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1.
upGrad’s
online courses will now be available on the BookMyShow platform
All BookMyShow users will be able to access
upGrad’s upskilling and career advancement online programmes. upGrad,
the Indian online higher education company, has tied up with BookMyShow, the
entertainment platform, to enable users to choose any of their preferred
upskilling, career advancement courses and choice of entertainment — all on a
single platform. This collaboration brings together entertainment and education
on a single platform. It enables users, especially millennials, access to
quality education and upskilling formats across all the metros, as well as tier
2 cities and beyond, wherever BookMyShow has a larger and strong consumer base.
By making available all its online programmes on the BookMyShow platform,
millions of interested individuals will have “quality higher education options
at the ease of their fingertips”, explains Arjun Mohan, CEO – India, upGrad.
2.
IBM collaborates with
GoI to launch free digital learning platform
The ‘SkillsBuild Reignite’ platform will provide courses and online
coaching to benefit job seekers and entrepreneurs. In an attempt to help the
youth of India as well as budding entrepreneurs, IBM has launched the
‘SkillsBuild Reignite’ platform, which will offer free online courses and
mentorship. The platform will provide personalised coaching and enhanced
courses to help entrepreneurs establish their businesses. In November, 2019,
IBM had collaborated with the Directorate General of Training (DGT), Ministry
of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, to establish
the SkillsBuild online learning platform for the benefit of students across the
country. It has been offering digital classrooms with the help of the
Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) of the country. Now, IBM has gone a step
further to include more courses and coaching sessions to lend support to
entrepreneurs who need advice or help with starting their own small businesses
or resuming operations post the COVID-19 pandemic.
3.
Genpact
launches e-learning platform to help global professionals reskill themselves
Adapt and Rise will make
valuable content and knowledge available to all keen learners out there, free
of cost. Professionals
today need to keep improving their skills to keep up with the changing times
and stay relevant in a highly competitive job market. To help professionals in
their attempt to succeed in the digital economy, global professional
services firm, Genpact, has launched its role-based online learning platform,
Adapt and Rise. As this platform also includes parts of Genpact’s highly
successful continuous learning platform, Genome, interested professionals can
now accelerate their professional learning process. Genome is the product of
the combined effort and knowledge of Genpact’s over 90,000 strong workforce. By
employing its in-house experts to organise content and information for its
scattered workforce, Genpact facilitates flow of information, efficient
dissemination of knowledge and faster learning. Adapt and Rise delves into this
treasure house of content and makes it available to the public. Better
still, the content is available online free of cost, so that professionals
can learn and equip themselves with the professional skills required to succeed
in the dynamic corporate world.
1.
SAP
Supervisory Board names Sabine Bendiek as CPO
Bendiek will be dual hatting when she takes on
additional responsibility as chief operation officer in the middle of 2021. SAP
Supervisory Board has appointed Sabine Bendiek as chief people officer and
labour director. She will also assume additional responsibility as chief
operating officer in mid-2021, becoming SAP’s first chief people and operating
officer at the same time.
In this role, Bendiek will lead
the HR function and people strategy for the German multinational software
company. This includes attracting the best talent in the industry, providing a
growth and learning environment for employees, and ensuring a consistent
leadership culture to enable inclusion, accountability and agility.
Appointed to the Executive Board
for a three-year tenure, Bendiek will be based in Walldorf.
2.
Societe Generale
appoints Mukta Arya as HR head – APAC
Arya was earlier head of talent development and inclusion in the same
company, based out of Singapore. Societe Generale has appointed Mukta Arya as
head-HR, Asia Pacific region. Earlier, she was the head of talent development
and inclusion, Asia-Pacific, in the same company but posted in Singapore. Arya
joined Societe Generale in March 2006 as the head of human resources for
corporate and investment banking, private banking and SG Asia Holdings business
lines. She went on to serve as the regional head of learning and talent
management in 2010, in Hong Kong. Subsequently, she was promoted to director of
human resources, SEA, a position she handled along with the earlier
responsibility for learning and development. Dual hatting in her role, she was
responsible for planning and managing all human resource programmes and strategies
for the entire SEA region.
3.
IBM names
Nickle LaMoreaux as CHRO
LaMoreaux steps into the
shoes of Diane Gherson, who served as SVP-HR for seven years. Nickle LaMoreaux has succeeded Diane
Gherson as senior vice president of human resources and chief human resource
officer. Gherson has retired after a seven-year stint as SVP-HR in the Company.
