hiring plans are reported
in wholesale and retail trade sector.
Sumitra, Noida
Hiring Impact
Mostly the top management is very much
inclined to go in for the cream among fresh
graduates and tradesmen. The same is the
case with experienced candidates as
companies tend to prefer candidates who
have worked with good companies. Due to
cultural mismatch between the previous and
current company, the candidate feels
uncomfortable and also demotivates his
colleagues all the time. Such a person is very
much unlikely to remain with the company
for a long time.
An employee who is not technically sound
or is a poor team player but has somehow
managed to enter the organization due to
faulty screening process, is also likely to
quit within the first 6 months.
Jaspreet Singh Janeja, e-mail
State of Confusion
I have read the cover feature with survey
findings on hiring, pay hikes and attrition.
After that many other surveys have also
comeup with their findings. I can say that
these findings have only added to confusion
because some say that hiring is up where
other say that employers may start
trimming employees as slow down begins to
bite. Don’t know what is the real picture.
Main power survey including yours &
others indicate positive hiring. Contrary to
it, ETIG study of companies indicate that
indian companies are focusing on trimming
staff costs to wheather the impact of an
economic slowdown and to maintain their
competitiveness in the face of a slide in
investments. According to study the share of
employee cost to sales ratio of BSE 500
companies has remained to 7.8% which is
the lowest since 2008.
Gunjan Mehta, Bangalore
Concern
It is a matter of concern that IT companies have
deferred campus hiring by three months. If it is
a clue that industry has started facing
slowdown, campus recruitment may effect
badly. Number of companies have also delayed
on-boarding process for 2010 recruits. It should
have started by now. These signals are not good
for campus recruitments.
P.S. Gupta, Meerut
Violence and IR
The article by Dr. G.P. Naik & Dr. K.
Janardhanam has come up with good
insights for employers and employees who
are always confused to assess the resaons of
violence in industrial relations.Authors have
very clearly put the possible reasons of
workers resorting to violence and also a piece
of advice to employers not to create
situations where workers are pushed to walls
. The article is an eye-opener. If employers
and managers show sensitivity and empathy
in handling employee grievances, there
become negligible chances of employees
resorting to violence.
B. Murari, Ahemdabad
Strategic IR
Case study by anil malik is enough to learn
tricks of handiling greedy union president.
Sometimes you need to make such people
understand in their language they
understand.Greed has no limits and if union
leader becomes greedy, and not handled
strongly, it will be a perennial problem.
Rabindra Singh, Hardwar
Readers are invited to comment on articles published in BM through email at : [email protected], [email protected]
Readers’ Response
2 Business Manager July 2012
Indranil Banerjee- BM Hon’y
Research Lead
Indranil Banerjee has always been very
instrumental and supportive
for quality contents of Business
Manager. BM acknowledges Mr.
Banerjee’s contribution. Now
Indranil would be Hon’y
Research Lead to multiply
contents diversity.
Chief Editor
ANIL KAUSHIK
Associate Editor
Anjana Anil
Hon'y Editorial Board
Dr. T.V. Rao
Dr. Rajen Mehrotra
Dr. V.P. Singh
H. L. Kumar
Hon’y Research Lead
Indranil Banerjee
[email protected]
DELHI :
F- 482,Vikaspuri, New Delhi-18
GHAZIABAD :
A - 39, Lohia Nagar, Naya
Ghaziabad (UP)
Hon'y Co-ordinators
A.S. Sharma - Gurgaon
[email protected]
Pankaj Pradeep- Pune
[email protected]
Mihir Gosalia- Mumbai
[email protected]
Deep Sikha Chakravorty-Kolkata
[email protected]
Owned, Published and Printed by Anil
Kaushik at Sun Prints, Ganpati Tower, Nangli
Circle, Alwar - 301001 and Published From B-
138, Ambedkar Nagar, Alwar - 301001 ( Raj.)
India Editor : Anil Kaushik
The views expressed in the articles published
in Business Manager are those of the authors
only and not necessarily of the Publisher/Editor.
While every effort is made to have no mistake
in the magazine, errors do occur. Publishers
do not own any responsibility for the losses or
damages caused to any one due to such
ommissions or errors.
Annual Subscription 900/- through DD
(by ordinary Book-Post) (by Courier 1140/-)
favouring Business Manager ( Please add
40/- to outstation Cheques) may be sent to:
B-138, Ambedkar Nagar, Alwar - 301001 (Raj.)
India, Ph : 91-144 - 2372022
Mob.: 09785585134
www.businessmanager.co.in
E-mail : [email protected],
[email protected]
Published on 1st of Every Month
July
2012
Vol. 15
No. 1
Inside
COVER
Feature
Smita Dash Sahoo
Mandeep Maitra
Dr. Shalini Sarin
Dr. Sujaya Banerjee Padma Singh Sushmita Basu
Aparna Sharma
Dr. Tanvi Gautam
Dr. Tanaya Mishra
Women
HR
Leaders
Women
HR
Leaders
The HR Women-Celebrating Success -Smita Dash Sahoo
In the galaxy of stars through difficulties - Aparna Sharma
Breaking the moulds all through - Mandeep Maitra
Power of believing in self - Dr. Tanvi Gautam
Winning Isn't Everything, but Wanting to Win is - Dr. Shalini Sarin
Being Professional handling tough situations... - Dr. Tanaya Mishra
Be Woman & Write your destiny - Dr. Sujaya Banerjee
Transforming from Home Manager to HR Manager - Padma Singh
Challenging journey of establishing business HR - Sushmita Basu
Women- The Natural Leaders
- A.S. Sharma
pg. 09-33
Surrogate
HR
pg. 41
pg. 61
pg. 64
Helpline
Labour Problems
& Solutions
Questions by readers on variety of
problems they face at work and
answers by Anil Kaushik Chief
Editor. Look at it. These may also
be of some help to you.
Judgments
Latest from
the Courts
Latest verdicts from different High
Courts and Supreme Court effecting
employer employee relations.
& HR News
pg. 40
Govt.
Notifications
pg. 34
Developing A Compelling
Employees Value Proposition
What is an employee value proposition? Simply put E.V.P is an
employee's perspective or what is in it for me to work here?
and an employer's communicated promise to its employees. -
An article by Chinmay Kumar Podder.
Great Place to Work ®
& Edenred study on
Rewards and Recognition
What make
Organisations Best for
R & R?
pg. 37
Spirituality In Corporate
Governance
Spiritual leadership is moving leaders from managing
employees to inspiring employees, a critical component of
transformational leadership. It integrates transformational and
servant leadership with spiritual, ethical, and values-based
leadership models into a combination of core competencies. -
An article by Debaprasad Chattopadhyay.
pg. 52
The Employee’ Pension Scheme, 1995
Know About It!
There is no provision in the EPS 1995 to file 'date of birth' in the
office records. Therefore, any information about date of birth
which is given under the EPF Scheme 1952, is taken as basic .
data for EPS 1995. An article by Ram Niwas Bairwa.
pg. 55
Managing Discipline
Unenumerated Misconducts
In majority of judicial verdicts, it is held and ruled that an
employer is estopped from taking strict action in the event of a
delinquent committing a misconduct which does not find
place in the list of acts and omissions that constitute
misconduct in the Standing Orders or Service Rules.
An article by Shantimal Jain.
pg. 63
pg. 59
pg. 57
CASE ANALYSIS
Valuing workforce & visionary leadership
The case analysis refers to case study ‘Strategic handling of Union President’s greed’
by Anil malik published in June 12 issue by Mihir Gosalia.
CASE STUDY
Dream Big & Dare to Step In
The case highlights various challenges which came across the journey from being an
employee to becoming an employer. The establishment of a brand in a competitive
market is an unavoidable challenge.
pg. 05
Inside
Book Review
4 Business Manager July 2012
pg. 39
EVENT REPORT
NHRDN Silver Jubilee
Conference at Kolkata
Air India plans to float VRS
Getting right persons still difficult
for employers : survey
Workers' Strike Hits Arvind Production
Air India may exclude commanders from
'workmen' category
Bajaj Auto Uttarakhand workers threaten stir
over salary hike
pg. 43
Top Ten Companies in
Rewards & Recognition
TPG Software Pvt. Ltd.
(Information Technology)
Intuit Technologies Services Pvt. Ltd.
(Information Technology)
American Express India Pvt. Ltd.
(Financial Services)
Aditi Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
(Information Technology)
Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd.
(Information Technology)
JM Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.
(Financial Services)
Music Broadcast Private Limited
(Media)
Reliance Commercial Finance
(Financial Services)
SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd.
(Information Technology)
Qualcomm India Pvt. Ltd.
(Telecommunication)
W
orkforce today is more articulate about their needs.
Employees desire the best of everything- competitive
salaries, comfortable & aspirational lifestyles, job
security, career enhancement options, work-life balance,
and so on. Competition for talent is ever increasing and
organisations need to have well-defined philosophies and strategies to
help them develop innovative ways of tapping intrinsic motivation of
employees by engaging their hearts and minds. While many
organisations are struggling to make sufficient progress in this
direction, there are organisations that have institutionalized robust
practices and effective processes in different people practice areas that
go a long way in positively impacting employee perception. India's Best
Companies for Rewards and Recognition was conceptualised to
recognize companies who are leading the way in the area of Rewards
and Recognition for us learn from.
Organizations for this study are assessed on three parameters:
Trust, Pride & camaraderie, which are further broken into various
dimensions and sub-dimensions.
To ensure that above mentioned parameters are experienced by
employees, an organisations needs to undertake ahost of activities and
institutionalize a number of practices. They do so in 9 People Practice
Areas, namely Hiring, Inspiring, Speaking, Listening, Thanking,
Developing, Caring, Celebrating and Sharing, through which people
managers in the best workplaces enable their employees to experience
the organization.
With the objective of recognizing organizations with outstanding
rewards and recognition practices, Great Place To Work® Institute, in
collaboration with Edenred, has launched a first-of-its-kind study called
" India's Best Companies for Rewards and Recognition".
Characteristics of the most positively perceived
rewards and recognition programmes
Research indicates that the most critical characteristics of effective
rewards and recognition programmes are the fairness, equity and
justice inherent in these programmes. This sense of equity is both
Business Manager July 2012 5
Great Place to Work
®
& Edenred study on
Rewards and Recognition
Best for
R & R?
What make
Organisations
internal within the organization and
external with respect to comparable
organizations operating in the
marketplace. There are three aspects
of equity and fairness which are
relevant here. The absence of these
three aspects hurts the effectiveness of
rewards and recognition programmes
significantly.
a. Distributive justice: The
proportion in which financial
resources and gains/profits of the
organization are distributed
between various stakeholders
such as promoters/ owners/
investors/ shareholders,
managers and employees at
different levels in the
organization, belonging to
different divisions/functions/
locations, etc., define distributive
justice. If some stakeholders are
"disproportionately" rewarded (in
the eyes of the other
stakeholders), then the
effectiveness of the rewards
programme can suffer. Another
aspect of distributive, as well as
procedural justice, is that
differentiation in rewards and
recognition reflects true and
significant differentiation in
performance and contribution.
b. Procedural Justice: Answers to
the following questions indicate
whether requisite procedural
justice exists, the absence of
which hurt the effectiveness of the
programmes- For what
actions/behaviours/efforts and
results/ contribution /
performance are rewards and
recognition provided? Are only
results rewarded and recognized,
or do they apply to sustained effort
as well? How fairly, transparently
and correctly are efforts and
results measured? Does everyone
get sufficient opportunities to
perform and to be recognized and
rewarded? How does the
organization ensure that results
achieved through wrong
behaviours and non-performing
people don't get rewarded or
recognized due to favouritism,
nepotism and organizational
politics?
c. Interactional Justice: This is
about the human element of
fairness and justice which forms
the capstone of effective rewards
and recognition programmes. Do
the recipients of rewards and
recognition (and even those who
don't receive rewards at any point
in time) feel the sense of being
appreciated and thanked
genuinely from the bottom of the
heart by those who are in a
position to reward and recognize?
Some basic fundamentals that
organisations seem to apply are:
Set a clear benchmark for the
average level of compensation
within the organization across job
families, job levels, functions and
businesses and expected level of
performance, which determines
pay competitiveness in the
industry.
Determine "bottom-line goals" of
the company and tie people's pay to
the goals: This help an
organisation to reward for
performance that directly
contributes to its business
objectives. This is done by
introducing the aspect of variable
pay linked to achievement of
business outcomes. Ensuring the
line of sight of the goals/business
outcomes is of key importance to
make the programme effective.
Line of sight here refers to the
direct control/lability of (each)
employee to influence the
achievement of business goals
through his/her abilities and
efforts.
To ensure that rewards and
recognition systems at an
organisation are effective, it needs to
have programs that reinforce
company values and goals and
encourages employees to act in line
with such goals whilst also
emphasizing the importance of
achieving these goals.
What to recognize and how to make
recognition/appreciation heartfelt?
Recognition has been found to have
direct impact on the kind of
behaviour reinforced in the
organisation. Therefore, it is always
necessary for organisation to think
through the areas for which they want
to reward/recognize their employees.
It is also of utmost importance that
the desirable outcomes are achieved
and can be tracked and shared.
Organizations should be wary of
"unwittingly encouraging or
tempting" employees to behave and act
in an undesirable or unethical
manner to win an award.
6 Business Manager July 2012
What make Organisations Best for R & R?
Mr. Prasenjit Bhattacharya,
CEO Great Place to Work
®
Institute in India says: This
Study is an attempt to study
what the best workplaces in
this area do differently and to
encourage more
organizations to improve their
rewards and recognition
practices. The study has
brought focused insights in
this important area for
organizations who want to
use the power of appropriate
rewards and recognition to
create high performing
organizations."
Some of the areas commonly
recognized and rewarded in
organisations are Outstanding sales
performance, Delivery excellence: in
time, within budget & Years of service.
The categories in which companies
reward employees depend on the
nature of business of the
organisation. The alignment of these
systems with organisation strategy is
what help the organisation to achieve
the desired impact of their rewards
and recognition programmes. For
example, the R&D organisations have
rewards associated with product
innovations, and there are awards to
incentivize sales, etc. Organisations
also recognize areas like customer
service excellence, team excellence,
innovations and ideas that have
lasting impact on the business.
An important aspect of execution is
recognizing and rewarding in such a
way that every employee feels valuable
and is proud of the achievement. The
spirit behind it should come alive.
Togetherness and timing are also
critical for effective recognition. It is,
therefore an important challenge to
ensure a good balance between
promptness in recognizing and doing
it in such a way that it becomes a
proud moment.
Creating a chance for all
to be recognized
Organisations now understand the
power of recognition and
appreciation. They understand that it
requires a lot of effort on the part of
employees to continuously contribute
towards organization's success. It is
the recognition or words of praise that
give an employee the push to go on.
Oragnisations now are creating
platforms for all to recognize each
other, which includes peer to peer and
junior to senior recognition.
Transparency and communication
in the effectiveness rewards and
recognition system
Rewards and Recognition motivate
employees for results only if they are
perceived to be fair. It is found that the
perception of unfairness associated
with Rewards and Recognition
discourages employees. To be
transparent, organisations need to
ensure constant and comprehensive
communication around rewards and
recognition. Use of intranet and e-mail
for communication related to rewards
and recognition is a common practice.
Best workplace differentiate
themselves by using additional
methods like posters, teasers and
newsletters for the same. Extensive
information about Rewards and
Recognition is provided during the
induction process in these
organisations. The best workplaces
also conduct periodic training/
education sessions to equip managers
and employees to use various rewards
and recognition methods effectively.
Intuit uses videos and online tutorials
to educate employees about rewards
and recognition.
Measuring effectiveness of the
initiatives and programs is the key to
ensuring that an organisation gets
right outcomes for the money and
efforts that it invests on the absence of
such measures there is possibility to
lose focus of the objective with which
an initiative/Program was started,
and thus, it may not add the expected
value.
Informal feedback from employees
and employees surveys are the most
common methods used by
organisations to measure the
effectiveness of Rewards and
Recognition Programs.
The usage of different methods to
recognize also provides an important
input to organisations on how
effective/useful the employees are
finding these methods.
In addition to measuring progress
of employee performance towards
corporate goals, well-defined
performance measurement Systems
help to gauge employee reception,
understanding and buy-in for reward
systems. This critical feedback can
help managers make adjustments
necessary to drive improvements and
avoid unforeseen undesirable
behaviours and actions that negatively
impact corporate goals and the
organization's culture.
Feedback taken from employees
through various other channels also
helps understand the effectiveness of
the rewards and recognition
programs. Employees have the
opportunity to share their feedback
through forums like HR Open Houses,
skip level meetings, etc. Fall in
percentage of attrition is considered
to be another significant input that
speaks about the overall culture of the
organisation of which appreciation
and recognition are an essential part.
Some organisations have seen a
decrease in turnover of employees
from identified high performance
Business Manager July 2012 7
What make Organisations Best for R & R?
Mr. Sandeep Banerjee, CEO
Edeured, said, "this
benchmark study is to honour
those organizations which
have set an example by
creating programs, practices,
elements and dimensions that
define their intent to reward
and recognize their
employees. This study
salutes the business and
leadership that has
championed programs in
order to maximize the
effectiveness of rewards and
recognition, which is a space
we closely associate with and
have over 50 years of
experience in, globally."
What make Organisations Best for R & R?
category post the implementation of rewards in
the category, which clearly exhibits the
effectiveness of system.
The way rewards and recognition are designed
may sometimes boost individual performance and
achievement of short term goals but may harm
team work, collaboration and organisation growth
and sustainability in the longer run. On the other
hand, team and organisation level, and hence may
affect individual productivity. Managers are at
times not comfortable in discussing and sharing
the 'not-so-good news' with employees. Therefore,
the challenge of the organizations is to equip their
managers to ensure that they maintain a balance
and become 'good/effective' managers instead of
aspiring to be 'nice/populist' managers. Managers
need to exercise due diligence in implementing
the programs that require their involvement.
Diluting standards in the quest of popularity can
do a lot of harm. Some managers complain that
they don't get time to complete the necessary
paper work and it is difficult for them to manage
rewards and recognition formalities for a large
team. In some cases rewards programs do more
harm than good when people believe that they are
being compared negatively to reward winners,
similar is the case with Incentive Pay (Pay for
Performance). If it is perceived by employees that
many winners have won their rewards more on
account of favouritism, nepotism and politics,
then the programme is likely to have adverse
impact on morale, motivation and performance.
It is hard to balance between promptness and
trying to make the recognition individualized,
especially keeping in mind the hectic schedules.
The organisations which have global presence
find it difficult to balance between
consistency/uniformity and local needs. Creating
a consistency across different teams and Business
Units is also a challenge. Many times different
Business Units interpret guidelines differently.
Teams sometimes find themselves getting
constrained in applying creativity to the extent
they would have liked to.
The rewards and recognition
ownership/implementation pattern in the best
workplaces shows that to ensure effective and
widespread reach, organisations should
decentralize practices and rest the responsibility
of recognition with team leaders, peers and
juniors rather thank with a distant authority or
essentially the HR function. They need to monitor
implementation to ensure that there are no
unjustifiable differences in teams. They need to
define right metrics of effectiveness and measure
and track them to ensure that recognition has
positive impact on performance.
Major findings and key insights:
1. Effective rewards and recognition practices
need to reflect a company's culture (basic values &
beliefs ) and integrate well with the nature of its
business, strategy and goals.
2. Absence of fairness significantly hurts
employee perception and efficacy of R&R
practices. Absence of fairness is evident by
factors like
a. Insufficient external parity,
b. Inadequate internal equity
c. Lack of impartiality in assessment,
d. Lack of clarity of desired actions & results
which will be rewarded, and
e. Inadequate transparency on how and why
some employees get rewarded.
3. Recognition practices (which are essentially
non-monetary represent great unutilized
potential, as recognition:
a. can be given both publicly and privately,
b. does not require big budget,
c. can be provided not only by the organization
and its senior leaders, but also by peers and
juniors,
d. can be more proximate to the actions and
results, and hence strongly reinforcing,
e. can be done frequently
Most companies are not utilizing the potential
of recognition sufficiently.
4. Empowering and encouraging people
managers and peers to provide recognition makes
recognition practices more effective.
5. Involving employees while deciding on
varied ways in which rewards and recognition can
be provided, instead of taking unilateral decisions
makes R&R programmes much more effective.
6. Using rewards and recognition, particularly
recognition, to drive desirable behaviours and
efforts, not just the results which go beyond sales
performance or customer satisfaction, make R&R
practices more impactful.
7. Making rewards and recognition more
individualized or personalized, without violating
the essence of fairness to match with the
individual's preferences and personality make the
rewards and recognition more meaningful and
motivating.
8. Setting realistic, achievable and line of sight
goals drive success. Rewards for goals that seem
unachievable do not motivate.
9. It is necessary to strive to strike a balance
between driving and rewarding individual results
and team performance because only focusing on
"individual achievements and
rewards/recognition" can harm team work and
collaboration, while only focusing on team
achievements without encouraging and
rewarding individual excellence can affect
individual drive and productivity.
To sum up, rewards and recognition
programmers must connect to the emerging need
and expectations of the workforce and link them
with the company's overall goals and strategies to
be successful.
8 Business Manager July 2012
BM
COVER
Feature
Smita Dash Sahoo
Mandeep Maitra
Dr. Shalini Sarin
Dr. Sujaya Banerjee Padma Singh Sushmita Basu
Aparna Sharma
Dr. Tanvi Gautam
Dr. Tanaya Mishra
Women
HR
Leaders
Women
HR
Leaders
COVER
Feature
The HR Women-
Celebrating Success
'P
ersonnel' was a field which was largely
dominated by men in India. Women
hardly could take up this profession as
it was mostly an IR role in
manufacturing sector and unionised
environment. When the services sector came up in a
big way and mildly unionised companies started
looking beyond IR, IR & HR became two distinct
branches of the Personnel function. With a new role
of HR Manager and India opening up to MNCs,
ladies brought in true elegance and unmatched
finesse to such roles. With time, women also entered
into Roles where IR environment was less militant,
like the Banking & Insurance Sector. This gave them
work exposure in interacting with the Unions and
during this fascinating period, she discovered that
her natural skills and inherent tact helped her in
professional effectiveness. And, she started on the
path of success; success initially not in the form of
promotions, higher positions and power but in the
form of effectiveness, efficiency and management
skills.
Successful women in HR! How can success be
defined? Is it about the brands one has worked with,
or the pay packet or the years of service, or a
perception? If so, is it a perception of the individual
about self or the people about the individual? People
may call an individual successful, but that
individual may still be chasing success. Is success
then a state of mind, just like happiness is a state of
being? Or is success a continuous process linked to
each one's professional needs? I think it is a
continuous state of celebration, and in my
celebrations, I briefly present to you how the first 3
organisations, I got associated with, played a vital
role in making the career of an HR woman:
(1) National Aluminium Co. Ltd (NALCO),
Orissa, gave me THE professional break, after my
M.A & M. Phil in Personnel Management, as
Trainee (HRD) through Campus Recruitment,
during times when one year's experience was
always 'desirable' but there was hardly any
worthwhile place where this 'desirability' could be
acquired. I learnt the practical HRD function in
NALCO. Let me share my genuine thoughts here -
the way NALCO helped me in acquiring
'desirability' 20 years back, is desirable from many
companies even today.
(2) Fourteen years! Strikes a chord in my heart! It
is the stint I had in a Nationalised Bank and I say
this with great pride that whatever expertise I
gained on HR, IR, Administration, Accounting,
Organisational Discipline, Vigilance, Welfare,
policies, processes, systems etc, is from here. When
I appeared at the Western Regional office of
Banking Service Recruitment Board (BSRB) at
Mumbai for the interview, on qualifying in the All
India written examination, I knew little that I would
be taken by Bank of Maharashtra, while I was
targeting Bank of India. The trust that it laid on me
built confidence in me, and crafted me as a
professional. And my genuine thoughts are - the way
I was taken care at Bank of Maharashtra, I fear I
may not be anywhere.
(3) A big credit goes to a Janalakshmi Financial
Services Limited (JFSL), a microfinance company at
Bangalore for being able to pull me out of a secure
Bank job and from the realms of loyalty. It was an
offer that sent me looking within and asking - How
can I? Why should I? What am I looking for? What am
I missing? All these questions opened a new channel of
communication with my own inner self and deeper
Smita Dash Sahoo
Chief Human Resources Officer, IFGL Refractories Ltd., Kolkata
Smita has about 20 years of experience in Human Resources function in manufacturing,
Banking, Microfinance, Consumer Finance and Academics in Public sector, Private sector
and MNC. Recently she has joined IFGL Refractories Limited, a listed company and present
globally, as the Chief Human Resources Officer.
10 Business Manager July 2012
needs. The reason for change was to fix the learning curve and to explore the
private sector. But the real reason was my need to contribute to the well-being
of the poor. The job was to get HR going as a function. But the real job I saw was
the associated challenges. Thus, I got introduced to my own self. My genuine
thanks to this organisation - the way this company gave me an opportunity
and supported me in adjusting from public to private sector, secure to
insecure environment, and administrative to strategic position, may many
other companies give such a career break to HR women professionals.
SHARING THE EMPLOYMENT SPACE -
RESERVATIONS & APPREHENSIONS
This is how any career can be made, man or woman, HR or Sales. Trust
is, as long as women have merit, space will be made for them. Those societies
and institutions, who have shared spaces smartly, have undergone a
wholesome growth and a sustained development. Problem arises when the
demand is more than the supply. And in that case, is this a man's world or a
women's? Does an HR woman get selected for a job when she equals a male
candidate in every respect? There are reservations that women would like a
back-end job, or may not sit late, or wouldn't attend parties with clients, or
may not be able to handle the unions or may not be able to handle the
recruitment vertical due to excessive travel etc. Additional arrangements
like pick and drop service, separate cost on accommodation
during travel, etc. may be warranted. All this extra care,
isn't it an avoidable headache (and cost)? How
organisations think about employment of women
depends upon their maturity levels. When there
really are safety issues, haven't legislations like
Factories Act 1948 disallowed employment of
women near dangerous machines?
