HR News: 6 Feb, 2017

1.

3M, Bank of Montreal & Rockwell Automation to receive top honour for gender diversity

The initiatives adopted by these companies have successfully changed minds, altered behaviours and created more opportunities for women.

Three companies from three different sectors have been chosen for the Catalyst Award, 2017 for practising gender diversity. These three companies—3M, Bank of Montreal and Rockwell Automation— will be awarded in a ceremony in New York on 8 March, that is, International Women’s day.
“The initiatives adopted by these three companies have successfully changed minds, altered behaviours and created more opportunities for women,” says Deborah Gillis, CEO, Catalyst.
3M: The Company’s global initiative, ‘I’m in’ was adopted in 70 countries, where 3M operates. In the last five years, since this campaign was launched, 3M has successfully managed to increase women’s representation at the director level from 18.2 per cent to 23 per cent. Women’s representation at the level of vice-president and beyond has also increased from 16.7 per cent to 24.2 per cent. The ‘I’m in’ campaign includes a variety of talent management and leadership development components, such as networking, mentoring, talent development, work-life and workplace flexibility programmes and external community efforts.
Bank of Montreal: The Company not only increased women’s representation in senior leadership, but a robust pipeline of women to advance to senior leadership roles. The bank now has 40 per cent women’s representation in senior roles—a goal accomplished in five years.
Rockwell Automation: This Company has promoted a culture of inclusion across businesses and functions. Between 2008 and 2016, women’s representation in the US has increased from 11.9 per cent to 23.5 per cent among vice presidents, from 14.7 per cent to 23.2 per cent among directors, and from 19.3 per cent to 24.3 per cent at the middle-manager level.

2.

RBS to pay bonus to employees despite losses

The Bank intends to pay about £340m in bonuses to employees in 2017, even as it prepares to announce one of its biggest annual losses in 2016.

The state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which has been facing business losses for a few years, is still seemingly trying to keep its employees motivated and engaged, as it seeks approval for the bonuses to be paid for year 2017. The bank is apparently planning to pay about £340m in bonuses to employees, even as it prepares to announce one of its biggest annual losses since 2008.
The bank, of which 72 per cent is owned by the government, has put forth the proposal for the bonus payouts for 2017 to UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which manages the taxpayer's stake in the bank.
Although the amount is yet to be formally approved by ministers, given the go-ahead, this would still be the ninth year in a row that bonuses at the bank have fallen.

3.

120 retrenched journalists of ABP and The Telegraph get decent severance package

Journalists who have spent more than two decades have been promised a basic salary till their retirement age.
The sword was dangling for a while, and finally it came down last week. Around 120 journalists, including those part of the wage board, at one of the leading newspaper publishers in the country — The Ananda Bazar Patrika group, which publishes the Bengali daily by the same name and the English daily The Telegraph— were asked to resign.
However, the company has been quite generous with the severance package. It is learnt that employees who had put in several years with the company will receive 75–100 per cent of their yearly CTC as compensation. On the other hand, journalists who have spent more than two decades have been promised a basic salary till their retirement age. The junior staff or the young journalists’ group was also given few months’ basic salary as compensation.