Gherson had played a key role in transforming IBM’s culture and in providing
IBMers with the skills they need to help clients accelerate their journey to
hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence (AI). This major change in the
leadership team was announced by Arvind Krishna, CEO, IBM on Linkedin.
1.
50% wages
for up to 3 months as unemployment relief
The relief is being offered under the Atal Beemit
Vyakti Kalyan Yojana to ESIC beneficiaries.
Atal Beemit Vyakti Kalyan Yojana or ABVKY, which was introduced in 2018, for a
trial period of two years, has now been extended till June, 2021. As
per the scheme, those registered under the Employees’ State Insurance
Corporation (ESIC) and had lost their jobs during the pandemic, can claim 50
per cent of their wages for up to three months as unemployment relief, even if
they have now started going to work. The relief will be paid from the ESIC’s
funds worth Rs 44, 000 crore. The scheme is offered as a welfare measure to
employees covered under Section 2(9) of the Emplyees’ State Insurance (ESI)
Act, 1948. It offers relief payment of up to three months (90 days), once in a
lifetime. Earlier, the rate of unemployment relief under the scheme was 25 per
cent, which has now been increased to 50 per cent. The relief shall be paid
after 30 days from the date of unemployment and the claim for the same can be
submitted directly to the relevant ESIC branch office. The official website of
the ESIC states that there is relaxation in eligibility conditions, “provided
the insured person should have been in insurable employment for a minimum
period of two years immediately before her/his unemployment and should have
contributed for not less than 78 days in the contribution period immediately
preceding to unemployment and minimum 78 days in one of the remaining three
contribution periods in two years prior to unemployment.
2.
Kerala to reserve 10%
govt jobs for financially backward
The
eligibility of the candidates for this quota, within the general category, will
be decided based on the income and the financial backwardness of their families.
The
Kerala cabinet has given its approval to reserve 10 per cent government jobs
for candidates from financially-backward families within the general category.
The move will not impact the present reservations for any other category. To
implement this reservation, changes will have to be made to the provisions in
the Kerala State and Subordinate Services Rules. Earlier, the government had
decided to roll out a 10 per cent reservation in jobs as well as in terms of
admissions in educational institutions for those belonging to the economically
backward sections within the unreserved category, according to the 103rd
Amendment to the Constitution and related notifications issued by the Central
Government. This was followed by the formation of a commission by the state
government to decide the bases for identifying economically backward sections
from amongst the forward communities.
.
3.
Over Rs
17K Diwali bonus for 11 lakh Railway employees!
The employees will get
bonus equivalent to 78 days of wages for 2019-20. The
proposal by the Ministry of Railways to grant the productivity-linked bonus
(PLB) to its employees, as is the usual practice during Diwali, has been
approved by the Union Cabinet. All eligible non-gazetted employees of the
Railways, other than RPF and RPSF personnel, will receive a PLB equivalent to
78 days’ wages for 2019-2020. The disbursement of this PLB will cost the
exchequer Rs 2,081.64 crore. However, no employee can be paid more than Rs
17,951 for 78 days. The bonus is expected to bring cheer to the employees and
motivate them to work hard. This is also the Railway Ministry’s way of
acknowledging the efforts put in by its employees, especially for the smooth
running of the shramik special trains, and for those carrying foodgrains, coal
and other supplies, even during the lockdown.
1.
How
Trident incentivised learning for blue-collar employees
The Company has raised the monthly fixed pay as
well as the variable. Ludhiana-based Trident Group, which is into manufacturing
home textiles and paper, has decided to reward its blue-collar employees in a
unique way. It has launched a programme under which the workers can learn and
upskill themselves, and earn incentives after the completion of the programme. The
Company’s blue-collar workers are called Karmayogis and they
are segregated into two levels – IL1 and IL2. The monthly salary of the first
level, IL1, was fixed at Rs 15,000 with an additional variable pay of Rs 3,000.
Now the Company has raised the monthly fixed component to Rs 18,000 and at the
same time raised the variable pay up to Rs 7,000, which the Company has termed
as dignified earnings.
2.
Microsoft pools
resources to help 25 mn people acquire new-age skills
People looking to reskill and pursue in-demand jobs will have free
access to learning paths and content from LinkedIn Learning, Microsoft Learn
and the GitHubLearning Lab. In response to the global
economic crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft has announced
a new global skills initiative, which aims to help bring digital skills to
about 25 million people across the globe, by the end of 2020. With the entire
world having made the leap to virtual, digital skills are going to be the most
in-demand of the lot. In addition to helping people get access to new jobs, it
is going to be an important step in accelerating economic growth. Combining
existing and new resources from LinkedIn, GitHub and Microsoft, this new
initiative will enable individuals looking to reskill and pursue in-demand
jobs. This will involve use of data from the LinkedIn Economic Graph to
identify in-demand jobs.
