March 2020 - Business Manager

12Integration of Bill Reddin's

3-D leadership and

managerial behaviour model

of Heike Bruch & Sumantra

Ghoshal

This article examines the integration ofHR models created by the managementthinkers, namely, Bill Riddin (1983) andHeike Bruch & Sumantra Ghoshal (2004).Their models are spaced out by 20+years. The process of ntegration/blendingis simple and the outcome is revealingand yet practical for performance reviewand feedback. An article by Praveen Sinha

16Value of Soft Skills in the Workplace

Soft skills are more important than your technical skillsor hard skills for your success in personal as well asprofessional life as they boost an individual'sinteractions, work performance, and career prospects.An article by Dr. Anupriyo Mallick

34Women at workplace : Opportunities& challenges

It's not exactly the glass ceiling but the broken rungwhich is the mainframe barrier restricting womenparticipation at the top. Fewer women receivingpromotions as we move upwards in the hierarchy is theessence of the broken rung. An article by Sanjeev Himachali

IN EVERY ISSUE

Response

From the Editor’s Desk

HR News

Guest Column by Dr. Vinayshil Gautam

05

08 HR Movement 0906 07

Pioneerism, Innovation andExcellence: a report from the field

In This Issue

C O V E R F E A T U R E

www.businessmanager.in 3 BUSINESS MANAGER | MARCH 2020

Employer Research : India StatsTop 5 Priorities for HR Leaders in 2020 : Gartner for HR 10-11

WOMENAT WORKInterview

We have to be the best versions of ourselves everydayIn coversation with Saagarika Ghoshal,APURVA PUROHIT an author, a businessleader and a perfect woman at home speaksabout maintaining work-life balance, handlingworkplace issues, motivating and leadingpeople.

Apurva Purohit, President,Jagran Prakashan Group, Mumbai

Success, womenand the other side ofthe coinDr. Tripti Sharan

The dirty picture ofworkplaceDr. Saagarika Ghoshal

Breaking barriers : Theunconscious bias in theworkplaceReena Tyagi

Women leaders in rural IndiaMamta Saikia

Why women quitorganizations?Manisha Nayar Vohra

The mommy burnoutSonal Kapur Sinha

Women leadershipand partnership indelivering SDGsPriya Zutshi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 8 -33


63-64M.D. should work on regaining the trust and

confidence of workers - Anil Malik

When arrogance backfires! -Yashwant Bhaid

56Labour Laws not applicable ongroup housing societies

Since the housing societies are not businessentities therefore, they are exempted fromfulfilling the obligations of labour laws. This isthe reason that employing labours inhousing societies has become a veryonerous duty for the office bearers, whowork there in an honorary capacity.Nevertheless, in this case, Article 14 of theConstitution of India appears to be violatedbecause the workers working in housingsocieties are treated differently from othersbeing engaged through contractor agencies.An article by H.L. KUMAR

From the

Court Room

42-55

CASE ANALYSIS

40Solutions provided here are in context to narrated facts & not in general.

Anil Kaushik Management Expert -HR & IR

Is my mind under control?

The author helps introduce the readers NLP andexplains how our mind work and how we canmake it work to our benefit. An article by Sandiep Grovar

37

Tapping the undertones ofwomen empowerment

Expected results can be achieved only byacknowledging the value of the femaleworkforce and not waiting for policy-levelcompliance amendments to make suchprovisions. For this to happen, we need a radicalchange in women empowerment enforcementapproach. Companies need to go beyondcompliance and take up gender-gap bridging astheir own initiative. An article by Samruddhi Bhaid

39

36Women for Women : let’s makethis work

Women in today's times are breaking everyconceivable barrier. Let's change the paradigm -let's root for & help other deserving & competentwomen, not because of the gender, but for theirability & resolve to make a difference. An article by Dr. Aparna Sharma

In This Issue

LINE

RECENT IMPORTANT

LABOUR JUDGMENTS

1.

2.

65 EVENT REPORT

Ninth national case writing workshop at SVVV, Indore

65-66 BOOK LEARNING

Decode Pesonality For Organisational SUCCESS -A Cosmo - Psycho Tool - Author: Vipul Saxena

SEARCH - SELECT, ENABLE, ATTAIN & REACHCAREER HAPPINESS Authors: Sreenidhi S K,Tay Chinyi Helena,

H.A.P.P.Y - HOLISTIC APPROACH to PERSONALITY,PSYCHOMETRICS and You -Authors: Sreenidhi S.K.,Tay Chinyi

Employee Engagement - A RECIPE TO BOOST ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE -Author: Vipul Saxena

61CASE STUDY

Overconfidence - Boon or Bane?

-BM Editorial Team

58Statutory Canteen:Liability of

Principal Employer

An article by Deepanjan Dey

CHIEF EDITOR

ANIL KAUSHIK

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

ANJANA ANIL

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

JAYSHREE DUTT

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This issue of Business Manager contains 68 pages including cover

MARCH 2020

True reflection of some Indianmanagers I have come across.

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Wow...another feather to your cap

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Gig worldSanjeev has rightly indicated about shifting ofHR processes from tech-enabled to AI-enabled.HR has to be skilled enough at all levles toembrace AI to make HR function more effective.I am of the view that the biggest focus of HRshould be on handling and preparing a groundfor gig workers not only in blue collar but alsowhite collar. This trend will change the entirelandscape of HR in coming years where it will beleft with only strategic interventions.

Yogesh K.

RESPONSE


India s Best HR Magazine

Making HR People Complete

ChallengesDigitalization of system, mind set of extra work,engagement in safety and productiveenvironment of organization are few challengesof HR professionals. Ravindra Pareek

Capable Article on pumpkin heads is a dark reality of theworkplace who are capable of destroying theorganisation sooner or later. Mukesh Khatri

HumaneThis is the only way forward for all of us in HR butremaining humane in approach while dealing withdisplacement issues as a result.

Jagan Mohan Reddy

CrucialExcellent article on PMS by Vikas Sharmaespecially moulding weak into performers iscrucial to drive organisational objectives andprepare for future. Look forward to see yourupcoming book on performancemanagement system. Kudos...

Arun Kapur

Be practicalThe case study is very interesting. Theanalysis done by experts paint an idealsituation but in many cases, for a new femaleemployee the most comfortable solution is toquit the organisation where from top tobottom, everybody appears to have acceptedor chose to close the eyes from the reality.Can anybody think of a alone single newfemale employee to take a fight with theorganisation?

Pooja Sharma

GreatGreat effort. You have been contributingimmensely by choosing key topics & HRchallenges and facilitate with enormousknowledge and wisdom. Kudos... to you andlooking forward to my favorite HR magazine.

LS Murthy

CommendableThe annual compilation of labour judgmentsis commendable. R. Vijay

When it comes to half of the world population, it should be a matter ofconcern for all that India has one of the lowest labour force participationwomen when compared to countries across the world as per ILO marketupdate of 2017. According to World Bank report of 2017 it is about 25% ofIndian women.

Though the things have changed a lot, where the professions like nursing andeducation are found dominated by women and they are also leaving theirmarks in other fields which were earlier ruled by men, but still much has to beachieved in terms of social acceptance of pink power, her competencies andcapabilities to perform in all spheres.

Be it entrepreneurship, leadership roles in business world or others, womenhave proved themselves but fact remains that the road of success for them isnot smooth as compared to men. The reasons lie in implicit gender bias andmindset about working women. Organisations should take steps to buildmore gender parity to consciously build capability in women employeeswhile sensitizing both men and women with each other. The most importantrequirement is to tackle the unconscious bias awareness on benefits ofgender diversity. If a strong support system for women, by placingappropriate people policies are put in function at workplace, there is noreason why women are not able to rise higher up the leadership ladder.

The issues and challenges faced by women at workplace are same as were inlast decade and nothing much has changed. They still face the inequalitywhen comes to pay. They are paid less than their male counterparts in most ofthe professions. They are less preferred for employment at a stage when theyare recently married for the fear that she might go on maternity leave soon.They are subject to sexual harassment at workplace, most often they aremade to lead the client's meeting for business development because ofhaving extra "persuasion skills" and so on.

What needed is a strong support system of society and family to encourageand push women to move further in their career. They should not be allowedto become a victim of marriage and motherhood. The sooner is the better.

Saagarika Ghoshal, prominent HR professional and a woman board director,as guest editor has supported this edition cover story from conceiving theidea to bringing it on the pages having different dimensions about women atwork, flips and flops, issues and challenges, hazards of professions they faceand handled by women leaders itself.

If you like it let us know. If not, well, let us know that too.

Happy Reading!

Give me my space!

March 2020Vol. 22, No. 9

@ tdanilanilkaushik

anilkaushik

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

Anil Kaushik


innovation. In practical terms, placing data in the cloud is being peddledon various scores of preservation, security, accessibility and more. Manyof these claims are untested and aspirational. This always happens in theearly stages of experiments. The bald truth is, as of today, no one knows theprecise lead-time time it would need for an enterprise to reach abreakeven on the costs that would be entailed in mounting IT? But whocan fight the force of a fashion and the force of a herd mentality of theleaders?

The test of time will, alone, answer which of these inscrutable ways, callit 'innovation' if you must, that was worth the time and the costs itentailed. However, it needs to be recognised that the path of progressoften has these dilemmas strewn across it. In the meanwhile companieslike Oracle and more are busy experimenting, one almost said 'guineapigging' the organisations that can afford the risk of possible innovationand its investments.

The essential matter, therefore, is value addition to the tribal products,to begin with. As elaborated above the MFP's can be made moremarketable by such methods. Though example of Mahuwa flower thethree sequential stages can be explained and illustrated. In the primaryprocessing approach, basic changes in post-harvesting practices areattempted.

Mahuwa flower is an important non timber forest products. Theeconomic benefits are increased several folds by marketing a value addedproduct, like nutrabeverages, based on Mahuwa flower. The flowercontains high percentage of sugar along with other nutrients. Besides.This has a typical unattractive aroma. Mahuwa when mixed withGuava/Pomegranate/Banana Nutra-beverage can give rise to a lowalcohol content (4 %) nutrabeverage. Mahuwa flower contains highpercentage of sugar which can be easily utilized for alcoholicfermentation. Fermentation process has many advantages like increasingthe shelf life of the product, improving aroma and texture of the productand in some cases enhancing the nutritional value of the final product.

The tertiary process effort can push the outcome of the secondaryprocessing efforts to a higher level of sophistication. This will be byexperimental work with research outcome. An example is given below ofNoutrabeberage which has been developed from Mahuwa flower by oneof the leading technology institutions of India and is currently in theprocess to get patented.

The present Mahuwa nutra-beverage is a fermented beverage ofexcellent quality. The product in its improvised form when blended withguava fruit juice, enhances the nutritional value of the final product. Itmasks the flavour of Mahuwa beverage by improving the aroma andtexture of the product. The cost of production of the developing wineshall be lower as the Mahuwa flower and Pomegranate/Guava/Bananamain raw material are available at comparatively lower price in season,ascompared to other fruits such as grapes.

Some of the health benefits of fermented beverages seem to berelated directly to the alcohol content rather than the availableantioxidants. The above narration is merely one example running throughdifferent escalating levels of innovation, value addition and R&D. Yetanother exercise leading to excellence of forest products through theinnovation route may be cited.It can be called integrated Characterizationof Honey as per origin (floral/geographic/seasonal). This includes naturaltherapeutic agent based wound healing patch development

Expected outcome of the proposed interventions were seenasvalidating the nutritional values, anti-oxidative, anti-bacterial andwound healing efficacy of specific characteristic honey. The preliminarywork done so far includes Physico-chemical characterization of somehoney. The journey to be covered is still largely unchartered and manyintermediary phases have to be crossed.

The guiding lights will continue to be innovative approach andcombination of open ended and closed ended thinking. Tribal culture isnot necessarily in need of modernisation,it is representative of an alternateway of life. Sequencing divergent thinking followed by convergentthinking seems to be the key. Attribute listing and morphologicalsynthesis, as tools of innovation, may prove handy. Pioneerism whenfollowed by innovation in a framework of excellence is capable of takingthe limited resources of this planet to new possibilities.

Pioneerism, Innovationand Excellence:a report from the field

Dr. Vinayshil Gautam, Internationally acclaimed management expert.Chairman, DKIF

HR without PREJUDICE


As management grew as a discipline, there are functions which have acquired their own personalities. Say typically,marketing as a function is not a child of any core discipline in the

way materials management is as pinoff of mechanical engineering.Finance as a function also has acquired and reinforced its ownpersonality. It is no longer seen as a mere take off-singly or collectively-of statistics, economics etc. Similarly, corporate strategy, as an area, hasa character of its own. This leads us to the core issues of corporateinnovation.

In its present incarnation, Human Resource Management isessentially composed of managing the skills and the knowledgewhich the human being brings to the job. When he uses that to furtherthe corporate interests he receives a compensation or payment. Hencethe person's worth is, as per market rating of his skills. He is paid for notbeing what he is but for what his skills can do for employing entity. Putsimply his skills are what he is hired for. Hence as times change andcorporate requirements change, it's obligatory on the corporate tokeep up scaling or at least re-zigging the competencies of theincumbent. This requires both innovation and investment.

It is in this context that the concept of Human Capital Managementis born. There is business wisdom in developing human capital whichin turn boosts productivity and growth. Thus it is that corporateinnovation often envisages measurement. Further as the electronicmedium and language becomes progressively omnipresent, itimpacts corporate innovation also. The upshot is that operating andmanaging human capital management requires constantmethodological upgradation. Landscapes change, the nature ofinformation requirement changes and at every stage the cost ofownership of the idea becomes a key question. The approaches tothese issue currently are positioned at work force modelling, workforce predictions and indeed managing competition.

However, in an uncanny way the fundamentals don't change. Theywill always require clarity on job descriptions, identification of keyprocesses and creating focussed action through aggregation ofbusiness concerns. It is another matter that as the domain of ITexpands and becomes 'esoteric'; elements like 'cloud' begin appearingoperationally and figuratively. Even though no IT cloud is anywhere inthe sky it is a way fusion is carried out of data blocks and the way theirimplication is elaborated and embedded in the actual working.

For want of a better phrase, this too will be called corporateBM


HR NEWS

Startups hiring at B-schools grow

Startups such as Oyo, Ola, Quikr, Zomato and Paytm maybe going through a spate of layoffs, but about half a dozenleading B-schools reported a spurt in hiring by ecommercecompanies and startups during their recently concluded finalplacements.

The Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kozhikode;Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaon andBharatiya Vidya Bhavan's SPJIMR said the sector recordedthe biggest on-year jump in the number of offers during finalplacements for the Class of 2020. Several ecommerce compa-nies and startups have indeed decreased hiring this year, andsome have even skipped placements.

But that slide has been more than made up for by the largenumber of startups that have begun hiring on campuses thisseason, as well as by companies that have increased hiringnumbers, placement officials said. At IIM-Kozhikode, 8.2% ofparticipating students received offers from startups and ecom-merce companies, compared to 3% last year. At MDI, ecom-merce offers jumped 141% on-year and at SPJIMR, ecommerceabsorbed 22.2% of the batch, against last year's 16.3%.

Source: ET

AI based job sites may createemployment discrimination!

A new law in the US that aims to help job seekers understand how AI tools are used to evaluate them in videointerviews recently resurfaced the debate over AI's role inrecruiting. But O'Neil believes the law tries to tackle biastoo late in the process.

"The problem actually lies before the application comesin. The problem lies in the pipeline to match job seekerswith jobs," said O'Neil, founder of O'Neil Risk Consulting &Algorithmic Auditing. That pipeline starts with the job andsocial sites where algorithms can play a significant role indetermining which candidates see which job postings,filtering out those deemed unqualified. Here's how she saysbias shows up in the hiring process:

AI hiring tools are far from perfect

While algorithms may speed up the process ofnarrowing the pool of job candidates, they are often notgreat at finding the most qualified ones, and instead, endup disproportionately filtering out people in those exactcategories.

In 2018, Amazon shut down a tool it had built to automate its hiring using artificial intelligence because itwas biased against women. Researchers have also shownhow AI tools that analyse video interviews are often biasedagainst people with disabilities.

Bad data in, bad data out

There are several reasons why algorithms can end updiscriminating against certain groups. Programmers'train' an algorithm by showing it a massive set ofhistorical data. In the case of a job site, they show it information about past candidates, telling it to look for patterns among people who ultimately got jobs, which itthen uses to identify potential candidates with those samequalities. That can lead to problems, however, if the datasetis already skewed.

The other issue gets at why O'Neil believes biased jobsites are particularly problematic: They factor in informa-tion that may have no bearing on a candidate's ability to doa job, rather than focusing only on relevant details.

Source: Medium.com

ESIC hikes confinement expenses forpregnant women

The Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), underlabour ministry, has extended the confinement expenses fromRs 5,000 to Rs 7,500 for pregnant women who are not able toavail maternity services of ESIC dispensaries.

A decision to this effect was taken at the 181 meeting ofESIC boards, chaired by labour minister Santosh KumarGangwar.

"Keeping in view the rise in the cost of living index result-ing increase in expenditure related to confinement, existingamount of confinement expenses has been increased from Rs5,000 to Rs 7,500," ESIC said.