ORIENTATION OF WOMEN PROFESSION-
ALS
Because of these reservations and
apprehensions, do woman in general
and an HR woman in particular, have
to compromise on her values or
sacrifice on her career growth? Or
has she been unconcerned about
career growth, simply wanting to
make the two ends meet? From my
experience I find that there are
broadly two types of women
professionals- Engagement
Oriented and Career Oriented,
and the Career Oriented Women
are of two kinds - Goal Oriented
and Value Oriented. In brief
they can be explained as below:
1) Engagement Oriented -
Such women are driven by the
need for a balance between their
personal and professional
lives. They are happy to
be gainfully engaged
and do not look
COVER
Feature
The HR Women-Celebrating Success -Smita Dash Sahoo
Having been
an athlete,
sportswoman and
an NCC cadet in
school/college,
I had one basic
rule - till you have
reached the
finishing line,
game is on and
you can win. Till
the last second,
don't give up.
Business Manager July 2012 11
beyond that. They close their minds to career growth
as they are not prepared to shoulder higher
responsibilities, for fear of imbalance in the main
two fronts of their life. Such women however, may be
driven by values which are anyways, demonstrated
not for career growth.
2) Career Oriented - (A) 'Career Goal' Oriented
- Such women have a clear career goal and are
obsessed to reach there as soon as possible. What
vehicle they take, what means they adopt everything
depends on this obsession. They thus, keep aligning
and realigning their values, principles, philosophies
etc., to the environmental demands and develop
high coping capabilities to avoid an identity crisis.
Internally and externally they are driven only by
their Career Goal.
(B) Value Oriented - Such women professionals
at the outset lay down certain core script consisting
of the Dos and Don'ts based on their value system
and principles of life, and would not compromise on
them for anything. They project themselves through
their value system. Internally they are Value
oriented and externally Task oriented. They firmly
believe that hard and smart work with high values
build career. Due to these orientations, they acquire
knowledge, skills and expertise which project them
into the limelight. They get identified as talents and
attain leadership qualities which automatically take
care of their career growth.
There could be women who initially were
Engagement Oriented but became Career Oriented
in later part of their lives and vice-versa. So there
could be shift from one orientation to another. It is
advisable to either be Engagement oriented with
strong value system, or Value Oriented Career
woman. Lot of credit for the success would go to the
men in the form of father, brother, husband, friend,
and son in personal lives and Boss, peer and team
member or subordinate in professional lives. Those
who get the support of men as well as women in
both fronts of their lives thrive even better.
CHALLENGES FOR WOMEN IN CAREER
For women employees in India, Work Life Balance
is of utmost importance and several times I found
women struggling to complete their work within
office hours as they could not dedicate 2-3 hours of
extra time that the men did. They also miss out on the
bonding that generally happens after office hours
among the peers and also with the boss. Women HR
professionals might not be able to take up certain
roles or may be facing challenges in roles that require
odd or long working hours and which involve
excessive travels. Security is a major issue. We have
found so many incidences of criminal attacks on
women of late. More than conducive working
environment, safe social environment is the, greatest
challenge and, need for women professional today.
Yes, there have been challenges and they will
continue to exist. There could be professional
exploitation or abuse too. There could be demand for
favours in exchange of some genuine needs. There
could even be harassment of various types. But,
doesn't she face it outside work place too; let us say
in school, college, travel route or neighbourhood,
thus being aware how to tackle such situations. Still
then, providing a safe and secure work environment
is an obligation of every organisation, as providing
a safe and secure living environment an obligation
of every society.
HR LEARNING - TIPS FOR THE (HR) WOMAN
I have had difficult times too. There have been
times when my self-confidence appeared to have
been shattered. At times I would be nursing my
injuries while getting advised to be more tactful. But
all these are part of the game. Having been an
athlete, sportswoman and an NCC cadet in
school/college, I had one basic rule - till you have
reached the finishing line, game is on and you can
win. Till the last second, don't give up. But most
important is, fight for the right cause in the right
manner at the right time. I share below some of my
learnings as an HR woman professional:
(1) A pleasant personality with a strong character
and positive attitude helps in being effective.
(2) Be a Value Oriented career woman. Be flexible
within rigid boundaries.
(3) Learn to say 'NO', wherever required, but in a
positive way. It should not hurt egos.
(4) There is something to learn from every
transaction in life. Be a continuous learner.
(5) Designations are immaterial, the Role you get to
play is important.
(6) There will be good and bad bosses, peers,
subordinates, situations, conditions, climate,
environment and culture in every organisation.
When you encounter the bad, face it and remain
good with people. Don't quit, because things
settle down with time and every organisation
has its share of good and bad. Stick on, as what
matters is the Role you play.
(7) First satisfy the job and then look for job
satisfaction.
HR TAILOR AND SCULPTOR
Has the HR woman succeeded on both fronts?
Yes, to an extent that could be possible, but the
struggle is on. The most notable fact is that the skill
sets which woman bring, including the emotional
quotient, are unique and too well suited for certain
jobs like the Human Resources.
In the profession of HR, women are able to
provide an environment of trust and fairness
equally to both men and women. As a closing piece,
let me share a secret with you - HR profession is
most enjoyable when you have reached a stage in
your career when you have transformed into an HR
Craftsman with specialisation in Tailoring and
Sculpting. 'HR Tailor' measures the needs of the
organisation and stitches clothes in the name of HR
policies, processes and systems to suit and fit the
need. Since the organisation is in the growing
stages, a periodic review is made, and necessary
alterations are worked out, if possible, or then
new policies, processes and systems are
'stitched' depending upon the growth of the
organisation.
12 Business Manager July 2012
COVER
Feature
The HR Women-Celebrating Success -Smita Dash Sahoo
BM
A
s I got to down to pen this piece went
into flashback mode. What experiences
have made me the professional that I
am today? What were the challenges
faced during a sixteen year career?
I come from a conservative family where
women worked but it was not actively
encouraged. In the mid 1990's girls from towns
like Ujjain, mostly, became homemakers after
graduation. I too might have become one, were it
not for the inner drive "Dare to be different"-
make a mark! Drawing inspiration from my
doctor aunt - the World was my canvas. In
hindsight, stepping into the corporate world was
an accident….
I originally wanted to join the Indian
Administrative Services (IAS) but had to take on
an alternate profession as I had to become
financially independent early in life and owing
to the stringent norms of the administrative
services, time was not in my favor. This initial
disappointment did not deter me and I took on
the challenge head-on.
After completing my graduation from TISS, I
applied to a leading chemical company. During
the interview told the panel that would consider
joining them only if they allowed me to work on
the shop floor. The panel was aghast! Why does
this young girl want to commit professional
harakari by working in a highly unionized
environment? I was firm and am fortunate the
panel reposed faith in me. It was baptism by fire.
There was a new crisis every day. Workers went
on a go slow on the smallest pretext for e.g. there
is less sugar in tea today. I learnt to be cool under
pressure, build good relations with workers and
appeal to their fatherly instincts since many of
them had daughters my age.
It has been a roller coaster ride since then. I
often reflect on experiences.
What is it that drives me? 'Be a Contributor'.
The intent is to add value to the organization and
people that I work for/with. In short 'make a
difference'. Some say you have to be born with
such drive others say it can be acquired. I believe
it is a combination of both. A few strands.
Education is a passport to a job but your past
track record is the basis for a new assignment
meaning that you have to be a contributor
continuously. You need an inquisitive mindset,
constant hunger for knowledge and insights.
Accept challenges head-on for in every solution
lie rich experiences and long term rewards. It is
this drive to contribute that has, mostly, enabled
me to generate transformative insights which
have impacted the organization in a positive and
14 Business Manager July 2012
Aparna is a Post Graduate in (PM & IR) from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai of the
1996 batch. She has worked with Nocil , Monsanto, Novartis & UCB before joining the Deutsche Bank
group as Director-HR for 2 of their Service Centres in India. She was conferred the "WOMAN SUPER
ACHIEVER" award in December 2011 by the 6th Employer Branding awards (Regional Round). Also,
conferred the " HR SUPER ACHIEVER AWARD" by STAR NEWS at the 20th World HRD Congress 2012,
Mumbai as part of the "HR & Leadership Awards" for Excellence in Human Resources Development at a
glittering award ceremony on February 16,2012. Aparna is an active member of various professional
associations like, Indian Society of Training & Development (ISTD), All India Management Association
(AIMA), National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM), National HRD Network, and Sumedhas.
Currently, she has been appointed as the Honorary Treasurer of National HRD Network, Mumbai Chapter
(2012-2014) and is a member of the Executive Committee. On the personal front, Aparna is a very avid
reader, poetess, intrepid traveler, nature and wildlife enthusiast, amateur photographer, has a passion
for gardening and a keen people collector.
Aparna Sharma
Director-HR, DBOI Global Services (Deutsche Bank Group)
In the galaxy of stars
through difficulties
COVER
Feature
Business Manager July 2012 15
Challenge is that
of work life
balance. Women,
who work,
continue to be
homemakers,
though not in the
earlier sense, and
are constantly
struggling to
excel in both the
worlds. Support
from the
organization and
spouse,
smoothen the
process although
must admit that it
gets very difficult
at times.
IN THE GALAXY OF STARS THROUGH DIFFICULTIES -APARNA SHARMA
COVER
Feature
lasting way. Sharing of knowledge has helped me
evolve. By writing-speaking what you know
knowledge becomes part of your DNA. Meeting
students, aspiring professionals has kept me
abreast with how Gen Y is thinking, tailor HR
solutions to attract such talent and provoke
thought within.
Yet there have been many challenges along
the journey. Some roles are traditionally
performed by men. There are others which are
more welcoming of women. Changing mindsets
was a challenge. I was once told 'you cannot do
this since this required me to work through the
night'. I asked my senior for the brief and time
frame. With the support of colleagues and better
time management, completed the job before
midnight. All I requested was a home drop for
team which the senior readily agreed to.
Similarly, I spent over twenty days with the sales
team to make farmer/field visits. The farmers
were impressed to see a lady work shoulder to
shoulder with her male colleagues that sales
surged. If you have confidence in your abilities,
are willing to learn, and honest to yourself about
your limitations, no challenge is too big to
accept. When men want to discuss a problem
outside of work, they can meet for a drink after
office. Found that difficult to do due to home
commitments. I got around it by requesting
colleagues to meet earlier over coffee/chai or
closer home so that travel time is reduced.
Another challenge is that of work life balance.
Women, who work, continue to be homemakers,
though not in the earlier sense, and are
constantly struggling to excel in both the worlds.
Support from the organization and spouse,
smoothen the process although must admit that
it gets very difficult at times. In such situations, I
have sailed through with the belief that this too
shall pass and given my best.
I also believe that Indian women are blessed
with special powers that allow them to multi-task
with relative ease. Gender & now, Generational
Diversity continue to be a challenge while
organizations are trying various creative ways to
create & retain a sustainable competent
workforce.
I just finished reading the Geeta once, only
very recently. However, as the immortal lines of
Geeta quoted above speak, I have always valued
Commitment, Ambition and Strive to achieve
Excellence in all that I do since my childhood. I
sincerely strive to make a positive difference in
others lives and always continue to improve
myself with truth and knowledge.
Stumbling upon a profession almost by
accident, three things that have worked for me in
this serendipitous career choice have been;
strategic perspective, involvement as a change
agent and team orientation and people
management. I demonstrated my strategic
perspective even during my first job interview,
as narrated above.
As a change agent, I have played an integral
part in setting up and revitalizing the human
resources teams and defining the culture of the
organization, in three out of my four previous
roles. One of the striking highlights as a change
agent has been when I worked on the
performance management process following the
merger of one of my previous organizations.
With a strategic perspective, I took the best of
both organizations and created a new process for
evaluating performance. In the capability
development effort, there is an equally
compelling story to tell. I came up with a
revolutionary idea to decentralize training in
collaboration with employees from the business.
This not only increased my team's capacity but
also created ownership and made training real
for employees.
The third aspect of my career that has worked
for me has been my team orientation and people
management skills. My colleagues vouch
"Aparna is a people's person". Working with
people comes naturally to me; a necessary trait,
considering MY profession.
I maintain that even though I came into this
profession by chance and had a second chance to
get into to the administrative services, I chose
not to stray from the path as I am extremely
passionate about people as assets. I have been
able to successfully create successors in all
organizations by giving autonomy, empowering
staff and mentoring them.
Being a woman has been a source of strength
in my journey of contributing to organisations
and the society at large.
(Views are personal)
16 Business Manager July 2012
I maintain that even though I came into this profession by chance and had a
second chance to get into to the administrative services, I chose not to stray from the
path as I am extremely passionate about people as assets.
IN THE GALAXY OF STARS THROUGH DIFFICULTIES -APARNA SHARMA
COVER
Feature
BM
COVER
Feature
Business Manager July 2012 17
Mandeep Maitra
Head Asia - Hot Spots Movement, Founder Karma Consulting Solutions, Singapore
Former Country Head HR, Infrastructure, Admin and Corporate Social Responsibility at HDFC Bank
Breaking
the
moulds
all
through
Mandeep currently spearheads strategy and development of Hot Spots Movement in Asia. Hot Spots
Movement, founded by Professor Lynda Gratton of London Business School is a niche research and
consulting team. Before starting work with Hot Spots in 2010, in a career spanning over two decades
Mandeep worked in the banking and financial industry for over 18 years, consulting for two years and
manufacturing for around a year. In her previous assignment where she spent close to twelve years,
Mandeep had the privilege to work towards building one of the best and strongest Bank's in Asia
Pacific. During her tenure the Bank grew in it's staff strength of around 1500 in 1999 to over 60,000 in
2010. At that time as a Country Head HR and Corporate Services, Mandeep was the youngest member
to be part of the Management Committee and the only woman to have broken the glass ceiling in the
Bank. She received various awards and accolades personally and for the institution in her career here.
In the last one and half years besides working for Hot Spots Movement, Mandeep founded Karma
Consulting Solutions in 2011.
"I want to do HR because I think it is easy
and I love meeting people" said this young
lady who had come to take some career
advice from me. It amused me what my last
two decades has taught me that HR is
anything but for the faint hearted. I thought
about that night in May of 1988 prior to
reporting for work the next morning at
Eicher Tractors, Parwanoo when the guest
house caretaker didn't let me in because he
was expecting a gentleman (Mr Mandeep)as
Senior Officer Personnel or working in a
Tractor Gear manufacturing plant of six
hundred employees that had precisely four
women - a telephone operator and three
secretaries, or the Union antics against the
Management in the 80's era! I maintain that
my baptism into HR happened at that plant
in Parwanoo and that kind of experiential
learning remains valuable to me till this day.
I met some amazing people through the
years. Icons like Prof Indira Parikh, Dr
Pritam Singh, Arun Wakhlu and Anil
Sachdev inspired me no end and influenced
my thinking. I also had the privilege of
meeting some incredible women who
worked at the grass-root level. Most of these
women had come from a social services
background and were great athandling
workers at the shopfloor. Their training
helped them to strike quick rapport with the
workmen and were avid at handling chronic
absentees, alcoholics, poor performers and
so on. They were well respected for their
hard work and contribution by workmen,
Union Leaders and Management alike.
The girls coming from Management
schools in those days mostly preferred and
were given Corporate HR (Head office based)
roles by most Companies (although the boys
were picked for factory based / IR roles).
Corporate HR roles gave a good exposure
regarding policy making, campus hiring,
design and implementation of staff and
executive development programs and at
times looking after compensation and
benefits of executives (the award staff was
covered by the Union Agreements). For a
long time women HR professionals were
thought as being good in only handling
"softer issues". But then there were always
exceptions in women who started breaking
the mold and started being counted as being
capable of handling the toughest of
employee relation issues and tackling all
kinds ofBusiness challenges.
The first wave of women leaders, because
they were breaking new ground, adhered to
many of the "rules of conduct" that spelled
success for men. But the subsequent
generation of women leaders who started
making their way into top management, did
not have to adopt the style and habits that
had proved successful for men but drew on
what they felt was unique to women - those
skills and attitudes even if seen as being
"feminine" were developed from their shared
experiences as women.
At the age of twenty-seven I started
reporting to the General Manager in a Bank
and in another five years I was a Head of HR
of another Bank reporting directly to the
CEO. Being the young member of the
Management Committee, getting
opportunity to create a blueprint for HR and
presenting the same to the Board of
Directors was a high point at that age. I
always maintained that it was a lot of hard
work, some calculated risks to move jobs and
a lot of good luck that helped me get where I
got in life. Well my accomplishments were
despite of me being a woman leader.
Fortunately, by the turn of the century
enough was being written about what were
those qualities that made women leaders
effective. We were being applauded for our
assertiveness and persuasive skills, our
ability to take risks and get things done,
being more empathetic, flexible and stronger
in interpersonal skills as compared to our
male counterparts. Women were found to be
gifted with an innate intuitive ability to read
situations accurately and genuinely
understand all those they were leading in an
attempt to make their people feel more
understood, supported and valued.
From an HBR to a Cosmopolitan and now
countless blogs there is much one can read
about inspirational work of many unsung
women personalities!One is encouraged to
read that a lot of work has happened around
the world towards gender equality. In
America, more than 50% of the workforce
are women, and globally, around 50% of
graduates entering multinational
companies are women. In the developed
world, there are more female than male
students, and on average, female students
achieve greater educational qualifications
than their male counterparts. Women are
quickly becoming the more educated gender
and are overtaking men in many fields.
However, one continues to come across
trends like in the graph belowwhich
showsthe percentage of ambitious women in
various countries as against the percentage
of women who feel discriminated against.
For India you will see that we have the
largest percentage of ambitious women even
more than US and China but at the same
time we have the amongst the highest (only
second to UAE) percentage of women who
feel discriminated against. This is
something that the Corporate World in India
needs to address with utmost urgency.
18 Business Manager July 2012
COVER
Feature
BREAKING THE MOULDS ALL THROUGH- MANDEEP MAITRA
The first wave of
women leaders,
because they were
breaking new ground,
adhered to many of
the "rules of conduct"
that spelled success
for men. But the
subsequent
generation of women
leaders who started
making their way into
top management, did
not have to adopt the
style and habits that
had proved successful
for men but drew on
what they felt was
unique to women -
those skills and
attitudes even if seen
as being "feminine"
were developed from
their shared
experiences as
women.
I personally did not understand this
trend like many other women leaders who
make it to the top. For a long time I was
busy in my career and dreaming of bigger
things! But as I traveled extensively across
the country and mostly in B, C, D category
towns I heard some amazing sagas of
personal triumph by women against all
odds to stand on their own feet.
Unfortunately, came across an equally
large number of disturbing storiesof
vexation from women employees in these
centers and surprisingly also in metro
cities. Little did I realize that a
professionally run organization could also
pose everyday challenges for women
employees. But then there are all kinds of
people who make up our organisations,
right?Taking one step at a time over a
decade I tried to champion many of the
issues of these women and founded
"Sisterhood of Strength". Like other
diversity programs the attempt was to
connect women across the organisation,
build a stronger network, get role model
women leaders from within and externally
to mentor, coach and address existing
challenges, and build a strong support
system for our women employees. The need
of course had been triggered by the falling
ratio of women employees in mid and
senior levels.
I often hear these debates at the
echelons of Management about number of
women at the top. In 2010, less than 5% of
the world's CEOs and around 30% of
managers were women. Closer home,
Business Leaders and CEOs in India
constantly talk about the lack of talented
women leaders and also acknowledge that
the Corporate World has failed women. But
having said they also hold women
responsible for "not displaying tenacity and
an uncompromising determination to
climb the professional ladder and force a
corporate revolution that will give them
power." Most top bosses feel exasperated
that even the most talented women
managers sometimes fail to fit the
organizational molds and opt out of the
workforce at most critical junctures.
This huge drop off at the top of the
corporate ladder can be put down to a
combination of personal attributes
(women are viewed as lacking a strategic
perspective, are not seen negotiating
strongly or networking with powerful
men); structural issues (women tend to join
specialist roles which are not typically
developmental escalators to the top);
organisational culture (with 'masculine'
traits overvalued in senior roles) and
reasons of family structure (it is hard for
women to return to a fast track career after
having children, and most men are not
prepared to take an equal role in bringing
up children).Many of these factors look
unlikely to change significantly. Perhaps
the notable exception would be
organisational culture and family
structure, but even then it will be
evolutionary, rather than revolutionary
change.
The focus of change in Corporates
therefore has been on organizational
policies, supporting systems, and
infrastructure - that can provide increasing
flexibilityto women at the workplace.
Fortunately, there is general consensus on
a macro level that we need to create a more
supportive environment for women but the
pace of change still seems slow. Women
continue to face some challengesthat are
Business Manager July 2012 19
COVER
Feature
BREAKING THE MOULDS ALL THROUGH- MANDEEP MAITRA
Suggested measures for aspiring women leaders...
1. Enlist mentors at your work place and solicit feedback on leadership techniques.
2. Establish credibility.
3. Report harassment of any kind.
4. Reflect on the feedback and work hard not to let it happen it again!
"one-off" in their nature. There is a
shortage of female role models.
Leadership styles can be acquired by
observing others; but there are often few
female executives to observe. Women can
watch male leaders too, of course, but men
can't illustrate how to navigate female
stereotypes.
Women find that if they assert
themselves forcefully, pursue their own
ambitions and promote their self-interests,
people may perceive them as pushyand
calculating triggering a backlash. But if
they act in a stereotypically feminine way,
they aren't seen as strong leaders.
Women complain that they lack
prowess at workplace politics. "We need to
work harder than men to prove ourselves".
"We feel the constant pressure to never
make a mistake and to continually prove
our value to the organization". They feel
they can never rest on their laurels and
find themselves negotiating with men at
every stage of their career.
Many women have to face a constant
state of unease when they hear everyday
raunchy banter or humor by men at work
that may not be appropriate. A woman may
not feel comfortable with language such as
"I'm going to whip your butt on our sales
goals this month." Clearly chauvinism or
discrimination is an enigma that
organisations (and business cultures) need
to work hard to prevent.
Other women feel that they are judged
harsher when they choose to remain
single, or choose their careers over their
children or for not being able to keep a
household running and clean whilst
bringing in a significant portion of
revenue to keep dual income lifestyle.
Some believe that it all boils down to
(Asian) men not being able to see women in
powerful, responsible or decision-making
roles, and therefore try to downplay and
manipulate their efforts and
accomplishments.
Even if all of the above is true - women
have to have a CAN DO spirit and do
something about each of the above
challenges. Some suggested measures for
aspiring young women leaders could be:
Enlist mentors at your work place and
solicit feedback on leadership techniques.
After a meeting, ask a trusted superior
what behaviors worked and what didn't.
Remember some male mentors may not be
aware of the unique challenges you may be
facing in asserting leadership. Explore
joining some women's forum or network
externally if you are unable to find any
mentors internally! (Believe me when I say
women can be woman's best friends, it is
true!)
Establish credibility. Be sincere in
actively engaging colleagues, superiors
and direct reports, and talk to them
frequently -exchange ideas and research.
Don't hesitate to ask for their help and
support at the right time. You will be
surprised how many of these people back
you up when needed.
If the Organisation culture is
constantly making you feel stressed and
wearing you down re-assess what could be
the real reasons behind these
manifestationsby reaching out to a
trust worthy mentor or Coach, internally
or externally. This is better than being
seen as whining, complaining or
getting emotionalat work.Whilst
having a dialogue with your Supervisor or
Coach do remember to be rational in
separating the anecdotal stuff from
regular occurrences. Always report
harassment of any kind.
If you observe inequities at work - not
being considered for an assignment or
getting passed over for a promotion or a
chance of a better increment approach
your Supervisor or HR department
(whoever you feel comfortable in
discussing this matter with) and
understand the merit behind the move.
Reflect on the feedback and work hard not
to let it happen it again!If you are not
convinced record it as a disagreement
rather than a dispute (if you feel the
organization is open to such a thing and
won't hold it against you). And if you
repeatedly feel that you are not being
treated fairly and remain disenchanted
with your employers - it may be time to
weigh your options.
When it comes to women in leadership -
there exist somereal structural and
cultural biases! Now what these biases are
- that could be specific to companies,
regions and countries but the fact remains
that they all need to be addressed at the
earliest. Otherwise all these discussions by
Boards and Top Managements on creating
stickiness for women leaders would
remain only noble intentions.
I am enthused by this new growing
appreciation of those traits that women
use to nurture and keep their families
together! These are the same traits that
help them organize volunteers to unite and
make change in the shared life of
communities. This feminine way of
leading includes helping the world to
understand and be principled about
'values' that really matter.
20 Business Manager July 2012
BREAKING THE MOULDS ALL THROUGH- MANDEEP MAITRA
COVER
Feature
Women find that if they
assert themselves
forcefully, pursue their
own ambitions and
promote their
self-interests, people
may perceive them as
pushyand calculating
triggering a backlash.
But if they act in a
stereotypically
feminine way, they
aren't seen as strong
leaders.
