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1.
Learning
drives L’Oreal India’s makeover to beauty tech
As part of its endeavour to
become a beauty tech company, L’Oreal makes digitally-savvy candidates a top
priority at the time of hiring. In response to a rapidly-changing
business, L’Oreal India has been on a journey of digital transformation for the
past three years. “We changed our entire mindset, positioning ourselves not
just as a beauty company but a beauty tech company,” explains Roshni Wadhwa,
director – HR, L’Oreal India. This involved a “big shift in strategy, the way
our managers lead their teams, encouraging team collaboration, and nurturing a
culture of entrepreneurship and innovation within the organisation,” adds
Wadhwa. Learning and development play a critical role in taking the Company
closer to its goal of becoming the world’s leading beauty tech company. “We
strongly believe in promoting from within. Therefore, we focus and invest a lot
in people development and learning,” says Wadhwa. To make sure the nationwide
lockdown’s limbo doesn’t lead to a dip in learning momentum, L’Oreal India
launched an initiative called #LearningNeverStops. “Just because they weren’t
able to attend classroom sessions or meet trainers physically, we didn’t want
employees to feel like the learning has to stop,” notes Wadhwa. The Company
built a virtual platform enabling the workforce to upskill on a variety of
topics.
2.
IIT Kharagpur, AWS join
hands to create AI L&D portal
The AI portal
is set to offer resources on AI learning in an attempt to mobilise online
learning. IIT
Kharagpur’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence (AI) has collaborated with
Amazon Web Services (AWS), to develop a National Artificial Intelligence Resource
Portal (NAIRP) to offer various learning resources on AI.
With
initial funding from the Human Resources Ministry, NAIRP was launched as a part
of the National Digital Library of India (NDLI) platform. Useful material for
learning AI — textbooks, online courses, lectures, datasets, codes and other
tools— will be made available through this portal.
The
first version will be made available in a few months. This portal will use the
AWS Cloud and also be connected to the in-house cloud developed at IIT Kharagpur.
Being launched just when digital learning is being enforced everywhere — due to
the pandemic restricting mobility— the portal could not have been better timed.
3.
KITE HRD
model worth emulating: NITI Aayog
Kerala
Infrastructure and Technology for Education’s infrastructural interventions in
the field of education have benefited over 16,000 government and aided schools
in Kerala. A
report released by the NITI Aayog highlights the key strategies adopted by the
Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) that makes it one of
the best models in human resource development for India and even other
countries across the globe to emulate. Interventions were made by KITE in the
infrastructure — creating schools using information and communication
technology (ICT) — in the field of education. It also made an effort to enable
internet connectivity and e-learning for children. The organisation has
dispatched 3.74 lakh ICT equipments across 16,027 government and aided
schools in Kerala. It also provided broadband internet to 12,678 schools in the
state. Founded in 2017, the sole objective of KITE was to integrate ICT-enabled
activities in over 15000 schools in Kerala. Today, this initiative has
specifically IT trained over 1.83 lakh teachers with the launching of
programmes, such as Samagra Online Resource Portal and Little KITEs IT Clubs.
The Samagra Online Resource Portal course, a part of the Hi Tech School
project, is so designed that classes 5 to 9 can be trained through fun-filled
activities.
1.
Hero
MotoCorp appoints Mike Clarke as COO & CHRO
Clarke, who comes with
about 26 years of experience, will take charge w.e.f January 1, 2021. Michael
Clarke will take charge as the chief operating officer (COO) as well as the
chief human resource officer (CHRO) at Hero MotoCorp with effect from January
1, 2021. In his new role, Clarke will provide “strategic leadership in
operational excellence” and “drive the talent agenda” at the Indian two-wheeler
manufacturing company. In his approx. 26 years of experience, Clarke has worked
in the human resources domain in various capacities. Back in 1994, he served as
the HR manager for Scottish and Newcastle for two years. He then moved to Breed
Technologies as regional HR director for Europe, for three years. In 1999, he
joined Tenneco as VP-HR International, and stayed put for over eight years —
probably his longest stint. He joined the Fiat Group in 2008, as senior vice
president – HR, Europe, for a year.