"This facility is for pregnant ladies who are not able to availmaternity services of ESIC dispensaries or hospitals due tounavoidable reasons and take treatment in other hospitals," itadded.

Source: ET

Managerial employee also entitledto suspension allowance

Is a managerial staff, who has been suspended from service,entitled to subsistence allowance? The First Bench of theMadras High Court ruled in affirmative when this questionwas raised. M Elango, secretary of a Primary Agricultural Co-operative Credit Society, was suspended in 2016 for certainirregularities. Now, as per the special by-laws, anybodyemployed in the managerial or administrative capacity is notentitled to subsistence allowance.

Assailing the judgment of a single judge dated October 25,2018, in a writ appeal, the Registrar of Societies contendedthat Elango, on being suspended and later terminated fromservice, is not entitled to subsistence allowance. Elango movedthe High Court and a single judge in 2018 ordered payment ofthe allowance. Hence, the present appeal.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice AP Sahi and justiceSubramomium Prasad, said the contention that a secretary ora manager ceases to have the need of basics and continue tolive at the bare minimum on being suspended cannot beaccepted. The underlying principle for making payment ofsubsistence allowance is to allow an individual to sustain him-self. In the present context of the suspension of an employee,one has to keep in mind that services of an employee have notbeen snapped and the employer-employee relationship duringsuspension, continues to subsist.

Source: NewIndianExpress

Prashant Parashar appointed as CHRO atCleverTap

With about 25 years of experience in HR, PrashantParashar has joined CleverTap as Chief Human

Resources Officer. Prior to this appointmentPrashant was with Emcure Pharmaceuticals asPresident HR for about 3 years. He has also been

with Potentia Growth, Genpact, WNS Global,Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Cummins and GKW.


Dr. Tanaya Mishra has joined as Head-HRin Essar Projects Ltd. (EPL), Dubai

Dr. Mishra brings over 25 years of rich experience as a seasonedhuman resource professional with vast exposure in

organizational transformation, change manage-ment, leadership development, employee relations and coaching. She has been recognizedas among Asia’s 40 Most Aspirational Women

Leaders (2018) and was conferred with India’s BestCHRO Award (2017).

S Chakraborty appointed Head HR & A. VicePresident at Osource India

With about 26 years of experience in HR, SChakraborty has joined Osource India Pvt. Ltd. as

Head HR & A. Vice President. Prior to thisappointment S Chakraborty was with BitChemyVentures as Global CHRO for about 3 years. He

has also been with Corporate Dossier India andRenault India Pvt Ltd.

H R M O V E M E N T

S Raghavendra Rao appointed as newCHRO at Stelis Biopharma

With about 25 years of experience in HR, SRaghavendra Rao has joined Stelis Biopharma as

new CHRO. Prior to this appointment SRaghavendra Rao was with Siemens as Vice-President-HR & Head-Learning & Leadership

Development for about 6 years. He has also beenwith Tata Motors, NXP Semiconductors, ABB

Global, Volvo India and Eicher International.

Ranjana Pal appointed as Director-HR atAndaz Delhi, Hyatt

With about 15 years of experience in HR, RanjanaPal has joined Andaz Delhi, Hyatt as Director-HR.Prior to this appointment Ranjana was withRenaissance Ahmedabad Hotel & Four Points by

Sheraton as Multi-Property Director of HR for about2.6 years. She has also been with JW Marriott.

Swagata Chakrabati appointed as Head -HR at B & M Healthcare Consultancy LLPWith about 15 years of experience in HR, Swagata Chakrabati has

joined B & M Healthcare Consultancy LLP as Head - HR.Prior to this appointment Swagata Chakrabati waswith GPT Healthcare Private Ltd. as Dy. GeneralManager - HR for about 7 months. She has alsobeen with Glocal Healthcare, SPS Synergy

Foundation and Synergy Renewable Energy.

Lovleen Joshi appointed as Director-HR at Citi BankWith about 24 years of experience in HR, Lovleen

Joshi has joined Citi Bank as Director-HR. Prior to thisappointment Lovleen was with IDFC Ltd. as HeadHR for about 4 years. She has also been with J P

Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, ICICI Securities,L&T Finance, DGP Windsor & Mafatlal Group.

Ravi Mishra appointed Sr. Vice President– HR at Grasim Industries Ltd.

With about 26 years of experience in HR, Ravi Mishrahas joined Grasim Industries Limited as Sr. VicePresident – HR. Prior to this appointment RaviMishra was with Aditya Birla Chemicals as Sr. VicePresident – HR for about 16 years. He has also

been with Nova Petrochemical Ltd., MardiaChemical Ltd. and Nicholas Piramal India Ltd.

Nita Baluni appointed GM Corporate HRat The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group

With about 26 years of experience in HR, Nita Baluni has nowjoined The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group as Gerenal

Manager Corporate HR. Prior to this appointmentNita was with Sterling Holidays Resorts Ltd. asRegional Head-Resort HR for about 1 years. Shehas also been with InterContinental Hotels Group,

Avis India (The Oberoi Group), Radisson,Intercontinental Eros and Hyatt Regency.

Dhanya Rajeswaran appointed asCountry HR Director at CenturyLink

With about 21 years of experience in HR, DhanyaRajeswaran has joined CenturyLink as Country HRDirector. Prior to this appointment Rajeswaran waswith Accenture as Director & HR Head forAccenture Digital, Consulting and Corporate

Functions in India for about 14 years.

Lionel Falcao appointed Director & Head - HR at ESR India

With about 23 years of experience in HR, Lionel Falcao hasnow joined ESR India as Director & Head – HR.

Prior to this appointment Lionel Falcao waswith Kotak Mahindra Bank as Senior VicePresident Human Resources-Centre Functions,IT, Operations, CREM, Risk & Credit, Marketing

for about 4 years.

Armaan Seth appointed as Head HR for Asia andPacific at Syngenta

With about 16 years of experience in HR, ArmaanSeth has joined JSyngenta as Head HR for Asia andPacific. Prior to this appointment Armaan Seth waswith Philips as Head of Human Resources, Indian

Sub-continent for about 9 years. He has also beenwith Marico Ltd. and Jayesh Sanghrajka & Co LLP.


Employers are increasingly open to non-degreecredentials

71% of Indian employers are exploring/ hiringemployees with only non-degreecredentials51% of Indian employersthink industry-based non-degree credentials isvaluable vs 34% whovalue the selectivity of theprogramMore important is given tocandidate who candemonstrate real-worldapplication with their non-degree credential

A need for upskilling& reskilling in the next ten years

49% of Indianemployers want toretrainemployees onnew skills forcurrent roles52% of Indian employers want to invest in trainingemployees for new rolesEmployers are open to many types of L&D supportfrom external partners; including identifying theright employees to train to developing

EMPLOYER RESEARCH : INDIA STATS

A digital learning company recently conducted a Global Employer Survey across countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, China,India, UK and US. Respondents were HR professional recurited for a mix of functions, industries and geographies. The recruit-ing targeted corporations with over 5,000 employees. The report deep dives into employers lacking an organized approachto L&D a disconnect between employers and employees on L&D culture and recognizing a need for upskilling to name a few.

Employers lack an organized approach toL&D today

Only 42% companies in India have a centralizedL&D Policy57% employers support L&D through internalmentoring/work-based learning programs.However, fewer provide financial assistance toemployees for other programs

Disconnect between employers and employeeson L&D culture and resources that impactsengagement

Only country where equal numbers of employers andemployees say CE is encouraged as part of thecompany cultureEmployers find a lack of employee engagementdifficulty with employees taking time off and findingthe right providers

Employers focus on developing soft skills forexisting workforce and are concerned about identifying the right hard skills when hiring

70% of Indian employers are interested in format softskills assessment

51% of Indian employers think that hard skills aremore important and lacking in Indian candidates38% employers in India struggle finding candidateswith desired soft skills


TOP 5 PRIORITIES FOR HR LEADERS IN 2020 : GARTNER FOR HR

HR leaders are aligned on the critical enterprisebusiness goals:

Grow the business Improve operationalexcellence

Execute businesstransformation

Explore the five imperatives for HR leaders in2020:

Build Critical Skillsand Competenciesfor the Organization

0011Current and FutureBench Strength

0022OrganizationalDesign and ChangeManagement

0033

Drive Digital BusinessTransformation forthe Organization

0044EmployeeExperience

0055HR leaders are aligned on the critical enterprisebusiness goals:

of HR leaders overall66% of CHROs/Heads of HR66%of HR technology leaders86%

Do your employees have the skills they need fortheir current roles and their future careers?

One in five employees say they do

70% say they haven’t even mastered the skills they need for

their jobs today

19%On a more macro level, 19% of

skills will be irrelevant in 3 years

Biggest Critical Skills and CompetenciesChallenges for 2020

What HR leaders told us

We lack the skills we need to drive future performance

We struggle to develop critical talent segments

Our learning culture doesn’t support effective

new skills development

46%

41%

37%

Connect learners to skills needed for their success — and that of the organization

… learn skills25% faster

… are 66%more engaged

… are 4.2 timesmore likely to stayin the company

… are 8 timesmore likely to behigh performers

n = 7,101 employeesSource: Gartner 2018 Shifting Skills Survey

$2,167

$797

=172%$2,500

$1,250

$0

2017 2019

n = 63 HR executives (2017); 51 HR executives (2019)Source: 2017 Gartner L&D Agenda Poll; 2019 Gartner LeadershipDevelopment Survey

Leadership development expenditure per leaderMedian spend (in USD)

The proportion of CEOs who have a digitaltransformation or similar initiative

18%

38%

82%in 2019

62%in 2018

Source: Gartner CEO and SeniorBusiness Executive Survey 2019

(n = 473) and 2018 (n = 460)


As we all know, Performance reviewand feedback system helps Leadersin clarifying organizational

expectations to employees (Managers).

My experience in HR also made me torealize that the success of performancereview and feedback is highly dependenton Leadership style, situations andprevalent managerial behavior in theorganization or function/department (ifwe talk about functional/departmentlevel).

In view of the above, I alwayspropagated using a combination of twomodels - one propounded by Bill Reddin(research published in his 1983 PhD thesis,Managerial Effectiveness and Style:Individual or Situation) and the other oneby Heike Bruch & Sumantra Ghoshal(Managerial behavior Focus - Energymatrix published in 2004 in the book

Performance review and feedback :

Integration of Bill Reddin's

3-D leadership andmanagerial behaviour model of Heike Bruch & Sumantra Ghoshal

This article examines the integration of HR models created bythe management thinkers, namely, Bill Riddin (1983) andHeike Bruch & Sumantra Ghoshal (2004). Their models arespaced out by 20+ years. The process of integration/blendingis simple and the outcome is revealing and yet practical forperformance review and feedback.

Praveen Sinha, Ex Head - HR Centre of Excellence, Corporate HR, Escorts Ltd., Co-founder People n Planet For a, Faridabad

entitled: A Bias for Action: How Effective Managers Harness TheirWillpower, Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Time) for performancereview and feedback.

Reddin's 3 D-leadership model in brief -Essentially, the 3D Theory is a framework for Team leaders showing

effectiveness as a central value.Task orientation : Efforts towards organization goal attainment.Relationship orientation : Characterized by mutual trust andrespect.

Effectiveness : The extent to which a Leader achieves theoutput requirements/expected results determined from hisposition.

The figure below shows Bill Reddin's model anddemonstrates that the four less effective managerial stylesare Deserter, Missionary, Autocrat and Compromiser,while the four more effective styles are Bureaucrat,Developer, Benevolent Autocrat and Executive.


INTEGRATION OF BILL REDDIN'S 3-D LEADERSHIP AND MANAGERIAL BEHAVIOUR MODEL OF HEIKE BRUCH & SUMANTRA GHOSHAL

In brief, the following are the descriptions of how each of thesemanagerial behavioral styles is seen. The summary is as follows :

Explanation for reference :

a) Deserter style is uninvolved and passive,

b) Missionary style is primarily interested in harmony,

c) Autocrat style shows no confidence in others, feels unpleasant, and isinterested only in the immediate job at hand,

d) Compromiser style means a poor decision maker, that is over influencedby pressures of work, whom minimizes immediate pressures andproblems rather than maximizes long term production/results,

e) Bureaucrat is primarily interested in rules and procedures for theirown sake, who wants to maintain and control situations by theirconscientious enforcements,

f) Developer will trust people, and is concerned with developing them asindividuals,

g) Benevolent Autocrat who knows what he wants (from people andsituations) and how to get things his/her way without causing

resentment,

h) Executive is a good motivator whosets high standards, treats everyonedifferently, and prefers teammanagement.

Heike Bruch & SumantraGhoshal - Managerial behaviormodel (Focus-Energy matrix) :

Heike Bruch & Sumantra Ghoshalshared his research finding onmanagerial behavior and it frightensus: 90% of managers squander theirtime in all sorts of ineffectiveactivities. In other words, a mere 10%of managers are 'purposefulmanagers'…they are reflective andpossess high energy and high focus.

Focus - As concentrated attentioni.e. the ability to zero in on a goal andsee the task through to completion.

The steely focus of ThomasSattelberger, who served asLufthansa's Executive Vice President,Product and Service, is well known…

A story…in the late 1980s, he wasconvinced that a corporate universitywould be an invaluable asset to acompany. He believed managers wouldenroll to learn how to challenge oldparadigms and to breathe new life intothe company's operational practices,but his previous employer balked at theidea. After joining Lufthansa,Sattelberger again prepared a detailedbusiness case that carefully aligned thegoals of the university with thecompany's larger organizationalagenda. When he made his proposal tothe Executive board, he was met withstrong skepticism : Many believedLufthansa would be better served byfocusing on cutting costs andimproving processes. But he kept at itfor another four years, chipping awayat the objections. In 1998, LufthansaSchool of Business became the firstcorporate university in Germany - anda change engine for Lufthansa.

Energy - As the vigor that is fueledby intense personal commitment andenergy is what pushes managers to gothe extra mile in achievingorganizational goals.

Disengagement Purposefulness

Procrastination

Energy highlow

high

Focus

Distraction

The Focus-Energy Matrix

Related

RelationshipOrientation

Task Orientation

LOW

HIGH

LOW HIGH

Integrated

Separated Dedicated

Developer Executive

BureaucratBenevolentautocrat

Related Integrated

Separated

Dedicated

Missionary Compromise

Deserter Autocrat

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Taskorientation

Basic styles

More

effectiv

e styles

Less effe

ctive st

yles

Basic Style Less Effective More EffectiveManagerial Style Managerial Style

Separated Deserter Bureaucrat

Related Missionary Developer

Dedicated Autocrat BenevolentAutocrat

Integrated Compromiser Executive



A story…the team that created theSony Vaio computer - the first PC to letusers combine other Sony technologies,such as digital cameras, portable musicplayers, and camcorders - showed a lot ofenergy. Responding to CEO NobuyukiIdei's challenge to create an integratedtechnological playground for aburgeoning generation of "digital dreamkids," Hiroshi Nakagawa and his teamput in 100-hour weeks to create the kind ofbreakthrough product Idei hoped for. Onemanager, Kazumasa Sato, was so devotedto the project that he spent every weekendfor three years conducting consumerreconnaissance in electronics shops.Sato's research into consumer buyingpatterns helped Sony to develop a shoplayout that enhanced traffic flow andsales. In the end, the Vaio captured asignificant share of the Japanese PCmarket.

It is evident from the above story linethat while both focus and energy arepositive traits, neither alone issufficient to produce desired outcome orin words, the kind of purposeful actionorganizations expect their from theirmanagers.

We have all experienced that Focuswithout energy is a prescription forfutile execution and it also leads toburnout, whereas, Energy withoutfocus results in purposelessbusyness…a real organizational hazard.

Heike Bruch & Sumantra Ghoshalfound through their research thatplotting the two characteristics in amatrix offered a useful framework fordiagnosing the causes of non-productiveactivity as well as the sources ofpurposeful action. The exhibit "TheFocus-Energy Matrix" identifies fourtypes of managerial behavior :Disengagement, Procrastination,Distraction, and Purposefulness.

The ProcrastinatorsOf the managers he studied, some

30% suffered from low levels of bothenergy and focus. He called them the'procrastinators'.

Disengagedmanagers

Roughly 20% of managers found intothe disengaged category; they exhibitedhigh focus but low levels of energy.These managers simply lacked the innerresources to reenergize themselves.

Interestingly, managers falling intothis category, practice denial -"defensive avoidance" - rather thanacknowledging a problem and taking

steps to correct it. They also convince themselves that theproblems/issues do not exist.

Distracted managersBy far the largest group of managers Heike Bruch & Sumantra

Ghoshal studied, more than 40% were found into the distractedcategory. They were well-intentioned, highly energetic but they wereunfocused managers and that made them as dangerous as theproverbial 'Bull in a china shop'.

Purposeful managersThe smallest proportion of managers, i.e. around 10%, they were

high on both, energy and focus. The study also revealed that theywere also achieving critical, long-term goals more often.