BM
Business Manager July 2012 21
COVER
Feature
Dr. Tanvi Gautam
Founder Global People Tree (People centric solutions for the new workplace)
Power
of
believing
in self
She was looking for career advice after college. A senior VP of HR at an MNC asked:"What would you do,
if you won a 100 million dollars right now and did not have to work a day in your life for money"?. "Travel
the world, learn new things, help people grow" she responded. That question, he revealed, was the best
way to find out the true aspiration of any individual. As long as you take up a career around your
aspirations, you will do well, he advised. Looking back at her career Tanvi has managed to keep true to
that aspiration. She has indeed travelled the world, studying and working in four different countries
(USA, Australia, India and Singapore), worked in leading multinational HR departments,earned her Phd in
OBHR, taught in world class Universities across the globe before going on to create her own HR
consulting outfit (Global People Tree). Dr.Tanvi's thought leadership on topics related to creating
engagement in the new workplace can be seen in Forbes, Straits Times, Economic Times and many
international conferences across the globe. She is also on the board of the international Asian Region
Training and development organization, an international body aimed at developing a strong cadre of HR
professionals around the globe. All this while managing a family along side !
BM caught up with Tanvi to find out what she has learnt along the way that can help
other women in the field of HR.
Can you share an early personal
experience that defined you world view ?
Upon finishing my bachelor's degree at
Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi I sat for the
entrance test for Masters in Sociology at JNU
and stood third all India. At the same time, I
was accepted for a diploma program at the La
Trobe universityin Australia. With a fully paid
scholarship too! Everyone I consulted advised
that a degree course at JNU was superior to a
diploma in Australia. Others also pointed out
that I had never been away from home. How
would I manage by myself ?
I decided that when the Australian
university was willing to take a chance on me
with a full scholarship, I was ready to take a
chance on myself. And I worked hard, took
extra courses, and in fact managed to
complete a Masters degree in the same time
period. The overseas experience not only
enhanced my world view, but showed me the
power of believing in myself.
I strongly suggest to all women to step out
of their comfort zone and take a chance on
themselves. One may not always succeed but
one will always be wiser than the one who
stayed back in the shelter of comfort spots.
Can you share a guiding principle that
is core to your working philosophy?
Some people look at a situation and say
'why', others look at the same situation and
say, 'why not'? The ability to look for what
could be, to take a chance, has always guided
my research, writing and consulting. Just
recently, I wrote a piece for Forbes magazine
titled "Real men don't need work life balance".
This piece came about as I realized that all the
writing, research and HR practices see work-
life balance as an issue for women. To me,
success lies in recognizing the case for men
too. They too play an important roles as
fathers, as caregivers of parents or spouses.
That approach is far more inclusionary and
actually supports the cause of women too.
Interestingly, many comments from the people
who read and shared the article showed they
agreed. When I was researching knowledge
transfer in cross cultural teams in the IT
industry, I asked why the socialization to the
client was excluded when assessing team
performance?This idea had never been
explored in the HR research or practitioner
circles. Given that most firms are executing
work through collaborative work
arrangements, this construct is a very
important one. I created a tool for project
leaders to use in helping their teams perform
better when playing at a global scale.
HR professionals must ask questions that
push the boundaries of thought and practice
further. Thought leadership is a core
competency that all women HR professionals
should aspire for if they want to be taken
seriously in their organizations and beyond it.
Given your exposure to HR issue at a
global level, what do you think are some
of the trends that Indian HR professionals
should prepare for?
Firstly, India is unique: it straddles the old
world and the new world simultaneously. We
are addressing the skill building of the nation
through initiatives likes the National Skill
Development foundation at the same time as
positioning our existing talent at the higher
end of the value chain. For this we have to
adopt a global mindset while being careful to
not abandon our own identity. India is well
positioned to blend our values with the
practices of the west, so that the emerging HR
practices work for our own unique cultural
realities. For instance in the West, diversity
and inclusion is about celebrating the
'uniqueness' of each person but in the East it
is about creating 'harmony and respect' in the
22 Business Manager July 2012
POWER OF BELIEVING IN SELF -DR. TANVI GAUTAM
COVER
Feature
Emerging HR tools
1. The power of storytelling
2. Organizational networks analysis
3. Greater learning within and through teams
The overseas experience not only
enhanced my world view, but showed
me the power of believing in myself.
workplace by celebrating similarities. This
premise of unity in diversity,has been part of
the Indian ethos for decades.
Secondly, as India grows, there is a
shortage of talent. The increase of women in
the workforce, the evolving nature of aging
populations, the aspirations of our youth - all
combine to demand greater work life
integration policies.Organizations must
respond to these changes. For instance,the
stigma associated with women taking a break
will have to be dropped. In the US
organizations like PwC are using programs
like 'Full circle' to enables women to off ramp
and on ramp in their careers. The program
allows high performing women to take a break
for upto five years and still return to
work.There is a need for framework to create
more flexible careers for men and women.
Thirdly, as shown by a recent study by
Mercer, organizations in APAC are still paying
lip service to diversity and inclusion. 68% of
organizations claim to have a diversity
strategy linked to the organization's vision
and mission but only 41% say it is integrated
into the business goals and corporate score
card. Companies are adopting adhoc,
piecemeal measures which are often not
integrated with the larger HR practices and
principles. Without a systems perspective D&I
initiatives are set up to fail. Maternity leave,
work from home and part time work are a
necessary but not sufficient condition to
create a more engaged and empowered female
workforce. There have to be systemic changes
to the mental models about women in the
workplace.
What are some of the emerging tools
and techniques that HR professionals
should be aware of ?
There are many but I would like to point
out three in particular. The first is the power
of storytelling. This is a very powerful tool for
leadership as well as organizational change.
Through the use of effective and real stories
HR professionals can gain greater momentum
for their projects as well as connect with
employees more effectively. Think of it this
way, given a choice between 50 slides about a
project or one story, which one would you
choose ?The power of 'once upon a time' is
much higher than any a 100 page detailed
policy manual. Storytelling is also being used
to perpetuate firm culture to newcomers.
The second is organizational networks
analysis. This is a highly sophisticated tool
that is being used widely to uncover informal
networks within the companies. The
organizational chart is a relic of the past. Real
work, knowledge exchange and information
flows happen through informal networks.
These need to be mapped and managed for
effective talent management. The third is the
greater learning within and through teams.
For instance mentoring trees allow
organizations to tap into the wider expertise
of the company. No one person has the best
answer to your questions and hence it makes
sense to leverage the knowledge and expertise
of a larger group.
When we stand back and look at
storytelling, organizational network analysis
as well as mentoring trees, it is clear that the
future of HR practices lies in leveraging the
power of communities for learning and action.
What do you think are competencies
young and upcoming women in HR should
have?
Apart from the ability to take calculated
risks, and thought leadership mentioned
earlier, women must actively find mentors and
sponsors both from HR and the practice sides.
By doing this you will enhance your
knowledge and skills immensely and earn the
respect of not just your HR peers but the
practice managers. The latter in particular
enables the creation of a strategic
relationship between HR and practice.
Creating bridges comes naturally to most
women and this is where this innate ability
can come in handy. Finally, make your
presence felt on social networks. Leverage the
power of technology to make your mark at a
global level. If you are not on Twitter and
Linkedin, you will miss out on key
conversations and connections.
Business Manager July 2012 23
COVER
Feature
When we stand back and look at storytelling, organizational network analysis as well as
mentoring trees, it is clear that the future of HR practices lies in leveraging the power of
communities for learning and action.
POWER OF BELIEVING IN SELF -DR. TANVI GAUTAM
BM
COVER
Feature
24 Business Manager July 2012
Dr. Shalini Sarin
VP Country HR Partner, Schneider Electric India
Shalini holds a Doctorate in organization behavior, and double masters in Sociology and Human
Resource Management. She is a certified Psychometrician from British Psychology Society and
a certified trainer and Executive Coach from Motorola University-Chicago. She is a Certified Six
Sigma black belt and accredited in 'Personal Counseling' too. Also she has an Advanced Human
Resource Certification from Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Winning Isn't Everything,
but Wanting to Win is
T
his famous saying by Vince Lombardi just
about sums up my life. I have been scripted
with hope at birth and I have been dealing in
hope ever since. My life began very ordinarily in a
middle class family with traditions and values of
Punjabi environs. Now that I look back into the past,
I realise that there were no gains without pains- early
marriage, post-graduation after children and
Doctoral degree when children were still in
secondary school and - I was in the thick of my
professional journey. Gain was- I never experienced a
glass ceiling !!
I started with teaching in Management
Institutions. It became quite apparent early on that
the traditional mould of learning, in pre-cast
streams of education, is not going to satisfy my
appetite for knowledge and the desire to apply it to
the corporate world. To test the value of what I was
learning and to ratify the importance of it in
application, created a need to work on consulting
assignments. It was a wonderful era where
companies were at the cusp of accepting OD as the
new means to organizational success. I pursued my
studies while in the consulting space. That gave me
time and a wider view of what the industry was
looking for and continued my learning as I picked up
new pieces of knowledge. This kept me growing and
ever hungry for more. I realized that unless a view is
made contextually relevant and its impact on
business is assessed and success clearly measured; it
is an inconsequential theoretical exercise.
MY LEARNINGS
It became clearer through the times that running
out of options is not an option for those who aspire to
lead. There is always a possibility, one needs to find
it, extricate it from the web of negativity and nurture
it with progressive thinking. During implementation
one needs to Go All the Way, no looking back ..taking
your peers, seniors and associates along with you. No
Eklaa Chalo worked for me ever. I have yearned for
responsive surroundings and involved eco system.
That gets my best out.
Problem solving has been an integral part of my
professional upliftment and continued learning. As
with any new habit, making problem-solving an
integral part of behaviour requires patience and
practice. I must caution that initially the process
might feel awkward and stilted, but within a few
weeks' time, problem-solving could be ingrained and
internalised; almost into the day-to-day
communication.
A leader, in my view, creates a road where none
exists, pushes the envelope, leads by example and
walks the talk. Effective leaders change the rules of
engagement, watch without a conspicuous probe,
look for the bigger picture, and find a path to go over
the hurdles rather than look for a workaround.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND
CAREER EVOLUTION
In my view, an effective manager is able to retrieve
the best out of a frugal team, extend their potential to
deliver greater performance in shorter time-frame,
and most importantly - empowers without a
conspicuous probe at each step of the delivery. My
greatest achievement is effectiveness i.e. making
things happen. I have consistently maintained
execution focus and often responded with flexibility
to shifting priorities and rapid change. This has
developed a strong bond with my peers- leading to
mutual trust. I have the benefit of a high caliber well-
knit team whose advice I consider very valuable.
Professional success cannot be attributed to an
individual. I have enjoyed every
interaction of coaching, mentoring &
counseling, whether subordinates, peers
or even my boss! Influencing change
while seeking buy-in from those who
resist, has been the most fascinating
challenge- and incredibly satisfying too.
KEY HR ISSUES
On a global scale, despite national and
regional differences, there is remarkable
unanimity on key HR issues and
challenge being faced today which are:
Change management representing a
particular challenge for personnel
management staff, as this expertise
has generally not been a consistent
area of focus for training and
development of HR professionals.
This may also be the reason why it is
cited as the foremost issue as HR
continues to attempt to help
businesses move forward.
Leadership development: HR
professionals continue to wrestle with
understanding the best ways to keep
people in the pipeline and develop
leaders for future succession
planning. Increasingly recognized as
becoming strategic business partners
within their organizations, HR
professionals are expected to provide
the essential frameworks, processes,
tools, and points of view needed for
the selection and development of
future leaders.
Measuring HR effectiveness is an
interesting new focus area as it
highlights the profession's need to
measure results in terms of driving
the business. HR professionals have
been questioned in the past regarding
their business acumen. Utilizing
metrics to determine effectiveness is
the beginning of a shift from
perceiving HR's role as purely an
administrative function to viewing
the HR team as a true strategic
partner within the organization.
EMERGING HR TRENDS
I can clearly see a perceivable trend of
HR being seen as a partner of line
functions. Though hesitant and slow, this
transition reflects an important
milestone for HR. Going forward, HR will
play an enabling role in formation,
execution and measurement of business
strategies. HR executives would need to
understand numbers, appreciate
business critical issues and find
Business Manager July 2012 25
COVER
Feature
solutions for fiscal health of the business. This would demand a firm hip- lock with
business where every Line Manager mirrors an HR Manager. Being a part of
Schneider Electric Leadership team, gives me an unprecedented opportunity to
participate in and support the evolution of HR. Another area where HR has a major
leadership role to play is in initiating CSR practices. At Schneider, HR is already
involved in implementation and communicating policies and ideas across the
organization. HR is also responsible for systems and processes that are related to
effective delivery. With HR partnering with CSR, the future of a firm can be
strengthened in terms of its product responsibility, sustainability, and quality.
WINNING ISN'T EVERYTHING, BUT WANTING TO WIN IS -DR. SHALINI SARIN
I realise that there were no gains without pains- early marriage, post-
graduation after children and Doctoral degree when children were still
in secondary school and - I was in the thick of my professional
journey. Gain was- I never experienced a glass ceiling !!
BM
COVER
Feature
26 Business Manager July 2012
Dr. Tanaya Mishra
Sr. Vice President, Group HR, JSW Steel, Mumbai
Dr. Tanaya Mishra is currently Sr. Vice President - Group HR, JSW Steel Limited based at Mumbai. Dr. Tanaya has a
vast experience in the field of HR and has spent approximately two decades in the industry. She is one the rare lady
HR Leaders who is conversant and at ease with both the service as well as the manufacturing sector. Dr. Tanaya has
won a number of awards and accolades including Leadership at Work 2012 at the World HRD Congress and has been
awarded the Young HR Leader Award by NHDRN 2008 and has won the HR leadership Award at the 3rd Employer
Branding Awards 2009. She holds a PhD. in Manpower Planning, Post Graduate Diploma in Personnel Management, a
Bachelors Degree in Law (LLB) and has been trained and certified by SHL, DDI, Thomas. She is a National and
Regional committee member with CII, subject matter expert with SHRM, treasurer and executive council member of the
National HRD Network (NHRDN) - Mumbai Chapter and is part of the core committee of Employers Federation of India.
Being Professional
handling tough situations...
"C
ontributing to the human capital to make it more
motivated and productive, engaged the prime
objective of any passionate HR Head and that has
been my mantra to reach where I currently am. I have
worked across both service and manufacturing sectors. My
last two assignments have been in the hard core
manufacturing sectors of Steel, Cement, Infra, Ports,
Concrete. A lone lady in a man's world of Sr. Mgmt, how
does it feel ? Actually very good. Contrary to popular belief
and numerous discussions on Gender Diversity and
Women being discriminated at work place , it is not at all
that difficult. It's the assignment and deliverables that one
needs to concentrate on. At the end of the day it's about
being a professional immaterial whether one is a man or a
lady and handle tough situations and emerge successful.
Yes, with a lady around may be the locker room
conversations are limited.
As a HR leader one key success factor is also ensuring
that the organization is a learning one and there is
constant development of people. Today is a world of
whirlwind changes , unless employees are equipped to
handle these difficult and changing situations it would
mean disaster for the organization. I also think as HR
leaders it is essential to understand the potential that the
human capital of one's organization has and devise ways
and means to constantly upgrade them either through
stretch assignments , projects, external and or internal
training inputs that are identified through development
centers. Organizations need to have a future ready
workforce to ensure that they are on the way to progress
and development. One key element for a HR Leader is to
ensure succession planning is done for key leaders and
also to ensure that leaders are groomed for future positions
to ensure sustainability and continuity in the vision and
mission of the company.
Last but not the least the home environment is key to
ensure that effective contributions are being made at. I
have none other to thank than my husband, parents and not
always cooperative twins to be able to do and contribute the
way that I currently am. Apart from being a professional I
am fairly active in the national HR forums". BM
COVER
Feature
Business Manager July 2012 27
Dr. Sujaya Banerjee has been a Human Resources professional for over 22 years and has transformed the
HR functions in several leading organizations during her career. She is an OD professional par-excellence
having set up world class PMS and Talent Management programs and help build Learning Organizations
through her assignments at ADNOC, Lowe Lintas and Partners, British Gas and now the Essar Group.
Sujaya has been listed among the Top 40 HR professionals in Asia and has won the Youth Icon Award for
2009 besides bringing several international accolades to India- the Learning Elite Award - CLO USA,
Learning in Practice Award - CLO USA, Best Project Implementation in Asia- SuccessFactors and Best
Business Adoption Award- SuccessFactors. She has presented White Papers at leading conferences at
GE's John F. Welch Leadership Center (Crotonville), at the CLO Summit-Harvard Business School, ASTD,
SkillSoft Perspectives and recently at SuccessConnect Sydney. She is a sought after speaker and thought
leader and is a regular contributor to HR Magazines. Sujaya is a TEDx speaker and leads the Learning & OD
Roundtable- a forum for practitioners which has a worldwide membership of over 1600 Learning & OD
professionals. The L&OD Roundtable enables capability building of Learning professionals and helps
member organizations become Learning Organizations.
Dr. Sujaya Banerjee
Chief Learning Officer, ESSAR Group, Mumbai
Be
Woman
& Write
your
destiny
COVER
Feature
D
espite years of progress by women in
the workforce, the presence of women
within the C-Suite remains a rarity. Of
the most highly paid executives of
Fortune 500 companies only 6% are
women, of the CEOs only 2% are women and only
15% of the seats on the Board of Directors are
held by women.
This has always begged the question on
opportunities available to women employees and
the famed class ceiling that may restrict her climb
to the top. In reality while the challenges for
women aspiring to climb the corporate ladder are
many, the glass ceiling is turning out o be a myth
as more focused and competent women triumph
over their filial roles, gender biases at the
workplace and the networking edge of their male
counterparts to thrive, survive, even win in male
dominated workplaces. Here are some of my
insights on what can make women make
successful strides up the corporate ladder and live
meaningful lives as women.
1) Get really, really good at your job- Nothing is
more defining than your competence. In
reality there are only 2 genders in a workplace
- competence and incompetence. Be competent
and deliver differentiated results- you will
always be in the reckoning- male or female.
2) Think of your Career as a Jungle gym rather
than a ladder- Don't think vertical only when it
comes to your career and sweat to win the next
Step on a ladder. Be open to move parallely,
laterally and expand the bandwidth of your
experience and knowledge. Swing to the
opportunities as they come to you
3) Live a life of Passion and Purpose- People see
passion and purpose in other people. Display it
and spread it through your leadership
4) Don't underestimate the value of Mentors-
Mentors introduce you to new ideas, new
people and provide great advise. Most women
who have succeeded in the complexities of the
Corporate World will tell you of great people
who mentored them to their success.
5) Your destiny is in your Hands- but of course
you will have family responsibilities-
responsibilities of having children raising
them and all the rest that comes with being
wife, mother and daughter. Don't see yourself
as burdened or set benchmarks by emulating
other women you gave up "If it is to be- it is up
to me" should be your motto. Persisting with
resilience and remaining focused to your
Goals and aspirations will give you the energy
to get past a bad day!
6) Live a '360 Degree Life'- Women are known to
be good multi-taskers .Continue your focus on
being house proud, raising a happy family,
being there for your female friends, enjoying
your music, playing an instrument. Watching
theatre- whatever feeds the soul. The great
thing about being a woman is that you have so
many avenues for happiness that unlike men
your professional success is not the only thing
that defines you! Go on, be a woman, be happy,
and be successful.
MY STORY
Born in a business family of four sisters, my
parents raised us to be honest, dignified, multi-
faceted young ladies committed to Excellence.
These values persisted through my adult years
as I completed my MBA (HR) from NMIMS and
embarked on an exciting career as an HR
professional. My forte was employee development
and Talent Management and I am grateful to
several Mentors including my Managers through
various assignments for their astuteness in
spotting talent, for their generosity in giving me
the right opportunities to learn and perform and
for giving me the visibility to shine in various
leadership positions. I was Head of Department at
the age of 29 and also mother to my daughter at
the same age. I started my PHD Journey after the
birth of my son at age 31 and completed it by the
time I was 35 years of age. I have loved all the
companies I have worked for , always given more
than 100% to all that I have done, remained
committed to all that made me happy- my family,
my home, my books, my music, movies, theatre,
travel and never compromised on any fun because
I was pursuing a serious career. I have built strong
networks both inside and outside the
organizations and have always earned love and
respect through the quality of my work, through
my honest support to the betterment of others and
through passion and energy which I believe is
contagious and wins me friends.
I enjoy being a woman, have never lamented or
regretted a single day of my life and I know as
long as my kids are well and smiling-life is
fantastic.
28 Business Manager July 2012
In reality while the challenges for women aspiring to climb the corporate ladder are many,
the glass ceiling is turning out o be a myth as more focused and competent women
triumph over their filial roles, gender biases at the workplace and the networking edge of
their male counterparts to thrive, survive, even win in male dominated workplaces.
BE WOMAN & WRITE YOUR DESTINY -DR. SUJAYA BANERJEE
BM
COVER
Feature
W
omen today have proved in more than
one ways that their sense of
responsibility, receptiveness and
leadership acumen are here to stay and
would pave the way for more women to
make it to the top. Private Sector today, is displaying
an inclination towards employing more and more
women in their HR departments as compared to men.
Because managing a large number of people, keeping
them motivated, acknowledging as well as finding
solution to their grievances etc are all a part of HR job.
Since listening and empathizing comes more naturally
to women than men, women have successfully
transformed from merely being home managers to
Human Resource Managers.
My HR journey started as a Management Trainee
with RPG Enterprises in a manufacturing set up. Yes,
I was too excited about the opportunity, had the
enthusiasm to do something big and prove myself,
however a bit apprehensive as well about the new
place, the new environment, working with such senior
professionals and therefore a bit hesitant about
putting across my points to my colleagues and seniors.
But the encouragement and support I received from
my colleagues, seniors and my family all across my
career did help me in my career progression and
developing more and more attachment towards my
profession. There were challenges, but it also depends
upon the person on how does one take the challenges,
learns from it and convert those challenges into
opportunities with all honesty and integrity. It’s my
personal belief that if you have a positive outlook and
you are honest and true to yourself, it does help you
overcome all the hurdles and help you succeed.
In today’s world, we are often misled by the term
‘success’. There is no doubt that a lot of hard work,
sincerity and passion is required for success. However
my perception of success is something much more
than that; success should stimulate some emotion
when achieved. Such achievement should make us
jump off our seat, rush to tell somebody what we've
achieved, make us feel elated; However this is
individual perception so we must understand that
what is a minor achievement for one may be a major
Business Manager July 2012 29
MBA from Patna Unviersity in 1993. Group Vice President-HR Mayar Group, Leading
Business Conglomerate, Gurgaon having about two decades of hands on experience in HR
in RPG, GE Capital, Hero ITeS, HSBC Global and Avon Beauty products etc.
Padma Singh
Group Vice President-HR Mayar Group, Gurgaon
Transforming from Home
Manager to HR Manager
success to somebody else. Some of the key characteristics you will find in
those who are successful are perseverance, planning, preparedness, eye
for detail, ability to recover and learn from setbacks and most importantly
patience even when things do not seem to be going well. A strong vision of
future and setting achievable targets can all play an important role in our
way to success. Like success, all these skills, attributes and characteristics
cannot be achieved or developed overnight. However there is no harm in
starting from the scratch if you are passionate to achieve.
Those who do not start travel nowhere. For the rest, life can be a
continuous journey of fulfillment.
BM
A
rmed with a Master's Degree in
Physics from Delhi University and
MBA in Human Resource
Management from IMT, Ghaziabad,
Mrs. Sushmita Basu, the HR Director
at Egis India Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd. (the
largest subsidiary of the multi crore EGIS
GROUP, France) is among the first few women to
lead the HR function in Infrastructure consulting
space, one of the fast growing business sectors in
India. Always a step ahead in her thoughts, she
played an instrumental role in the rapid growth of
the company to its current workforce of more
than 1000 employees Pan-India with turnover of
150 crore.
With sharp intellect and a sound value-system,
she has laid the foundation of an open, employee
friendly, dynamic & empowering culture across
the organization. She firmly believes and
embodies business HR, is responsive to the
dynamics of the market and a strategic partner to
business in the true sense. At the same time she
walks the tight rope to safeguard employee
interests and expectations and represents the
humane outlook that is synonymous with the Egis
brand worldwide.
Her determination and grit to get recognition
for HR as a business partner in an engineering
company has won her recognition within EGIS
group as a visionary & innovative HR leader. Her
earlier trysts in business development in varied
industries from selling computers to Light Motor
Vehicles and to infrastructure consulting before
moving to her passion of managing people helped
her to integrate HR with Business seamlessly. She
maintains that in any successful business
enterprise, there is a need to groom and nurture
young Leadership and does not shy away from the
risk of delegation & entrusting responsibilities.
That true strength comes from pushing beyond
the limits and from facing the daunting
challenges, a belief that has never failed her in
professional and personal life. Her futuristic
thinking has helped create Egis India into a great
place for the young and the talented who seek
opportunity to prove their potential and an
exemplary place where superior subordinate
relationships thrive and grow beyond the office
30 Business Manager July 2012
COVER
Feature
Challenging journey of
establishing business HR
Sushmita Basu
HR Director, Egis India Consulting Engineers Pvt. Ltd., Faridabad
Having done Post Graduation in Physics, Sushmita Basu went on to do MBA from IMT
Ghaziabad. Presently Sushmita heads EGIS India for last 9 years. Her contribution to the
organisation has been establishing innovative business linked HR practices.
Expectations from women at home have not changed much whereas the
expectations at the workplace become steeper with increased work responsibilities
as one ascends in career.
COVER
Feature
boundaries. Yet, behind this successful
professional there exists a passionate dancer, a
prolific reader, a proud mother of two constantly
balancing her life with great care and sensitivity.
Most of her free time is occupied with looking
after the smallest of needs of her two sons,
Siddhant and Devanshu making up for the time
she is away from them.