2.
HSBC
appoints Nidhi Arora as SVP-HR
Nidhi Arora has joined HSBC as the SVP-HR. Before
making this move, she was the director-HR, at S&P Global, an American
publicly traded corporation, for almost eight years. This development was
confirmed to HRKatha. At S&P Global, she started off as deputy director –
HR, and went on to head the HR function in India. Arora comes with an
experience of almost two decades in various facets of human resources,
including shaping organisational culture, nurturing progressive employee
relations and talent & organisational development. Prior to S&P Global,
Arora had served as HR business partner – APAC, at NCR Corporation for more
than five years. During this stint, she meticulously established a new R&D
facility in Pondicherry, India and set up the development centre for emerging
markets in Hyderabad. As the HRBP for the software engineering function in the
APAC region, she provided strategic leadership and support to the business in
Philippines, India and China.
3.
BharatPe
appoints Jasneet Kaur as CHRO
Jasneet
Kaur has joined BharatPe as the head-HR. Before moving to the fintech platform,
she was leading the HR function at DHL eCommerce, a German courier, parcel
and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics company,
Deutsche Post DHL. Kaur comes with over 20 years of experience in various
facets of human resources, including shaping of organisational culture,
nurturing progressive employee relations and talent & organisational
development. Prior to DHL eCommerce, Kaur had served as HR director at PepsiCo
for a short period of time. In May 2012, she joined AP Moller-Maersk as head,
global compensation & benefits, performance and HR analytics. From there,
she went on to become the India HR head for Maersk Global Service Centres in
2015, where her stint was five years long.
1.
Amazon to
spend $ 500 million as employee holiday bonus
Amazon will pay its packers
and deliverymen a one-time bonus for the holiday season. Amazon.com will pay
its employees— who pack and deliver goods — a one-time bonus of up to $ 300.
This move comes at a time when the company faces a labour union drive and
criticism for rolling back its pandemic hazard pay. Full-time workers are set
to receive $ 300 and part timers $ 150 if they remain employed for the entire
month of December at Amazon. This amount will cumulate to $500 million. Amazon
had ended its $ 2 an hour shifts for its warehouse workers in May and also paid
a one-time bonus of as much as $ 500 in June. The bonuses were stopped as a
result of Amazon facing an economic upheaval due to the pandemic.
2.
Virtual career fair, WiT
Ignite, offers over 2000 roles only for women
The
fair, which is probably Asia’s largest virtual fair, saw more than 30,000
participants. Attended by more than 44
leading employers including Optum, Microsoft, Facebook, Sapient, Walmart Global
Tech India, Unilever, Pega, Qualcomm, DBS Bank, Axis Bank, Novartis, Jubilant,
Bajaj Allianz and Onmobile. Women in Technology (WiT) India’s virtual job fair,
Ignite, saw more than 44 leading employers and over 30,000 women job seekers
participating. This is deemed Asia’s largest virtual career fair ever hosted,
and is also India’s first virtual career fair for women in science, technology,
engineering or Math (STEM) fields. Over 45 per cent of the total number of job
seekers belonged to Tier-2 and smaller cities, while over 75 per cent had prior
work experience. Over 23 per cent belonged to the 21-24 years age group. All
candidates were offered the opportunity to attend specially-curated webinars
and masterclasses to help them prepare for the interviews in the weeks leading up
to the event. With Microsoft as the exclusive learning partner, the
participants also had the chance to join advanced certification courses for
free and try to fast-track their career. Almost 1200 one-on-one interviews were
conducted during the daylong virtual fair.
3.