Let us examine how to integrate/blend and effectively usetwo HR models (as mentioned earlier, they are spaced out by20+ years) for performance review and feedback :

The way forward :For performance review and feedback - Leaders can plot theirmanagers in Energy - Focus matrix and look at their own style ofleadership, as shown in Bill Reddin's model and design theirapproach.The other aspect is also interesting - HR can plot Leaders andManagers (employees) on Bill Reddin's 3 D Leadership matrix andEnergy - Focus matrix of Heike Bruch & Sumantra Ghoshalrespectively and study Leadership styles, Situations, Managerialbehavior necessary for building 'performance culture' agenda ofthe organization.

How I used the blend of two models in performance review andfeedback :

Leaders with High Task orientation - High Relationship(People) orientation and Managers with High Energy - HighFocus : Here Leaders and Managers join hands to create the bestteam and achieve/exceed long-term goals and this was observedduring the intense business transformation journey in a

Disengagement Purposefulness

Procrastination

Energy highlow

high

Focus

Distraction

The Focus-Energy Matrix

Related

RelationshipOrientation

Task Orientation

LOW

HIGH

LOW HIGH

Integrated

Separated Dedicated



manufacturing organization where I worked for a long time. My experiencealso suggests that in the above situation, Leaders come under huge pressureto manage high performing team and setting right expectations with clearmeasurability. This matrix worked very well in the Engineering companywhere I worked for almost a decade, particularly, when the companyappointed a global management consultation firm for businesstransformation.

The organization revamped its performance management system tostrengthen the performance management culture. Further, both, Leadersand managers went through an orientation process to imbibe and accept thematrix of 'Leaders with High Task orientation - High Relationship (People)orientation and Managers with High Energy - High Focus' required forhandling challenges during intense business transformation journey of fiveyears starting 2017. The first year results showed that managers who couldre-orient themselves to the new matrix, as referred above, performed welland made huge progress in producing the desired results which weremeasured in terms of increase in EBITDA, penetration in new markets,sales acceleration, cost reduction, new product development, enhancingcustomer satisfaction index etc. This matrix also gave the organizationsome realistic data for identifying High potential and High performers forcreating Reward & Recognition agenda needed for supporting the businesstransformation journey. Further, in the above scenario, the performancereview and feedback required lots of background preparation and it wasdata driven. Here Leaders also focused discussions around organizational'Core values' and behavioral competencies.

Leaders with High task orientation - Low Relationship (People)orientation and Managers with High Energy - Low Focus:

In the company where I worked, we were reviving a perpetual lossmaking business unit with the help of a global management consultant. Itwas observed that when senior management made it clear that the unit willhave to reduce expenses, managers in this category shot first and aimedlater. Everybody knew that they had to do everything to reduce costs, andthey were frantic. They had acted too quickly because they felt thatsomething had to happen fast. Also because they did not stop to reflect,distracted managers had trouble reorienting to new strategies and could notadjust their behaviors to new requirements. The turnaround project failed.

In this business unit, the performance review and feedback went througha great turmoil in a few functions/departments as their Leaders showedconsistent priorities for task/goal orientation. Their relationship withpeople was at the lowest ebb. The challenge compounded, as managers weredistracted - because distracted managers tend to be shortsighted, they wereoften over committing. They got involved in multiple projects with the bestof intentions, but eventually their interest diminished, and they startedabandoning the projects altogether. The performance review and feedbacksurvey revealed that neither Leaders nor managers could do justice with thereview and feedback process and outcome.

Leaders with Low task orientation - High Relationship (People)orientation and Managers with Low Energy - High Focus:

As mentioned earlier, managers in this quadrant managers practice aform of denial - "defensive avoidance". In the business unit, whereturnaround project failed, we observed that several managers, rather thanacknowledging that the problems exist and taking steps to correct them,they convinced themselves that the problem was not internal, rather it wasexternal (economic scenario in auto industry was gloomy)…plenty ofdenial was at play.

An example from Lufthansa (1990s) -

One manager responsible for ground services in a major airport fullyunderstood the threat of bankruptcy and the need to make radical changes. Heenthusiastically participated in all the change management meetings andoffered ideas for improving operational productivity. Yet deep down, hebelieved his job was to protect his area and his people. He convinced himself

that his department was a core groupand should be spared from layoffs.Later, when it became clear that cuts inall areas were inevitable, he agreed tothe layoffs in principle, but his personaldiscomfort kept him from trulycommitting to them. He delayedmaking the decision and invested littleenergy in making the right cuts. As aconsequence, his results were less thanconvincing.

In a Retail organization, where Iworked in 1990s, I found that both, theorganizational performance andreview and feedback process suffereda lot in the hands of Leaders who werelow in task orientation (low businessresults) and high on peopleorientation which led to attrition ofhigh performers, inter-departmentalconflicts and organizational politics.

Leaders with Low taskorientation - Low Relationship(People) orientation andManagers with Low Energy - LowFocus :

An example from Lufthansa(1990s) :

Some procrastinators (Low energy -Low focus) hesitate, until the window ofopportunity for a project has closed. AtLufthansa, for instance, the managerwho was charged with developing aninternal survey delayed beginning theproject until the deadline passed. "Icould have done [the work]," headmitted, "but for some reason, I couldnot get started." The nearer the deadlineloomed, the more he busied himself onother projects, rationalizing that hecould not turn to this task until hecleared his desk of less important jobs.

Though I have not experienced thisscenario, but I guess, this could be theworst thing to happen for anyorganization. The performance reviewand feedback will completely lose itsmeaning when organizations continueto maintain Leaders who are low inboth, task and relationship (people)orientation and where they manage ateam/or set of managers who sufferwith low energy and low focus…theprocrastinators. To conclude, thepurpose of writing this article is togenerate thoughts around integratingHR models, rather than studying eachof the models separately. Myobservation is that combining theadvantages of certain models may giveus some interesting perspective andworkable blended tools.

References :

Internet research for picking up examples and stories. Lufthansa turnaround story in the 1990s. Managerial Effectiveness by Bill Reddin.A Bias for Action: How Effective Managers Harness Their Willpower, Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Time by Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal.Personnel Management by Edwin Flippo.

BM


Value of Soft Skillsin the Workplace

Soft skills are more important than your technical skillsor hard skills for your success in personal as well asprofessional life as they boost an individual'sinteractions, work performance, and career prospects.

Dr. Anupriyo Mallick, Faculty and HOD-HR and OB, Eastern Institute for Integrated Learning in Management (EIILM), Kolkata

L ong-term, we must begin tobuild our internalstrengths. It isn't just skills

like computer technology. It's theold fashioned basics of self-reliance, self-motivation, self-reinforcement, self-discipline, self-command." - Steven Pressfield

The challenge for any HumanResource Management orLearning and Development Teamis how to maintain a fine balancebetween hard and soft skills oftheir employees that would bebeneficial to both theorganization and to theindividual as well. Rick Stephens,Senior Vice President of HR,Boeing Corporation once said"We hire for hard skills. We firefor soft skills. The ability tointeract and communicate withothers or behave ethically andtake responsibility for thingstends to be where peoplenormally break down."

The nature of jobs andbusinesses is changing at anunprecedented pace. This hasresulted in a large number ofunemployable educated youth.Even for existing employees, L&Dmanagers find it a challenge todesign and deliver developmentprogrammes which can re-skillthem at such a pace. An L&DStudy conducted in 2019, revealsthat organisations with highlyengaged employees are over twiceas likely to prioritize soft skillstraining. It is no surprise that the

only common denominator in several L&D studies conducted since the90s has been the importance of soft skills.

The hallmark of a good soft skills training programme is not justimparting knowledge and building skills, but also developing the abilityto self-reflect and self-learn. Sounds familiar? Those are exactly theskills that businesses need to foster in their employees across the boardand are what makes our training method so effective.

As industry gets more and more automated, the human jobs of thefuture are going to be those which rely on soft skills and the humantouch. There is a growing emphasis on customer service, and impactfuland professional communication skills will be in even greater demandin the new age of AI. Increasingly, jobs require greater creativity,collaboration and relationship building. This is also reflected in whatwe hear from our clients : more than academic qualifications, it is theability to be creative in high pressure situations that businesses need.

According to the Leadership Insights Survey conducted by theCenter for Creative Leadership, 20 years ago, the most importantcompetency was technical mastery, which was at 53%. In today's times,this criterion does not even get into the top 5 category. This is becausetechnical skills can always be learned and they are changing so fast thatthey have become a secondary concern.

Not only are computer software packages and technicalqualifications important, but soft skills are also important across alllevels of the organization. This is vital in HR Planning and to employeeswho can improve their performance and motivation levels, interactbetter within and outside their work places, create a harmonized and acooperative working environment, for promotion and for successionplanning.

Does L&D in your organisation follow the golden 70:20:10 ratio?While planning the 10%, remember to include an adequate focus on softskills. According to Alison Doyle, who is one of the industry's mosthighly regarded career experts and whose website have been regardedby Forbes as one among the top 100, soft skills are essentially peopleskills, methods and strategies that help individuals improve theirapproach to their work and enhance interactions with those aroundthem. Some of the soft skills that management can offer are :

Communication Skills Business Etiquette Flexibility Motivation Patience Leadership Skills

Time Managemnt Team Work Problem Solving andChange Management

VALUE OF SOFT SKILLS IN THE WORKPLACE


To get the job done, hard skills training is required to give employeesall the vital knowledge, expertise and skills. It is important to ensurethat the right staff has the right skills. But, if an employee shows aninterest in a training program that is outside of their job role, it wouldbe prudent not to stop them from attending it, in order to enable them todevelop themselves and grow.

Hard Skills training is acquired through formal education andtraining programs, apprenticeships, short-term training classes, onlinecourses and certification programs.

According to Alison Doyle, who is one of the industry's most highlyregarded career experts and whose website has been regarded by Forbesas one among the top 100, hard skills that can be looked at are :

Languages Data Analytics Computer ProgrammingAdministration Skills Machine Operating SkillsEngineering Web Designing and Content WritingMarketing and Corporate Communication SkillsFinance and Accounting Skills and Microsoft Office Training

To be good at hard skills, one would require being smart or having ahigh level of IQ (the left brain or the logical center). Soft skills need EQ(the right brain or the emotional center). To succeed and advance in ourcareer and grow as individuals, we need to proactively work on boththese areas.

There's a lot of buzz about the word "culture" and what it meanswithin an organization. A culture is built on a company's mission andcore values. It describes what a company represents both within itswalls and to the outside world.

If a company lacks a solid mission and goal, nothing will go well.But, if employees are focused on a common, clear goal, they'll be drivento do their jobs no matter where they're sitting, or how they'rescheduling their work.

Culture must drive every single corporate decision, including hiringpractices. Every employee should be committed to the firm's mission.Office design must reflect the culture, and any philanthropic activity acompany engages in should also have a direct link to the mission.

To build a sustainable corporate culture, focus on these three areas :

1) Environment - Research shows that 90 percent of what weperceive about our world is absorbed visually. And, visual perceptionsgreatly influence our overall impression of our surroundings. That'swhy a company's physical environment is so important to get right.

In creating an office environment, there is no "one size fits all". Everycompany is different and every workforce is different. Authenticity isessential. A physical office space should reflect a company's culture andemployees' needs. In turn, it can play an important role in employeeengagement. Two main factors encompass office design: the brandvalues and the company's culture. For a company, it's a case of "knowthyself" but also "know your employees". If possible, employees shouldbe consulted about their preferences. Above all, the chosen designshould reflect the company's image and help facilitate corporate goals.

2) Benefits and Perks - Consider the main age group of employeesyou seek to attract and retain. Does your benefits package provide thekey benefits that people in this age group want and need? At the sametime, it's important to make sure your benefits package doesn'tdiscourage workers in other age groups.

Employers who want to stand out should focus on more than justbenefits - job candidates seek perks that offer work/life balance orrecognition. Those types of benefits are nearly as valuable ascompensation, according to results of Science of Talent AttractionStudy. The study shows that good location, flexible hours, benefits andmeaningful work were the most important attributes beyondcompensation when people look for a new job. And with 71% of peoplein the labor force actively looking for or open to a new job, a rewardsculture can play a meaningful role in attracting candidates to yourcompany. Indeed offers unlimited paid time off to its employees. We

also find that telecommuting optionsare very well-received by employees. Incompanies where flexible workarrangements are conducive to thebusiness model, remote work policiescan be an attractive benefit.

3) Communication - I've alwaysbelieved that if you treat employeeslike adults, they will behave like them.Talking to employees like they arechildren is an easy trap when you haveto communicate something difficult.But, it's important to remember theyare adults and they can handle honesty.So, be honest about why changes arebeing made.

While we can't always discloseeverything, keep in mind thatemployees can see right through"corporate talk". Listen to youremployees' questions or concerns. Anhonest, open dialogue will help ease anystress that may come with the change.

At Indeed, open communication ispart of our company culture. Weprovide employees with multiplechannels for two-way communication.Employees have regular access tosenior leaders. We also promotetransparency about the company'sculture by maintaining an honestdialogue about any changes.

Whether you're a large corporation,or a small, family-owned business,offering employees free lunch and ping-pong tables will only get you so far. Butby building a strong, action-mindedculture that provides employees withcareer advancement and opportunitiesto make an impact, you'll not onlyattract top candidates, you'll retainthem. Job market, employers look forcandidates who possess both hardskills, as well as soft skills. Hard skillsare related to good professionalknowledge, tools, or techniques thatallow you to work within yourprofession. By contrast, soft skills arebehavioural skills which are useful notonly in professional life, but also inpersonal and social life.

Soft skills are more important thanyour technical skills or hard skills foryour success in personal as well asprofessional life as they boost anindividual's interactions, workperformance, and career prospects.Soft skills training solutions are theneed of the hour and must be modern,effective, scalable and digitally-enabledfor maximal outreach. This training isneeded by all organisations -government organisations, leadingprivate sector companies andeducational institutions across theworld. BM


C O V E R F E AT U R E

Apurva Purohit

Dr. Tripti Sharan

Dr. Saagarika Ghoshal

Reena Tyagi

Mamta Saikia

Manisha Nayar Vohra

Sonal Kapur Sinha

Priya Zutshi

WOMENAT WORK


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(L to R) Apurva Purohit & Dr. Saagarika Ghoshal

We have to be the best versions of ourselves everydayApurva Purohit, President, Jagran Prakashan Group, Mumbai

In coversation with Saagarika Ghoshal, APURVA PUROHIT anauthor, a business leader and a perfect woman at home speaks

about maintaining work-life balance, handling workplace issues,motivating and leading people. Interview excerpts :

You are a successful career person and a great Wife and Mother - How do youmanage to keep the balance and what is the secret?

AP I often tell women who ask me whether they can have it all, that yes they can,however not all of it at the same time! Thus in a career span of 40 years we willachieve all that our heart desires however at different points in time we will haveto give priority to different things. The trick is to learn to prioritize what isimportant at that particular moment in time. Thus instead of balance if westrive for integrating all the different aspects of our lives and then between thempicking what to focus on, I think we can succeed in whatever we set out to do.

Apurva Purohit is an inspiring, powerful leader - difficult to resist or defeat. With over three decades of stellar experience in the media and entertainmentindustry, she has been named one of the Most Powerful Women in Business by the India Today Group and Fortune India. Embodying values of authenticity,inclusivity and hard work, Apurva is a leader to learn from - and admire - everything one can. Under Apurva’s leadership, Radio City has consistently beenranked 5th in India and 6th in Asia in the Great Places to Work survey. Apurva is also on the board of several for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

About Apurva Purohit


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The Boss Lady is always debatable in most of theworkplaces and given that, building team spirit toget results is often a difficult thing to do.Tell meabout a time when you had your greatest success.

AP I will quote an anecdote from my book "Lady you rethe boss" on what it takes to build teams in a anorganization.

The first time I became a business head in mycareer, I had to lead an all-new, all-male team.Naturally I chose to make an impression on myalpha underlings by bringing in an elaboratelyfrosted cake garnished with icing and laden withpink rosebuds for our very first meeting together ona fine Monday morning.

All the Rambos in the room clustered around thetable, staring with horror at the cake as if it woulddetonate any second. A few moments ago thesetestosterone infused creatures had been sizing uptheir opponents and calculating how they wouldjump over each other's carcasses on their way upthe corporate ladder. Now they were internallygroaning at the luck of having a female boss whowanted to use them as participants for her kittyparty.

I ignored their glowering looks as I brightly urgedthem to dig in to the cake and began quizzing themabout their weekend. They were eager to get startedon presenting spreadsheets, tallying data andtelling me of the revolutionary ideas they hadthought of which would catapult our smallcompany into the big league overnight. But all Iwanted to know was how their weekend had gone,what movies they had watched and what funactivities they had done with their friends andfamilies.

With immense reluctance and much foot-dragging Iwas allowed a peek into the human beings that laybehind the sharp suits and hungry ambitions thatpopulated the room. Obviously it was not justfriendly conversations and small talk and we did getto work eventually, much to the men's relief. Butevery Monday morning, without fail, there wouldbe a cheerful fruity and flowery cake waiting at thetable, signalling both the start of a hard workingweek and inviting a freewheeling chat to begin itwith.