Needless to say that like all other women, she
has to face numerous challenges to reach her
current position; journey to Senior Management
of EGIS India and in Board of Directors for GSI (a
100% subsidiary of EGIS India providing services
in Urban
Planning and GIS was not a cake walk.
Expectations from women at home have not
changed much whereas the expectations at the
workplace become steeper with increased work
responsibilities as one ascends in career. As a
woman one has to prove her mettle more as peers
become more critical and demanding in senior
positions. Besides work-life balance, as a HR Head
of an Engineering company, it was furthermore
difficult for her to establish the business HR in the
organization.
Everything besides talent acquisition and
payroll management was viewed as theory only.
From that mindset to the current level of
acceptance as Business HR had been a really
challenging journey. And in the process Sushmita
was able to convince everyone that women have a
capability of blending emotions with critical
thinking leading to much more holistic impact on
business.
Yet, she enjoys every bit of it and celebrates
life; her energy is so infectious that it rubs onto
others & the organization. While the young flock
around her for her vivacity & honest guidance,
her peers look upto her for her imbedded support
in people & business management.
Business Manager July 2012 31
In the process Sushmita was able to convince everyone that women have
a capability of blending emotions with critical thinking leading to much more holistic
impact on business.
CHALLENGING JOURNEY OF ESTABLISHING BUSINESS HR -SUSHMITA BASU
BM
L
eaders are born or Leaders are
made. There can be countless
arguments "For" as well as
"Against" both these statements.
But the role of natural
inheritance of certain traits cannot be
altogether dismissed. Let's proceed to
create a divine link between the present
Female form and it's origin.
We all worship Goddess Durga or Shakti
as the Mother of the universe and the
power behind Creation, Preservation and
Destruction of the Universe. She is also
referred to as Triyambkae having three
eyes each representing "Desire",
"Knowledge" and "Action". Her worship
therefore, is supposed to remove all
miseries, confer all material wealth, bestow
knowledge and produce ever ignited fire of
action. She protects her devotees from all
the ten directions representing her ten
hands. She rides a lion (Mind) meaning full
control of all the Senses and Mind. She
carries weapons in her hands to destroy the
forces of evil and each weapon indicates an
energy force, the shining sword indicating
knowledge without any doubt.
Now coming to the qualities a Leader
should possess:
Careful selection: Although a lot of
psychometric assessment tools are
available for enhancing the effectiveness
of the selection process, yet it is also a
fact that the availability of the trained
and qualified manpower, time constraint
to fill the vacancy, prohibitive cost of
administration of the psychometric
32 Business Manager July 2012
COVER
Feature
Women-
The Natural Leaders
A.S. SHARMA CEO, Juris HR Gurgaon
tools serve as a deterrent for SMEs which rely
mostly on verbal interaction with the
prospective candidates before making formal
appointments. However in both these cases
final step is the formal interview which leads to
a decision to hire or reject. Because of their
strong inherent desire for continuous learning
and action, women HR leaders are
psychologically better in getting deep into the
mind or reading between the lines and as such
more effective in identifying latent qualities
and intentions.
Nurturing : A leader has to take care of his
subordinates not by managing but through
leading by coaching, mentoring,
understanding their personal issues affecting
workplace efficiency - discuss and solve them
while giving them protection from fear of
victimization. Like the goddess protects the
devotees from all directions, motivates them to
continuously acquire knowledge, a mother too
performs these functions while bringing up
children. Coaching and mentoring is inbuilt
into women genes.
Good Listener : Good listeners focus on the
communication and if get deflected , they
quickly come back to focus. They put
themselves into the shoes of the communicator
and empathetically find out what are the needs
of the person and get into their feelings and
read their body language too. They never
interrupt the speaker. Good and attentive
listeners never react but always respond. The
goddess listens to the prayers of her devotees,
identifies genuinity of the prayers and showers
appropriate blessings. These natural inherited
traits of HR women make them responsive
leaders.
Employee Engagement: Imagine the Cost,
Quality and Productivity figures in an
Organisation where employees come for salary
only. Going to the workplace next day is
tormenting and most uncomfortable thought.
Again there are Organisations thinking of
creating fun at workplace, organizing
occasional employees get together, CEO
writing personal letters to the employees on
festive occasions but all this only as a lip
service. They take these activities as the only
means for achieving employee engagement.
Without corresponding intentions such actions
are mere waste of time. There is no doubt that
engaged workforce is highly productive and
creative but it needs to be achieved through
positive intentions.
Does the Goddess need to engage it's devotees to
worship? No. There is complete "trust" between
a devotee and the Goddess. If this element is
missing in any relationship even Employer and
Employee, nothing worthwhile can be
achieved. No HR policy shall bring fruits at
such a workplace.
Just imagine how does a mother induct her
daughter to the Kitchen. The first time
daughter cooks, mother shall convey to all in
daughter's absence that everybody has to
appreciate the food at dinner time. Cooking
mistakes are ignored. Family celebrates and all
appreciate the new cook. In how many
Organisations mistakes are accepted as a
learning source in actual practice and not
merely by rule book?
HR women generally use a positive approach of
rewarding for cooperation and good
contributions rather than a negative approach
of reprimanding for what is done wrong. This
type of leadership known as
"Transformational Leadership" is more
prominent in HR women as compared to their
male counterparts.
Breaking the comfort zone : Before
delivering eggs, the Mother Eagle makes a nest
by putting pointed thorns and covering them
by a soft material. After the eggs are hatched,
the mother eagle mixes the material so that
sharp edges come upwards and create a painful
experience for the baby eagles. Then it stops
feeding them. At this stage the baby eagles
become very uncomfortable and hungry and
feel that the nest is not giving them the same
comfort. They decide to leave. Does this action
of Mother eagle mean cruelty towards new
born? No. This is how the baby eagles learn to
survive in this world.
In their journey from an infant to a child and
further growth, all mothers put their kids in an
uncomfortable zone to enable them to learn.
This comes naturally to all women. They are
excellent teachers whether in Schools or as
Managers in an Organisation.
With specific reference to our Country, a
change in our mindset is required towards women
in the corporate sector. Cases of exploitation and
harassment at workplace do come up quite often.
As women gain greater equality, a few male
counterparts react against these changes,
producing backlash. It is for Seniors to ensure that
like any other asset in the Organisation, they too
are required to be taken care of and nurtured.
Senior Executives need to encourage female
employees in their journey towards becoming
"effective employees". Women are very high on
emotional quotient and this gives them a superior
edge against their male counterparts.
Business Manager July 2012 33
COVER
Feature
"Transformational Leadership" is more
prominent in HR women as compared
to their male counterparts.
BM
Women-
The Natural Leaders
Chinmay Kumar Podder
Executive Director, (Corp affairs and Business Development)
Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited, Bhubaneswar
IMPORTANCE OF E.V.P
It is a well known fact that there is more to
employee's satisfaction than just
remuneration (salary and benefits) Employee
value proposition has been proven to be
crucial to attracting, hiring and retaining the
best talent in the industry. This goes a long
way in helping prioritise the HR policies,
creates a strong brand in the eyes of people
and helps in workforce engagement.
DIFFERENTIATING EVP AND
EMPLOYER BRAND
In many companies the focus of an EVP is
often confused with the employer brand and
as a result is solely communicated to attract
job applicants An EVP certainly contributes
to the employer brand and draws from it but
they are not the same thing. Developing the
right EVP requires an understanding of the
company's current and future talent needs in
the context of business strategy. An EVP is
different from employer brand which is the
wrapper. An EVP makes sure that what's on
the inside is as good as what the wrapper
promises.
KEY COMPONENTS OF E.V.P
Key components of EVP might include;
Compensation- Salary, incentive, cash
recognition, pay process.
Benefits-healthcare, retirement, insurance.
Affiliation-work environment, trust,
organisational commitment.
Career- advancement opportunities,
personal growth and development
,training job security.
Work content- challenge, autonomy,
transparency, meaningfulness, varieties.
Let me explain this with an example;
At Sodexo they support and encourage
their employees to shape their own future and
growth within company.These themes can be
summarised with following value
proposition.
We care about our employees in the same
way that we care our clients and we strive
to provide each and every employees with
a wide range of professional and personal
opportunities to improve the quality of
life.
Our employees are able to develop their
career both locally and globally across all
of our service area.
By living the sodexo values and principles
and actively fostering diversity and
inclusion our people make sodexo a
company of the future.
Five commitments capture the sodexo
employee value propositions- Recruiting,
Welcoming, living, grooming, and rewarding.
Is not just wonderful how the Sodexo
statement includes guidance for employees to
talk to their manager.
34 Business Manager July 2012
Developing A Compelling
Employees Value
Proposition
What is an employee value proposition? Simply put E.V.P is an
employee's perspective or what is in it for me to work here? and an
employer's communicated promise to its employees.
HOW CAN THE EVP BE LEVERAGED?
While the primary impact of the EVP will be
seen in recruitment and retention of staff there
are secondary benefits that can flow understand-
ing and managing the EVP.
Focusing the HRM agenda
Two of the key drivers used to focus the HRM
agenda are regulation and risk. Whilst important,
these are primarily defensive in approach. Fur-
thermore, they tend to focus on responses to ex-
ternal agendas and pressures adding the EVP to
the agenda provide a third positive strategy that
stabilises the agenda and ties it more clearly too
strategic direction and values set by the organisa-
tion.
Attracting quality people
The EVP on offer provides an immediate re-
sponse to potential employee's first question,
namely what is in it for me?
Re connecting with a disengaged workforce
When morale is low and staffs are disengaged,
the organisation needs a starting point from
which to rebuild the key relationships. Discussing
and reconstructing the EVP can assist staff to
reengage by clarifying for them why they choose
to stay with the organisation.
HOW AN EVP DEVELOPED?
Document the employment segment to be tar-
geted. This may be by professional classifica-
tion, by demography, by personality type, or
any other relevant means of profiling.
Describe the value experienced by the employ-
ees in as much detail as possible. All experi-
ences and component should be considered.
Define the range of components on offer to the
employee segment. Just listing the options
available is context free, and does not recognise
potential cultural or personal differences.
Only by working through step 1and step 2 will
help producing more powerful EVPs.
Look at alternatives in competitor organisa-
tion. Competitor organisation is the second di-
mension of context to be considered. The or-
ganisation exists in a matrix of potential com-
petitor organisations.
Develop the EVP from the components that
meet the following criteria.
- Core elements- Developmental opportunities,
career opportunities and respect.
- Compensation and organisational stability for
attraction.
- Managers quality and congenial work environ-
ment for retention.
- Relevant to attraction or retention depending
which is the focus of the approach.
- Currently an organisational strength.
- Competing organisations do not provide it.
- Competing organisations simply fail to provide
it well.
- Good fit with culture and goals.
- Low human relation investment.
Business Manager July 2012 35
Developing A Compelling
Employees Value
Proposition
- Strategically relevant.
Test the EVP developed by reviewing it with
both current staff for the internal view and
some potential staff for an external view.
Two key aspects of the EVP should be tested.
(1) That it is effective and it is appealing to tar-
get audience.
(2) That it is an accurate representation of the
organisation, its working environment and its as-
pirations.
Prepare for an initial implementation.
- refine the EVP in the light of testing.
- Rework with a style that suits the audience.
- Develop supporting material to support HR
staff and line manager.
Monitor the deployment and efficiency of in-
ternal implementation.
-Determine performance indicators and base-
line before undertaking implementation and then
monitor movements.
-Monitor consistency of delivery of EVP across
channels.
-Adjust the deployment as indicated.
Implement more widely throughout the organ-
isational activities.
Aim to deploy EVP throughout HRM activities,
HR strategy, recruitment, advertising, job offers
management training and so on.
In particular build advocates amongst current
staff as this is seen as one of the most credible
source of information.
Consider aspects of EVP where the organisa-
tion is weak, and develop there in preferred di-
rection. Then re-develop the EVP, reiterating
through these steps. This will enable the or-
ganisation both to grow and develop and also to
respond dynamically to change in its environ-
ment.
ROLE OF CORPORATE MANAGER
Stewart Black Programme Director Insead edu
says there are measurable things corporate
executives can do to attract and keep the best
people. He lists four categories of value
propositions which are as follows.
LEADERSHIP
Studies show that strong leadership is the
single most powerful feature in motivating and
keeping employees He says workers understand
that the poor leadership will impact not only the
success of the company but the quality of
environment and their own ability to build a
career. People do care about the quality of
leadership and they also care about the company's
ability to identify and develop leaders, including
eventually themselves.
COMPANY
This encompasses everything about firm,
reputation, values, culture and its contribution to
the world and the community Employees might be
willing to work longer hours or for less
compensation with stronger corporate values or
better reputation. Not very long ago Enron was
not a company that you would want to work for. So
the reputation, the culture those sort of things
matter.
JOB
This involves many of the day to day aspects of
a job. How interesting and compelling is the job?
Can employees grow and be fulfilled in their job?
Do they have resources and training to achieve
their goals? In particular how much freedom,
autonomy, growth and challenges do i have in the
job that I have been asked to do? How interesting
is the job?
REWARDS
This what most employees think of when they
think about the employee compensation
(wages and benefits) but the rewards also
include intangibles such as career prospects,
development opportunities and social contact
with co- workers.
For any organisation the challenge is to find
the quality people- people with knowledge,
experience, competencies and values that provide
a match for the roles with the organisation. The
person faces a different challenge, they look
around, think about their personal circumstances,
compare options, and their chance to take up or
stay in positions on the basis of the best value for
them on offer.
The employee's satisfaction in their working
life will be directly related to their value
experience. This satisfaction is based on the
relationship between cost to the employee- the
work to be performed- and the quality
experienced-the total balance of reward and
benefit received as defined by the employee. It is
this balance between cost and quality that will
lead to competitive advantage for the employer in
attracting and retention of quality people.
36 Business Manager July 2012
Developing A Compelling
Employees Value
Proposition
References
www.management study guide.com/employee-value- proposition.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/employee value proposition-cached
www.michaelpage.couk/content/18353/ Create a great employee value proposition.hotmail
www.talentsmoothie.co/consultancy/employee value proposition
www.hirebranding.net/2012/04/hitting-the-target-why-an-employee-value proposition-is- key ingredient-for your-employer-branding-strategy
Employer branding marketing.worldpress.com/tag/evp
Www-blackcircle.com.au
BM
Debaprasad Chattopadhyay
Professor & HOD-HR
Globsyn Technologies Limited
Spirituality In
Corporate
Governance
Spiritual leadership is moving leaders from managing employees to inspiring
employees, a critical component of transformational leadership. It integrates
transformational and servant leadership with spiritual, ethical, and values-based
leadership models into a combination of core competencies.
D
oes spiritualism help
improving the workplace, or
lessens rate of attrition in
modern management?
Organizations of today have
been witnessing a high rate of attrition.
People join companies with lots of hope
and high aspirations. Unfortunately, as
time progresses in the wake of their on-
boarding, employees get disillusioned.
Their expectations are belied and their
confidence in companies to provide them
employee-satisfaction, let alone, employee-
delight, start dwindling.
Many start looking for alternate
openings elsewhere while others continue
to 'get into the rut' and suffer from boredom
and frustration. Health issues develop and
it is not unusual to come across employees
who suffer from bouts of depression and
other organic ailments. Psychologists and
consultants are roped in to diagnose the
problem. After much of probing and
interviews with employees, such
specialists infer that the organization
climate does not provide an enabling or
facilitating work-environment. Beset with
such a finding, organizations feel intrigued
and bewildered and start pondering as to
what is meant by an enabling or facilitating
organization climate. Initial observations
reveal that employees are of the opinion
that the culture prevailing in the company
is not positive.
Culture, as we know, consists of a set of
values and beliefs that help to bind and
reinforce work groups and communities.
Culture, in turn, creates climate. When this
is applied to organization-settings, we find,
there exists different types of organization-
climate. Accordingly, there can be sales
climate, innovation climate, safety climate,
quality climate and a host of other
climates.
The thinking revolves around the notion
that the inappropriate organization-
climate is the root-cause of various perils
at the work place and may act as the trigger
for acrimony, conflict, politicking, and
ineffective teamwork. So, not only
employees are inconvenienced in terms of
their quality of work-life in the
organization, the organization also suffers
because of less productivity and output. It
starts losing its competitive advantage and
'bad-mouthing' of discontented employees
bedevils the organization's reputation in
the society in general and industry in
particular.
Today people are finding that there's
more to life-and business-than profits
alone. Money as the single bottom line is
Business Manager July 2012 37
increasingly a thing of the past. In a post-
Enron world, values and ethics are an urgent
concern. The hottest buzz today is about a
"triple bottom line," a commitment to "people,
planet, and profit." Employees and the
environment are seen as important as
economics. Some people would say it's all about
bringing one's spiritual values into one's
workplace. A poll by KRC Research for
Spirituality published November 17, 2003 in
USA Today found that 6 out of 10 people say
workplaces would benefit from having a great
sense of spirit in their work environment.
What is spirituality in business? There's a
wide range of important perspectives. Some
would say that it's simply embodying their
personal values of honesty, integrity, and good
quality work. Others would say it's treating
their co-workers and employees in a
responsible, caring way. For others, it's
participating in spiritual study groups or using
prayer, meditation, or intuitive guidance at
work. And for some, it's making their business
socially responsible in how it impacts the
environment, serves the community or helps
create a better world. Be that as it may, there
lays an enigma in what the word "spirituality"
relates to, in the work environment.
Spiritual leadership is moving leaders from
managing employees to inspiring employees, a
critical component of transformational
leadership. It integrates transformational and
servant leadership with spiritual, ethical, and
values-based leadership models into a
combination of core competencies, skills, and
learned techniques to provide a model of
behavior for the spiritual leader, and this
approach asks fundamentally different
questions about what it means to be human,
what we really mean by growth and what
values and power distributions are needed
to enhance both organizations and society
as a whole. Spiritual leadership asks the
leader to be the one who can show what it
means to be human, and what it means to be
authentic, which is an important aspect for
organizations for gaining deeper insights of
spiritual self and of the spiritual lives of
others with whom the leaders interact and also
those who are affected by the results of their
leadership.
Similarly, spirituality of employees is
reflected in work climate. Research has shown
that organizations with spiritual climate that
provide their employees with the opportunities
for spiritual development are better in
performance than others. In India many a
company follow the new-age principles, such as
Meditation to attain inner calmness,
Purshartaa for the balance between personal
and professional life, yoga for healthy and
disease-free life, etc., which have their roots in
Indian ethos for the spiritual upliftment of an
organization. At an individual level,
spirituality at work provides job satisfaction
and reduces employee's burnout as found in the
case of health care professionals.
Fundamentally, organizational climate
refers to perceptions of organizational
practices and procedures that are shared
among members and which provide an
indication of the institutionalized normative
systems that guides behavior. An
organization's climate regarding spirituality
forms the spiritual character of the
organization, by providing the environmental
cues that guides spiritual behavior. Decisions
of founders and other top leaders in the early
stages of the organization's lifecycle have a
profound impact on the development of an
organization, and lead to the creation of
strategies, structures, climates, and culture.
Spirituality in Corporate Governance is
therefore increasingly gaining importance as a
specialized area for further research.
38 Business Manager July 2012
spirituality of employees is reflected in work
climate. Research has shown that
organizations with spiritual climate that
provide their employees with the
opportunities for spiritual development are
better in performance than others.
An organization's climate regarding spirituality forms the spiritual
character of the organization, by providing the environmental cues that
guides spiritual behavior. Decisions of founders and other top leaders in the
early stages of the organization's lifecycle have a profound impact on the
development of an organization.
Spirituality In
Corporate
Governance
BM
attitude towards
knowledge. 'I know'
is a glorifying
statement which attaches
them with the wrong image
of self. In this world where 3000
books are published every day,
retaining the tag of a 'knowledgeable'
person is a great challenge. Mind is
initially very upset with this admission; it
keeps on complaining, but truly everything else
works out well afterwards. 'I know' may be a
sought after word but 'I do not know' starts probing
the answers to every challenge.
What does a human look for inside a knowledge
intensive organization? If job is an occupation for him,
he may like to engage his time to earn money; for him
any activity is suitable to him. But if he treats 'job' as a
vocation, he may like to be specially drawn into 'job'; for
him, activities provide him enough reason to die for the
job. A professional participates in knowledge world with
different understanding: 1) he thinks that he is there to
use knowledge; 2) he believes that he can arrange
knowledge; 3) he feels that he can multiply knowledge;
finally, 4) he knows that he can provide knowledge.
Based on the nature of participation, his attitudes are
formed.
Knowledge is very sticky in nature. To illustrate this,
I am narrating a real interview scenario where the
interviewer is a renowned academician. (Q) What is the
title of your PhD. thesis? (A) I do not remember it any
longer; I did it nine years back. (Q) What? I still hold my
PhD. thesis I completed 35 years ago closer to my heart.
(A) I understand, you are not asking me an emotional
question; my topic has reinvented itself 10 times since I
organized it during my doctoral days; my PhD. has lost
its relevance in the context of modern time. (Q) How do
you define knowledge then? (A) Knowledge is not about
accumulating things we collect on the way of our
journey but it helps us to evolve from one level to other.
The previous level loses its meaning when the later
emerges. One is inside the other. (Q) You are an arrogant
person. (A) I am a product of post 2000 digital world
which has made every single individual powerful. We are
a networked generation unlike the previous ones where
isolation used to be the opportunity for an individual to
lead his life with the wrong image of self.
More than learning, absorption of knowledge is
essential; a tag of inflexibility uses it as information;
when it is fully integrated as awareness, it becomes
flexible. Agility, nimbleness are the essential qualities
essential to experience the beauty of knowledge. An
organization performs on the four pillars: 1) Stockpile -
how it plans to create knowledge? 2) Collection - how it
likes to receive information? 3) Decision - how it intends
to make? 4) Action - how it wishes to respond? Excellence
is the outcome of a culture which continues to propagate
absorption of knowledge in the system for value
creation.
Practicing the
attitude of
absorption
K
nowledge space is omnipotent. Like Nature, it
possesses abundant wealth for everyone and one has
to just feel aligned with it. A salesman in a jewellery
showroom can also become very powerful in the entire
industry if he is aware of his potential as a knowledge
worker having the design preference information of the
customers. His ignorance about its usage earns him small
salary; if he reinvents himself inside first, the world can
naturally be transformed before him. Conventional HR
focuses on matching the job profile with the skill set of
people but Surrogate HR believes that they can also
facilitate the development of emotional capital of every
employee within the organization.
Passion is the foundation of life with which an
individual can spread his wings ceaselessly to conquer time
and space boundaries of knowledge world. He is vigorously
shaking his head, 'give me that piece of chocolate Mom, I
want to have it'. His Mom stands spellbound in the middle of
a crowded street as passersby are staring at the little kid.
'Why are doing this my darling? Don't I give you chocolate
every day?' she tries to pacify defying child. 'I want it now',
the child has started throwing his favorite school bag and
water bottle on the roadside. I am silently observing an
episode happening in the full glare of grown-up humans
who are all tired of seeking things without passion. Have we
ever analyzed this behavior of the child? Why does he want
to get all his demands fulfilled instantly? Nature has taught
him to ask what he desires in life only in this manner. The
kid has limitless aspiration expressed as a thought form. 'I
have not waited for you MOM and I have already started
eating my chocolate - give me my chocolate'. His voice is
spreading beyond the road, building, society and the planet
to reach Cosmos. NOW is the time for him to have a
manifested version of Chocolate. The chocolate has been
made for him and no one can take it from him now. It is
already on its way.
Knowledge world is a space mostly dominated by
unknown. The planet is currently preparing young
learners for the jobs that do not exist now. Researchers are
aspiring to use technologies that have not been invented
yet. Management scientists are gearing themselves up to
solve the problems they do not even know as problems yet.
Statisticians present the fact that top ten in-demand jobs of
2012 did not even exist in 2005. Under this turbulent
emotional environment, dealing with human has become a
very difficult proposition.
An organization often faces limitations when it fails to
sense knowledge challenges in right perspective. 'What it
does with knowledge' gives it a purpose, 'how it does' shows
the roadmap to expansion and growth; 'why it does'
clarifies the attitude of the organization. Knowledge is
capable of bringing changes at the core of every operation.
The change starts affecting response pattern of
organization to the various changes in the environment.
What is the real problem of professionals handling
knowledge inside the organization? They cannot confess
that they are not able to keep pace with the dynamic
nature of knowledge. It has become their identity and
weakness as well. They have become a slave of their
CHINMOY SARKAR
Author, AXELL
Business Manager July 2012 39
BM
Employees' State Insurance
Corporation
Sub Regional Office, C-22/12, Sector-57, Noida-201301
No. 67/Dir/MISC/SPOC-REV Date: 8/11/2011
To
The AC-CUM-RDs/Regional Directors/Directors/
Joint Director I/cs
All Regional Offices/Sub Regional Offices/Divisional Offices
Sub: Submission of Return of Contributions for the CPE
September 2011
Sir,
As per the procedure for system generated challans the
Employers are requested to file the Monthly Contribution
details in respect of all their employees for creation of challans
every month. Thus all the employers who have created the
challans though system for all the months in the contribution
period April 2011 to September 2011 need not submit the Return
of Contribution for the CPE September 2011 as all the
information required to be submitted through Return of
Contribution has already been captured by the system which
will further work out the eligibility conditions/benefit
rates/entitlement for benefits etc. for each insured person.
Keeping in view the above it has been decided that we may
not ask such employers to file Returns of Contributions for the
CPE September 2011, who have generated the challans for
payment of monthly contribution by filling the monthly
contribution details for all the months of Contribution Period
from April 2011 to Sept 2011. In fact, the system has auto
generated Returns of Contribution in respect of all such
employers, which can be viewed and printed through 'View RC'
link available in both the employer login as well as staff login.