3.
IIT
Kharagpur ties up with University of Alberta, Canada for JDP
The joint doctoral
programme will offer research opportunities to students at the partner
institutes for a period of six months to a year. Indian Institute of Technology
(IIT) Kharagpur, has entered into a collaboration with the University of
Alberta, Canada, in a bid to ensure a global reach and to engage actively and
strategically in the post-COVID world. The tie-up will lead to the launch of a
joint doctoral degree programme (JDP), which will encourage meaningful academic
exchanges and learning opportunities between the academicians and students of
India and Canada. Students will now be able to undertake
research at the partner institute for a period of six to 12 months. As part of
the collaboration, research projects will be identified for the students,
provisions will be made for joint supervision, and aid will be provided in the
form of fellowships and monthly stipends to help with the cost of food and
lodging of the visiting students. It is expected that the coming together of
students and faculty from different geographies, environments, and backgrounds,
with exposure to myriad challenges, will add more meaning to the research. As a
result, the research itself will be focussed more on global dynamics.
1.
Neelam
Sharma appointed head – human resources at Capco India
Sharma has about 15 years of experience in HR and
has moved from Infor, where she was Bangalore site HR head. Capco has appointed Neelam Sharma as head-HR for its India
operations. Sharma will be responsible for managing the global management and
technology consultancy’s HR strategy, organisation culture, HR governance, HR
transformation through digitalisation and automation, India capability
building, and creating an HR structure and framework supportive of growth,
scale and diversity. Sharma, who has about 15 years of experience in the HR
domain was earlier Bangalore site HR head for Infor, the global software
company. She has worked as HR specialist and generalist at Infosys and
Kingfisher Airlines before that, gaining in-depth knowledge and hands-on understanding
of the strategies, operating dynamics and issues impacting human resources
within organisations. A postgraduate in business administration from ICFAI
College, and a graduate from SIES College of Commerce and Economics, Sharma is
looking forward to focussing on developing “flexible, self-motivated and
independent-thinking” employees capable of “helping the financial industry
transition to new working paradigms and establish an effective workforce for
the future”.
2.
Meenakshi Priyam joins
udaan.com as group CHRO
With over 18 years of experience, Priyam has worked across multiple
industries in India, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Meenakshi
Priyam has joined udaan.com— a B2B trade platform, created specifically for
small & medium businesses in India — as group CHRO. She has moved from
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the pharmaceutical major, where she was CHRO for India
and global HR head for classic and established products (CEP). Priyam had spent
just over three years at GSK, where she initially headed HR for India and South
Asia for almost two years before being elevated to CHRO India & global HR
head CEP in May last year. Before joining GSK, Priyam had served as head HR –
global product strategy & commercialisation (GPS&C) and global
functions at Novartis, based out of Basel Area, Switzerland. She had joined
Novartis in 2013, as head-HR, in Mumbai, before moving to Switzerland in 2016,
for a year and four months.
3.
Dhanuka
Agritech appoints Viekas K Khokha as head-HR
Khokha moves from Zimmer
Biomet, where he was the director-HR. Viekas K Khokha has joined Dhanuka Agritech as
head-HR. Before joining the agro chemical company, Khokha was the director-HR
at Zimmer Biomet, a medical device company that manufactures aluminium splints.
At Zimmer Biomet, he spearheaded the HR component of the business strategy by
planning, developing, and implementing initiatives that positively impacted the
productivity, capability and effectiveness of customer groups. Speaking on his
new role at Dhanuka Agritech, Khokha says, “The role brings in the opportunity
to create a talent pool, which needs to keep circulating in the industry. As an
HR leader, I will contribute towards the creation of this talent pool through
awareness generation, employee value proposition and employees happiness.”
1.