It took many weeks and awkward silences for mymacho heroes to reveal their inner softies, but it didhappen. The men in the room on that first Mondayonly saw strangers and competitors when theylooked at each other. But over a period of time theystarted seeing each other as friends, confidants andteammates. The cake went from being an object ofscorn to a symbol of community, friendship andtogetherness. Maya Angelou said, 'I've learned thatpeople will forget what you said, people will forgetwhat you did, but people will never forget how youmade them feel'. In the past three decades, many ofthe teams I've led have disbanded or evolved andchanged. Yet my cake meetings have become thesubject of folklore, filled with the nostalgia ofmemories of working together, some of thevictories we achieved, the failures we encounteredand the joys and conflicts we shared which poweredus through both good and bad times.

What is the biggest work relatedchallenges you have ever faced,and as a successful career personyou must have handled a toughwork situation that you knew wascoming - how did you prepare?What are signals do you watchout for that would tell you that asituation has some possibleimplications or hidden agendas,which would make it difficult tohandle? How do you deal with it?

AP The toughest challenges anyleader faces are typicallyaround transitions. Wheneither a company is changinghands from one owner toanother or a new leader iscoming. Equally todaycompanies need to transitionfrom one set of behaviours toanother set based also on thequickly changing externallyenvironment from periods ofgrowth to a period of slowdownor from an analog world to adigital one.

I strongly believe a good leadercan smell out when a transitionis due. And she does that bykeeping her eyes, ears andantenna open to whatever ishappening in the environmentby talking to people, keeping aclose watch on the groundrealities by reading andlistening. Unfortunately a lot ofleaders closet themselves awayfrom reality by creatingartificial barriers around themand by having a very smallcircle of advisors. Keepyourself open to receivingsignals from a variety ofsources would be my first pieceof advice. Secondly a lot ofleaders get wedded to thevision that they have created,

Instead of balance ifwe strive for integratingall the different aspectsof our lives and thenbetween them pickingwhat to focus on, I thinkwe can succeed inwhatever we set out todo.

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little realizing that if the environment is changing;the vision too has to evolve. Finally people operate ina mindset of lazy thinking - a manifestation of that is"This is how it was always being done so let us notchange it". This allows them to carry on in a comfortzone without applying their minds. I think every 2-3years a leader must question everything, and startfrom zero base - including in the strategy that sheherself might have crafted and ask tough questionson its relevance. Organizations are not inflexible,leaders are.

When you have someone who's "marching to theirown drummer," how do you go about getting themto become an effective contributor?

AP We need to hire teams who have the right skill andtalent, and the right attitude too. This combination isvery difficult to find. Sometimes you get people whoare very good at their job but cannot work in teams.Ideally such lone hunters should be givenassignments which are solo in nature, projects thatthey are independently responsible for.Unfortunately most organizations have createdstructures which are hierarchical in nature where'growth' translates into becoming a manager ofpeople. We need to dismantle such structures toaccommodate different working styles now.

At times, we are all required to deal with difficultpeople and situations. An even more demandingfactor is to be of reporting to a difficult person. Pleasegive us a few tips which can keep us grounded andnot QUIT.

AP In my first job I had to work with a really terribleboss. It was an extremely challenging time for meand I think I kept my sanity by just focusing on thejob at hand, with the determination that I would notallow her to make me leave. I think working withbosses who erode our self-confidence is a very badidea and we should not mind leaving. However thatdoesn't mean every tough boss is bad. There arebosses who are tough, who teach you a lot and thatenhances rather than diminishes your confidence.We should certainly stay with such leaders. The trickis to be able to see this difference between bosses.Wherever there is learning, learn to not quit,wherever there is erosion of confidence, walk away.

Piece of golden advice for working women (The Do'sand Don't) - especially on looking good, personally Iadmire the way to are always so elegant both inprofessional and personal life.

AP We have to be the best versions of ourselves everyday and push ourselves to do the best we can withwhatever skills and talents we have been given. Inthat context I think both internal and externalattitude is important. Keeping your mind positive

and receptive to learning, andkeeping your body in goodhealth and good shape - byexercise, good eating habits,mindful dressing areimportant. I think what youwear and how much you takecare of your appearance areimportant dimensions of theway you think about yourself.As professional women I alsobelieve that there is a decorumwe have to maintain. Whileindependent thinking is goodand women should practice it,this doesn't mean that you canwear resort wear to work toshow how free- minded you are.

Simplicity of investing in women for the progressiveorganizations.

AP The best and simplestinvestment any organizationcan make in ensuring thatwomen stay in the workforceand do not quit, is to ensurethat there are enough visiblewomen leaders. When womensee female role models, they getencouraged and inspired tostay, because the subliminalmessage they get from theorganization is - "that womencan succeed in this place. Thisenvironment is truly genderneutral and there areopportunities for women to dowell". It is a very powerfulmessage. On the other hand youmay have many women friendlypolicies however if you do nothave any women leaders, themessage that is unsaid but veryvisible to junior women is thatthere is a glass ceiling operatingin this environment. BM


About the Author

Dr. Tripti Sharan is a gynaecologist by profession. She is one of the most promising voices in the arena of contemporary English literature. She wasadjudged ‘The Most Inspiring Gynaecologist in North India’ in 2018 by The Economic Times, Wonder Fogsian in 2019 at Mumbai and was alsoconferred the title ‘Global Youth Icon 2018’ by Writers Capital Foundation for her work in literature and in serving humanity.

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Success, womenand the other sideof the coin

Dr. Tripti Sharan, Senior Consultant, Dept of Obst & Gynae, BLK Superspeciality Hospital, New Delhi

Dr. Tripti Sharan, Senior Consultant, Deptof Obst & Gynae, BLK SuperspecialityHospital, Pusa Road, New Delhi sharesthe struggles women doctors, especiallywho are married and have childrenstruggle to keep pace with the mostdemanding profession on earth. Hereshe shares the ups and downs of it withus…

Couple of years back I came up with my firstbook, 'Chronicles of a Gynaecologist'. A woman-centric book, it focused on two sections of thesociety I fought passionately for - women anddoctors. I wanted people to understand their

struggle. I wanted to bare the harsh realities that breathebehind the closed sanitized walls of a hospital. The bookreceived critical acclaim but my mission was far from over.

While most professions deal with machines andtechnology, medicine is the only profession that deals withhuman beings. The human body is not a computer anddoes not follow set rules. It still abounds with mystery, andthough we have been successful in deciphering it to anextent, we are far from decoding all the secrets of thismasterpiece. Medicine remains a tough and demandingprofession, fraught with litigations. In today's world wherewomen safety is a priority, doctors were leaving theirhouses at the most ungodly hours, not caring for the rainor fog and still reach the hospital in time to attend topatients. Many hospitals didn't provide ambulanceservices and sometimes there wasn't enough time to waitfor it. Unaware, people never realise the toll it took onthem and their family. There was money in the profession,but it came at a cost. Most doctors paid it with their time.No wonder many young doctors were now opting for saferpastures as in migrating abroad, which gave them a betterquality of life.

Moreover, not all patients came with a monetarybenefit. This was a community that bore the brunt of allthe ambitious plans of governments like the AyushmanBharat, government panels like CGHS or the free servicesprovided to the EWS category. To work unpaid or at apathetic fee was a compulsion yet an exploitation of ahighly qualified profession that went unnoticed. Thenobility of the profession often violated their right to earnwith dignity.

The untold storyIt is especially difficult for women

who sometimes buckled under bothsocietal pressures and professionalburden. Most hospitals are wary oftaking doctors who are pregnant.Doctors themselves got loaded withguilt for neglecting their familiesespecially children. It was notunusual to see women taking asabbatical after child birth and theircareers often lagged behind theirmore successful male counterparts.

Contrary to popular belief, it wasmore practical for one of the spousesto be a non-medical person or havesupportive parents at home whounderstood the weird routine ofdoctors. Doctors also need to bevigilant about not foregoing theirmeals. A good habit is to alwayscarry a tiffin. They also need to takeout time to exercise and beat stress.A 'my' time where you can indulgeyourself with music, yoga ormeditation always works wonders.It's very important for you to take abreak, once in a while to rejuvenateyourself.

Success is very consuming but it'sbetter to restrict work according toyour own circumstances. Grouppractice and working in one hospitalonly is to an extent more relaxingthan being all over and doing


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Keverything. After all your health is your responsibility.Our healers need to be happy and healthy too.

Fighting the oddsLately, there has been an unprecedented rise of

violence against doctors.

The doctor-patient relationship was on a steepdownfall, leading to a deficit in respect and trust.While Indian doctors were winning accolades worldwide for their exemplary work, they have beenfacing a lot of hostility at home. Rising commercializationwith entry of the corporate sector and the struggle toestablish one's own practice with hardly any support fromthe government often led to frustration anddisillusionment.

Last year in Kolkata, there was a face-off between thejunior doctors and the chief minister. An intern on dutywas grievously attacked by the angry attendants of apatient. The protests spilled onto the streets and was aglaring example of the widening rift between doctors andpublic also showed how vulnerable doctors were, bothfrom the onslaught from the public as well as an apatheticgovernment.

According to a study by the Indian MedicalAssociation, over 75% of doctors have faced violence atwork. A lady doctor in Tuticorin was killed by thehusband of a pregnant woman who was admitted in aserious condition. She was referred to another hospitalbut died before she could be shifted. The husband enteredthe consultation chamber of the lady doctor with threeaccomplices and attacked her with a sword. In 2014, inMansa district of Punjab, a doctor's clinic was burnt downfollowing the death of a boy who was referred to a tertiaryhospital but died.

One of the factors that contribute to this poor image ofdoctors is the sensationalization of every news item, oftenignoring the crucial details that exonerate a doctor in anincident of alleged medical negligence. Suspicious, non-trusting patients put doctors on guard. And defensive,fearful doctors are not in the best interests of a countrythat still suffers from the deficit of doctors. It was not easyto be put on a pedestal next to God. One unintendedadverse outcome, you were brought crashing down! Therewas an immediate need to improve this relationship. Oneway of doing it is to increase awareness about the journeyof medical students, which in turn, can increase empathytowards the medical fraternity. The public needs to bemade aware of how medical students survive inredundant infrastructure, poor resources, an environmentof unreasonable expectations from society, yet stay strongand compassionate.

The learnings thoughDraconian examinations, endless studies, long duty

hours with no reprieve, and endless pressure to be alwaysright! It's not easy! While literature abounds with books onthe lives of engineers, IIT students, lawyers, politicians,sportsperson, soldiers, there were very few that told thestory of doctors. This was despite the number of yearsthat medical students give to their profession. It easilytakes up to ten years to become a specialist. It takes twomore years to become a super-specialist and a couple moreyears for practical training.

A medical student is expected to provide exemplarymedical service, while appearing for the toughest and

most competitive exams in thecountry.

This all inspired me to writeabout the world of medicine.

In the process, I remembered myown journey; the patients who hadtaught me beyond books, the seniorswho had held my hands, the juniorswho had stood by me, the tiffs withthe administration, the family thathad got sidelined. The tea breaks, thesleep-deprived nights, and the firstcry; they all came rushing through.

And I also remembered thechallenges we faced as women in ourlearning years.

Barring gynaecology andobstetrics, every other departmentwas presumably about brains. Wewere pretty much projected asmidwives. Probably it was aboutbeing a 'women's department' andtherefore suffered from a genderinsensitivity. The reality was so verydifferent. A department that taughteveryone about care duringpregnancy remained apathetictowards their own pregnantresidents, most of whom wereoverworked and their pregnanciesoften got complicated.

We saw pregnant womensuccumb to preventable diseasessuch as anaemia, even as theirhusbands and relatives refused todonate blood. This was a world thatchallenged you with stereotypes andmisogyny. It frustrated as much withprejudices and the social bigotry asthe fury wrecked by anaemia,haemorrhage, eclampsia and unsafeabortions. The pain of seeing younglives lost to preventable diseases leftdeep scars.

Medicine had its lows but wasthere any high greater than savinglives.

The book, House of Doctorsreveals a side of the profession thatfew can ever comprehend, as themedical students take uponunforeseen challenges and push newboundaries in their quest to beknown as lifesavers!

It is an endeavour to empathizewith the doctors, understand theirdilemmas and sacrifice before wejudge them for their failures. It talksabout the grit and tenacity of adoctor who survives in a world full ofhope, anxiety and disease, yet stayscompassionate and rises victorious.

It is an ode to the most nobleprofession who sacrifice their wholelife to the care of humanity in abattle where they are pitched upagainst no ordinary force but thealmighty. BM

The dirty picture ofworkplace

Dr. Saagarika Ghoshal, Country Manager,Top Employer Institute, HR Leader and author,Ex-Board Member and Director HR, METRO Cash and Carry, Mumbai

The author makes out case in this articlethat incidences of sexual harassment atworkplace have to be handled in such away that promote inclusive work cultureand safer workplace for the employees.


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External Circumstances can only cause you physical pain.Suffering is created in your mind.

-Sadh guru

It is paradoxical that I have been on various committees in mylong drawn professional career and what I understand fromstatistics is that almost every woman has gone through somesort of harassment at the workplace once in her lifetime. Ittook me a long time to talk about this subject not because I

feared anything but just that feeling of awkwardness, it reallyseemed like a double-edged sword. The Me too movement onFacebook creates a shift on how victims come forward and Itequally got me and many more thinking. Those unwilling to staysilent any longer illustrate what's happening with this avalanche ofdisclosures is more than just a show of strength. To be honest itreally sent shockwaves to many to see the Me Too movement! Somecalled it an overreaction? But isn't it time for something that is longoverdue because most women and some men have endured andsecretly suppressed their hurt and fear for decades? And all it takesis for any individual to realise that it can always happen again andcause pain if you are not super vigilant, and being a bit relaxed atthe work place. Probably even after years of experience in theCorporate World, I didn't know how to deal with this issue in a non-judgmental manner. Breezing through my career journey as an HRleader, I have had various mixed bag experiences - some good andsome bad dealing with sexual harassment at the workplace.Sometime, a genuine case and sometime, just to settle the scorewith the man/woman. This dirty picture of the workplace is calledsexual harassment which probably no one wants to see at theworkplace. Although, it certainly deserves its long overdueattention, it has mostly been treated like "water cooler" talk - Thetopic is hugely an under reported epidemic. Ironically the societywe live in would rather like to stand for dignity of the queen whohas long gone down in history but they hide behind the door whenit comes to saving the dignity of fellow women colleagues at theirworkplaces. Despite significant progress and national attentionbeing drawn on the issue of sexual harassment at the workplace,there are situations where the accused are the individuals on whomthe success of the business depends. Too many companies sweepallegations of unparliamentary behaviour and actions under thecarpet, sometimes even pay out substantial sums of money to

accusers in exchange for theirsilence. I would like to believe thatmost employers now take allegationsof sexual and ethnic harassmentseriously and show no tolerancewhen presented with credible cases.

What should you do as anempowered HR person :

In an ideal world, anyone whoexperiences harassment at workwould head directly to the humanresource department. But the realityis sometimes far-fetched. "HR is notyour friend. HR will not help you."

I have heard it so many times. Ihave always felt that the inabilitystems firstly, from where the HR sitson the organization chart, not denyingthe fundamental conflict when the HRdoesn't have a place on the board andis accountable to even financefunction. Secondly, from the skills andcompetence of the HR person andlastly, gender also plays a role in thesepower dynamics- HR managers and -God forbid- if they are women, meansalarms over harassment might be metwith skepticism by the male-dominated leadership. It's anunderlying aspect of what happenswhen you're bringing complaints andissues against the majority. But allsaid and done, one cannot deny thatHR is at the heart of all the workplaceissues. Ideally HR should strive tohandle any investigation aboutharassment complaints in theworkplace in the most sensitive andprofessional manner. Ensuring the

About the Author

Saagarika's board affiliation and HR track record spanning two decades across a spectrum of industry sectors that include Telecom, Financialservices, Aviation, Media Entertainment and Retail. She is also MD - Matchboard LLP and holds the distinction of being covered by Business Todayas one of the Next 30 Most Powerful Women in Indian business and the 50 Most Influential HR Leaders in Asia. An alumnus of Stanford, she isknown for leading transformation and Innovative people practices and her expertise lies in helping organizations foster a culture of Diversity &Inclusion, leading due diligences for M&As, Organization Development and Corporate governance for boards.


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Kenforcement of the consequences when it is necessary, you arecertainly loved and hated for how you deal with the workplace issue.Being an HR person is the toughest when you are handling such asituation and especially when there are clearly no defined rights andwrongs. No matter what, please remember the pivotal role that youas an HR professional play to protect your employees and alsomaking sure to preserve your company's reputation. There are, ofcourse, no guarantees about anything in this World, but I havealways felt that having a clear cut approach can at least help you feelthat you did all that you could to intervene and will lessen the stressfrom doing nothing. What are you supposed to do when abuse,harassment or any inappropriate behaviour is reported?

Seven little steps on how to navigate when it does happen :Establish procedures. Be pre-emptive, even if you have most

congenial work environment.