However if in some ROs/SROs/Dos payment of monthly
contribution was allowed through manual challans as per old
system for some months then in such cases the Employers will
be required to submit the Return of Contributions as per the
manual system and they will have to be processed for the
creation of Live Lists etc. Further, in some cases the employers
might have submitted the contribution through miscellaneous
challans without filing monthly contribution online. In such
cases also the RCs may be accepted but the employers may be
advised to file the monthly contributions online so that their
employees are not deprived of the benefits.
Here it may be seen that although the system will show the
entitlement for Medical Benefits in the ESI Dispensaries which
are working online yet this facility will not be available in the
ESI Dispensaries which have not yet started online activities.
For such dispensaries we will be required to send the Live Lists.
For such Dispensaries, the ROs/SROs/Dos will be able to print
the Live Lists through the link to be made available by M/s
WIPRO.
It is impressed upon the ROs/SROs/Dos that all the
employers who have paid contributions through Miscellaneous
Challans without filing the monthly contributions details
should be persuaded to file the monthly contributions online so
that their employees are not devoid of the advantages accruing
to other employees in whose case the monthly contribution
details have been filed by their employers. It is also impressed
upon the ROs/SROs/Dos that the employers who have filed
monthly contribution contributions online but insist on filing
Return of Contributions may not be refused and their Return of
Contributions may be accepted.
Sanjay Sinha, Director, SPOC-Revenue
GOVERNMENT
Notification
Employees' Provident Fund
Organisation
Bhavishya Nidhi Bhawan, 14, Bhikaji Cama Place,
New Delhi-110066
D.O. No. R-I/ECR/2012/44 26th March, 2012
To
All Additional Central Commissioners
All Regional PF Commissioners-I
All Officer-in-Charge, Sub- Regional Office
Dear Regional Commissioners,
Re: Electronic Payment of PF Contribution
I am happy to inform that with effect from April 2012, EPFO is
introducing Electronic Challan-cum-Return (ECR) for
depositing contributions by all the employers. This new system
envisages that employer will be able to deposit money only after
filling up return form downloadable from our website. After
filling up the return, they can generate a challan for depositing
the money in the bank. As soon as the bank confirms the receipt
of the contribution, simultaneously the return will be pushed to
individual ROs system which will automatically update and
make entries in the individual accounts. In other words, the new
system will bring the following advantages:
Automatic updation of accounts on receipt of contribution by
EPFO.
Employers can download Annual Accounts slips for their
employees for the year 2010-2011 onwards from our website.
No need to file returns in Forms 5, 10, 3-A, 6-A, 12-A by un-
exempted establishments and Form 3PS,4PS, 5PS, 6PS, 7PS,
8PS by exempted establishments.
No need for annual updation of Accounts.
Annual Accounts slips starting from 2010-2011 will be
available for download by the employers.
Auto updation of member basic details for new members and
exit details for exiting members.
Members can get the detailed account statements with all
credits and debits from our website with effect from 1st May,
2012.
For utilizing the above new system, all the employers are
required to obtain User ID and Password by logging into EPFO
website www.epfindia.gov.in any time (24x7).
The above information may be given wide publicity and
brought to the notice of all employers under your jurisdiction
for compliance. For further details, EDP cell of our offices may
be advised to guide the employer.
(R.C.Mishra), Central PF Commissioner
Subscribe
Today
India’s Best HR Magazine
For subscription details, Contact:
E-mail : [email protected], [email protected]
www.businessmanager.co.in
B-138, Ambedkar Nagar, Alwar - 301001 (Raj.) India,
Ph : 91-144 - 2372022
40 Business Manager July 2012
Q. We have employed one female employee about
five months back. At that time she did not disclose
about her pregnancy. Now she has applied for
maternity leave. Management feels that the
employee has obtained the employment on false
grounds and want her to terminate the services.
Would it be legal and appropriate to discharge her
on this ground?
Ans. If you discharge her at this moment, it would
be illegal because sec.12 of the Maternity Benefit Act.
1961 puts a prohibition on this act of management.
Act clearly debars management form taking the
action of discharge or dismissal during absence due
to pregnancy. More over, hiding the fact of pregnancy
at the time of employment may not be construed as
misconduct depriving her of maternity benefit.
Q. Is there any ceiling provided under the
maternity benefit Act on number of deliveries to
earn the benefit by female employee?
Ans. No! there is no such ceiling provided under
the Act. Madras H.C. in the case of Mohammed
mohindeen. N (2009 I LLJ 177) has also held that
maternity benefit can not be refused to female
employee on the ground of number of deliveries made
by her. High Court dismissed the writ petition
challenging medical relief to the given to the female
employee in such case.
Q. I understand that to effect any change in the
conditions of service, employer has to give 21 days
notice to the workman. Can you tell, what are the
areas where we need to give notice?
Ans. Sec 9-A of the I.D. Act provides that no
employer, who propose to effect any change in the
conditions of service applicable to any workman in
respect of any matter specified in the Fourth Schedule
shall effect such change:
(a) Without giving to the workmen likely to be
affected by such change a notice in the prescribed
manner of the nature of the change proposed to be
effected; or
(b) Within twenty-one days of giving such notice.
The areas for which notice would be required, has
been given in fourth schedule of the act. These are
1. Wages, including the period and mode of payment;
2. Contribution paid, or payable, for the benefit of the
workmen under any law for the time being in force;
3. Compensatory and other allowances;
4. Hours of work and rest intervals;
5. Leave with wages and holidays;
6. Starting, alteration or discontinuance of shift working
otherwise than in accordance with standing orders;
7. Classification by grades;
8. Withdrawal of any customary concession or
privilege or change in usage;
9. Introduction of new rules of discipline, or
alteration of existing rules, except in so far as they
are provided in standing orders;
10. Rationalisation, standardization or improvement
of plant or technique which is likely to lead to
retrenchment of workmen;
11. Any increases or reduction(other than casual) in
the number of persons employed or to be employed
in any occupation of processes or department or
shift, not occasioned by circumstances over which
the employer has no control.
The requirement of a notice to workmen would
arise only if they are likely to be affected prejudicially.
A change in the conditions of service contemplated by
the section should be understood in that sense.
Q. One of our employee has attained the age of
58 years and we propose to retire him but there is
no appointment letter in his file having such
retirement condition. Can we do so?
Ans. No. Such a condition has to be stipulated in
the appointment letter, service rules or the standing
orders otherwise such retirement will amount to
illegal termination. Calcutta High Court in the case of
Indian Aluminium Co. Ltd. case 2003(99)FLR 694 has
held that retirement of a worker on attaining the age
of 58 years will neither be legal nor proper on
attaining the age of 58 years in the absence of any
such condition.
Q. How employer-employee relationship can be
established in case of the dispute?
Ans. First of all, the Appointment Letter or
Identity Card or any other documentary proof should
be filed on behalf of the concerned employee before
the court. In case the concerned person is not
possessing any of these or other documentary proof,
then he should prove his contention that the
relationship of employer and employee existed. It is
relevant to refer to one case wherein it has been held
that in the absence of supporting evidence by the co-
worker of an employee claiming to be in the
employment of the employer and employee will not be
established.
Q. Can subordinate to disciplinary authority
issue charge-sheet or initiate disciplinary
proceedings?
Ans. Yes! Normally, a charge-sheet is issued by the
Disciplinary Authority but it cannot be said that
under no circumstances any person or authority
subordinate to the disciplinary / appointing authority
Solutions provided here are in context to narrated facts & not in general.
Labour Problems & Solutions
Anil Kaushik, Management Expert -HR & IR
Business Manager July 2012 41
cannot issue charge-sheet or initiate departmental
proceedings. In one case, the Calcutta High Court has
held that if it can be established that such
Subordinate Authority has either express or implied
approval to the same by the Disciplinary/Appointing
Authority, then the departmental proceedings
initiated at the instance of such subordinate
authority cannot be vitiated.
Q. In accordance with the terms of appointment
letter of an employee which stipulates three
months notice or salary in lieu thereof for
termination, can we discharges such employee by
invoking this condition straightway?
Ans. NO. As long as an employee happens to be a
workman under the Industrial Disputes Act, such a
clause of termination by giving notice or salary in
lieu thereof will not be valid and can be challenged by
the employee. Reference is made to one case, where
the petitioner’s service was terminated on the basis of
conditions stipulated in the contract, i.e., by giving 3
months notice. Admittedly, the petitioner was a
confirmed employee who worked for many years,
when his services was terminated. The service could
not be terminated by such kind of letter invoking
contractual condition of giving 3 months notice. Such
kind of clause of termination and the termination
itself is bad and illegal.
Q. Can employer lay down certain conditions of
services on the identity card issued to the
employees?
Ans. NO. The service conditions are regulated
either by the appointment letter, agreement, service
rules or the standing orders and not otherwise. In one
case, the Division Bench of Orissa High Court has
held that additional terms of employment cannot be
assumed as mentioned on the employment card which
is used by the workman for his identity.
Q. Can an employee raise industrial dispute of
his reinstatement after opting for VRS and
receiving the benefits under VRS?
Ans. NO. Such a person, after receiving the benefits
under VRS, will not come within the purview of the
‘workman’ as defined under section 2(s) of the
Industrial Disputes Act. No doubt there is a deeming
provision in the definition of the ‘workman’ that even
an employee, who is dismissed or discharge or
retrenched, can raise an industrial dispute but a
termination of the contract of service by way of
resignation or voluntary retirement is an act of the
employee and not of the employer. The Kerala High
Court has clarified that an employee, who has opted
for VR from service and has accepted benefits of
retirement, cannot be treated as a workman under the
Industrial Disputes Act. In another case also, the
Kerala High Court following the earlier judgment, has
clarified that where an employee has opted for VR, he
will be disentitled to raise a dispute claiming status of
workman under the Industrial Disputes Act. Mad HC in EID
Parry Case (2008 LLR 1087) also held in same direction.
Q. Whether Sunday will be included or not,
while calculating leave of an employee, where it
falls in between the period of leave?
Ans. NO. Section 79 of the Factories Act deals with
annual leave with wages whereas Explanation 2 of the
said section provides that the leave admissible under
sub-section (1) of the Act shall be exclusive of all the
holidays whether occurring during or either at the
end of the period of leave. Thus such holidays and off
days of the factory will be excluded while calculation
of leave. Since a worker cannot be required to work on
Sunday which happens to be the off day, Sunday and
festival holiday will be excluded.
Q. Whether an employee, engaged on probation,
will be eligible for the bonus under the Payment of
Bonus Act and whether the bonus, will be payable
on the commission also?
Ans. A probationer will be eligible for bonus as
there is no such exclusion in the definition of
‘employee’ under the Payment of Bonus Act. Section
2(21) of the Payment of Bonus Act clearly defines
‘salary’ or ‘wages’. Its opening provision includes
within it all remunerations (other than the
remuneration in case of overtime work) capable of
being expressed in terms of money, which would, if
the terms of employment, express or implied, were
fulfilled, be payable to an employee in respect of his
employment and includes deamess allowance, yet in
express terms the definition does not include any
commission payable to the employee vide clause (vii)
of section 2(21) of the Act.
Q: We are engaged in the manufacturing of
garments and hosiery. We get a lot of work done on
sub contract through our regular suppliers, who
have to maintain standards of workman by our
requirement. Do we need to make any contribution
on those workers for E.S.I. & P.F.?
Ans. The matter regarding coverage of employee of
outside agency undertaking job work relating to
garment manufacturing for Principal Employer
outside the premises of the factory has been reviewed
and it is reiterated that the job work in garment
industry relating to stitching, processing, dying,
button making, embroidery etc., if entrusted to
outside agencies, the workers engaged by outside
agencies outside the premises of the factory will not
be coverable and no contribution is payable on the
amount paid to such outside agencies if there is no
evidence to show that the principal employer of
his/her agent is supervising the works while the same
is in progress. It is advised that the employees
employed though the immediate employer who are
working outside the factory/establishment could be
covered if it established by factual verification of
records and evidence that there was actual
supervision of the principal employer directly or
through his agent as the Supreme Court has said in
M/s Calcutta Electrical Supply Corporation Ltd. v/s
Subhash Chandra Bose (civil appeal no. 3197-98 of 1988
: SC) that checking of the work after the same is
completed and the supervision of the work while in
progress are not the same.
In your case after the completion of the work if it
was found that the work was not completed according
to your specifications and standards, you have the
right to reject the supply given to you. It will not
amount to supervision by you. So you will not be
liable to make any contribution under E.S.I. or P.F. act
for workers engaged by sub contractors.
Readers are invited to ask for Solutions of their Labour Problems through e-mail - [email protected]
Labour Problems & Solutions
Anil Kaushik, Management Expert -HR & IR
BM
42 Business Manager July 2012
Back Wages
Back wages are to be awarded from the
date of dismissal.
When back-wages, if any, are granted by the
Industrial Tribunal/Labour Court, it should be
from the date of dismissal and not form any inter-
mediatory date without any logic as that would be
unsustainable.
M.K. Surendrababu, Makkathukattil, Thrissur vs.
Industrial Tribunal, Palakkad and Ors. 2012 LLR
572 (Ker. H.C.)
Granting only 10% back-wages to the
workman on his reinstatement is not
sufficient hence 50% instead of 10% back-
wages will be appropriate.
Zulfikar vs. Presiding Officer, Industrial
Tribunal-cum-Labour Court II, Faridabad and
Anr. 2012 LLR 656 (P&H H.C.)
Bonus
When the Tribunal was not familiar with
the bonus calculation, assessor under section
11(5) of the I.D. Act should have been
appointed.
When the Industrial Tribunal has been
unfamiliar with the calculation of bonus, it
requires to be remitted back for fresh disposal.
Industrial Tribunal is empowered to appoint
assessor under the Industrial Disputes Act-
Particularly when he is not conversant with the
calculation of bonus.
Managing Director, Tamil Nadu Kudineer Vadigal
Variyam, Chennai and Another vs. T.N. Kudineer
Vadigal Variyam Oozhiyam Central Organisation
and Others. 2012 LLR 627 (Mad. H.C.)
A settlement pertaining to payment of
bonus is an agreement falling under section
31A(ii) of payment of Bonus Act.
Instrument Research Associates Pvt. Ltd. vs.
General Secretary, Karnataka Workers' Union &
Others. 2012 (133) FLR 257 (Kar. H.C.)
Compensation
In case of illegal retrenchment,
compensation of Rs. 50,000/- in lieu of
reinstatement is proper. Specially when
employee remained for a short period.
When there is violation of section 25F of the
Industrial Disputes Act, compensation of Rs.
50,000 in lieu of reinstatement has been properly
granted since workman has been employed only
for a short period.
Nandu Devi (Smt.) vs. Judge, Labour Court No. 2,
Jaipur & Ors. 2012 LLR 582 (Raj. H.C.)
In view of long litigation and short period
of service, compensation in lieu of
reinstatement with full back-wages is
appropriate.
New Delhi Municipal Council vs. Parveen Chand
Sharma. 2012 LLR 588 (Delhi H.C.)
Contract Labour Act
Prosecution for violation of contract
labour rules will not be tenable under
Minium Wages Act.
Prosecution of the employer for violation of
Rule 81(1) of the contract Labour (Regulation &
Abolition) Rules for not displaying the date of
payment of unpaid wages in English and Hindi
will not be tenable when the ACJM, instead of
taking cognizance under CL (R&A) Act, took the
cognizance under Minimum wages Act which
amounted to abuse of process of the Court.
Sridhar Nath Sinha @ S.N. Sinha and Another
vs. State of Bihar and Another. 2012 LLR 640
(Jhar. H.C.)
Court Powers
Being empowered to modify the
punishment of dismissal, does not mean that
labour court will interfere in every case of
punishment.
From The Court Room
Latest Judgments
Judgments
Recent Important
Business Manager July 2012 43
Under section 11A of the Industrial Disputes
Act, the Labour Court is empowered to modify the
punishment of dismissal or discharge of a
workman but it does mot mean that it will interfere
in every case of punishment hence under the given
circumstances, the Labour Court has rightly
awarded compensation and, hence, the High Court
will bot interfere. Termination of the workman,
for frequently absenting himself, Labour Court
when it has been ordered after holding of enquiry
where the workman did not participate whereas
the Labour Court held the enquiry as fair and
proper. Persons with Disabilities (Equal
opportunities, protection of Rights And Full
Participation) Act, 1995 is not applicable in the
private sector hence there is no obligation on the
part of employer to provide light nature of work to
a person who is not physically fit.
P. Venkatesan vs. Management, Samco Metals and
Alloys Limited, Vellore & Anr. 2012 LLR 584 (Mad.
H.C.)
Labour Court should not have interfered
with the punishment of dismissal, as imposed
by the Management upon a workman who
remained absent unauthorisedly for a year
and two months and during service period, he
visited six occasions with minor punishment
hence the Award of the Labour Court
awarding reinstatement with stoppage of
increment is liable to be rejected.
Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation
vs. Gaffar Khan & Others. 2012 (133) FLR 257 (Kar.
H.C.)
Once it is found by the Labour Court that
the enquiry as held against the workman was
not defective, it should not have interfered
with the penalty as imposed by the
Management.
Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation vs.
Nandaben & Ors. 2012 (133) FLR 292 (Guj. H.C.)
High Court will not interfere in the Award
of the Labour Court rejecting the dispute
raised after eight years by the workman on
his acquittal.
Jyothi Kondaraju vs. Additional General Manager
(CS and HRD) Disciplinary Authority, ITI Ltd.
2012 (133) FLR 510
(Kar. H.C.)
Disciplinary
Proceedings
Principles of natural justice are not only
confined to mere opportunity of hering but
extend to effective hearing. Disciplinary
proceeding is liable to be set aside in the
absence of any presenting officer.
Enquiry proceedings are liable to be set aside
in case the presenting officer is not appointed, if
checking staff had not checked the cash with
conductor.
Principles of natural justice are not confined to
mere opportunity of hearing only but extend to
effective hearing.
The Authority Concerned would not grant
approval under section 33(2)(b) of the Act in case
the enquiry held is not proper and the
consequences would be reinstatement with full
back-wages.
Delhi Transport Corporation vs. Shyam Singh.
2012 LLR 645 (Delhi H.C.)
Disciplinary authority can nominate an
other person to act as disciplinary authority.
Awarding reinstatement with back-wages to a
bank employee, who was guilty of financial
embezzlement, is liable to be set aside since the
Labour Court has erroneously concluded that the
disciplinary authority could not nominate
another person to act as disciplinary authority
whereas there has been proper authorisation by
the bank in favour of the disciplinary authority.
Union Bank of India vs. Presiding Officer,
C.G.I.T./Labour Court, Kanpur and Another. 2012
LLR 651 (All. H.C.)
Writ only against the order of the
cooperative society is not maintainable.
When writ is filed not only against the order of
cooperative society but also against the order (s) of
statutory Authorities under the co-operative
societies Act i.e. Assistant Registrar of
cooperative societies, the same is maintainable.
Bheira Agricultural Co-operative society, Bheira
through its Vice-President Shri Kartar Chand son
of Shri Parma Ram, Himachal Pradesh vs. Shiv
Kumar S/o Shri Sukhdev Ram & Ors. 2012 LLR
653 (H.P. H.C.)
Dismissal
Dismissal justified where employee was
found concealing facts of misconduct and
dismissal with the previous employer while
taking job with the new employer.
Concealment of material facts, particularly
relating to misconducts committed and proved
while in service with the previous employer, at the
time of getting job with the new employer is a
serious misconduct and dismissal from service is
justified.
Sympathy or generosity is impermissible in
law where dismissal is on the basis of loss of
confidence irrespective of quantum of money
misappropriated.
Ram Ratan vs. Canara Bank and Ors. 2012 LLR
598 (Raj. H.C.)
Employees’
Compensation Act
Interest on compensation amount becomes
payable after one month from accident date
and not after adjudication by commissioner.
Interest for default on the part of employer
becomes payable after one month from the date of
accident and not after one month of adjudication
by the commissioner on the amount of
From The Court Room
Latest Judgments
44 Business Manager July 2012
compensation as awarded by the commissioner
under the Act.
Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. vs. Sh. Sukhvinder
Singh & Anr. 2012 LLR 564 (Delhi H.C.)
Employer is liable to pay compensation and
penalty from the date of accident.
It is settled law by the supreme Court that
employer will be liable to pay penalty and interest
from the date of accident and is liable to pay the
compensation from the date of personal injury
caused to the workman and the liability arose
from the date when the accident has taken place.
Smt. Shuklabai Vitthal Kamble and Others vs.
Mrs. Asha Chintaman Pawar and Another. 2012
LLR 622 (Bom. H.C.)
Vehicle insurer cannot escape the liability
from paying compensation.
Insurer of the vehicle cannot escape the
liability from paying compensation to the
dependents of the deceased driver who died while
driving a goods vehicle whereas he has a driving
licence to drive passenger vehicle.
New India Assurance Company Ltd. vs. K. Venu
and Others. 2012 LLR 623 (Ker. H.C.)
In the absence of even casual link between
the employment and accidental death, the
Compensation commissioner was justified in
rejecting the claim.
Smt. Shobhagyavati and Others vs. Management,
Jaipur Mineral Development Syndicate Pvt. Ltd.
and Another. 2012 LLR 639 (Raj. H.C.)
High Court, in appeal, has confirmed the
order of compensation by the compensation
commissioner to the dependents of the
deceased having died in an accident being
directly attributable to the employment.
United India Insurance Company Ltd. vs. Smt.
Varija & Others. 2012 (133) FLR 196 (Kar. H.C.)
While filing an appeal against the Award of
the Compensation commissioner, it is only the
amount of compensation and not the penalty
and interest to be deposited.
Ghanshyam vs. Workmen's Compensation
Commissioner, Jaipur City and Others. 2012 (133)
FLR 521 (Raj. H.C.)
Employees’
Provident Fund
The period of limitation for filing appeal
against the order of the EPF authority under
section 7-A will commence from the date of
receipt of the order.
Period of limitation for filing appeal against
the order of the EPF Authority before the EPF
Appellate Tribunal would commence from the
date when copy of the order is served upon the
employer of the establishment.
If the establishment discharges the initial
burden regarding non-receipt of the order, the
burden of proof shifts upon the EPF Authorities
to prove that copy of the order of the EPF
Authority has been served upon the establishment
indicating specific date, before it can be
considered as barred by limitation.
R.K. Sahu vs. Regional Provident Fund
Commissioner and Another.
2012 LLR 574 (M.P. H.C.)
Establishments including cooperative
Bank which are not set-up under the state Act
are not to be excluded by any order of the EPF
Authority from the applicability of the
Employees' Provident Funds & Miscellaneous
provisions Act irrespective of it being
registered under any Act.
Joseph Varghese & Ors. vs. State of Kerala & Ors.
2012 LLR 594 (Ker. H.C.)
Neither RPF Commissioner nor State
Government has any authority to grant
exclusion to district co-operative banks under
section 16 of the E.P.F. Act. Only Central
Government is empowered do so.
Section 16 of the Employees' Provident Funds
& Mis. Provisions Act applies to the State
Cooperative Banks and District Cooperative
Banks when they are employing more than 50
persons and are neither under the control of state
or central Government nor set up under central,
Provincial or state Act.
Only Central Government is empowered under
section 16(2) of the Employees' provident Funds &
Mis. Provisions Act, to exclude a class of
establishments from operation of the Act and
neither the Regional provident Fund
commissioner nor the state Government.
Subhaga Kumar, M.K., Ernakulam vs. State of
Kerala, rep. by its Secretary, Cooperative
Department, Thiruvananthapuram & Others.
2012 LLR 625 (Ker. H.C.)
Writ not maintainable when law provides
appeal before appellate tribunal.
When law provides appeal under the provisions
of the Employees, provident Funds &
Miscellaneous provisions Act, an order by EPF
Authority shall not be challenged by way of writ
petition, instead of challenging it before the
Appellate Authority.
Gudalur Taluk Muslim Orphanage Committee vs.
Regional Provident Fund Commissioner & Ors.
2012 LLR 658 (Mad. H.C.)
Employees' provident fund contributions
are liable to be paid in time and cannot be
deferred to the actual drawal of
disbursement, as such in case of revision of
salaries effective from retrospective effect,
application to make contributions gets
postponed to actual date of payment hence
remission of damages for late payment by the
Tribunal would not be interfered by the high
court in writ petition.
Regional Provident Fund Commissioner vs. E.P.F.
Appellate Tribunal & Another. 2012 (133) FLR 477
(A.P. H.C.)
An Enforcement officer under the EPF &
MP Act has to give a reasonable opportunity
of hearing to the concerned party by
supplying a copy of the report.
From The Court Room
Latest Judgments
Business Manager July 2012 45
Alphonsa English School, Pandharpur vs.
Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner &
Another. 2012 (133) FLR 487 (Bom. H.C.)
It is mandatory on the part of the PF
Establishment to issue a certificate of
Recovery Officer after declaring the employer
a defaulter.
In the present case the authority under the EPF
Act passed an order under sec.7-A of the act,
calling upon the petitioner to pay a sum of Rs.
43,10,971/-. Thereafter the petitioner filed an
application under sec. 76 of the Act for review but
it was rejected by the Reviewing authority. Hence
the petitioner challenged that order by filling a
writ petition in the High Court contending that
the authority issued the order dt. 14.2.2011 under
Sec.8-F(iv) of the Act and recovered the above
mentioned amount which is contrary to law as no
certificate of recovery was issued to the Recovery
Officer.