4
Deloitte offices to close in UK, staff to work from home on contract
The accounting company’s offices in Gatwick,
Southamptom, Liverpool and Nottingham are to close. Deloitte, the global accounting and consulting firm,
will shut down four out of its 50 offices in Britain. However, all the
employees, that is, about 500 of them, will be working from home permanently,
on contract. The Company’s offices in Gatwick, Liverpool, Nottingham and
Southampton will be closed as part of the re-evaluation of the Company’s
properties. The Company has also cut the salaries of its UK partners by 20 per
cent, to avoid lay offs. Many companies, the world over, are thinking of opting
for a permanent remote working arrangement for their employees. Last month,
Sunder Pichai, CEO, Google, had also suggested coming up with a hybrid model
which will offer more flexibility. The company’s workforce has anyway been
allowed to work from home till June 2021.
2.
Ola and Uber to hire
1,000 and 225 engineers, respectively
While Ola is hiring for its new tech centre in Pune, Uber is
strengthening its tech team across the country. Ola is
readying to set up its second tech centre in India. This new centre, which will
begin its operations in Pune, by the end of this quarter, will require 1,000
engineers who will be hired in the upcoming few years. Ola
has a 4,000-strong workforce in the country, of which 1,500 are engineers. The
first tech centre is in Bangalore. In June, 2019 Ola had opened an Advanced
Technology Centre in San Francisco Bay to fast-track its electric and connected
vehicles division. Given the fact that Pune has no dearth of tech talent and
boasts of a good IT infrastructure, it seems to be the best city for tech
companies to set up their offices and hubs.
3.
100
contract IT staff of WEBEL, WTL to come under GoWB
These IT staff who worked
hard to maintain the communication channel amidst the pandemic, will also be
covered under the Swasthya Sathi. About 100 staff working in the information and
technology wing of the public works department in West Bengal, have now been
brought under direct contract of the state government. They will now be able to
enjoy 30 days of annual leave, as well as 10 days of medical leave, from now
on. They will be able to work till the age of 60 years and will be eligible for
a sum of Rs 3 lakh on retirement. These IT employees had done exemplary work in
ensuring the smooth functioning of the communication channel between the
districts and the state secretariat during the pandemic. The move is apparently
to recognise efforts in keeping the communication channel between districts and
the state secretariat functional during the pandemic. These IT professionals
were engaged by either the West Bengal Electronics Industry Development
Corporation (WEBEL) or Webel Technology (WTL), which are state government
firms. This move will also allow these employees to benefit from the health
scheme of the state government, that is, Swasthya Sathi. This announcement is
expected to bring cheer to these professionals during Durga Puja, and it is the
Government’s way of appreciating them for making e-services so effective for
the people of the state.
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1.
Tech
Mahindra to upskill youth, launch ISR mobile app
Tech Mahindra, is gearing to launch its ‘Gift A Career’ programme under which youth across India, will be offered power training in information technology (IT) and digital, conversational English and workplace readiness. All this will be achieved through its Individual Social Responsibility (ISR) mobile app. Once the training is complete, the students will also receive hiring/ placement assistance. The digital transformation, consulting and business reengineering services company will offer training in over 45 domains, via the SMART centres and academies of Tech Mahindra Foundation, across 11 locations in the country. People who have passed class 10 and fall in the 18 to 30 age bracket are eligible for the training programmes. While the SMART+ programme is meant for persons with disabilities, the SMART-T programme is aimed at offering technical skills. CP Gurnani, MD & CEO, Tech Mahindra, explains that the ‘Gift a Career’ initiative aims to “extend support to the youth who have been ousted out of jobs owing to the pandemic”.
2.
IBM and NSDC to offer free digital skills training
IBM’s Open P-TECH
platform will provide access to digital learning in emerging technologies and
workplace skills. Information technology major, IBM, and the National Skill Development
Corporation (NSDC) have come together to offer a free digital education
platform. As per the arrangement between the two organisations, IBM will curate
online courses from Open P-TECH platform and offer it to users via NSDC’s
eSkill India portal. IBM’s Open P-TECH, a free digital education platform, was
launched in India in March 2020 and is focused on emerging technologies and
professional development skills. On the other hand, eSkill India, is a digital
skilling initiative from NSDC that aggregates digital learning resources
through various Indian and global knowledge partnerships, to enable access to
best-in-class learning resources for India’s youth.
3.
Tech Mahindra launches upskilling platform for a ‘fit for future’ workforce
Uaas, the learning platform developed in house, will be made available to students also. With an aim to equip its 60,000-strong global workforce with new-age skills, IT services company, Tech Mahindra, has launched an AI-based platform. Called ‘Upskilling-as-a-Service (UaaS) , it will help build a future-ready workforce. Developed in-house, the learning platform will be used to accelerate skill development, to meet the people supply chain needs of organisations coping with the recent business challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company plans to make this platform available to not just employees, but also to academia so that students are industry ready when they graduate. The intent of the upskilling platform is to empower the employees and associates with skills that will enable them to identify their goals and aspirations and make them future ready.1.