Establishing processes and defined written policies on thesubject is a must. If you have an employee handbook or any otherdocumented policies relating to discrimination and harassment,follow those policies to the core. Do not open yourself up to claimsof unfair treatment by bending the rules. You should enforce awritten anti-harassment policy. If it's breached, an employeeshould be encouraged to file a complaint.

Educate yourself. Brushing up your knowledge and keepingyourself updated on local as well as laws of the countries you areoperating in is always a plus point. Doing some research on thelaw of discrimination and harassment - what it is, how it is provenin court, and what your responsibilities are as an employer willalways keep you in a confident environment and you will addvalue to your employer.

Deal with respect and compassion. It takes a lot to complainabout harassment. More than often than not one finds itextremely difficult to complain about discrimination orharassment. They feel vulnerable and afraid of the consequencesand most of the times families do not support it. This can have animpact on their personal lives, career, the quality of their workand it can also lead them to seek outside assistance. It is alwaysimportant to make your employee feel that they are dealt withrespect and compassion. The bottom line is whether an employeecomes to you with a seemingly small gesture or a complaint aboutmajor egregious conduct, you are legally required to look into thematter and engage in a prompt and thorough investigation.

Consider not to retaliateIt is very human to retaliate but unless the investigations are

over, it is always good to be neutral and keep your lips sealed. It isagainst the law to punish someone for complaining aboutdiscrimination or harassment or judge the person who has beenaccused before the trial. A fair trial is a must so before anyconclusive decisions it is better not to take any sides. The mostobvious ways of retaliation are termination, disciplinary actions,demotion, pay cuts, or threats to do any of these things. Alsoinform the employee that you need to know immediately aboutany retaliation, purported retaliation, or ongoing harassmentexperiences if any.

Record everythingGet the person tell you the whole story in his or her own words.

What where how witnesses if any, anything and everything whichis relevant. The investigation and documentation should becomprehensive. Investigate every complaint you receive. Don'tcome to any conclusions until your investigation is complete. Alsomake sure you keep the management in loop of the minutestdetails. Look for corroboration or contradiction and make sureeverything is in black and white.

Seek helpConsult with the seniors and the legal team to ensure that you are

looking at the whole situation fairly based on the evidence you have.Make sure that the advocates and your management supports thedirection you are taking, you may like to consider hiring anexperienced investigator and you might want to bringing in outside

help if more than one employeecomplains of harassment or if theaccused is a high-ranking official inyour business (like the MD, presidentor CEO). The accuser has publicisedthe complaint, either in the workplaceor in the media; the accusations areextreme (allegations of rape or assault,for example); or, for any reason, youfeel too personally involved to make afair, objective decision. Once you havedecided on an appropriate course ofaction, act swiftly, record it thoroughly,and notify the concerned person.

Understand your role and actaccordingly. Never forget that youare the HR! So even if someone tellsyou that she is sharing an incident asa friend and she doesn't want you totake it further or she doesn't want toshare with anybody else because herfamily doesn't support it, as the HRPerson please notify all seniors andtake appropriate steps. Also do notforget to apprise the employee, whomay have been wrongly accused, thesame courtesy of follow-up,documentation and penalties. Oneslearning don't end even after manyyears have passed because everyexperience is a new one and everycurve in this job educates us on newscenarios that may turn up later. Wishlists keep changing with time but Istrongly advocate that, it's also time tovoice the concerns of men at theworkplace. And with my experience Ican say that, the committees should begender agnostic about sexualharassment at workplace. I am a greatbeliever in being anticipatory and pre-emptive but once an incident hasoccurred one must face it and resolveit in the fairest manner you can inyour own capacity. Even today thereare many cases of sexual harassmentthat have gone unnoticed or no actionhas been taken for the fear ofhumiliation at ones workplace andintimidation made by the superiorsinfluence against the person. Mostly,the rest are mute bystanders whochoose to get entertained and gossipas opposed to stepping back andstepping up by adding to the strongvoice or voices against harassment atthe workplace. I know it's stressfulbut sticking to your gun givestremendous peace of mind. Lacing itby lending support to the fair sidewill always give the right signals inthe organisation and create a lastingand fair organisation culture. Notmuch has changed over the years andthe notion that things will changeovernight would in fact mean toallude to a different resonance. Ireally hope that in the times to comeit becomes evident that organisationsare making efforts towards creatinginclusive work culture and saferworkplaces for their employees. BM


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Workplaces are becoming increasingly morediverse in this century. Today, we areoperating in a volatile, uncertain, complex,and ambiguous (VUCA) world - and it hasbecome imperative for the organizations to

support diversity and promote inclusion. Unconsciousbias can be one of the key impediment in driving Diversityin organizations.

Unconscious Bias stems from deep-rooted values andsocial conditions in which we have been brought up. Thesebiases can be very subtle and difficult to spot and address.

Research suggests that we unconsciously label peopleand things using easily perceived standards such as age,weight, skin color, and most commonly, gender. But wealso categorize people based on their sexuality, disability,accent, educational level, social status, and job title,spontaneously allocating presumed qualities to anyone wesubconsciously put in those groups. This more often thannot leads people to make assumptions about them and takeaction based on those biases. This results in a tendency torely on stereotypes, even if we do not consciously believein them.

It is not uncommon for women to face Gender bias atworkplace. It is one of the most common bias that exists inour society. This is an involuntary and automatic mentalassociation constructed on gender, stemming fromtraditions, values, norms, culture and experience.Automatic associations flow into decision-making,allowing a hurried assessment of an individual based ongender and gender stereotypes. Globally, women areunder-represented in organizations and the share ofwomen declines as we go up the pyramid.

With people slowly becoming conscious of this ongoingissue, many companies have shown their commitment to

gender equality by establishingfamily-friendly policies and enablingwomen's careers and professionalnetworks.

In a workplace these biases canimpact hiring, developing and talentretention decisions. These biasescan also lead to lack of inclusivityand nurturing of a transparentenvironment which welcomesdiverse views. This can have alongstanding impact on organizationculture. Decisionsbased on anythingbut capability and culturalalignment are detrimental andprevent the organizations fromhaving 'Best in Class' talent. Thesebiases can sometimes even impactbusiness decisions like eliminatingor choosing market segment.Perceived discrimination can alsoaffect several elements of employeelife cycle, such as commitment, jobsatisfaction and work tension. It canat times lead to distrust, lowered self-esteem and a bigger possibility ofgood people exiting the organization.

At ManipalCigna, we value thedifferences employees bring to theworkplace. These differencesenhance our ability to serve ourcustomers, and make meaningfulchanges in our communities, anddeliver new and innovative healthinsurance products and services.

Breaking barriers :The unconscious biasin the workplace

Reena Tyagi, CHRO, ManipalCigna Health Insurance Company Limited, (Formerly known as CignaTTK Health Insurance Company Limited), Mumbai

Organizations must take steps to thwartbiases so that the presence ofunconscious gender bias in an individualdoes not inevitably translate intoprejudices in the workplace. Toovercome the obstacles, organizationsneed to assess unconscious gender biasin their operations and measure itsimpact on their teams.

About the Author

A HR leader with over 25 years of expierence, Reena a passionate about people agenda that is aligned to strategic objectives of organisation. She hasbeen instrumental in setting up the operation and building ManipalCigna a “Great Place to Work.”

ManipalCigna is committed to diversity and inclusion. Weensure that every member of our team feels a sense ofbelonging and is able to reach their fullest potential.Diversity and inclusion is a valuable asset to us and onewe have and will continue to leverage to help accelerateour business journey and provide access to qualityhealthcare to millions of people in India.

To make making continued progress, it is important tocreate a culture where everyone feels included and able tocontribute. Thus, organizations must take steps to thwartbiases so that the presence of unconscious gender bias inan individual does not inevitably translate into prejudicesin the workplace. To overcome the obstacles, organizationsneed to assess unconscious gender bias in their operationsand measure its impact on their teams.

We should not forget that Conscious biases are easy tohandle, it is the unconscious bias which has far reachingimpact and is more difficult to address. These biases are

mental associations from upbringing, social values andculture. Countering Unconscious biases needs consciousefforts. Awareness and acceptance that these biases existis a good first step towards ensuring we create healthydiverse workplaces. With the acceptance in organizationsthat diversity is critical to their success, this is a goodstarting point.

This consciousness begins to 'tip' people's unconsciousinto the conscious where they can be fully aware andbegin to manage the bias and its effects. No matter howunbiased people think they are, they may have subliminalnegative opinions about individuals who are outside theirown group. But the more exposed people are to othergroups of people, the less likely they feel prejudice againstthem.

It is important for leaders to lead by example and haveopen dialogues around unconscious biases they have facedor how they have accepted and overcome some of thesebiases in their own minds. To listen to the employees andhaving forums where employees can share theirexperiences in the organization is also very critical.Experiences can be different in different context/places;hence it is important to know the unconscious biases thatcan exist in your workplace. Instilling the value of

'courage' in the employees isimperative, to be able to speak up ifthey face bias at workplace.

It is also important toinstitutionalize our processes toprevent such biases to seep in.Relying on panels to take decisionsrather than individuals is one ofthe ways to prevent individualunconscious bias impact decisions.Decisions based on hard numbersand data prevents any unconsciousbiases to impact decision making.

Leaders taking special efforts todemonstrate inclusivity togroups/individuals where there is apotential of facing bias is anotherimportant way to deal with this.

People's propensity todiscriminate against a group or typeof person may not be deliberate, butthey can still do something to changeit. The more people are open to ideas,images and words that defy negativestereotypes, the less prejudiced theywill be. The aim of diversity issimple : to warrant that everyonehas access to the same opportunitiesand the same, nondiscriminatorytreatment. To demonstratecommitment to Diversity it isimportant to have a 'Diversity Policy'which clearly states organization'sstand on the subject and what isexpected of employees with respectto this agenda.

A company's diversity policyshould reflect in every facet of the company that unconsciousbias does not have any chance to bloom anywhere and is mitigated efficiently in theworkplace.


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Women leaders in rural India

Mamta Saikia, Chief Executive Officer, Bharti Foundation, Gurugram

I have been working with village-basedHead Teachers and women teachers inBharti Foundation's Satya Bharti SchoolProgram. It has been an awe inspiringjourney as I have very oftenencountered experiences and storiesthat both inspire and drive me. The storyis all about women leaders in ourvillages, their challenges and triumphs.

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Raani was pacing up and down her room andpracticing in her head on how she wouldconvince the Sarpanch (village head) to fill upa small ditch near her school. It was full ofdirty water and had become a breeding ground

for mosquitos. It required money and she would have toenlist the support of the entire village Panchayat(council), an unenviable task.

Raani belongs to a simple family of the same village,the first girl to secure a job from amongst all her relatives.She was a good teacher but shy and a bit tentative. Her jobrequired her to face difficult situations, to take tough callsand to ensure that her School, students and staffperformedto their best potential. She had recently beenpromoted as a Head Teacher and the transition was a littletougher than she had imagined. She was being enabledand mentored but every day brought in a new challengeand some of them sapped her of energy by the time theSchool's last bell rang.

I am sure many of us have lived through trials likeRaani's and gone through similar experiences at somestage or the other during our careers.

I have been working with village-based Head Teachersand women teachers over the past 15 years in BhartiFoundation's Satya Bharti School Program. It has been anawe inspiring journey as I have very often encounteredsuch experiences and stories that both inspire and driveme. So, I want to talk about women leaders in our villages,their challenges and triumphs.

Bharti Foundation has set up over 190 village basedschools, which provide quality education tounderprivileged children, absolutely free of cost. We makesure that school-age girls in our villages are in school. So,

while we work with disadvantagedsections in the villages, it is a matterof pride for us that almost 50% ofour students are girls. But what ismore satisfying is that girl studentshave over 90% attendance at school -it shows the importance being givento their education by their parents.In the Class X and XII Board examsthis year, the pass percentage of ourgirls was over 96%, against anational average rangingbetween88% to 92%. When our students goout and compete in state or nationallevel competitions, over 60% of theawards, scholarships or admissionin meritorious schools are corneredby our girls. Our girl studentsoccupy over 50% school-leadershippositions - be it House Captains, ViceCaptains or Class Monitors! Just lastweek, a boy and girl from one of ourschools cleared the Foundation Testfor Chartered Accountancy. Both ofthem are from underprivilegedbackgrounds. The girl is thedaughter of a woman who cooksmid-day meals for our students! Thisall is so heartwarming…

We believe that this is happeningin our schools because apart fromthe program design that looks atencouraging and empowering thegirl child, we have women teacher-

About the Author

Mamta has worked on the issues of rural education, sustainability, disability, animal rights, women’s issues and HIV AIDS etc. and also served asthe Chair of SAFRG and has been on the Board of Resource Alliance, UK. Mamta has been honored as 2019 Influencer Leader by AACSBInternational. She was also among the 100 Women Achievers of India (2015-16) under an initiative by the Ministry of Women & Child Development,felicitated by the Hon’ble President of India.


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Kleaders in our schools, who serve as role-models for thesegirls. In our village schools, 53% of the Head Teachers arewomen. But this has not happened overnight. It has been astrategic talent identification and mentoring program,which has an added element of encouraging andmotivating women to take up leadership positions, if theyexhibit the required attributes. Our potential leadershipcandidates are exposed to and trained in our school-processes, to build their competence. When they assumeleadership assignments, they are bolstered throughregular hand-holding. Our women leaders are changingmind sets about what women can achieve. Theirperformance and dedication to their job is helpingcommunities see the potential of young girls once given anopportunity. It is not surprising that over 90% of ourparents are planning for higher education for theirdaughters as they can visualize a future where she canfulfil her potential.

When I talk to our Head Teachers and women teachers,they point out three very critical things that help themperform up to their potential in Bharti Foundation. Theseare : respect as a professional; a sense of safety providedby a robust complaint redressal system; and fairness&transparency in our HR processes. While these areimportant for all professionals, these but they do mattermore to our women teachers. I have heard stories whereunmarried teachers have asked their parents to find thema groom in a village where a Satya Bharti School is located,so they can continue their job with our schools. It is a signof great empowerment, when a woman makes her career akey component of decisions about her future. And to be soconfident about her place in the family and society, that sheis able to put forward her point of view about her future. Invillages, family members and elders not only provide anexcellent support system to our young teachers, but alsohave a strong influence on family decisions. Once I was

visiting a teacher at home and Ifound her mother-in-law helping hercreate a teaching aid for the nextday's class. In that moment, I sawwomen from two generations comingtogether, to value the importance ofthe teaching profession and to shareeach other's responsibilities.

Our Head Teachers and womenteachers and are not only bringingabout a paradigm shift in thevillages of the role women can playin society but along with the entireschool team are actively workingtowards creating a better future forunderprivileged children of theirvillages! My salute to all the teacherswherever they may be - in villages orin cities, as they are activelycontributing towards building ourfuture generations! BM

In villages, family membersand elders not only providean excellent support systemto our young teachers, butalso have a strong influenceon family decisions.


About the Author

Pass out of University Business School, 2003 Punjab University, with 16+years of experience in handling responsibilities covering varied HR spheres,Manisha has worked with Bharti Airtel and then Macmillan Education India lead as Director - Human Resources.

Why women quitorganizations?

Manisha Nayar Vohra, Head - Corporate HR, Delhivery, Gurugram

We as workplace managers andorganizations constantly need to comeup with strategies to removeimpediments for women and create amore actively inclusive space as wedrive to create more balancedworkforce.C

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Bringing more and more women into workforcehas been the focus of most organizations in lastfew years. However, retaining them has becomeequally if not more important.

While women are entering organizations in far biggernumbers now however they are also leaving at a higherrate especially nearing middle to senior level.

As most organizations are driving diverse workforce,there is even a more acute issue that there aren't justenough women to move to critical roles or senior levels,leading to a fresh cycle of gaps when changes are not beingdriven by them.

Is there a need to look at women retention in a differentway? Perhaps yes because women while broadly may leavefor the same reasons as men, but the intensity &nuancesdo vary, along with let's just say an added set of reasons.

While most would like to believe that women are not asambitious as men, in my experience women instead tendto weigh the career move across combination of factors,hence reasons like career growth may not apply asstrongly if they are at particular life stage. Let's say for ayoung mother, a supportive environment or flexible hourswill hold key to retention, whereas a male employee maytake a bigger leap.

Career breaks for family are also more common towomen. While we are seeing a trend where men arewilling to be equal participants, women continue to bebear heavier load of taking care of the family - children oreven the elderly.

You can get support for child care but would do itdirectly for ailing elders, as one woman colleagueexplained when sharing her reasons for exiting.

Specific roles do see higherwomen exits. When it comes to hightravel roles or roles involving remoteplaces, this again plays againstwomen. I have seen some reallytalented women moving out ofbusiness development & sales rolesas they just couldn't keep up with thetravel that men could.

I recall my own case when my kidwas younger and had to travel, Iwould only do morning-eveningflights even if it meant waking upstraight for 20 hrs. I am sure mostwomen find their ways to deal withthese situations but do need solidsupport system at work and home.

Office environment is anotherstronger factor for women comparedto men. An aggressive culture maysometimes be extremelyuncomfortable for women. A maledominated team may have a comfortto interact in way which may put offor completely be disconcerting towomen.