Flipkart
commits to taking forward the D&I agenda
The
Company intends to concentrate on inclusion, entrepreneurship and
sustainability in the next one decade. The second edition of #include, the
Indian e-commerce company, Flipkart’s annual event, witnessed prominent
industry leaders throwing light on their biggest learnings, challenges and
opportunities from the previous year. Krishna Raghavan, CPO, Flipkar, revealed
the Company’s intention to focus on “inclusion, entrepreneurship and sustainability”
in the next ten years. Understanding the importance of “inclusion, as a
prerequisite for building a diverse ecosystem,” Flipkart plans to try and
nurture “a culture of inclusion where diverse talent can innovate and excel”.
In addition to building sustainable business practices, Flipkart will also try
to expand its talent pool. One common point that everyone agreed on was that
diversity and inclusion cannot be “restricted to a dialogue”. Each organisation
will have to create programmes that will actively contribute to the D&I
agenda, by ensuring that all policy making revolves around it.
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1.
Randstad
Skilling Academy launched by NIIT and Randstad India
The new learning platform will reskill candidates
to ensure they remain industry relevant. National Institute of Information
Technology (NIIT), a global skills and talent development company, has
partnered with Randstad India, a leading HR-service platform to launch the
Randstad Skilling Academy (RSA). The objective of RSA is to reskill candidates
and help them cope with evolving business models by ensuring their skills
remain industry-relevant. This comes at a time when industries are grappling
with remote working and hiring owing to the pandemic. The Academy will further
offer next-generation IT skilling and better preparedness to take on the
‘new-normal’, based on feedback received from clients across India. StackRoute,
under NIIT, will collaborate with RSA to design programmes and deliver them
wherever necessary. Enrolled candidates will be well trained, upskilled and
cross-skilled in upcoming technologies to increase their employability.
2.
NEC Technologies India
and Jaceex Ventures collaborate to improve employability of North East India’s
youth
The partnership will expose the
youth to the Japanese way of working and culture, making them more employable
and ready for opportunities in Japanese organisations. NEC
Technologies India (NEC India) and Jaceex Ventures LLP— which operates the
Japan Centre of Excellence (JACEEX) — have collaborated to launch a joint
training programme for the youth of North East India. Approximately, 1000
participants are expected to benefit from this training programme in the coming
years, which will expose them to the Japanese language, culture and business
practices. The partnership will see
NEC working as knowledge partner through its language and intercultural
training academy, NEC Japanese Language Academy (NJLA), while JACEEX will set
up the Jaceex Japanese Language Academies (JJLA) centres in various cities of
the North East. Currently, JACCEX operates one nodal academy in Guwahati,
Assam. NEC India and JACEEX will also train students from different universities
and colleges in the North East region. Working in the area of integration of IT
and network technologies, Japan-based NEC is backed by over 100 years of
expertise in technological innovation, to provide solutions for empowering
people, businesses and society. Having begun operations in India in the 1950s,
it has expanded its business in India from telecommunications to public safety,
logistics, transportation, retail, finance, unified communication and IT
platforms, serving across governments, businesses as well as individuals.
3.
Why
organisations must practise immersive learning
Immersive learning
provides learners with an engaging environment that is highly interactive, both
virtually as well as physically, putting them in the middle of a learning
experience. With
the uptake of increased digitisation within organisations, there is a shift in
skill requirements for the future workforce. Learning and Development (L&D)
professionals have realised that in order to enhance the absorption and
retention of skills and knowledge to the maximum, they need to help learners or
employees experience things first hand. However, this is not possible at all
times, and hence, it is essential to create simulated or artificial environments
around learners and employees that allow them to learn as if from a real
experience. This is where ‘immersive learning’ comes into play. It provides
learners with an engaging environment that is highly interactive, both
virtually and physically, putting them in the middle of a learning experience.
1.