Amanda
Rajkumar will head HR at Adidas
Rajkumar will also join the German footwear
company’s board of directors. Four months after Karen Parkin quit Adidas
following questions raised regarding the diversity and inclusion (D&I)
agenda of the German footwear company, Amanda Rajkumar has been named the new
head of human resources. Parkin had stepped down following
complaints from employees regarding racism within the organisation. Rajkumar
will take on her responsibilities, starting 2021. Rajkumar’s previous assignment
was with the French bank, BNP Paribas, where she was heading HR for the
Americas division. She had joined the Bank in 2009 as head of HR, UK and had
spent over 11 years with the organisation.
2.
Prasad Kulkarni joins the
CITCO Group as SVP, HR Business Excellence
Kulkarni was previously
associated with the Accelya Group as the vice president of global HR operations.
The Curacao International Trust Company (CITCO), also called the Citco Group of
Companies, has appointed Prasad Kulkarni as the senior vice president. Coming
on board with an experience of more than two decades across all HR functions,
Kulkarni has worked with manufacturing, IT, ITeS and BFSI industries during
this time. HR transformation and strategy, operations, shared services and HR
technology and systems management are some of his core competencies.
3.
Sriharsha
Achar is CHRO, Star Health & Allied Insurance
Backed by over 34 years
of HR experience, Achar's previous stint was with HDFC Ergo General Insurance
Services, where he was CHRO. Sriharsha A Achar,
who was CHRO, HDFC Ergo General Insurance Services, is now the joint executive
director and CHRO, at Star Health & Allied Insurance Company. His
stint at HDFC Ergo was a very short one, considering that he joined in
February, 2020. Achar had taken a short break spending time helping with
COVID-related relief activities and indulging in social work, before taking on
his new role at Star Health, Chennai. Backed by over 34 years of HR experience
in several industries, Achar has held HR leadership positions at Xchanging
Technologies (now DXC), America Online, First Ring India, Astra Zeneca and
vKarma.
1.
Over 5
lakh direct jobs by Salesforce in India
Salesforce will add over five lakh direct jobs in India in the times to come. While the California-based IT company will create about 13 lakh indirect jobs, it will take on 5,48,000 people directly soon. With an aim to decrease the digital divide, the Company aims to fulfil its commitment of training about 250,000 students. The Company realises the high potential that India has, and believes that India will lead, globally, in terms of artificial intelligence in the near future. Given the fact that the country has more than 60 crore connected to the Internet, the country is capable of having a US$6 trillion consumer spend in a period of five to six years. Apparently, a new person connects to the Internet every three seconds in the country. Therefore, it will not be long before it has more than a billion unique Internet users.
2.
Mahindra Logistics trains
20,000 in 2 years under PMKY
The Company has added more than 10,000 seasonal jobs. Third party logistics solution company, Mahindra Logistics (MLL), has not only added 10,100 seasonal jobs in preparation for the festive season, but plans to retain quite a few of them. The Company has trained about 20,000 people, including drivers and warehouse operators since 2018, under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). The logistics units of the Mahindra Group, has already taken on 10,100 people for seasonal jobs, it plans to retain a significant fraction of these in various departments. Interestingly, it managed to hire almost 40 per cent of its contractual employees during the pandemic.
3.
Forest
assistant vacancies, for class 8 pass candidates, attract overqualified
applicants
Several research scholars and postgraduates have applied for the 2,000 contractual position of ‘Bana Sahayaks’. When the Government of West Bengal set out looking for class 8 pass candidates — between the ages of 18 and 40 years — to fill the 2,000 contractual posts of ‘Ban Sahayaks’ or forest assistants, little was it prepared for the deluge of applications, several of which were from postgraduates, research scholars and engineering students. The selected candidates, who will work as forest assistants, will be required to work on contract in the area of prevention of man-animal conflict and basically ensure the safety and protection of wildlife. Apparently, many of the applicants, who were way overqualified for the job, have expressed their willingness to take up the job wholeheartedly. Despite being a contractual position with the West Bengal Forest Department, it is the fact that the job will make them an employee of the state government, that attracts these applicants. Also, given the pandemic situation and the uncertainty of the future, candidates are willing to take up any government job that comes their way.