While trying to be diverse theorganisations and specifically teamsforget to be inclusive.

In past I am reminded of one caseof a women team member saying,why are all team parties late in the

evening? I miss out on so much information being sharedat that point.

Women are consciously or more often unconsciouslyleft out of social bonding because they end up skipping'buddying post office hours', socially this may just nothappen in a natural fashion. Men end up having betterteam bonding leading to better stickiness withorganisations in such cases.

It's for the leaders to reach out to women team membersto ensure they have found a voice and are integral part ofteams and unconscious discrimination is avoided.

The teams are skewed at top levels and hence theissues. Even in the recent report from World EconomicForum, percentage of Firms with Female top Manager ismerely 14% (The Global Gender Gap report 2020, Genderdisparity in the workplace - World Economic Forum). Closerhome out of every 100 CEOs and managing directors ofcompanies listed on the National Stock Exchange, onlyabout three are women, and this has been the case since2014 in a study published by Economic Times in 2019.

Another aspect that I come across in way women & menwork is having difference in a finite sense of time. Whilewomen want to close and move off, men have a tendency tolinger and take breaks and socialize more before thenfinally get down to real business. Women do encounterissues on travel safety in real world and this in itselfbecomes reason when working hours stretch in a teamthat is dependent on each other.

Additionally while we have protective laws for sexualharassment at workplace, one does come across caseswhere women want to leave the organization or teams, asthey feel it's the best way to address the situation instead ofeven reporting this. Women across especially at seniorlevel have responsibility to address such an issue whilethe rest of the team leaders need to ensure a comfortableworking space.

While maternity law now helpswomen take that necessary time offfor a longer period, at work this hasmeant higher catch up to be donewhen a woman is back. She mightfind her peers move ahead of herand this can lead to frustration andstress at work which in fact becomesdetrimental if not handled right.

Women should seek activementoring and support if theirorganization does not formally

provide to tide over this.

We as workplace managers andorganizations constantly need tocome up with strategies to removeimpediments for women and create amore actively inclusive space as wedrive to create more balancedworkforce.


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BM


The mommy burnout

Sonal Kapur Sinha, Head - Human Resources Modern Foods, Gurgaon

The Mommy Burnout is real and like anyother it is less physical and moreemotional. Remember you are not aloneand this shall pass. Her's she takes usthrough her commendable and inspiringjourney…C

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Seven years back, I had a fairly positive view of myability to multitask, to make decisions, to toil, to ace itall; and then, I became a mother. I don't even have thememory of the first 7 days; then once the haze lifted,and the reality of a little being anchoring on me for life

itself dawned. I no longer was the boss of my life. The secondsbecame shorter or the ask longer, I still can't say. But suddenly Icouldn't handle more than a project (read the baby) at a time,couldn't make a sure-footed decision and tired out just from a tripto the kitchen. Months passed, I learnt quicker than I imagined,to toe the line the little one drew. Just when we had set a rhythm,the 12 weeks were over and I found myself back with the faces Iknew so well, all so happy for me and to have me back. My tiredeyes and slow walk were received with knowing nods and softassurances of "things only get brighter".

Always late guiltToday I pride myself on just how I managed the work and the

feed breaks, remembering to eat in between (thank heavensbreathing is automatic!). Back then, the first word into a roomwas not a greeting, but 'sorry'. I was just never on time even if Ihad not allowed myself the snooze. For two years this went on.Rising up the little one early in the morning, hugging away aseparation melt-down or attending to a simple 'I want mumma",with one anxious eye on the watch to "Beta! please rush, mommycan't be late again", I despaired thinking of those glances when Iwould enter the workplace all hassled, unkempt and headsinking with the 'always late guilt', till I taught myself toprioritize time above all. I realized that when I tied myself toschedules, life ran like clockwork. It pushed the little one to bemore independent and me less procrastinating. (This ensuredthat when the second one came, I was absolutely in control and ahappier person to be with).

Care givingThe most humbling lesson of motherhood was learning that

it is alright to seek HELP. I truly understood the meaning of, "Ittakes a village to raise a child".

"I can't join a start-up as much as I want to", "I can't travel, howwill he sleep without me", "I can't expect the grandparents to runafter them at this age"; I had tied myself in so many misplacedbeliefs.

I spoke up, I sought help and I was amazed at how eagerly thefather, the grandparents, the friends, the siblings walked into therink. It made the little one more social, more playful and memore relaxed.

Need for validationFrom high performing employee I

became someone who would oftenwonder if my manager understood mycommitment to work, after all, I wouldnever miss work, even when my childwas running high fever. In my bid to getback my place, I remember taking on allthat came my way. No points forguessing that the output never met myown benchmarks. Somewhere down theline, thanks to my profession, I becamemy own coach. I discovered that thisneed for validation stemmed from myshrunk sense of self-worth. I knew Ihad to get myself back. For me it was afitness journey. I gave myself 6 monthsto get my stamina back and voila! I wasin love again with myself. I have runtwo 10Ks in the last 1 year and I justpicked up a winner trophy in myfavorite sport. I find my kids taking tofitness and sports too.

Juggle it allMy own mother gave up work to be

around us. My childhood memories arefilled with her 24/7 presence and most ofall fresh home-cooked food all the time.My perfect motherly mould is that. I amnot sure what trade-offs await me as aworking mother in the years ahead, fornow I have been meaning for months tobake cookies at home for kids because themom next door never gives her childpackaged food! I don't have a fix for thisone, I just strive to give my 100% whereverI am. The Mommy Burnout is real andlike any other it is less physical and moreemotional. If anyone reading this isfeeling it and wants a way out, rememberyou are not alone and this shall pass. Theother side has a wholesome, accomplishedself who makes a difference wherever sheis and means the world to those littlebeings.BM

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Women leadershipand partnership indelivering SDGs

Priya Zutshi, Sr. Manager, Group Sustainability, Mahindra, Mumbai

It is important that corporations not onlyincorporate the Sustainable DevelopmentGoals (SDGs) into a business's coreoperations, but also envision a powerfulrole that women leaders can play asaccelerators toward the goals in unlockingthe new market opportunities that exist.

In recent years a lot of conversation has taken place onsustainable development goals and how we can go aboutachieving them. Adopted in 2015, the SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) also known as the Global goals,

were adopted by all United Nations Member States as a universalcall to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that allpeople enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030. India has been on theforefront of not only taking commitments on the goals but also on theperformance front. Among other things the goals have enabled LEDmovement in the country to go viral, enabled appliances to becomehighly energy efficient, becoming the most energy efficient cementmanufacturer in the world and aggressively driving the creation ofrenewable energy capacity. A lot of opportunities are being seen inthe implementation of the goals. Business have also become aware oftheir potential. According to several studies including a report byBusiness & Sustainable Development Commission achieving theGlobal Goals could lead to an estimated US$12 trillion in marketopportunities in four economic systems : food and agriculture, cities,energy and materials, and health and well-being. This makes theminteresting for business as it helps deliver on all the 3 P agenda ofpeople, planet and profit and thus the concern in part for how toeffectively deliver on them. On a different note another concern areafor business have been the lack of women leadership andparticipation in corporate world. Quoting world bank figures in 2019- Women made up 48 percent of the Indian population while it has thelowest female labour force participation rates in the world. Less thana third of women - 15 years or older - are working or actively lookingfor a job. A global study by Deloitte identified Indian women asholding 12.4 per cent of board seats and just 3.2 per cent of boardchairs in 2017 (Deloitte, Women in the Boardroom: A GlobalPerspective - Fifth Edition). And with this abyssal performance whatis at stake? A report by Business & Sustainable DevelopmentCommission titled - Better Leadership, Better World: Women Leadingfor the Goals, found that business teams that are gender - balancedwith women in leadership roles have competencies in areas that areimportant to business growth and sustainable development : long-term thinking, innovation, collaboration, transparency,environmental management, and social inclusiveness.

And hence the connect between the two issues. The reportmakes the case that greater diversity and female leadershipdeepens these competencies, which then accelerates sustainableand longer-term business opportunities in line with the SDGs.This is because of their innate sense of finding solutions to verycomplex problems and are often impacted the most hence theirleadership and participation vital for the success of SDGs. Womenin leadership role have unique set of life experiences which in a

country like India are especiallyimportant to have. This perspective canbroaden and deepen the executiveboard's insight making it more effectiveand agile while responding to a broaderagenda.

So how can one active this forcompanies? You will need to identify theirunique talents, understand what theybring to the work environment to bestenable their success, and then ensure thattheir voices are heard. We will need toidentify women who can work asmentors,role-models, networking groups so thatthe very culture of workplaces change.Thus, the need to not only incorporate theSustainable Development Goals (SDGs)into a business's core operations, but alsopushes businesses to envisiona powerfulrole that women leaders can play asaccelerators toward the goals and inunlocking the new market opportunitiesthat exist. An essential point is thatwomen are more than beneficiaries of theSustainable Development Goals, butleaders in driving SDG action andimplementation. Women's leadership iscentral to delivering the goals as it couldpropel today's business into a new era - anera that champions a long-termperspective and places profit on equalfooting with positive social andenvironment impacts. Changingbusiness-as-usual about leadership willrequire a change in mindsets. There's aneconomic prize in both the SDGs andwomen's leadership. Like there isaneconomic prize for businesses thatinvest in the SDGs there is a payoff inwomen's leadership : According toMcKinsey research, investments inworkplace gender equality could add $28trillion to the global annual GDP by 2025.So why not capture both by investing inwomen's leadership for the SDGs? This isa win all situation for sure.

About the AuthorPriya has over 15 years of experience in the communication space, a bulk of which was spent as a communicator in the social sector space. She has workedacross diverse communication verticals including internal communication, public relations and media advocacy in the NGO and for profit sector.

BM


Women at workplace

Opportunities & challenges

It's not exactly the glass ceiling but the broken rung which isthe mainframe barrier restricting women participation at thetop. Fewer women receiving promotions as we moveupwards in the hierarchy is the essence of the broken rung.

Sanjeev Himachali, Principal Consultant and Talent Strategist, Ecliptic HR Solutions Private Limited, Pune

We have had enough of talking and discussion about the dismalcondition of gender diversity in the corporate world, still, thereisn't any progress worth mentioning. Though the participation ofwomen at top-level management has seen some rise in the numberstill the number is far from equality. What makes the situation

even worse is the constant assurance from big companies that they will make surethat they bid their goodbyes to gender bias at top leadership and still not beingable to present any significant change.

Not the "Glass Ceiling "but the Broken Rung"

Over the past few decades, it was found out that it's not exactly the glass ceilingbut the broken rung which is the mainframe barrier restricting womenparticipation at the top. Fewer women receiving promotions as we move upwardsin the hierarchy is the essence of the broken rung. When a reduced number ofwomen are promoted at relatively higher management there can never be equalparticipation of women. But this phenomenon has undergone considerablealterations in the past year or two, the findings of the reports are presenting astrong case for women being likely to receive a promotion if they are worthy of it.Moreover, it is better to have corporate sponsors who can advocate your side andpresent your case more firmly before the management.

FindingsThis report by McKinsey & Company and LeanIn.org is made after receiving

feedback from around 600 companies and consulting a million employees, so thefacts presented by this report are backed up by extensive research.

1. A mere 22% of women representatives at the C-suite executive. The ratio isalmost equal (with 48% women employees) at the entry-level, but as we move tothe top in the hierarchy ladder, we find that the gap is wide enough to attractattention. As per the report, there are 38% of managers, 34% of seniormanagers or directors, 29% of VPs and 23% of SVPs as far as the percentageparticipation of women is considered.

2. Every second woman at the senior level management has fallen prey to sexualharassment. To be precise 55% of women employees at senior posts havereported some or the other kind of sexual harassment. This percentage is 35%with women in full-time corporate sector Jobs and 45% with those in technicalfields of employment. It is believed that this percentage, in reality, is way toohigh than it appears, it's just that many of them fear to accept that they arebeing harassed.

3. 49% of women reported that they never happened to indulge in any

conversation with senior-levelmanagement during their course ofworking with the company. This figureis about 27% with men. Thiscommunication gap though not directlybut indirectly has effects on careeradvancement opportunities.

4. Women are having 18% fewer chancesthan their male counterparts to receivea promotion at the entry-level.Motivation and promotion desire havenothing to do with this statistic, womenalso have the same level of the urge toreceive a promotion.

5. When women were asked about theirpeers or working companions, it wasfound out that 20% of them were theonly female employees in their group.This ratio is 40% when we talk aboutsenior-level executives. This again is ahighly discouraging statistic.

6. Close to 50000 women have to quit theirjobs or they are forced to do so whenthey are expecting a child. At themajority of small-scale privatecompanies, there is no such concept ofmaternity leave, they don't sanction anyremuneration to the female employeesduring their maternity leave and it'squite difficult to make a comeback tothe same position.

Other hurdlesWomen of colour : Only if it was not

enough to experience parity against aparticular gender, we have instances whichconfirm that there is furtherdiscrimination among women based ontheir colour. Women from foreign countriesworking in the institution are more likely

WOMEN AT WORKPLACE : OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES


to fall prey to this. The voice of colouredwomen is likely to be ignored by corporatemanagers.

Wage pay : Women are likely to earnonly 76 cents for every dollar earned by amale employee of the same grade. Womenare not paid on the same grade as men arepaid, although they are expected toperform the same duties.

Gender a barrier to advancement :The McKinsey & Company report revealedthat as many as 27% of women admittedthat their gender will stand as a barrierbetween them and a promotion. Thereasons for such feelings can be varied andwe are not getting into it. But give it athought that hoe discouraging it is to findout that just because you are not of thedominating gender you will end up notreceiving a promotion.

Probable futurechallenges

Though automation and artificialintelligence are against the workforceas a whole but women are a tad moreexposed to it. The reason being themajority participation of women in theworkforce being in the lower- andmiddle-skilled jobs. It's known to allthat due to automation most un-skilledand semi-skilled workers are likely tobe axed. The OECD has forecasted thatin the coming two years automationwill render 11% of women who arecurrently employed jobless which is 180million female jobs.There is a visible global gender digitaldivide. Women in the workforce are notwell versed with the internet. Thepercentage of women using the internetIs 12 percent lower than the proportionof men using the Internet worldwide.This percentage goes down even furtherin underdeveloped countries. Inunderdeveloped countries, only one inseven women is capable of using theinternet. It is almost next to impossibleto stick to your job unless you are notbacked by sound digital knowledge.

Few probabilitiesahead

We have another year to try and getover gender parity which is the topic onwhich consensus is reached very easily atevery woman empowerment debate.

1. The stigma of Sexual harassmentwill continue to be there : Though itisn't pleasant at all to accept, the harshreality is that there aren't enoughmeasures adopted to combat the causes

of harassment. This is where the whistle-blowers and journalism industry willcome into play. It will fall on their part to join forces against it.

2. Employees will be more vocal regarding their demands : Over the recent past, we have witnessed a trend that co-workers arestanding tall against any kind of discrimination with their mates. We willwitness protest methods like Public walkouts and open letters to managementmore often. Most of the managements fear such mass protests, they find suchprotests against the wellbeing of their organization and try to solve them.

3. Absenteeism : This has remained as a primary area of concern for theemployers. Women consider their household as their primary responsibilityand are committed to it. This often leads to absenteeism. It is almost certainthat the problem of absenteeism will remain, and we will continue toexperience negative work attendance.

4. Job pay : Women receive lower pay than their male counterparts, this has beena trend in the past. As per a report, a woman gets 76 cents for the same job forwhich a male gets a dollar. Though this practice is harming the interests of theworking class still we expect that it will remain like this. There is no such hugedissatisfaction among women on this topic which can erupt in the form of ahuge movement.

5. Luring career fields for women : The career fields that were once maledominated are now opened up for women as well or we can say that womenhave presented their firm candidature for those fields. Clerical positions,administrative jobs, nursing, teaching, social work, and retail positions are thefields where we can see the domination of women and this will be a commonfeature in 2020 as well. But here's a catch the overwhelming participation ofwomen in the aforementioned fields has turned those fields less appealing andthus less paying.

6. Women-owned businesses : Women have their flexibility expectations fromtheir respective jobs which are often not met. This serves as a strong motive forthem to switch to their businesses and that will be experienced increasingly in2020.

7. The gig economy - an appealing alternative to formal employment :Women always complain about inflexible working hours and tiresome weeklywork routine. The gig economy presents them with the opportunity to furnishtheir part of responsibility with the organization they are connected, remotely.Some examples of such opportunities are online education portals and womendrivers. In such cases, they are their bosses and can effectively cater to theirhousehold needs.

What leaders have to do?With leaders, we meant the top-level management of any institution. It largely

depends on their will that women will be a mainstream part of their organizationor they will continue to act superficially.