Udbhav
Ganjoo heads HR for Mylan-Upjohn merged entity
Ganjoo is backed by more
than 30 years of experience in automobile, engineering pharmaceuticals and
services. Udbhav
Ganjoo, a veteran in the HR field with over three decades of experience, is now
the head of HR -Global Operations, India, Emerging Asia and Access Markets, at
Viatris.Viatris is a global healthcare company formed in 2020, through the
merger of Mylan and Upjohn, a legacy division of Pfizer. In an exclusive to
HRKatha, Ganjoo mentions, “Mylan has taken over Upjohn and merged into a new
entity- Viatris. It’s the same organisation that has undergone a
transformation.” This new entity, which he heads, “has approximately 35,000
people from Mylan and 11,000 from Upjohn,” he shares. Viatris was formed as a
response to the need for evolved healthcare, which would offer quality
medicines to the population around the world. The role came to Ganjoo after the
merging and restructuring of the two organisations.
2.
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 to HRKatha 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.”
3.
CentriLogic
expands leadership team; Shalini Duggal to take the helm as CPO
With more than 17 years of experience, Duggal has previously served as
HR head in two other organisations. On August 27, global IT
transformation solutions provider, CentriLogic, appointed Shalini Duggal as the
chief people officer of the Company. Duggal brings with her an experience of
more than 17 years in the human resources domain. In her new position, she will
be responsible for leading all people, culture and talent development functions
throughout the global business. Early in the year, CentriLogic acquired
ManageForce and ObjectSharp, bringing on board over 100 new employees. A part
of Duggal’s mandate will be to oversee the integration of the teams from the
two organisations, and drive an overall growth strategy for the company. Duggal
began her professional journey with First Canadian Title based out of Oakland,
Ontario, as an HR generalist and trainer for three years. Subsequently, she
worked in two other organisations, Gamma-Dynacare Laboratories and Toronto
Star, for less than two years each before moving on to SCM Insurance Services
where she completed her longest stint of close to nine years. Joining as a
human resources director in the organisation, she moved up the ranks to become
VP-HR at SCM.
1.
Financial
inclusion for women through Project Kirana
Mastercard and USAID have
joined forces to create digital Kirana shops, owned or operated by women. Project
Kirana launched by MasterCard, a global payments tech and USAID, a development
agency, will enroll as many as 3000 women in Uttar Pradesh. The project will
help increase revenue streams, expand financial inclusion and digital payment
adoption through Kirana shops run by these 3000 women. The initiative will
address the gaps in gender equality, towards women-owned businesses to help
them thrive and grow, globally. MasterCard has set aside $ 250 million in
support of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). India will receive $ 33 million
from this share, which should empower women entrepreneurs for the coming five
years. The project will also help in inclusive growth, with small business
owners and women enjoying access to credit and increasing their business
acumen. USAID’s global network includes a 186-member strong group of gender
advisors, who accelerate the development agency’s work worldwide.
2.
Labour Code 2020: AITUC
objects to 12-hour factory work rule
The
draft rules of the Code on Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions
(OSH&WC) proposes a 12-hour factory work time for workers. However, the All
India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) has raised objections citing this to be a
transgression of the ILO Convention. A similar provision introduced by the
Gujarat government was struck down by the Supreme Court. The central trade
union opined that this rule is a clear violation of the first ILO Convention
[Hours of Work Industry Convention, 1919 (No. C001)], to which India is a
signee. The trade union also alleges that there is a possibility of other draft
rules needing inspection, passing of which would only intensify their resolve
to go on a strike on November 26. The AITUC further alleges that the Government
had also ‘undemocratically’ passed the three new labour codes, without the
presence of the opposition.
3.
VRS
offered to Ashok Leyland staff yet again
Last
year, the Company had offered a voluntary retirement scheme to those eligible
and an employee separation scheme or ESS to those who were not eligible. Ashok
Leyland has decided to offer its employees a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS)
for the second time. Last year, it had rolled out a VRS option for those who
were eligible, as well as an employee separation scheme for those who were not
eligible. The Chennai-based Indian automobile company has received approval
from the board of directors for the scheme, which is open to all the employees
who have completed at least a year’s service. The VRS will come into effect
over the next nine months. Apparently, many employees had expressed an interest
to retire early. The aim of the scheme is to allow employees to take up other
jobs or careers that offer them more flexibility, and at the same, help the
Company optimise its capacity and resources.
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