The High Court observed that it was crystal
clear in view of the provisions of section 8-B that
the respondent without following the procedure of
the Act and without issuing any recovery
certificate and without declaring the petitioner as
defaulter, Passed the impugned order dt. 14-2-2011
and recovered the said amount. There fore the
impugned order was set aside with liberty to the
respondent to follow due procedure for
implementing their own order.
Navnit Motors Pvt. Ltd. vs. Union of India & Anr.
LLN (1) 2012 P. 711 (Bom. H.C.)
Wages paid as interim relief under section
17B of I.D. Act pending proceedings, will not
be treated as basic wages to attract PF
contributions.
Last drawn wages, during pendency of the
proceedings challenging Award the Labour
Court/Tribunal, will not be treated as basic wages
to attract provident fund contributions since such
payment under section 17B of the Industrial
Disputes Act is in the nature of subsistence
allowance.
M/s. Orissa Air Products Pvt. Ltd. vs. Regional
Provident Fund Commissioner (C&R), Khurda
and Another. 2012 LLR 649 (Orissa H.C.)
E.S.I.
The Employees' Insurance Court has
rightly set aside order for levy of damages for
late payment of ESI contributions when there
was a stay for deposit.
Employees' State Insurance Corporation, Regional
Office, Karnataka vs. N.C. Panicker & Another.
2012 (133) FLR 508 (Kar. H.C.)
Order of Government granting or denying
exemption is open to judicial review.
The petitioner is public limited Company which
had earlier enjoyed exemption from the provisions
of the Act. Such exemption was granted to the
permanent employees of the factory under sec. 87
of the Act. The dispute in this case relates to the
denial of exemption for the period from 1.1.1997 to
31.10.1997 and 1.1.2001 to 31.12.2001. By an order dt.
3.6.2008 the petitioner company was denied the
grant of exemption. Feeling aggrieved there by the
petitioner challenged the impugned order by
filling a writ petition in the High Court. The
petition was opposed by the ESI Corporation on
the ground that denial of exemption could be
questioned only before the ESI Corporation. The
High Court pointed out that section 75 (1) (g) of the
Act essentially deals with the dispute between the
employer and ESI Corporation. The dispute is also
in respect of any contribution or benefit payable
under the Act in respect of an establishment
covered by it. It was further observed that the said
section does not speak of a dispute with the
government which only has got the plenary power
to grant exemption. The order granting or denying
exemption is certainly open to judicial review
under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.
Hence the writ petition was allowed with a
direction to the 3rd respondent to reconsider the
issue.
Kancor Ingredients Limited vs. The Regional
Director of Kerala & Ors. LLN (1) 2012 P. 772 (Ker.
H.C.)
Ex-Parte Award
In the absence of any proof of receipt of
summons, ex-parte award is liable to be set
aside.
In the absence of any report that the
Management has refused to accept the summons,
the Labour Court should not have proceeded ex-
parte whereas the reliance upon the postal AD
Cards has also not been upon the record on the
date of proceeding ex-parte hence such an ex-
parte Award is liable to be set aside.
Management of DDA vs. P.O., Labour Court &
Anr. 2012 LLR 590 (Delhi H.C.)
Ex-parte award was rightly not set aside,
when the application for the purpose was
neither filed by the management nor by any
authorised the representative.
Industrial Tribunal has rightly rejected the
application for setting aside the ex-parte Award
when it was neither filed by the Management nor
the authorised representative of the Management
at that time. Hence the High Court will not
interfere with the Award of the Industrial
Tribunal.
The Management of M/s Janapath Hotel vs. All
India Parayatan Jan Majdoor Sabha & Ors. 2012
LLR 612 (Delhi H.C.)
Factories Act
Closing down the factory without approval
under section 25-O of the I.D. Act is also clear
violation of Rule 100A of the State Factories
Rules.
Chief Judicial Magistrate has rightly taken the
cognizance of an offence committed by the
employer under section 92 of the Factories Act
From The Court Room
Latest Judgments
46 Business Manager July 2012
when the petitioner failed to establish that it has
taken permission under section 25-O of the
Industrial Disputes Act for closing down the
factory hence there was clear violation of Rule
100A of the Factories Rules of the State.
B.L. Raina and Another vs. State of Bihar ( Now
Jharkhand) and Another. 2012 LLR 641 (Jhar.
H.C.)
Where there is valid nomination of
occupier and manager of factory, criminal
proceedings against others under the
Factories Act will not be valid.
A complaint against the petitioners was filed
by the Factory Inspector alleging that they had
committed breach of the provisions of the
Factories Act and Rules framed thereunder. On
the basis of that complaint, process was issued
against the petitioners requiring them to attend
the court. Feeling aggrieved thereby, the
petitioners filed a petition under the provisions of
Cr. P. Code for quashing the said order. The
grievance of the petitioner was that there was a
valid nomination having been filed in Form-I by
Havells (India) Ltd. as occupier and one Shri
Rajesh Gulia as the Manager in the factory. But
even then he Magistrate issued process against
the petitioners.
The High Court observed that there was a valid
nomination of occupier and manager in Form-I
and it had been accepted by the respondents.
Therefore prosecution of persons other than those
nominated could not be sustained. Hence the
criminal proceeding against the petitioner was
quashed.
Qimat Rai Gupta & Ors vs. State of H.P & Anr.
LLJ (I) 2012 P.440 (H.P. H.C.)
Fixed Term Employment
If the contract of service with the
workman is for a fixed term for completion of
specific project or job, his termination would
fall under the purview of section 2(oo) (bb) of
the Industrial Disputes Act and it would not
be an illegal termination in violation of
section 25F of the Industrial Disputes Act.
Balvikas Yojna Adhikari vs. Ahmedbhai
Siddiqbhai Malek & 2 Ors. 2012 LLR 660 (Guj.
H.C.)
Gratuity
For gratuity forfeiture, order is required to
be passed after notice to the employee. In the
absence of any such order employer cannot
forfeit the gratuity.
As per provisions of section 4(6) (1) (a) of the
Act, the gratuity of an employee, whose services
have been terminated for any act i.e., wilful
omission or negligence causing any damage or
loss to, or destruction of property belonging to the
employer, shall be forfeited to the extent of
damage or loss so caused. The gratuity of an
employee maybe wholly or partially forfeited:
(i) if the services of such employee have been
terminated for his riotous or disorderly conduct
or any other act of violence on his part, or
(ii) if the services of such employee have been
terminated for any act which constitutes an
offence involving moral turpitude, provided that
such offence is committed by the employee in the
course of his employment.
Forfeiture of gratuity without notice to the
employee and without passing a specific order to
this effect is not sustainable.
Dhanlakshmi Bank Ltd. vs. Ramachandran. 2012
LLR 565 (Ker. H.C.)
Gratuity paid can be filed only at a place
where from he has retired.
A claim for gratuity by an employee lie at a
place where from he has retired and not at any
other place hence the High Court upheld the order
of the Appellate Authority confirming the order of
the controlling Authority by rejecting the claim
application for want of territorial jurisdiction.
Prafulchandra Baldevprasad Dave vs. Gujarat
Fisheries Co-op. Association Ltd. & 2 Ors. 2012
LLR 578 (Guj. H.C.)
By an amendment of 2009, a teacher is not
only an employee under the payment of
Gratuity Act but is entitled to get gratuity
with retrospective effect from 3.4.1997.
President/Secretary, Vidarbha Youth Welfare
Institution (Society), Amravati vs. Pradip kumar
and Others. 2012 LLR 618 (Bom. H.C.)
In the absence of a proper order by the
employer, forfeiture of gratuity of an
employee will not be sustainable.
Dena Bank vs. Manjulaben M. Thakor (Smt.) &
Anr. 2012 LLR 648 (Bom. H.C.)
While considering the claim of an
employee for gratuity for the period as
rendered by him, the employer must not
create heterogeneity in extending the benefit
to some and denying to others, which is hit by
Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of
India.
Sibaram Pradhan vs. State of Orissa & Others.
2012 (133) FLR 449 (Orissa H.C.)
Industrial Disputes Act
Claim of bonus and gratuity is not
maintainable under section 33 C(2) of the
Industrial Disputes Act.
Claim for unpaid wages can be decided by the
Labour Court under section 33 C(2) of the
Industrial Disputes Act.
A claim not based on pre-existing rights arising
out of any settlement, Industrial Disputes Award
or decree of the court, is not maintainable under
section 33 C (2) of the Act.
Vishnu Kumar Mangla vs. Dhaneshwar Gupta &
Sons. 2012 LLR 575 (Delhi H.C.)
Compliance of Sec. 33(2)(b) of I.D. Act
related to approval of the authority for
From The Court Room
Latest Judgments
Business Manager July 2012 47
dismissal of a workman during pendency of
an industrial dispute, cannot be streched
beyond reasonable limits.
Legal position is that the compliance of section
33(2)(b) of the Industrial Disputes Act cannot be
stretched beyond reasonable limits. Order of
dismissal or discharge cannot effectively terminate
the relationship of employer and employee till
approval is granted. If approval for dismissal is not
accorded by the concerned Authority, the workman
will be treated in employment of the employer and
entitled to full back wages for the intervening
period. The employer may subsequently proceed to
terminate the services of the employee as per
provisions of law.
Colgate Palmolive (India) Ltd. vs. The Asstt.
Commissioner of Labour and Conciliation Officer
& Anr. 2012 LLR 615 (Bom. H.C.)
Law does not permit to terminate a
workman without approval when industrial
dispute is already pending. Reinstatement
with full back wages is jusitfied.
Termination of a workman, without approval
of the concerned Authority before whom an
industrial dispute is pending for adjudication,
would be illegal.
Interference of the High Court in the Award
passed by the Labour Court would not be
appropriate only to reappreciate the evidence and
merits of the case without substantial question of
law involved, in its writ jurisdiction.
Delhi Transport Corporation vs. Raj Pal. 2012
LLR 642 (Delhi H.C.)
No dispute of parties between whom there
is no employer-employee relation could be
referred, much less adjudicated.
The respondents who are represented by their
union in Srinathji Bhandar, Calcutta, raised a
dispute when their demand for enhanced salary
was not acceded to by the management. The
dispute was referred to the Industrial Tribunal for
adjudication and it was allowed by an award
holding that the respondents were justified in
demanding increase in their salary. Feeling
aggrieved by the said award the appellant filed a
writ petition in the High Court contending that
the reference made to the Industrial Tribunal
could not be sustained as the respondents were
never appointed by the appellants. The Single
judge however dismissed the petition. Hence the
appellants filed an appeal before the Division
Bench.The Division Bench observed that the
Tribunal did not appreciate that the demand for
increase in salary of the workmen cannot be
entertained by the appellants since such demand
can be considered and fulfilled by the appointing
authority. The Division Bench further held that
the appellant was not the employer in respect of
the respondent workmen represented by their
union and therefore in the absence of employer
employee relationship no industrial dispute could
exist. Hence the appeal was allowed and the award
passed by the industrial Tribunal was set aside.
Nathji Bhandar & Anr vs. State of West Bengal &
Ors. LLJ (I) 2012 P. 410 (Cal. H.C.)
Interim Relief
Application filed even belatedly for interim
relief is maintainable and to be paid by the
management from the date of award.
Workman cannot be debarred from payment of
wages under section 17B of the Industrial
Disputes Act, 1947 form the date of impugned
Award of the Industrial Adjudicator on the
grounds of his moving an application belatedly or
on other grounds relating to the merits of the
challenge to the impugned Award pleaded by the
Management/petitioner.
GAIL India Ltd. vs. Tarkeshwar Prasad
Kharawar. 2012 LLR 562 (Delhi H.C.)
Small time patty business by family
members of employee will not effect of right
of employee to get interim relief under
section 17-B of the I.D. Act. It cannot be said
as gainful employment.
Last drawn wages during pendency of the
proceedings before the High Court will not be
denied to a workman who, being a jobless, is only
helping the other members of the family in a
small business. As such, his engagement will not
be treated as gainful employment.
Lumax Automotive Systems Ltd. vs. Its Workmen,
Hindustan Engineering & General Mazdoor
Union and Others. 2012 LLR 614 (Delhi H.C.)
Maternity Benefit Act
Even if the employee is on contractual
appointment, having no such condition of
maternity benefit, employee would be entitled
for maternity benefit under the Act being a
statutory provision.
The provisions of Statutory Act and State Policy
as per Constitution of India would prevail over the
terms and conditions of contractual employment.
Where the terms and conditions of appointment or
Rules and Regulations the maternity benefits are
absent, the provisions of Maternity Benefit Act,
being a statutory provisions ,and that of public or
state policy will automatically apply.
C. Vidya Murthy (Smt.) vs. Bangalore Metro Rail
Corporation Ltd. 2012 LLR 602 (Kar. H.C.)
Minimum Wages Act
Ten times penalty for not paying minimum
wages is liable to be set aside.
In the absence of any supporting reasons for
imposing ten times penalty for unpaid wages, the
order pertaining to penalty is liable to be set aside.
Mohandas vs. Authority, Minimum Wages Act/Dy.
Commissioner Labour and Others. 2012 LLR 630
(Mad. H.C.)
Teaching staff working in educational
institutions cannot be brought within the
ambit of Minimum Wages Act.
From The Court Room
Latest Judgments
48 Business Manager July 2012
The Petitioner society is a religious charitable and
educational society registered under the Society's
Registration Act and it runs primary and secondary
schools which are situated in remote areas covering the
students of poor and downtrodden. All these schools are
governed by the Tamil Nadu Private Schools (Regulation)
Act 1973 and common Labour Laws cannot be applied to
the educational institutions. Even then the respondent
government issued an order dt. 5.5.2003 fixing minimum
wages for the employees in the petitioner's institution.
While exercising the power conferred under sec.27 of the
Minimum Wages Act, the respondent government
wrongly issued an order dt. 20.7.1988 and included several
primary educational institutions under the Act running
on commercial line. According to the petitioner the
schools run by them are on charitable motive and there is
no commercial purpose involved. Feeling aggrieved by
the order of the respondent, the petitioner approached
the High Court to challenge the same.
The High Court relied upon the decision of a Division
Bench of the Jharkhand High Court in the case of
Chacha Nehru Vidyapeet V. Authority under M.W. Act
2001 I LLJ 1439 wherein it was observed that the non
teaching employees like clerks, peons, malis etc. working
in educational institutions come within the purview of
the Minimum Wages Act and they are entitled to get
minimum wages fixed from time to time. But the
teachers are not covered under the Act. Reference was
also made of the decision of the supreme Court in the
case of Bhikusa Yamasa Kshatriya v. Sangamner, Akola
Taluka, Bidi Kamgar Union 1963 I LLJ 270 in which it
was observed that the object of the Minimum Wages Act
is to prevent exploitation of the worker and for that
purpose, it aims at fixation of minimum wages which
the employers must pay. Imparting of education by the
teachers cannot be construed as skilled or unskilled
manual work or clerical work. It is in the nature of a
mission or a noble vacation. In this view of the matter,
the High Court partly allowed the writ petition by
quashing the impugned order in so far as it related to the
teaching staff of the petitioner's school.
Society of the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph vs. State
of Tamil Nadu. LLJ (II) 2012 P.15 (Mad. H.C.)
Persons With
Disablities Act
Employee disabled with epilepsy will be
entitled to benefit under section 47 of Persons
with Disabilities Act.
The petitioner was appointed as driver in the
respondent Corporation on 18-3-1994. He suffered
ailment with effect from 1-6-2000 and therefore he
applied for medical leave. Thereafter, since the
petitioner was not fit to resume his duties, the
respondent Corporation decided to constitute a
medical board to ascertain. Whether the petitioner was
fit to discharge his duties or was feigning illness. The
medical board opined that the petitioner was suffering
from epilepsy and was not fit for the job of driver.
Therefore it was advised that the respondent could be
offered some other job than that of the driver. However,
the respondent Corporation, instead of proceeding
with the matter under the Persons of Disability Act,
issued a show cause notice to the petitioner why
penalty of removal from service should not be imposed
on him. The petitioner filed his reply but without
considering the same, the corporation removed him
from service. In appeal, the Managing Director of the
respondent Corporation substituted the penalty of
removal by compulsory retirement. Feeling aggrieved
thereby the petitioner approached the High Court by
filing a writ petition. The High Court observed that the
respondent Corporation has committed following
illegalities namely:
(i) regular inquiry has not been held against the
petitioner and no separate reasons were given that it
was not practicable to hold such an inquiry,
(ii) the petitioner was a regular employee of the
Corporation and his services could not be terminated
by invoking section 25-F of the I.D. Act,
(iii) the petitioner was suffering from epilepsy and
his case was squarely covered under the mandatory
provisions of the Persons with Disability Act, 1995 In
view of this position, the writ petition was allowed with
a direction to the respondent Corporation to reinstate
the petitioner in service and thereafter to consider his
case under sec. 47 of the Persons with Disability Act.
Shyam Singh vs. Himachal Road Transport
Corporation & Ors. LLJ (I) 2012 P.361 (H.P. H.C.)
Probationer
Order of termination of service of a
probationer is not simpliciter, if it is based upon
some misconducts on the part of the probationer
and liable to be challenged and quashed.
Order of termination of service even of a
probationer, containing two reasons, one being
stigmatic and the other not, should fail whereas order
of dismissal on the basis of disciplinary proceedings,
containing more than one reasons, some valid and
some not valid, could sustain. Doctrine of severability
is applicable to orders passed in pursuance of
disciplinary proceedings and to the case where order is
sought to be branded as termination simplicitor.
Anand Lenin Vethanayagam vs. The Registrar,
Pondicherry University, Pondicherry. 2012 LLR 633
(Mad. H.C.)
Punishment
An employee cannot be imposed another
punishment second time for the same misconducts
when he has already been punished for the same.
M.K. Surendrababu, Makkathukattil, Thrissur vs. Industrial
Tribunal, Palakkad and Ors. 2012 LLR 572 (Ker. H.C.)
Punishment of reduction in scale of pay, as
imposed upon the workman guilty of disorderly
and indecent behaviour, will not be violative of
principles of natural justice hence the Tribunal
has rightly declined to interfere.
Prabhakar Sahoo vs. Presiding Officer, Industrial
Tribunal, Rourkela & Another. 2012 (133) FLR 339
(Orissa H.C.)
Reference
The appropriate government was clearly in
error in rejecting to refer a dispute for
adjudication since it should have been referred for
From The Court Room
Latest Judgments
Business Manager July 2012 49
adjudication and also while rejecting to refer a
dispute, the government is required to give
supporting reasons.
Ram Shiromani Yadav vs. Conciliation Officer/Dy.
Labour Commissioner, Allahabad & Others. 2012
(133) FLR 390
(All. H.C.)
Reinstatement
Reinstatement with 25% back wages proper
when termination was effected without issuing
chargsheet and conducting enquiry.
Termination of service of workman without
issuance of charge-sheet, conducting of domestic
enquiry and service of show cause notice is bad in
law being in violation of principles of natural
justice which would result in reinstatement of the
workman with back-wages.
The Lohar Majra Kalan Cooperative Agriculture
Service Society Limited vs. The Presiding Officer,
Labour Court, Ludhiana and Another. 2012 LLR 592
(P&H H.C.)
Resignation
Labour court has rightly held that the
Security Coordinator, an Ex-serviceman
drawing wages of Rs. 8,500 per month, is a
workman but in view of his voluntary
resignation, his dispute challenging alleged
termination has been rightly rejected by the
Labour Court.
R. Ramanujam vs. Senior Manager, M/s. By Design
(Private) Limited, Bangalore. 2012 (133) FLR 252
(Kar. H.C.)
Retrenchment
Termination of a chowkidar, on closing down
the site office without following the principle of
last come, first go' will be violative of section
25F of the Industrial Disputes Act and hence he
will be entitled to reinstatement with back-
wages.
Chief Engineer, Rourkela Site Office vs. State Of
Orissa & Others. 2012 (133) FLR 275 (Orissa H.C.)
Termination sans retrenchment
compensation and one month's pay will be
illegal and the workman will be reinstated with
10% back-wages since there has been delay in
raising the claim by the workman.
State Of Gujarat and Another vs. Kalidas
Bhikhabhai Dudhrejiya & Others. 2012 (133) FLR
297 (Guj. H.C.)
Retirement
Law liad down in judgment, as it is, the
question of retrospective or prospective does
not arise hence the Laboratory Assistant, who
has been retired at the age of 58 years, would be
entitled to serve upto 60 years.
Rambhau Shaymrao Bhusari vs. Dr. Punjabrao
Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola and Another.
2012 LLR 621 (Bom. H.C.)
Settlement
Benefits of settlement cannot be extended to
all workmen under sec. 33-C(2) if they are not
in the employment on the day of settlement.
The contesting respondents workmen were in the
employment of the petitioner company. For various
reasons they tendered their resignations in the year
2006 and the same were accepted by the
management. Subsequently, there was a settlement
between the management and other workmen of the
company as per which the workmen who were in
service were given incentive payment at the rate of
11.67% for the accounting year 2006-2008. The
Contesting respondents did not get this benefit and
therefore they filed claim statement before the
Labour Court under sec. 33-C(2) of the I.D. Act.
Their claim was based upon the fact that the
settlement relates to the year 2006-2007 and during
the said accounting year they were in service and
therefore even though it is a settlement under sec.
18(1), they are also eligible for such claim. The
Labour Court allowed their claim holding that even
though they were not in service, they were entitled
to get benefit of the settlement. Being dissatisfied
with the said order, the management filed a writ
petition in the High Court contending that once the
workmen had resigned form their service, there
being no legal entitlement for them to get the benefit
claimed and therefore the court cannot extend the
scope of the said settlement.
The High Court agreed with submission made by
the petitioner management and held that incentive
payment itself is confined to a class of workmen.
The Labour Court's finding that they can interpret
the settlement will arise only if the settlement gives
benefits to all the cases of the workmen. There is no
scope for interpreting such clause in the settlement.
When that concession is not there, the court in a
proceeding under sec. 33-C(2) cannot extend the
scope of the said settlement. The settlement only
identifies number of workmen and therefore if at all
the workmen have any right, they must raise a
dispute with reference to their entitlement to get
incentive payment as available to other workmen.
Hence the petition was allowed.
Management of A.R.C. Retrading Co. P. Ltd. vs.
Presiding Officer, Lobour Court. FLR (132) 2012
P.1014 (Mad. H.C.)
Specific Relief Act
Contract of personal service cannot be
enforced since such suits are barred by the
Specific Relief Act, particularly when an
employee is not a Government employee.
An employee of the private sector company,
specially when he is not protected by the Industrial
Disputes Act, cannot have parity of treatment in
matter of compensation vis-a-vis government
employee hence the high court set aside the decree
allowing the compensation to the respondent who
From The Court Room
Latest Judgments
50 Business Manager July 2012
From The Court Room
Latest Judgments
will be entitled to only one month salary in lieu of
notice for termination of his service.
At the time of termination of the respondent by
the appellant employer, he was 34 years old and was
to serve upto 60 years as per rules. Accordingly, he
demanded 26 years' salary as compensation which,
though allowed by the civil court but the High Court
observed that the contract of personal service
cannot be enforced since such suits are barred by
the specific Relief Act- particularly when an
employee is not a government employee.
G.E. Capital Transportation Financial Services Ltd.
vs. Shri Tarun Bhargava. 2012 LLR 608 (Delhi H.C.)
Standing Orders
Modification in the Standing Orders related
to retirement age from 58 to 60 held proper,
when it was done after the expiry of the
settlement between Union and Management.
Enhancement of retirement age from 58 years to
60 in the Certified Standing orders, as sought by the
employees' Union, has been rightly approved by the
certifying officer and upheld by the Appellate
Authority in view of the similarly situated
industries. When a settlement is for a stipulated
period, no demand even pertaining to increasing the
age of retirement could be made since it will involve
financial implication but even after expiry of the
settlement, the benefits of the settlement though
available to the employees but on expiry of the
prescribed period, there will be no ban in seeking
enhancement of retirement age by the modification
of the certified standing orders.
Since the High Court has upheld the order of
Certifying officer and the Appellate Authority
pertaining to increase in the age of retirement
effective from 26.8.2011, the employees who have
retired from service between the modification of the
standing orders and the operation of the judgment
of the High Court, the employees who have been
retired, will be entitled to monetary benefit.
M/s Kennametal India Ltd. vs. Kennametal india
Employees' Association. 2012 LLR 600 (Kar. H.C.)
V.R.S.
Once the employee receive all benefits under
V.R.S. employer-employee relationship ceases.
He cannot get benefits of modified V.R.S.
thereafter.
After receiving the payment in full and final
under the Voluntary Retirement Scheme and getting
relieved, there comes a complete cessation of the
jural relationship between the employer and
employee. Petitioners are not entitled to get benefit
of the modified voluntary retirement scheme when
they have already received their dues in full and
final and relieved as per earlier voluntary
retirement scheme.
Dinesh Chandra Mishra and Another vs. Project
and Development India Ltd., Dhanbad & Ors. 2012
LLR 596 (Jhar. H.C.)
Petitioner's request for VRS on medical
ground was held rightly rejected by the
employer.
The petitioner joined the services of the
respondent company in the year 1984 and she
earned promotions from time to time. As of now she
is working as Senior Office Superintendent in the
pay & Accounts department. On 9-5-2009 she
addressed a letter to the Senior Manager of the
department stating that she is falling sick
frequently on account of various ailments and that
she has therefore decided to seek voluntary
retirement on medical grounds. The petitioner
sought permission to take VRS. The senior manager
referred the case of the petitioner to the Medical
Board. The petitioner appeared before the Medical
Board who according to her, found her unfit to
continue in the service. The petitioner therefore,
again made a representation on 4-12-2009 to the
chairman and Managing Director to permit her to
retire on VRS on medical grounds. However, the
petitioner's request was not acceded to and she was
informed to attend her duty. Feeling aggrieved by
the said communication, the petitioner approached
the High Court by means of a writ petition
contending that there is no basis for not acceding to
her request for VRS. On the other hand, it was
contended by the respondents that there is no
scheme for VRS in vogue and that it is the
prerogative of an employer to retire an employee on
medical grounds, and not the other way.