Corporate leaders should not only consolidate Gender-disaggregated data butalso take meaningful insights from it. This can be ensured by practicing pay-gap dashboarding, having strict training, re-skilling, and up-skilling programs.Women entrepreneurs need to be encouraged. Women-owned businessesaround the world should be provided with an ample amount of resources andfunds wherever needed. We Connect International is doing such funding foryears.Job absenteeism for women is an area of great concern and also a bigstumbling block in the road to their success. Employers should provide themwith flexibility in terms of working hours. This can be achieved through job-sharing, part-time employment and work from home arrangements for womenwherever possible.Sexual harassment has emerged as a serious issue that seeks immediateaddress. Employers should constitute dedicated departments to look into suchaffairs and make sure that they provide women with a safe workingenvironment.Employers always have the excuse that they don't receive equal femalerepresentation at the time of onboarding. For this particular issue, they need toorganize Employer-sponsored training and education programs that willenroute them for a befitting career in the field best suited to them. May be inthe technology-related positions too. BM


From entry level to C-Suite, women are underrepresented inorganisations, have lesser opportunities to advance than men, face morebarriers to senior leadership like biases & stereotypes, experience anuneven playing field & fight biases related to balancing work & family,see a lack of senior or visibly successful female role models & not

enough leaders sponsoring highly qualified women, the reason that hold womenare many. This is what people keep repeating all the time. It's like flogging a deadhorse! When I go down memory lane to think of my role models & people who havesupported me in my personal & professional life, I call them "Anchors".

Everyone naturally recounts & talks about family & while that was true in mycase too, I also reflected on books, other people in my environment & What Else?All of us encounter obstacles or face challenges in our lives. As the challengesbecome complex, quite naturally, we feel the need for motivation. While self-helpand inspirational books are available aplenty, most of them sketch the journey ofthe who's who or celebrities whose advice, though genuine, is difficult to follow forcommon people. I have always pondered - why should we take inspiration fromcelebrities alone? Since it is human nature to share and learn from others, why notseek advice from ordinary but experienced people around us, who can guide useffectively and practically to resolve our problems?

I really thought hard about my various encounters & experiences with womenprofessionals, pleasant & unpleasant both but more so, delved deeper into thelearning from them. During my career so far, I have had women as seniors, peers& subordinates, however never had a lady boss so far. However, I have been a ladyboss for long. There's so much I have learnt from each of these categories ofwomen - "what to do", "how to be" & most importantly, "what not to do" & "not tobe"! Some great lessons from a very senior lady professional very early in mycareer are :

1. Always put on YOUR OXYGEN MASK.2. Make YOURSELF the NO.1 option in your life.3. BELIEVING IN YOURSELF is mandatory.4. Don't be afraid to be vulnerable.5. Put your hand up & VOLUNTEER even if the task may seem hard.6. Surround yourself with people who will STRECTH YOU.7. Raise your son how you would want to be treated & raise your daughter like the

strong boys!

These are great things to remember & practise as we work hard to find our wayin the corporate maze.

However, having observed her mannerisms & behaviour for a while, during myimpressionable early career years, I engaged in an open discussion with herregarding morals & personal values. This was during the time when there was noawareness regarding POSH (Prevention of Sexual Harassment at Workplace) or notrace of the #Me Too Movement. What she shared was shocking. "No one will stand

for you in this corporate jungle. Deploy allmeans that you have. Don't worry aboutmorals and values. Nobody really cares. Allis fair to get what you want!". This hasstayed with me very strongly as "what not todo" & "not to be". Doesn't matter if no onecares, I surely do about my values & what Istand for. There have been many occasionsthrough my career all these years. This isone thing I have been firm on & proud of. Nocompromise for whatever may be at stake.

I pose this question "Do you care?". Arethe means as important to you as the end?to all readers. Again the question is genderagnostic. Here is another instance aboutanother strong lady in the network whointroduced the concept of "What Else?" tome. It's not always about being good at yourjob, following the rules and working hardetc. "What Else?" is about making an effortto learn & know more about the industry,business, stakeholders, externalenvironment as well as about networkingwithin & outside and understanding theunwritten rules of the organisation. It'sabout the stretch efforts you make towardsall these which are over & above your jobneeds. That's how you stand out.

And in the case of women, it's not about"looking smart". It's about "being smart" thatmakes you distinct. Women in today's timesare breaking every conceivable barrier. Let'schange the paradigm - let's root for & helpother deserving & competent women, notbecause of the gender, but for their ability &resolve to make a difference. Let the tribegrow! Let's pledge to sponsor other womenwho want to shine by sharing our light. Sothat years from now, when someone like measks the question in a discussion like this,everyone is full of positive & pleasantexperiences & we are able to visibly see thedifference around us.

Women for Womenlet’s make this work

Women in today's times are breaking every conceivablebarrier. Let's change the paradigm - let's root for & help otherdeserving & competent women, not because of the gender,but for their ability & resolve to make a difference.

Dr. Aparna Sharma, Board Member,Thought Leader, Best Selling Author & Motivational Speaker, Mumbai

Referencehttp://www.aparnasharma.in/articles.html*http://www.businessmanager.in/women-as-agents-of-change.php March 2016.**Let's not make Men out of Women, March 2013.

BM


Is my mind under control?

The author helps introduce the readers NLPand explains how our mind work and how wecan make it work to our benefit.

Sandiep Grovar, Coach & Managing Partner - HR Consulting Division, possiblers.com, Mumbai

ATV anchor once asked Martina Navratilova, "How do youmaintain your focus and manage to keep playing, even at the ageof 43?"

Her suave response was, "The ball doesn't know how old I am."

In his excellent book, "Still Power", Sports Psychologist GarretKramer says that a key factor to performing well in sports (and in life),is your ability to control the quality and quantity of your "internaldialogue".

In other words, you need to stop yourself, from stopping yourself.

Let's understand this phenomenon in more detail. Unlike many ofus, our brain refuses to sit idle - it's like a machine without an "off"switch, continuously "on". If we don't give anything to it - it will find itsown stuff and will continue to work till it gets bored.

Interesting part is that our brain does not care about what it's up to.We may care, but the brain does not. Let's presume that we have had abad day at work and we are headed back home in the evening. Now inour conscious mind, we are wanting to come out of that situation. Butour mind will probably say, "Oh no - let's replay it again"!!! The more wethink of coming out of that situation, the more we are deep in there. Attimes, this situation can ruin many days at a stretch.

Many of us have this unique habit of pondering over some badexperience that happened long back - and the mind, well the mind lovesit. It almost tells us - "Great! you have another hour to kill before itslunch time, so let's re-visit the whole episode". Our mind seldom missesout on any details. Who said what and what was I doing, who else werethere and what would they think about me, etc. etc…We definitely havea terrific memory?

This happens because we let our minds go wild. Come to think of it,we spend more time learning a new machine or an equipment than wedo on learning how to use our brains. The question here is

If we have a terrific memory when it comes to remembering pastunpleasantness - why can't we, deliberately correct some of that abilityfor more useful experience?

Richard Bandler, who taughtthe world about Neuro LinguisticProgramming (NLP), says thatour mind is like a person, who ischained to the last seat of a busand the bus is being driven bysomeone else. We are, (well mostof us are) therefore, prisoners ofour own brains.

Wouldn't it be nice to have fullcontrol over this bus - else it willrun randomly on its own or otherpeople will find ways to run it forus.

This is what NLP is all about.Learning to use our brains in amore functional way. Theproblem with our brain, asBandler points out, is not that ittakes time to learn things - theproblem is it learns things tooquickly. Let's presume you arehaving a bad thought and youwish to take that thought away -right? But who planted thatthought in the first place? Thebrain has almost instantly put abrand-new thought having layersof issues and we didn't evennotice. For example, someone hasa phobia of heights - do you haveto remind that person to be afraidof heights? No - it is almostinstant. That person would bepetrified, the moment he/she

IS MY MIND UNDER CONTROL?


approaches anything related toheights.

Let's try a simple experiment -think of a past experience thatwas very pleasant, perhaps anexperience that you haven'tthought about in a long time.Pause for a moment to go backinto the memory and be sure thatyou see what you saw at that timewhen the pleasant experience hadhappened. You can choose to closeyour eyes, if that helps - in mycase, it helps.

As you look at the pleasantmemory, I would like you tochange the brightness of theimage, and notice how yourfeelings change in response. Firstmake it brighter and brighter (tillthe time you are able to clearlysee the image) and then make itdimmer and dimmer, until youcan barely see it…..Now make itbrighter again.

How does that change the wayyou feel? There can always beexceptions but majority of us,when we make the picturebrighter, our feelings will becomestronger. Increasing brightnessusually increases the intensity of

feelings and decreasing brightness usually decreases the intensity offeelings. It's obviously no coincidence that we associate our mood withbrightness - "I am feeling bright today"!!!

Now, the NLP experts can help us intentionally increase or decreasethe brightness of these internal images in order to feel different.

Another basic and short experiment that NLP experts try out is to,ask the participants to think of a real bad experience, an unpleasantembarrassment or disappointment and take a good look at the movie tosee if it still makes you feel bad. If it doesn't - try another.

Next, start that movie again (in your mind) & as soon as it begins, putsome nice loud peppy music behind it. Listen to the peppy music rightthrough till the end of the movie.

Now watch that original movie again - does that make you feel better?For most of you, it will change a tragedy to a comedy and lighten yourfeeling about it.

If you have a memory or feelings that make you annoyed or angry -put some peppy music to it and chances are that bad memory or feelingwould not be that bad any longer. In case you still don't feel better aboutthe memory - try and change the music to your liking and see thechanges.

Another exercise is to watch the bad experience movie once and thenwatch it playing backwards. You may require little practice to do it - butit is doable. It's like saying a sentence backwards - it changes itsmeaning. Chances are you will not hate that experience with thatintensity.

NLP is a vast science and the intent of writing this article was to introduce to the readers and also explain how our mind work and most importantly how we can make it work to our benefit.In case you are keen, you should read more about it on the internet, there is quite a stuff available or find a good NLP coach to seekhelp. BM


We live in an era when men and women are well-represented in allsectors. Well, at least notionally. The past two decades have seen apolicy-level transformation of workplaces and industries with aremarkable surge in the number of women professionally engagingand succeeding in their career. And despite this euphoric painting

on display pan-industry, things are not so rosy after all. So what's wrong; morecorrectly, what's lacking?

To answer this, we need to first acknowledge the current scenario of Indianworkforce. Here are some contextual statistics :

Only 23.6% of women aged 15 and above participated in the labor force in 2018,compared to 78.6% of men, in India.By 2027 the working-age population in India will be almost 20% (18.6%) of theentire global labor force. Yet, in 2018 only 26% of the companies surveyed byWEF had hired women in the top-five job roles.As per a WEF report, women earn only 65% of what their male colleagues earnfor performing the same work.Of India's 158 largest companies, women hold only 15% board seats (muchbelow the global average of 20.6%) and an alarming 6% on the board chair.

Policy vs. PracticeWhile broadly all companies align their policies for inclusion of women,

execution of those policies is often inefficient. For instance, it is now binding forall companies registered under the Companies Act and the Factory Act to providehome drop service to their female employees after the office hours. Althoughsometimes, smaller companies make the arrangements so inconvenient that thefemale employees have to voluntarily opt out of the service (for which forms arekept ready!) and travel on their own, with reimbursements applicable. While thisprocess complies with the norms, the purpose of ensuring women's safety isundermined. In fact, inadequately flexible policies like lack of extended maternityleaves in case of health concerns, priority conundrum between job demands &family needs, etc., lead to higher attrition among women. Increasing intakewithout proper retention strategy would only serve as a leaky bucket solution.

Further, it is seen that women who have succeeded and reached senior levelpositions have compromised volumes more of personal priorities than men on thesame ranks. This speaks about the organizational structure being fundamentally infavour of male psychology. Where the female policy & its execution lag is inunderstanding the working female psychology and tweaking workplace policies to suittheir needs. If India truly needs to include all genders in its economic progress, merelyproviding equal employment opportunities and creating discrete policies will notsuffice. The need is to gain their confidence in the corporate (and industrial)framework to create an environment conducive for them to perform, to appreciatetheir identities and priorities and to align the company culture to accommodate themfully. If our readers have watched the Pixar short film Purl, they'll be able to relatebetter. Female employees need to be accepted in all aspects as equals; be it their nature,way of work, personal commitments or approach towards solving problems. A lot oftimes, the management fails to address this aspect and lauds female employees who

psychologically metamorphose to conform tothe male-centric approach. This, thenerroneously translates into a standard workculture expectation rather than being apersonal choice. Empowering doesn't onlymean a personality makeover, but alsomaking space for all its kinds in the team.Consequently, the need is to enableempowered women to efficiently perform alltheir duties.

Compliance vs. InitiativeA lot of companies today are accepting

women employees along with their personalresponsibilities. It is about time thatbusinesses cease treating women, especiallythose who carry the responsibility of theirfamily, as a liability. They should rather beviewed as a bankable investment.According to a McKinsey report, increasingwomen's labor force participation by 10percentage points could add $770 billion toIndia's GDP by 2025. This value needs to betapped by Indian companies in earnest. Topplayers have already acknowledged this factand have started initiatives like Women'sLeadership Development Programs; apivotal step in enabling women'sprofessional excellence and efficientleadership of organizations. It is now timefor others to follow suit. Expected resultscan be achieved only by acknowledging thevalue of the female workforce and notwaiting for policy-level complianceamendments to make such provisions. Forthis to happen, we need a radical change inwomen empowerment enforcementapproach. Companies need to go beyondcompliance and take up gender-gapbridging as their own initiative. After all, anorganization is a family of heterogeneousprofessionals. Each member has a rightfulplace and deserves extended support. Thatdefines a truly inclusive workplace.Evolutionarily itself, women have masteredmanagerial skills & who better than them tolead the family!

Tapping the undertones of WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

Expected results can be achieved only by acknowledging the valueof the female workforce and not waiting for policy-level complianceamendments to make such provisions. For this to happen, we needa radical change in women empowerment enforcement approach.Companies need to go beyond compliance and take up gender-gap bridging as their own initiative.

Samruddhi Bhaid, Community Worker at Youth For Democracy, Mumbai

BM


LABOUR PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

Solutions provided here are in context to narrated facts & not in general.

Employer cannot have lay-off for indefinite period.

Q. What is the maximum period for which employer can declare Lay-off?

Ans. Chapter VA and VB of Industrial disputes Act deal with Lay off alongwith other matters. Chapter VA is applicable on industrial establishmentsemploying more than 50 and less than 100 workmen, whereas ChapterVB is applicable on establishments who employ more than 100workmen, but in both the chapters there is no provision specifyingabout the minimum or maximum period of lay off that can be done byemployer.The law is silent about it. However, second proviso of Sec. 25-Cgives an option that the employer may resort to retrenchment after 45days period of lay off and the amount so paid as lay off compensationmay be adjusted against the retrenchment compensation.

One more thing needs to be understood that the very idea of lay offgenerates from a situation beyond the control of employer that istemporary and not indefinite. So, lay off should come to an end after areasonable time and should not continue for indefinite period. Underthe guise of this provision, by declaring lay off, employees cannot be leftunattended to lead their life on 50% compensation indefinitely.

Q. What factors EPF authority considers while imposing damages fordefault in EPF contributions deposit?

Ans. EPF authority considers many factors while deciding to imposedamages on defaulting employer. Delhi HC in the case of Dentsu MarcomPvt. Ltd Vs. Central Board of Trustees,Through APFC, Delhi 2019 LLR 469has held that the determinative factor is mens rea which means intentionof the employer in delayed deposit of the PF contributions. In suchabsence, the damages can be on lower side .Other factors are period of

delay, whether the default is regular orintermittent, whether it is prompted bycertain conditions beyond the control ofemployer or employer is in habit of suchdefault. So such factors are to seen by theEPF authority before passing an orderimposing damages.The factors dependon each case.

Q. Can management keep an employeeon probation for an indefinite period?

Ans. No! Though it depends on the termsand conditions of the appointment andservice rules/certified standing orders ofthe establishment, but employee cannotbe kept on probation for an indefiniteperiod. All. HC in the case of Indian OilCorporation Ltd.Vs. R.P. Garg 2015 (145)FLR 93; 2015 LLR 666 ( SN) has held thatwhere neither at the time of appointmentnor at the time of termination, there wereno certified standing orders of thecorporation, the model standing orderswill continue to operate. And when thereis conflict in between the terms ofappointment and model standing orders,the terms of model standing orders willprevail. In this case the term of probationwas mentioned as of six months in theappointment letter whereas in modelstanding orders it was only 3 months.Term contrary to model standing orderswould not have any binding force, so insuch case the employee would bedeemed to have confirmed aftercompletion of three months of probationperiod. Bombay HC in the case ofSubhash Vitthal Pise vs. Childrens' FilmSociety of India 1998, LLR 852 has heldthat when society rules permitcontinuation of maximum period ofprobation of six months after initial periodof one year then employee stoodconfirmed on the expiry of 18 monthsfrom the date of promotion and would beentitled to all consequential benefits. All.HC in the case of Micro Abrasives (India)Ltd.Vs. Dhanvir Singh 2001 LLR 737 hasheld that longer period of probationmentioned in the appointment letter thanthat of model standing orders would notmake the appointment invalid itself butthe employee would be deemedconfirmed after the expiry of the period ofprobation as mentioned in modelstanding orders.