The High Court pointed out that the petitioner
has not referred to any VRS which is in vogue at the
relevant point of time. VRS on the one hand and
retirement on medical grounds on the other hand
cannot go together. The first one is a facility which
an employee can avail of if the scheme is in vogue
and the second is the prerogative of the employer to
dispense with the services of an employee if he/she
is found medically unfit. The High Court therefore
held that the petitioner cannot compel the
respondent to retire her on medical grounds. Hence
the writ petition was disposed of with a direction
not to treat the petitioner's application to terminate
her services on medical grounds and it shall be open
to the respondents to assess the ability and fitness of
the petitioner to discharge the functions.
B. Lakshmi Sampoornam vs. Bharat Dynamics Ltd.
LLN (1) 2012 P.702 (A.P. H.C.)
Workman
In the absence of any proof by the
management otherwise, the person would be
held workman.
When the Management takes an objection that
the claimant is not a workman, it has to prove
through documentary evidence that the nature of
duties of the claimant are supervisory, managerial
or administrative, otherwise the objection of the
Management would be held unsustainable.
M.K. Surendrababu, Makkathukattil, Thrissur vs.
Industrial Tribunal, Palakkad and Ors. 2012 LLR
572 (Ker. H.C.)
Business Manager July 2012 51
Courtsey - Labour Law Reporter,FLR, CLR & APS Labour Digest
RAM NIWAS BAIRWA
Regional P.F. Commissioner (II), INDORE
The Employee’ Pension Scheme, 1995
Know About It!
DOCUMENTATION
Like other matters, the first step is not the introduction of the
Scheme and the application etc., but, the most difficult issue of
the Date of Birth, and the supporting documents which required
to be submitted with the claim applications. From this April
(2012), the EPFO has switched over to e-returns, that may resolve
many problems, but, the relevance of the issues may continue.
In the beginning, those matters have been listed which are
generally required for settlement of pension claims. It is not
exhaustive. The office may require more information depending
of the merits of the case, which is to be supplied.
DATE OF BIRTH :
1. There is no provision in the EPS 1995 to file 'date of birth' in the
office records. Therefore, any information about date of birth
which is given under the EPF Scheme 1952, is taken as basic . data
for EPS 1995.
2. Those source of information about date of birth are -
Form No. 9 (revised ) / Form No. 5 (revised).
In case of an exempted establishment Form No. 3(P.S)/ Form
No. 4(P.S.)
Form No. 2 (revised) nomination form filed under para 61 of
the EPF Scheme 1952.
3. There happen three types of situations -
No information about date of birth. In such case, admission of
date of birth is required.
There is information in Form No. 5 (Revised) or Form 9 (Rev.)
52 Business Manager July 2012
and in form No.2 (Rev); but having
different dates of birth. In such case,
correct date of birth into be determined.
Specific date of birth is given, but, a
member wants to change it on the
authority of a document either to remain
in service or to get pension earlier
without or with minimum reduction in
retiring pension.
ADMISSION OF DATE OF BIRTH :
4. In cases where date of birth is to be
admitted in the record, any information
given by the employer is acceptable.
Obviously the employer may be have certain
basis, on which, he is going to regulate
employees' service.
As for date of birth is concerned, that is
required to be kept as per the law governing
the establishment. It can be as per
requirements of the Factories Act (as per the
Standing Orders of the Factory it may be
duly certified by the Medical Officer of the
Factory); in Mining Industry, it can be the
information contained in the Form 'B'
register required to be kept under Mining
Act; in Beedi Industry, it is the
card/registration with Beedi Workers
Welfare Board; it can be Form 1 the
declaration given by the employee under the
ESIC Act, in transport industry it can be
Driving License and it can be based on the
cirtificates of the Education Board ,
similarly so many sources can help.
CONFLICTING DATES OF BIRTH :
5. In cases where date of birth is on record,
but different dates are there in Form
9(revised)/5(revised) and in Form No. 2. In
such cases, a careful and logical decision is
always appreciated and the member-
beneficiary is treated in way in which he is
not put in hardship and harassment.
6. Sometimes, form No. 9 (Revised) / 5
(revised) are filled in a casual manner,
sometimes, the column, relating to Date of
Birth is left blank. The information supplied
in these forms happen to be a verbal saying
of information given by the member to the
form filling clerk/personnel or the
There is no provision in the EPS 1995 to file
'date of birth' in the office records. Therefore,
any information about date of birth which is
given under the EPF Scheme 1952, is taken as
basic data for EPS 1995.
establishment. Hence, the reliability of date of birth
being nearest to the correct becomes questionable.
Generally, date of birth is not shown in form
9(R)/5(R), only the age is shown, which used to be as
on the date of filing this form. As such, it is not proper
to take that age as on the date of joining the
membership for P.F.
7. Information in Form No. 2 happens to be a
declaration by the member himself and attested by
the employer. Hence, the ear-say information
recorded by a clerk in Form No. 9(Revised)/5(Revised)
can not be correct information in the documentation.
Therefore, the information given in Form No. 2 is to
prevail over any information that is recorded in Form
No. 9(Revised )/5(Revised).
This contention has been appreciated by the
Judiciary in the case under the E.P.S. 1995 itself
(Kerala State Consumer Protection Forum decision).
CHANGE IN DATE OF BIRTH :
8. Where the change in the date of birth at the time of
claim or retirement/superannuation is involved; it is
not permissible even as per decision of the Supreme
Court in various cases. However, as the requirements
of administration of a Social Security Scheme and
knowing that the members / beneficiaries are largely
illiterate, not much fond of documentation,
frequently migrating from one Industry to another
and from organized sector to un-organized sector or
vice versa, some other type of consideration is
expected. This is also necessary, looking to the
circumstances, mentioned in Note above; the change
in date of birth is considered. For this purpose,
specific directions / clarifications have been issued
and norms have been laid down. Those have to be
followed.
AN IMPORTANT JUDGEMENT OF
SUPREME COURT -
Date of Birth extended in Form 'B' Register of a
colliery employee was 1932 employee acquired
certificate of Gas Testing and Mining Sirdarship on
passing exam conducted by Director General of
Mines safely, where in date of birth mentioned as
9.2.1946. In terms of services rules Medical Board
examined employee and fixed date of birth as
13.10.1936. Employee filed writ petition claiming his
date of birth be corrected in service record as 9.2.1946
as per acquired certificate High Court directed the
employer to correct as prayed for:
From the provisions in the instructions providing
for determination/modification of date of birth of an
employee, as applicable in the instant case, it is clear
that in case of dispute over date of birth of an
existing employee, who has neither a matriculation
certification/Secondary school certification or a
statutory certificate in which a manager has certified
the entry regarding date of birth to be authantic, The
employer is to refer the matter to the Medical Board.
Therefore, no fault can be found with the action of the
employer. the Medical Board, as laid down in the
instructions is to consider the matter on the evidence
available will the colliery management and in
accordance with the requirement of medical
jurisprudence. In these circumstances, there was
hardly any scope for the High Court to interfere with
the date of birth as determind by the employer
(appellant herein) and issue a writ of Mondamus that
the date as claimed by the employee(The respondent
herein) should be accepted. No scope for Hight Court
to interfere with the date of birth as determined by
employer. The Judgement of High Court in set-aside.
(G.M.Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. V/s
Shib Kumar Dusad & Others-2001-LLR-74-SC)
CLAIMS :
9. In cases of MMP following points to be kept in
mind-
Type of pension and the date, from which the
pension is required , be mentioned.
Option for commutation be given either
affirmative or negative.
Option for ROC be marked as "Yes" or 'No'. If 'Yes',
the category of option I, II or III be specifically
mentioned.
List of family members including all family
members whether eligible for pension or not. This
may ease payment in case of death of the member
or widow.
The bank account through which pension is
required.
Joint photograph.
Descriptive Roll containing information of
Personal identification marks and finger prints.
10. In cases of family members, following points to be
kept in mind
Type of pension-WP/OP/N.P or W.P. to
father/mother.
In certain cases, where member superannuates
and dies without claim, the date of superannuation
and date of death are to be mentioned specifically.
List of family members including all family
members whether he / she is or will be eligible for
pension or not, with date of births of all members.
The bank account No. of all member's so that at the
time of switching over the pension to him or her
may not delay.
Photo graphs.
Descriptive Roll including personal identification
mark & finger prints.
11. The employer has to ensure completion of claim
form in the light of above. However, certain collateral
and additional informations as required to be
supplied, may also be supplied for prompt settlement
of claim. Those can be listed as under-not exhaustive-
may be some additional information as may be
required by the office depending on the merits &
interests of the case.
Ensure that the rightful claimant / claimants ar
preferring the claim.
All the columns are filled in correctly.
Attestation on the claim form at proper places
including attestation of list of family members,
photograph and personal details/bio- metrics in
Descriptive Roll is done with rubber stamp of
designated authorized officer's official seal.
Form No. 3A(revised) or 7(PS) as the case may be,
for the current year is enclosed.
Break in Service - as regards past service is
concerned and details of NCP days with regard to
Business Manager July 2012 53
The Employee’ Pension Scheme, 1995
Know About It!
Actual Service is concerned, is enclosed; In the
case of M.M.P.
Copies of Certificates of date of birth of
children/family members are attested and
enclosed with.
Wherever necessary, the Guardianship Certificate
be advised to be obtained and an attested copy
thereof be attached.
MEMBERSHIP
Membership of EFPS, 1971:
1. The membership to the Employees' Pension
Scheme, 1995 is based on certain provisions
of the ceased Employees' Family Pension Scheme,
1971 which relates to "retention of membership" and
are reproduced here-under :-
"Retention of EFPS (old) Membership"
Para 6. Retention of membership.- A member of
Family Pension Fund shall continue to be a member
of the Family Pension Fund till he attains the age of
60 years or till he retires or quits the service and
withdraws or becomes entitled to withdraw the
benefits to which he is entitled under this Scheme or
dies during the period of reckonable service,
whichever I the earliest :
Provided that, where there has been a break in the
member-ship of the Family Pension Fund on account
of closure of an establishment, strike, lock-out, leave
without pay, retrenchment, resignation, termination,
discharge or for any other such reason either under
the same establishment or under defferent
establishments covered under the Act such member, if
he has not withdrawn the benefit to which he is
entitled under this Scheme and his provident fund
accumulations under Employees, Provident Fund
Scheme, 1952, or the Provident Fund Scheme of an
exempted establishment, as the case may be, shall
continue to be a member of the Family Pension Fund:
Provided further that such breaks during which no
contributions to the Family Pension Fund are payable
shall be excluded from the total reckonable service."
2. Membership of the EFPS 1971, was given
simultaneously with the membership of the EPF
Scheme. Hence, in any case, if the EFPS membership
was given after the membership of the EPF i.e. in the
case of belated coverage, the EFPS membership is
required to be restored from the date the employee
became member of the EPF Scheme, and contribution
for that period is to be diverted from the PF account of
the member.
3. Breaks of more than one year, even between two
spells, which were not willfully i.e. beyond the control
of the member, can be regularised by paying or
diverting the contribution from P.F. account of the
member.
4. As soon as, the P.F. and F.P.F. accounts were
closed, the F.P.F. Membership was bound to end, such
was the provision in the E.F.P.S. 1971.
5. The cases, where P.F. account is not finally
settled but paid out partly either as an advance or
otherwise, and the F.P.F. account is not settled; the
membership is treated as retained, after introduction
of the E.P.S 1995 and can be regularized as countable
past service by paying contribution for the non-
contributory period.
MEMBERSHIP OF E.P.S., 1995 :
6. Every employee who becomes member of the
E.P.F. on or after 16.11.95 has to become member of
E.P.S. 1995 and also every member of the cased E.F.P.S.
1971 as on 16.11.95 has to become member of the E.P.S.
1995 from 16.11.95 compulsorily. ( All the
objection/writs filed in different High Courts
demanding options from EFPS members to join E.P.S.
1995 have been disallowed by the Supreme Court in
November, 2003. The criterion of EPS membership is
the membership of the E.F.P.S. 1971 and not the
employment as on 16.11.95.
7. Such employee, who joined P.F. membership
before introduction of EFPS,1971 and not opted the
EFPS,1971, may also join the EPS,1995 by giving
option. Such employee may become member of
EPS,1995 w.e.f. 16.11.1995; but, he is required to pay
contribution into the Pension Fund from 1.3.1971
along with interest @ 8.5% p.a. in cash or by diversion
from his P.F. account.
8. As per the announcement in the Parliament in
1993 about introduction of E.P.S. w.e.f. 01.04.1993,
window has been kept open for the EFPS 1971
members to get in, who ceased to be members of EFPS
1971, would have been entitled to receive pension
under E.P.S.1995 if, it would have been introduced
w.e.f. 1.4.1993, whether they have taken withdrawal
cum retirement benefit or family pension by the
family members in case of death or not. Thus, to
clarify this in easy terms, we can say that every
E.F.P.S. 1971 member who ceased to be member of it,
by withdrawing benefits available under that scheme
i.e withdrawl benefits is eligible to opt to become
member of E.P.S. 1995. to get pension later-on.
TIME LIMIT FOR OPTION :
9. Initially, a six months' period was given in para 7
for exercising option to become member of the
EPS1995, but, by an amendment in para 7 in February,
1996, this time-limit of six months has been deleted.
Therefore, now, the option can be given at any time; but
in cases mentioned in Note 2.7 above, the option can be
given during the employment only and that too before
attaining the age of superannuation i.e. 58 years.
REFUND OF BENEFITS TAKEN :
10. Such member, as mentioned in Note 2.8 above,
who has taken withdrawal cum retirement benefit has
to deposit the full amount with interest along with
option for joining E.P.S. 1995 [Para 17(2)].
11. Cases where member died between 01.04.1993
and 16.11.95 whether while in service and paid one
month's contribution into Pension Fund or away from
service, age below 60 years and ten years' or even less
service as reckonable service, his family is entitled to
get pension under EPS 1995. If, any benefit paid either
as withdrawal benefit or Life Assurance benefits or
family pension is required to be adjusted against the
arrear of difference payable under EPS 1995. Refund
of such benefits is not to be insisted for. [ para 17(1)].
12. In short- not entitled for Pension
whose date of birth is prior to 01.04.1933,
put less than 10 years eligible service,
not deposited Withdrawal Benefit + interest,
not exercised option to join EPS 1995.
54 Business Manager July 2012
The Employee’ Pension Scheme, 1995
Know About It!
BM
SHANTIMAL JAIN
Advisor, Rajasthan Textile Mills
Bhawanimandi (Raj.)
T
he industrial misconduct has developed
into a concept with the passage of time
but it is unfortunate that it has neither
been defined in the Industrial Disputes
Act 1947 or in the Industrial
Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946. We are
therefore left with no other option except to seek
its dictionary meaning and the dictionary
meaning of the word misconduct is "improper
behavior, intentional wrong doing or deliberate
violation of a rule of standard behavior". So
inspite of the fact that this expression is not
capable of precise definition, it reflections
receives its connotations from the context i.e. the
delinquency in its performance and its effect on
the discipline and nature of duty. Negatively it
would not mean inefficiency, of slackness. It is
something for more positive and certainly
deliberate.
In so far as the relationship of Industrial
employment is concerned, a workman has certain
express or implied obligations unto his employer.
Any conduct on the part of an employee
inconsistent with the faithful discharge of his
duties towards his employer would be a
misconduct. It, therefore, follows that any breach
of the express or implied duties of an employee
towards his employer, therefore, unless it be of
trifling nature, would constitute an act of
misconduct. What is misconduct would, therefore,
naturally depend upon the circumstances of each
case. However, this statement of law has
undergone a change with the evolution and
development of the law on misconduct. Inspite of
certain such circumstances as would ordinarily
constitute a "misconduct" it may not be so if such
a misconduct is not so prescribed or enumerated
in the Standing Orders or Service Rules and that
would rather be the crux of this article.
Under the Industrial Employment (Standing
Orders) Central Rules 1946 framed under the
Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act
1946, the Central Government has prescribed the
model Standing Orders Sch.1 clause 14 (3). It
prescribes certain acts and omissions which
would be deemed as misconduct. Strangely
enough these model standing orders itself do not
define misconduct or illustrate it exhaustively.
The enumeration is only illustrative. The
employers may therefore frame their own
Standing Orders suited to the peculiar exigencies
of their industries and establishments.
Ordinarily the Standing Orders would limit the
concept of misconduct but not invariably so as
has been held in Mahendra Singh Dhantwal Vs.
Hindustan Motors Ltd. (1976) 2 LLJ 259 (SC).
In workmen of Deevan Group Tea Estate Vs.
Presiding Officer Labour Court Assam 1981 Lab.
IC 713 the Apex Court observed that Standing
Orders of a company only describe certain cases
of misconduct and the same can not be exhaustive
of all the species of misconduct which a workman
may commit. Even though a given conduct may
not come within the specific term of misconduct
described in the Standing Order, it may still be a
misconduct in the special facts of a case, which it
may not be possible to condone and for which the
employer may take appropriate action. Later on
getting aware of the far reaching implications of
this proposition of law again, a three Judge Bench
Business Manager July 2012 55
Managing Discipline
Unenumerated
Misconducts
In majority of judicial verdicts, it is held and ruled that an employer
is estopped from taking strict action in the event of a delinquent
committing a misconduct which does not find place in the list of
acts and omissions that constitute misconduct in the Standing
Orders or Service Rules.
of Supreme Court in the case of Glaxo
Laboratories (I) Ltd. Vs. Presiding Officer Labour
Court 1983 Lab. IC 1909, held that those
observations could not be elevated to a proposition
of law that some misconduct neither defined nor
enumerated and which might be believed by the
employer to be a misconduct ex-post-facto would
expose the workman to a penalty. In this case the
court further amplified and elucidated that it
could not be left to the vagaries of the
management to say ex-post facto that some acts of
omission or commission, nowhere found to be
enumerated in the relevant Standing Orders are
none-the-less acts of misconduct not strictly
falling within the enumerated misconduct in the
relevant Standing Orders but yet misconduct for
the purpose of imposing penalty.
However, the ratio of this case was again
echoed by the Supreme Court itself in Rasik Lal
Waghaji Bhai Patel V/s. Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation 1985 Lab IC 729 and the court
observed that everything which was required to
be prescribed with precision and that no
argument could be entertained that something not
prescribed could yet be taken into account. This
position was again reiterated in AL Kalra V/s.
Project and Equipment Corporation of India Ltd.
1984 (2) LLJ 186. In this case it was held that where
the misconduct when proved entailed penal
consequences it was obligatory on the employer to
specify and if necessary define it with precision
and accuracy so that any ex-post facto
interpretation of some incident might not be
camouflaged as misconduct.
This enunciation by the Apex Court on
enumerated and un-enumerated misconduct is at
variance with the celebrated observations of the
case of Pearc V/s. Foster where it has been
mentioned that if a servant conducted himself in
a way inconsistent with the faithful discharge of
his duty in service, it was misconduct which
justified immediate dismissal. It was sufficient, if
it was conduct which was prejudicial or was likely
to be prejudicial to the interest or to the
reputation of the master and the master would be
justified not only if he discovers it at the time, but
also if he discovered it afterwards, in dismissing
that servant. In short the rule of law was, that
where a person had entered into a position of
servant, if he did anything in compatible with the
due or faithful discharge of his duty to his master,
the master had a right to dismiss him. These
observations were approved by the Supreme Court
in S. Govinda Menon V/s. Union of India 1967 (2)
LLJ 249. It therefore seems that things were not
crystal clear and some confusion just surfaced.
In these fluid situations, lately the Supreme
Court in the case of Vijay Singh V/s. State of UP
(2012) 5 SCC 242 without completely reversing the
Clock handed over us a little bit of conceptual
clarity on the concept of misconduct, this case
although relates to a Government servant none
the less it has laid down certain cardinal
principles which could be of wide amplitude and
broader application with regard to disciplinary
action on misconducts. The court in the instant
case observed that holding departmental
proceedings and recording finding of guilt/charge
against any delinquent and imposing punishment
for the same is a quasi-judicial function and not
administrative function and therefore authorities
have to strictly adhere to statutory rules while
imposing punishment and that in civilized society
governed by rule of law, punishment not
prescribed under statutory rules can not be
imposed and it further ruled that it could not be
left to the vagaries of employer to say ex-post facto
that some acts or omissions or commission not
enumerated relevant rules, which none the less
amount to misconduct.
The only question involved in the appeal before
their Lordships was as to whether disciplinary
authority could impose punishment not
prescribed under the statutory rules after holding
the disciplinary proceedings. In this regard the
court referred to a catena of cases more
particularly the case of Mohd. Yunus Khan V/s.
State of UP 2010 (10) SCC 539 and Coal India Ltd.
V/s. Ananta Saha (2011) 5 SCC 142 on the issue
involved. Their Lordships also felt that the case
before them was an eye opener as it revealed as to
what extent the superior statutory authorities
took to, the fate of their subordinates in a casual
and cavalier manner without the application of
mind because in this case the appellant was
punished for something which was not an
enumerated and prescribed misconduct.
I have tried to analyse and elucidate law on this
enumerated and prescribed misconducts and vice
versa but then for sustaining, preserving and
maintaining discipline at work place, the
misdeeds of the employee should be vulnerable to
action. It is a sine quo non else it would be
difficult to run the show. So if an employee is
found involved in derelictions of duties and if
such indulgencies are not enumerated a statutory
misconduct then the employer could resort to
second part of misconduct (H) "any act subversive
of discipline" and charge sheet, the delinquent
but this being a tight rope walking, the
employer should tread all cautiously, the road
being uneven. In absence of the Standing Orders,
however, the question shall have to be dealt with
reasonably and in accordance with the common
sense as to what acts could be treated as acts of
misconduct.
The whole thing shall depend on facts and
circumstances of each case. It is also to be
remembered that if an employee has been
erroneously charged under one of the heads of
misconduct, even then the employer is not
precluded from taking action under another head if
the actual committed misconduct fell into that head.
The courts have even legislated and catalogued
some misdeeds which if committed would attract
severe disciplinary action. The employer could
definitely fall on such catalogued misconducts in
absence of specific enumerations.
56 Business Manager July 2012
Unenumerated
Misconducts
BM
CASE
Analysis
T
he manner in which Mr.Kapil went about handling the issue related to the Ex-
Union President brings forth to light some of the values of the organization
which is a large engineering company located at Dewas Madhya Pradesh.
Number one is that the organization values its workforce members and partners
and the other is Visionary Leadership.
The organization is seen to valuing its workforce members & partners, firstly by
the HR initiative of providing outhouse training to all of its employees (workmen
and staff) for developing their knowledge and skill as well as inculcating a positive
attitude mindset through one of the pioneer training institute in the country
'Moral Rearmament Center, Panchgani'. The organization is investing in its people
in order to ensure that they have the skills for today and to do what is necessary to
succeed in the future. By organising a five days residential training programme for
the Union Representatives who are also the company's employees and with
Mr.Kapil as group leader, the training programme objective was not just about
employee participation and development but an opportunity for the organization's
leadership to show that it values its workforce and members through formal &
informal interaction during the five days.
There could be no greater example of valuing workforce members &
participating partners than that of providing urgent medical assistance including
financial help when needed to the Union President who suffered a severe heart
attack after first day of the training programme. No stone was left unturned to save
his life by immediately rushing him in an ambulance to Ruby Hospital, Pune which
was renowned as one of the best super specialty hospital for heart patients. His
treatment was started immediately when it was learn't that his condition was
critical and arrangements were made by the company to bring his relatives to Pune
so that they can be by his side. The patient survived after 15 days of rigorous
treatment and angioplasty. The organization cared for the well-being of everyone
associated with it.The organization &Mr.Kapil showed good citizenship in their
efforts to save the life of the Union President.Mr.Kapil must have anticipated any
adverse effects to the participating union employees if anything had gone wrong in
the efforts to save his life and hence all efforts were made to save his life. This act
by Mr.Kapil representing the organization shows its societal responsibility.
Later the Union President was able to claim his medical treatment expense
through ESIC. He wasgraciously assisted by Mr.Kapil to claim the amount from
ESIC. However in a turn of events, the Union President did not reimburse back to
the company the recovered medical expense amount and rather turned his back on
them by filing false police complaints against the company. He started instigating
fellow union workers against the company by raising petty issues.He also forged
Valuing workforce &
visionary leadership
By Mihir Gosalia, Mumbai
The case analysis refers to case study ‘Strategic
handling of Union President’s greed’ by Anil malik
published in June 12 issue.
The organizations
leadership must
"mandate"
through many
different
techniques,
importance of
ethical behaviour
in the workplace.
Business Manager July 2012 57
CASE
Analysis
documents to show that payment for his treatment was made by his family
members. The Management of the organization on sensing the danger brewing
ahead was quick to take steps to counter it by taking the workers into confidence,
explaining to them the entire facts and thus gaining their favourable opinion. The
Management also started process of educating the workers against the self
centered attitude & motives of the Union President, it formed an internal union
with effective communication to counter the threat and then through the legal
process recovered the medical amount spent.
The organization at that critical juncture was undergoing a transformation
phase of working from conventional to professional style. Wages were going to be
linked to productivity and career progression schemes were formulated. The
organization had to keep manpower 100% engaged to ensure that productivity
would not suffer. It is here that the leadership of the organization took steps to
guide the workers in best interests of sustaining the organization. A focus on
action was created by Mr.Kapil taking the workers into confidence, explaining to
them the entire facts, educating them via training sessions and sowing the seeds of
internal democracy. The organization's leadership is trying to develop an
environment that supports ethical behaviour and high performance. Through the
customised training programmes, the organization is endeavouring to
communicate clear values and performance expectations. Hence the union
representatives must abide by ethical values, management mission and vision that
the organizations senior leaders have demonstrated through their interactions and
must take it seriously. The organizations leadership by making the vision, values,
and performance expectations clear, thus have tried to do away with any
uncertainty that may have been created amongst the workers otherwise.
The union workers on their part when the organization is undergoing a
transformation from conventional to professional management should work as a
visible group that would benefit everybody, improve their working conditions and
thus raise the overall standard of living of all by earning higher wages.
The organizations leadership must "mandate" through many different
techniques, importance of ethical behaviour in the workplace. An example could
be of recognising & rewarding a worker who has showed outstanding behaviour in
the workplace. The leadership could establish appropriate measures and/or
indicators that they could track for their review. Standards of ethical behaviour
should be defined and everyone in the organization should understand and follow
the standards. The organization must systematically monitor ethical behaviour
throughout and ensure that it is within the governance structure. Failure to follow
the standards of ethical behaviour should lead to prompt and serious consequence
for the concerned. Ensuring that ethical business practices are followed by all
members of the workforce lessens the organizations risk which in this case was
that there was not a single man hour loss reported due to the process of litigation
between the organization & the Union President.It is also important for the
leadership to anticipate potential problems that may arise in the future so as to
avoid costly corrective action later or litigation. Risk indicators could be identified
and monitored.
The leadership style of Mr.Kapil is found to be participative or democratic. This
is generally the most effective leadership style. As group leader, he has not only
guided the workers, taken them into confidence but also participated along with
them. He encouraged the workers, motivated them. He led the workers to the
solution of the problem which was with the external union president by having an
internal democratic union.As a learning from the incident of dealing with the
External Union President, the organization could have a health & safety policy in
place on what it should do in case such a medical emergency were to arise outside
the organizations premises like in this case when they were away on a residential
training programme. It could be taken in writing from the patient or relative that
medical expense borne by the organization would be reimbursed after completion
of treatment.
The leadership
style of Mr.Kapil
is found to be
participative or
democratic. This
is generally the
most effective
leadership style.
As group leader,
he has not only
guided the
workers, taken
them into
confidence but
also participated
along with them.
58 Business Manager July 2012
BM
CASE
study
Bhaskar Prasad, a qualified mechanical engineer and a first generation
entrepreneur, dreamt of setting up his own unit while working in Aries (India) for
number of years. Before joining Aries (India), Prasad had the opportunity to work in
a few small scale companies in the same industry manufacturing different types of
flow control valves. He was well versed with the technology and problems normally
encountered in manufacturing flow control valves. In 2005, he joined hands with few
of his colleagues and established Sugandhaval Flow Controls Pvt Ltd., in
collaboration with STech Controls (USA), a firm which had over thirty years of
expertise in flow control in highly discerning American market. Prasad and STech
Controls entered into a 50:50 partnership to establish Sugandhaval Flow Controls Pvt
Ltd at Pune in India. All Sugandhaval products had to adhere to uncompromising
standards set by pioneers in USA. With a range of flow control valves and valve
automation products manufactured to exacting international standards, Sugandhaval
steadfastly moved towards achieving the vision of having flow control products
installed in all plants world over. The challenge before Prasad was to make
Sugandhaval the most preferred brand in the industry. Starting with an investment of
Rs. 20 million, Prasad focused on product development, market development and
launching of the product. The land, building, machines and other infrastructure
were completely outsourced. Even the human resources at shop floor were also fully
outsourced. But Prasad maintained direct contact with the work force to minimise
production related issues. Prasad went in for loan for the working capital and
achieved break even by the end of second financial year (2006-07). Sugandhaval had
the turnover of Rs. 100 millions in the first financial year (2005-06) and Rs. 170
millions in the second financial year (2006-07).
Inventory Control and Quality Issues
One of the challenges of Sugandhaval was that it had to compete with both
organized and unorganized sectors. Establishment of brand image against competing
established key players was a herculean task. Moreover, cost of the final product of
Sugandhaval was not competitive against its competitors from China and Korea.
Prasad tried to control the cost through budgeting and trading with new vendors for
supplying the finished components which were in turn assembled by Sugandhaval.
Another concern for Sugandhaval was inventory management. It was 90 days hold of
the components. This could not be cut down because of laggardness on the part of
vendors, as latter could not match the lead time of six to eight weeks given by the
Dream Big
& Dare to Step In
The case highlights various challenges which came across
the journey from being an employee to becoming an
employer. The establishment of a brand in a competitive
market is an unavoidable challenge.
BM’s fictionalized case studies present dilemmas faced by leaders in real organisations.
Experts are invited to send solutions. Best will be published.
One of the
challenges of
Sugandhaval was
that it had to
compete with both
organized and
unorganized sectors.
Establishment of
brand image against
competing
established key
players was a
herculean task.
Business Manager July 2012 59
customers to Sugandhaval for the delivery of the assembled products. Therefore, good
management of stocks was the key area Prasad was careful about.
Sugandhaval concern was quality maintenance. It had quality control procedures,
quality plans, testing and inspection processes and tools. In the design section, no
significant innovation could be made because the production as well as the market were
in mature state; thus Sugandhaval had to strictly adhere to international standards. It
spent meagre amount on advertising in trade journals, such as Industrial Product
Finder and Chemical Process Magazine. The products of Sugandhaval being industrial
products, the B2B promotion was made possible through personal contacts with the
decision makers of the customers. The targets were achieved through one to one
contact and personal briefings with the customers. During these visits, the existing and
evolving needs of customers were identified. Thus, need were met, as they arose. Most
of the budget for promotion was reserved for establishing customer contacts. As a small
company, these visits for customer contacts were clubbed with other related sales and
promotional efforts for cost.
Sugandhaval had a wide range of products, with butterfly valve accounting for 80
percent and the remaining contributing close to 20 percent. Out of Rs. 15 billion market
in India Sugandhaval held a share of 2 percent by 2011. Though turnover rose to Rs. 270
millions by the third financial year (2007-08), it remained at the same figure in the
fourth financial year (2008-09) due to recession. However, Sugandhaval could achieve
the turnover of Rs. 450 millions in the fifth financial year, i.e., 2009-2010. Having gained
the confidence and financial strength, Sugandhaval was planning to move to its own
premises before termination of the lease of the rented infrastructure in 2012.
Sugandhaval overcame the challenges from established valve manufacturers since
this product got ready acceptance in the US market. The total exports for the financial
year 2010-11 were 30 percent. Competition in the export market from China and Korea
posed major threats to Sugandhaval. The policy of Government of India and the
economic boom had made India a very attractive market for the MNCs from the US, UK
and other European nations. These companies entered into partnership with
companies in India and China, resulting in labelling of goods manufactured by
companies in China as their own and selling Prasad planned to address newer
geographical areas by entering into joint ventures and partnerships in Russia, South
Africa and Malaysia.
Sugandhaval planned to add higher level of niche products with the existing ones.
Being conscious of the complexities of business, Prasad had an ERP designed locally to
meet out the needs of Sugandhaval since beginning. In 2011, he decided to implement
SAP which he thought was the ultimate ERP solution to cater to the evolving needs and
strengthening its position in the organized sector. For making distinction in the
organized sector, Sugandhaval had already obtained various international
certifications of quality assurance, such as ISO 9001-2008. The products of
Sugandhaval were certified for CE and ATEX compliance. Prasad believed that one
should dream big and dare to step in the business of choice. According to him, one
needs to believe in oneself and make a beginning. He had a strong urge to do things
differently. He felt that every day is different and one should strive to grow bigger.
Prasad had the dream to build Sugandhaval into a multi-hundred crore company in the
times to come and for that he needed to deliver to customers of Sugandhaval with
superior performance flow control products.
Questions
1. Comment on the strategy of restricting the loans to working capital only. Was it
right to outsource the infrastructure including land and machinery, besides human
resources at the shop floor?
2. Comment on the strategy adopted by Prasad to combat competition from
multinational companies.
3. Present the SWORT analysis of the business model adopted by Bhaskar Prasad.
4. In your opinion, what were the personal characteristics of Bhaskar Prasad which
made him a successful entrepreneur?
CASE
study
Prasad believed
that one should
dream big and
dare to step in the
business of
choice. According
to him, one needs
to believe in
oneself and make
a beginning.
The case was developed by Surya Rashmi Rawat (Symbiosis Law School, Pune, India), Upinder Dhar (JK Lakshmipat University,
Jaipur, India), Smita R. Nair (Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies - UG, Pune, India), Parvatham Naganathan (Symbiosis
International University, Pune, India), Prasenjit Sen (Symbiosis Centre for Information Technology, Pune, India) and Roudra
Chakraborty (Symbiosis School of Economics, Pune, India) during Case Writing Workshop organized by Symbiosis International
University, Pune, in collaboration with JK Lakshmipath University India from April 25- 27, 2011.
60 Business Manager July 2012
BM
EVENT
Report
It was a grand celebration of Silver
Jubilee of NHRDN conference, the
network was founded by Late Dr. Udai
Pareek (L&T/NHRD) along with Dr. T.V.
Rao and professionals from renowned
enterprises . 25 years reflects a long
journey yet the Human Resource is in its
infancy. Prominent personalities from
the Human resource fraternity gathered
to relish the dreams of the HRD.
The conference focused on Building
India Inc. the people agenda in the
turbulent economic time. Several
dignitaries inaugurated the occasion by
enlightening the lamp.
Mr. S.Y.Siddiqui, National President-
NHRDN & COO - Admin (HR, Finance,
IT & COSLI) Maruti Suzuki, India ltd. set
the stage on fire by his welcome speech.
Mr. Siddiqui elucidated on
contribution and need of NHRD, he
discussed the alteration in business
environment in last 25 years. The span of
25 years viewed issues like; the
investment retarded or was completely
stagnant, the corporate houses were
indecisive, such situations lead to a
globally volatile India.
He pointed the Big Challenge- How to
manage the Gen Y? It is about the
management of the new DNA of
leadership. He alarmed; "Always be
cautious, someone is working on new
ideas (business)."He emphasized that
Employee relation development need a
catalyzer.
Welcome speech was followed by a
tributary narrations by collogues,
relatives and friends of Late Dr. Udai
Parekh captured over Video. He was the
first person in the world to coin the term
NHRD, 'National Human Resource
Development'.
Mr. Mohan Das , National President-
NIPM & Director Personnel , Coal India
Ltd. in his special address mentioned the
role of HR down the line, the guidance
required for the young generation and
the methods to synergize the resources
to the criticality of HR.
Mr. Ravindran, MD SHRM India Ltd.
expressed; understanding people is the
most difficult rocket science,
contradictorily he believes; Hum Mein
Hai Dum !(We, the people have the
power). He shared the thought that
conflicts; the business is here for the
society or the vice versa ? The talent is
relative; it's all about fitting of right key
into the right lock. It is time for HR
professionals to dig for the HR need, that
HR is not being fulfilled.
Mr. Sourav Daspatnaik, Regional
President- East, NHRDN discussed
regarding the convergence of thought
leaders. Humans will evolve with more
challenges in this despairing economic
scenario, however HR needs to gear up
and glorify the changes forecasted.
Plenary Session 1 Chaired by Mr.
Dileep Chenoy, CEO & MD, NSDC stated
HR is about enabling contribution extra
ordinarily, its about "Unlearn " and
"Relearn". In the current economic
situation the equipments are more
sustainable over resources. Current
demographic pattern of India reflects
majority of working population and less
dependents, however pattern of Indian
education system will be responsible to
fuel India globally. If the education
system do not synchronize with the
employment criteria it might lead to a
disaster.
Speaker Mr. N.S. Rajan , Partner &
Global Leader- People and Organization ,
Ernst & Young figured the skill gap and
the lack of connecting bridge to
employability. He discussed about the
Indian's talent paradox - there is a huge
amount of unemployment in disguise.
There is a probable debate in the brain
between Deserve and Desire? The riot
has to be streamlined and settled by the
HR professionals. He concluded that
irrespective of the competition, the
common sectors should meet a common
facet to escort India ahead globally.
Panel Discussion 1 was about
Journey and Evolution of Human
Resource in the growth of Indian
Economy, the Chairperson for the
discussion was Mr. Arvind A Agarwal
President HT & Corporate Development,
RPSG Group.
Mr. P. Dwarkanath , Director HR, max
Group distinguished the HR professional
in 70's, 90's now and future. In 70's the HR
managed the unions. The 80's were
dominated by issues ; fixing the
compensation, structuring a tax friendly
reimbursement, getting foreign
exchange was an issue. 2000 was marked
by the triumph of the internet and a
value added time blossomed.
Aquil Busrai founder of Aquil
Busrai Consulting illustrated the
industrial relation of 70's and 80's is a
womb of HRS. Training and learning
was expensive in 80's , it was only in late
90's that HR moved to training. It's the
call of the time when work will go to
people and not the vice versa. HR is no
more restricted to hiring rather it
requires nourishment and nurture.
Mr. Marcel Parker Chairman Ikya
Human Capital Solutions Ltd. Owner at
Marcel R Parker associates, highlighted
the edge of HR has been diluted due to
technology; reciprocally connectivity
has become easier due to technology.
Gen Y needs personalized attention
departed by Gen X. 1980's were the age of
social reforming, compensation agenda,
employee satisfaction, later it
transformed to networking, learning,
ability to collect information and
implementation.
Special Session 1 was conducted by
Session Chairperson, Mr. S.Y Siddiqui
Business Manager July 2012 61
NHRDN Silver Jubilee Conference at Kolkata
and speaker was Mr. Hemant Kanoria,
Chairman SREI Group, he remarked that
agriculture is the driving the economy of
India. Farmers should be trained of
scientific methods for productivity.
Agriculture has to be trained for
developing India. HR should upgrade,
they should act as advisor and not a
complain department.
The session came to an end by
felicitation of guest of Honour, Mr.
Partha Chaterjee, Minister in Charge,
Commerce & Industries, Industrial
Reconstruction, Public Enterprises, IT &
Parliamentary Affairs, Govt. Of West
Bengal imparted nostalgic days when he
was a part of the HR fraternity and how
the priorities of the work life has gone
modification , he also updated the
audiences regarding the tete-a -tete in
context to industrial development of the
state which he had with honourable
Chief Minister of West Bengal .
Special Session 2 was hosted by the
session Chairperson Mr. Anand Nayak
EVP- Corporate HR, ITC Ltd.
Honourable speaker Mr. B.
Muthuraman, Vice Chairman, Tata
Steel, presented an overview of several
aspects of India Inc. being only 100 years
in comparison to other industries of the
world with 500 years of experience. India
is under the learning process, its
evolving. HR is lagging behind the race
of other business processes. Growth
occurred in the 20th century due to
availability of ample raw materials, 21st
century has a different story for HR
professionals, now the modern
technology is a barrier in development
of HR. HR managers are advised to act
as the custodians of the HR processes
like leadership development in
workplace, creation of positive tension
for aspiring mindset, reward system etc.
The Chairperson for Plenary
Session 2 was Mr.
Aquil Busrai who
intervened on
developing talent
in an Indian MNC
-Challenges &
Opportunities.
Mr. Rajeev
Dubey, President
HR &
Aftermarkets,
Mahindra &
Mahindra
enumerated that
transformation in
business can be
brought by the
transformation of
culture. Shared
values need to be
co-created with
qualities like; accepting no limits,
alternative thinking, driving the positive
change. Leadership quality has to be
engraved among all level to incorporate
a situation of thinking, saying, doing
and being.
Dr. Santrupt Mishra, Director HR &
CEO Carbon Black Business, Aditya
Birla Corporation guided the mass in the
conference to take a glance at the talent
beyond CAT, MAT. He stressed that there
should be a factor which holds the
MNC's. A person with genuine interest
in other culture has to be identified and
trained, the superficial training leads to
spurious resource with limitations as
the only excelling factor.
Panel Discussion 2 was about the
enthusiastic young India. Mr. Steve
Correa, Executive coach & HR
Consultant with Video and emerging
young India speakers hosted a crystal
clear session about the Gen Y of India.
Sonali Roychoudhary Head- Human
Resources, Procter & Gamble India
believes on the survival of the relevant
in the current economic doldrums.
Vishal Talreja, Founder Dream a
Dream visualizes the youth to be the
assets of India, only the people need to
trust them.
Swami Sarvapriyananda, Ram
Krishna Mission (Holder of Degree in
Business Management) charmed the
listeners by the thought; Take Home
Spirituality !
Ms Ester Martinez, Founder Editor
People Matters underlined the fact that
present generation has a passion in
their heart and it is brainstorming to
select from the infinite choice.
Prof. Ranjan Das, IIM Kolkata the
Chairperson of Panel Discussion 3
observes that in present world there is a
battle for market place. Where you sell is
important?
Mr. Anoop Hoon- Marketing & OD
Century Ply focused on quality of
production, cost effectiveness, the right
product at right place are the objectives
for good marketing which has to be
searched at the home.
Viresh Oberoi Founder CEO &
Managing Director at mjuntion services
limited, mentioned that India has to
think long term, research and
development should not be encouraged
rather an instant solutions should cover
the problems.
Prof Ranjan Das concluded the
session in light note that although India
is opaque but picture abhi baki hai,
depicting India is learning and evolving!
He requested to spice up the task with
entertainment to make it a passion and
the outcome will be colourful.
Panel Discussion 4 covered the topic
Developing the Global Indian Manager-
Learning from personal experiences.
The chairperson was Dr. Prem Saran,
IAS (Retd.)
Mr. Subhas Dhar, Founder MD,
Enterprise Nube, flaunted the
hindrances of developing Indian global
managers. He discussed his experiences
of working abroad, challenges related to
travel in context to visa, time zone
management, adaptability with the local
business culture and attention required
for the world of business and the
changes ahead.
Mr. Himanshu Tambe, Managing
Partner, Global talent Innovation
Network, Accenture stated that global
business environment is VUCA (volatile,
uncertain, complex, ambiguous). The
emerging market companies are
broadening their reach.
The two day sharing, learning,
interacting, networking session came to
an end forwarded by Mr. S.Y. Siddiqui,
concluded by Mr. Prince Augustine,
National secretary, NHRD and a Vote of
Thanks from Mr. Sujoy Banerjee,
President secretary, NHRDN.
-Deep Sikha Chakravorty (Banerjee)
62 Business Manager July 2012
EVENT
Report
DEEP SIKHA
Competition Law
By Avtar Singh
Publisher : EBC Publishing (P) Ltd.,
34-A, Lalbagh, Lucknow-226 001
Price : Rs. 475/-
Website : www.ebc.co.in
This authoritative and comprehensive new work by the learned author Dr.
Avtar Singh analyses The Competition Act, 2002 and its impact on competition,
consumer and the society. In the wave towards economic liberalisation, India
has opened up its economy by removing about liberalisation, thus focusing on
promoting competition both internal and external. The present edition has also
been enriched with a study of legal decisions of other countries like Singapore,
England, Europe, Canada and the US where also similar statutory framework
exists.
The topics in this book include replacement of MRTP act, Prohibition of
certain agreements, Abuse of dominant position, Regulation of combinations,
Competition Commission of India, Duties, Powers and Functions of
Commission, Duties of Director General, Penalties, Competition Advocacy,
Finance, Accounts and Audit, Competition Appellate Tribunal, Miscellaneous
and Subject Index. Moreover the book discusses the issues of competition law in
a broader context, such as the influence of competition law in promoting
Economic Efficiency using Competition as one of the means of assisting the
creation of a market responsive to consumer preferences, on free movement
rules, the application of competition law, unfair competition law etc. This
magnificent work will be immensely useful for practitioners, academicians and
students of law and all those who are interested in this field.
For subscription
details, Contact:
E-mail : [email protected],
[email protected]
www.businessmanager.co.in
B-138, Ambedkar Nagar,
Alwar - 301001 (Raj.) India,
Ph : 91-144 - 2372022
Subscribe
Today
Subscribe
Today
Want to become a
Complete
HR Manager ?
India’s Best HR Magazine
HR
News
Air India plans to float VRS
In order to reduce costs and attain efficiency among its workforce, national
carrier Air India (AI) is set to come out with an attractive voluntary scheme (VRS)
within the next three months.
The proposed VRS may also include offering alternative contractual jobs to
family members of those opting for the scheme. Sources said these jobs may be
offered in the proposed subsidiaries of AI like the Air India Engineering Services
(for maintenance, repair and overhaul) and Air India Transport Services (for
ground handling). "The VRS package has to be lucrative to the staff. We are
working on it," Rohit Nandan, AI chairman and managing director, said.
The proposed VRS scheme is likely to cover 10% of the employees and will save
up to Rs.200 crore for the cash strapped airline. AI has around 27,500 employees
and an annual wage bill of Rs.2,800 crore. Experts said attracting employees to opt
for the VRS would not be that difficult as over 7,000 employees are slated to retire
in the next three years. An AI official said that the scheme would be offered to all
sections of employees including pilots, engineers, ground staff, executives, etc.
Though in the last couple of years the carrier has managed to bring down the
number of employees from around 34,000 to under 28,000, the reduction has
primarily been due to natural retirement or exit. The airline's VRS schemes have
not been successful in the past. The VRS schemes in 2003 and 2008 attracted only
around 1,000 people.
Business Manager July 2012 63
BOOK
Learning
Air India may exclude commanders
from 'workmen' category
As the Air India pilots' strike is continuing, civil aviation minister Ajit Singh has
thrown his weight behind a proposal to exclude commanders from the 'workmen'
category, as stipulated under the current labour laws. If cleared, this would prevent
senior pilots from proceeding on strikes in the future. The minister is said to have held
discussions and consultations with Attorney General GE Vahanavati on the matter.
Under the provision of the Industrial Disputes Act, Highly-paid pilots are currently
classified along with other blue collar workers as 'workmen'.
"We have discussed exclusion of commanders from the workmen category with
lawyers... The commanders are the seniormost pilots. They should be put in the officer
category," a top government source said. Singh is learnt to have given instructions to the
ministry officials to work on the proposal. As per the ministry's estimates, some of the
airlines' seniormost pilots, who have struck work in the past, earn an annual
compensation of over Rs. 1 crore. "The compensation of commanders varies form Rs. 75
lakh-Rs. 1 crore per annum'" said a ministry official.
Bajaj Auto Uttarakhand workers
threaten stir over salary hike
It is Bajaj Auto's turn to face the heat on labour trouble with around 1,200 workers at its
Pantnagar plant in Uttarakhand agitating over salary hike. The workers who have been
demanding a salary hike of Rs.8,000 per month have decided to go slow on production at the
99 acre plant until their discussions with the management and the owners come to a
satisfactory conclusion. Sources said contrary to the demanded hike amount, the
management, according to its earlier decision, has decided to raise salary between Rs. 1,000
and Rs 1,500 per month. A meeting between the workers and the management has been
tentatively fixed a fortnight later, until which the workers are expected to suppress the
production to about 1,700 units a day against the capacity of 4,000 units, sources told. The
Pantnagar plant currently accounts for a little more than one-fourth of the company's total
two-wheeler production. While negotiations between the two sides are on for a few days.
However, a handful workers were denied entry into the facility early triggering a strike
which compelled the district administration to call for paramilitary forces, a senior member
of the union told.
Workers' Strike
Hits Arvind
Production
Textile maker Arvind Ltd said
production at its plant in Ahmedabad
has been partially hit due to agitation
by about 200 workers, who are
demanding increase in wages.
"The main demand of the workers
is to increase wages. Some of these
workers gathered at the gate and did
not allow other workers to come for
work for the second shift. As a result,
operations of the plant has been
partially affected," Arvind Ltd said in
a filing to the BSE. The plant located
at Naroda Road, Ahmedabad,
employs about 3,400 workers, the
filing said, adding it primarily makes
denim fabrics and has annual
capacity of 84 million metres out of
108 million metres of total denim
capacity of the company." With the
efforts of some workers, who could
come to the plant, contract workers
and workers from other plants, the
company has been able to re-start
some of the operations and hopes to
increase production further in
coming days," it said. According to
the company, Textile Labour
Association (TLA), which is the
representative union, has filed a case
in the Industrial Court demanding
higher wages against Ahmedabad
Textile Mills' Association (ATMA),
which represents several textile
mills, including Arvind Ltd. "The
matter is being heard by full bench of
the Industrial Court.
Unfortunately, disregarding the
TLA and the sub-judice legal case, a
small section of the work force
wishes a separate settlement which is
neither practically possible nor
legally tenable," The filling said.
HR
News
A study on talent shortage shows that
48% of employers in India are finding it
difficult to find skilled workers, especially
in the fields of information technology,
marketing, public relations and
communications and engineering.
Although fewer employers are facing
staff crunch in India this year, the demand
for suitable candidates is still high when
compared to the global average of 34%, the
annual study by staffing services giant
Manpower Group showed.
"Alarmingly, employers are less
concerned about the impact talent
shortage is having on clients and investors,
with only 48% employers reporting talent
shortages as opposed to 67% last year." said
Sanjay Pandit, managing director at
Manpower India.
According to the study, the shortage in
skilled workers is across the spectrum
from personal assistants and call centre
operators, to researchers, engineers and
accounting staff. The job categories of
labourers and doctors, which were in
demand last year, do not feature in this
year's list.
Getting right persons still difficult for
employers : survey
64 Business Manager July 2012