LINEAnil Kaushik Management Expert -HR & IR


LABOUR PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS

LINE

Q. Whether the amount deposited wrongly/ in excess in ESI, can itbe refunded back to the employer?

Ans. Yes! Karnataka HC in the case of Regional Director ESIC,Bangalore vs. Management of Shagil Precision India 2009 LLR 72 hasheld that when an appeal is filed before the insurance court underSec. 75 against the order of ESIC authority and court comes toconclusion that such contribution was wrongly taken by ESIauthorities, it is competent to order refund of such amount to theemployer. In this case the employer paid amount to contractor forconstruction of new building which included cost of material,machinery and other expenses. On all such payment ESIC madeemployer to pay ESI contribution which employer challenged on theground that all such payment cannot be termed as wages.

Q. Is female employee entitled to full maternity benefit period evenif her service contract comes to an end automatically in betweenthe maternity benefit period?

Ans. No! The life of any service benefit comes to an end with expiry ofservice contract. No benefit is accrued to employee after the serviceperiod. Delhi HC in the case of Dr. Artiben R.Thakkar vs. DelhiPharmaceutical Sciences & Research University 2018 LLR 1293 hasheld that when the employee service contract expired in betweenbut was extended for further period of two months to enable her toavail her maternity benefit of 12 weeks, she cannot claim furtherbenefit of 26 weeks in view of the amendment in the Act because herservice contract came to an end with the end of academic session.Court held that the employee is not entitled to 26 weeks maternitybenefit since also no other person was appointed in her place.

Q. Are we as an employer under legal obligation to inform theemployee and concerned labour department authority about thegratuity amount to be paid to him when he leaves?

Ans. Yes! Employer is under legal obligation as per Sec. 7 of thePayment of Gratuity Act to calculate the amount of gratuity when anemployee leaves, and inform in writing to the employee concerned

with a copy to the to the controllingauthority. Employer is also under legalobligation to pay the amount with in 30days. All. High Court in the case of KraftPalace vs. Appellate Authority. 2013 LLR254 has held in the same direction.Though there is also a provision aboutgiving a notice by the employee to theemployer demanding gratuity inprescribed format but that will notabsolve the employer from paying thegratuity amount on the ground that theemployee has not submitted theapplication for demand of gratuity. DelhiHigh Court in the case of University ofDelhi vs.Tahel Ram Bellani 2015 LLR 555(SN) has so held.

Q. In case of accident, is employer liableto pay the treatment expenses incurredby the employee?

Ans. Yes! Under Employees’Compensation Act, employer is underlegal obligation to reimburse theexpenses of treatment incurred byemployee because of accident causedduring the course of employment.Theprovision of sub-Section (2A) of Section 4of the E.C. Act has made this provisionafter amendement of 22/12/2009. DelhiHigh Court is the case of Mohinder PalSingh vs. Upender Paswan 2017 LLR 371has held that Commissioner under theE.C. Act will not consider the paymentmade to the employee or his dependentson account of medical treatmentexpenses while passing an award ofcompensation.

Q. Till now we were having manualattendance system of employees butnow we want to switch on tocomputerised attendance system basedon the software. Will it amount tochange in conditions of service andrequire to give notice under Sec. 9A ofI.D. Act?

Ans. No! Madras High Court in the case ofHindustan Unilever Employees’UnionPondicherry vs. Inspector of Factory 2010LLR 878 has held that introducingcomputerised attendance system will notcome within the purview of Sec. 9A of theI.D. Act.

If ESI is paid wrongly or

in excess, employer is

entitled to take its

refund

BM


AbandonmentThere will be no abandonment when management did notwrite any communication to workman to resume dutywhen he was absent, did not reply to the notice of theworkman, no enquiry was conducted and no evidenceproduced before labour court.

Reinstatement is justified if management has not produced anyevidence to substantiate its stand that workman voluntarily leftthe job.

Plea of management that workman abandoned his job on his ownis not sustainable if the management has not sent any letter tothe workman for resuming his duty when he became absent.

Non-replying demand notice of the workman by the managementmay attract adverse inference against the management.

Plea by management that workman left the job voluntarily onlyin written statement offering reinstatement, if workman sodesires, would not justify abandonment of job by the workman.

If management did not write any letter to workman to resumehis duty when he stopped reporting for duty, termination ofservices of the workman will be illegal.

If management does not substantiate its stand that workmanabandoned the job on his own through an independent witnessin the enquiry before the court, such a plea would fail.

Without holding an independent enquiry to proveabandonment on the part of workman, termination of servicesof the workman is illegal.

When workman was neither given appointment letter nortermination letter, delay of six months in raising demandnotice could not be treated as inordinate delay justifyingrejection of industrial dispute.

Manveer Singh vs. M/s. Mohan Nursing Home and Hospital.2020 LLR 124 (Delhi H.C.)

AdjudicationNo dispute award passed by Labour Court rightly restoredby High Court when application of workman for suchrestoration on the ground of failure of employer to fulfillhis commitment to settle the dispute was dismissed by theLabour Court.

Filling of application on 9.7.2017 for restoration of no disputeaward, passed on 2.6.2008 and published on 12.3.2009, by a newAdvocate with a fresh Vakalatnama and another applicationthat matter has been settled and workman does not want toproceed further, indicate that something must have happenedbetween the parties in respect of settlement.

Contention of the workman that he did not file statement ofclaim in view of the fact that the process of compromise withthe employer was going on and assurances were given forsettlement by the employer but ultimately the employer refusedto settle the matter, is having sufficient cause.

Labour Court had noticed from the documents that workmanwas blind but no satisfaction was recorded by the Labour Courtregarding settlement,

Rejection of application by the Labour Court only stating thatreason for delay not sufficient, not proper

In 'Haryana Suraj Malting Ltd. vs. Phool Chand, AIR 2018 (2)LLN 555 (SC) it is held that for an award to become binding, itshould be passed in compliance of principles of natural justiceand award which is nullity shall not be binding.

Sugna Ram vs. Birla White Cement. 2020 LLR 19 (Raj. H.C.)

From the

Court Room

RECENT IMPORTANT

LABOUR JUDGMENTS


RECENT IMPORTANT LABOUR JUDGMENTS

AwardAny relief in award beyond terms of reference cannot beallowed to sustain and liable to be set aside.

Fictional breaks in service of a workman is not justified.

It cannot be believed that workman remained absent for amonth or two and again allowed duty without issuing him anyshow cause notice.

Granting seniority and continuity in service from initial dateof appointment by ignoring concept of fictional breaks inservice by Tribunal is justified.

When reference has not been challenged on account of delayand latches and issues framed in this regard by Tribunal havenot been pressed by Management before Tribunal, it is not openfor the management to challenge the same in writ petition.

The Executive Engineer, HPPWD vs. Shri Amar Singh. 2020 LLR59 (H.P. H.C.)

Back WagesGrant of back-wages is not automatic. Workman has toplead and establish that he remained unemployed duringthe period.

When dismissal/termination is held illegal, the workman isentitled to reinstatement with or without back wages and otherconsequential benefits.

Awarding back wages is not automatic with reinstatement.

For entitlement of back wages, workman has to plead in hisstatement of claim that he remained unemployed after hisdismissal and prove the same with the aid of cogent evidence.

Mere taking a plea of non-gainful employment in affidavit inevidence or deposing in examination in chief would not makethe workman entitled to back-wages.

Munni Bai Sen vs. M.P. State Agriculture Marketing Board,Bhopal. 2020 LLR 22 (M.P. H.C.)

When neither management established that workmanwas gainfully employed nor workman established that hewas not employed, declining back-wages would be proper.

When the management did not produce any evidence thatworkman was gainfully employed during the interveningperiod after his termination from service and on the other handworkman failed to produce any evidence that he could not getemployment despite his efforts, declining back wages by theLabour Court is justified.

M.P. Road Transport Corpn. and Another vs. Rajendra Tiwari.2020 LLR 134 (M.P. H.C.)

If the workman refuses to accept an offer ofreinstatement made by employer during pendency ofproceedings, he is not entitled to seek full back wages.

Manager, M/s. Liberty Bar and Restaurant, Nagpur vs. UmeshNilkanth Meshram. 2020 (164) FLR 520 (Bom. H.C.)

CompensationCompensation and not reinstatement is proper for casuallabour.

Termination of services of a casual labour without complianceof provisions of Section 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act,1947 is illegal, attracting reinstatement with back-wages.

A casual labour not engaged against sanctioned vacancy, or notfollowing procedure for valid recruitment, not be grantedreinstatement since it would be a back door entry.

In case of illegal termination of casual labour, granting lumpsumcompensation in lieu of reinstatement is a proper relief.

Quantum of compensation depends upon various factors likelength of service, nature of work, last drawn wages, payingcapacity of the employer etc. etc.

Superintendent Engineer and Another vs. Ram Sanwar Singhand Another. 2020 LLR 56 (All. H.C.)

Contract LabourWhen offence is committed by a company and not made aparty to the proceedings, it is liable to be quashedinitiated against an individual.

As per Section 27 of the Contract Labour (Regulation andAbolition) Act, 1970, provides limitation of three months forfilling the complaint.

As per Rules 74 and 78 of the Contract Labour (Regulation andAbolition) Rules, 1971, in absence of name of company as aparty to the proceedings, the very initiation of proceedingsagainst the petitioner, entire proceedings are liable to bequashed.

Randeep Mahajan vs. State of Karnataka. 2020 LLR 37 (Kar. H.C.)

Regularisation of contract workers not to be done inpublic sector unit being amount to back door entry.

To establish employer-employee relationship, the test to beapplied is supervision and control and not payment of wages ormaintenance of attendance registers.

Workers of contractors working for several years cannot beregularized in service of principal employer.

Workers of contractors, at the most, can be regularized inservice with contractors.

Without any public advertisement and without giving anopportunity to public at large to compete for post in question,no public appointment could be given to anyone.

Regularisation of contractors' workers in the employment ofprincipal employer will tantamount back door entry which isnot permissible in law.

Vice-President, Regional Committee, C.C.L. Janta MazdoorSangh Ray vs. Project Officer, Ashok Project Piparwar. 2020 LLR60 (Jhar. H.C.)

Notification prohibiting contract labour employmentwithout complying Section 10(1) and (2) of ContractLabour Act is liable to be set aside.

State Government is empowered to prohibit contract laboursystem in any industry or its division/department underSection 10(1) and (2) of the Contract Labour (Regulation andAbolition) Act, 1970.

While issuing such notification, the State Government is underan obligation to comply with the provisions of Section 10(1) and(2) of the Act.

Any notification issued without compliance of mandatoryprovisions of the Act is not sustainable.

Management, Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd.vs. State of Karnataka and Another. 2020 LLR 162 (Kar. H.C.)

Court PowersLabour court is empowered to try the validity of theenquiry. If enquiry not held valid by the court, it is for theemployer to request the court to allow to lead freshevidence to justify enquiry.

Labour Court have wide power under Section 11-A of the IndustrialDisputes Act, 1947 including to try/test the validity of enquiry.



Management may ask for an opportunity to adduce a freshevidence before the Labour Court, if enquiry is not found validby the Labour Court.

Management has a right to avail itself the opportunity ofadducing fresh evidence before the Labour Court by moving anapplication before the close of the proceedings and withoutmaking such effort by the management, it can make nogrievance later on that Labour Court/Tribunal did not providesuch an opportunity to it.

If employer relies only on enquiry finding and does not leadadditional evidence or ask for an opportunity to do so andLabour Court decides the enquiry 'not held properly', it is notfunction of the Labour Court to invite suo motu the employerto adduce evidence to justify enquiry held by management.

Labour Court is also empowered to record its own findings toits own satisfaction.

Labour Court may set aside the order of dismissal, passed bythe employer, award reinstatement to the workman in suchterms as it thinks fit.


Court need not to use discretionary power to reinstate thebank employee dismissed for the misconduct ofmisappropriation of money. In enquiry, requirement toprove guilt is preponderance of probability and not aproof beyond doubt.

In a departmental enquiry requirement to prove guilt againstthe delinquent employee is preponderance of probability andnot proof beyond reasonable doubt like in a criminal case.

When it is proved that amount was received but not deposistedby the respondent-cashier, it is no ground that signature or sealis not legible.

In banking service, honesty and integrity are important factorsto be considered.

In bank public trust is involved hence for misappropriation ofpublic money, punishment of dismissal is justified.

Misappropriation of public money is a grave and seriousmisconduct.

Syndicate Bank, Udupi vs. Smt. Meenakshi R. Shetty. 2020 LLR164 (Kar. H.C.)

Using discretionary powers to grant reinstatement out ofmere sympathy is not justified.

Any sympathy by the Labour Court granting reinstatementusing its discretionary power under Section 11-A of theIndustrial Disputes Act, 1947, on the ground of length ofservice or going to retire shortly is not justified in view of notonly proved repeated allegations of pilferage but hitting theChecking Officials with the slippers.

Awarding reinstatement is not justified to a workman who isfound guilty of repeated allegations of pilferage and hitting theChecking Officials with the slippers.

Considering gravity of grave and serious allegations pilferageand hitting the Checking officials with the slippers,punishment of dismissal is not disproportionate to the gravityof misconducts.

NEKRTC Gulbarga and Another vs. Vithoba. 2020 LLR 167 (Kar. H.C.)

Date of BirthEmployee cannot raise dispute of his date of birth at fagend of his career. Labour Court should have consideredadmitted documents of workman about date of birth andnot school certificate.

Non-consideration of admitted documents relevant to the issue

makes the order/judgment perverse liable to be quashed.

Section 58 of Evidence Act postulates that things admitted neednot to be proved.

An employee cannot raise dispute of his date of birth at the fagend of his career as per law in Hindustan Lever Ltd. vs. S.N.Jadhav, 2001 (4) SCC 52.

Assam State Fertilizer and Chemicals Ltd. and Others vs. Stateof Assam and Others. 2020 LLR 57, 2019 (4) LLN 144 (Gau. H.C.)

Disciplinary ProceedingsTo disagree with the findings of the Enquiry Officer,disciplinary authority has to record reasons thereto.Failure to do so and appointing second Enquiry Officerfor conducting further enquiry will be invalid.

When the disciplinary authority disagrees with the finding ofthe Enquiry Officer, it has to record reasons thereto and failureon his part to do so would make his otherwise observationsillegal.

Without recording reasons for disagreeing with the finding ofthe Enquiry Officer, appointment of second Enquiry Officer forconducting de novo enquiry is not sustainable.

When the enquiry finding is set aside, the workman is entitledto relief of reinstatement with back-wages.

When the employer has neither pleaded nor proved thatappellant/workman was gainfully employed during theintervening period, the workman is entitled to back-wages.

When the termination of services is held to be illegal, denial ofback wages without recording any reasons thereto wouldamount to indirectly punishing the employee and rewardingthe employer which is not the object of the Industrial DisputesAct.

Considering the fact that employee has already receivedsuperannuation and litigation has taken a long time of 15years, a lumpsum compensation of Rs. 5.00 lacs to be paid tohim by the Management is justified.

Jayantibhai Raojibhai Patel vs. Municipal Council, Narkhed &Ors. 2020 LLR 1 (S.C.)

Disciplinary proceedings would be illegal and properwhen initiated lower in rank to the rank of the employeeand punishment order passed by higher rank officer thanthat of employee.

Disciplinary proceedings, initiated by Disciplinary Authority,lower in rank to the rank of delinquent employee and order ofpunishment passed by Officer of higher rank than that ofDisciplinary Authority as well as that of delinquent employee islegal.

Punishment order is illegal if it is passed by DisciplinaryAuthority, lower in rank to the rank of delinquent employee.

An authority higher in rank than that of DisciplinaryAuthority may pass an order of punishment in disciplinaryproceedings.

Canara Bank and Ors. vs. Kameshwar Singh. 2020 LLR 120(S.C.)

Departmental enquiry proceedings are not quasi-criminal. Strict stand of proof not required as in criminallaw. Charge standard proved on the principles ofpreponderance of evidence.

Charge (s) in enquiry proceedings stands proved on theprinciples of preponderance of evidence and not on basis ofstrict proof of evidence as in a criminal trial.

Misconducts by employee include breach of rules andregulations governing service conditions, moral turpitude,misbehavior, insubordination, indiscipline etc. etc. necessary



to be checked for maintaining peace and safety of employees atthe workplace.

Judicial review in respect of domestic enquiry is maintainableif findings of the lower authority/court are not based on someevidence to sustain the charge of misconduct.

When delinquent was given full opportunity to cross examinethe complainant, the finding of enquiry would be fair andproper.

Uttarakhand Transport Corporation & Ors. vs. Hira SinghParihar. 2020 LLR 122 (S.C.)

When the workman did not inspect the entire enquiryproceedings in spite of given opportunity by EnquiryOfficer and also did not turn up for cross examination ofwitnesses, his objection of not supplying the copies ofevidence and documents will not make inquiry invalid.

When the workman himself did not inspect the file containingenquiry proceedings, there is no force in his contending lateron that he was not supplied copies of evidence and documents.

If the workman himself did not turn up for cross examinationand further participation in the enquiry proceedings, there isno fault upon the part of management.

Once the departmental enquiry is held fair and proper, the LabourCourt have very limited power to interfere with the quantum ofpunishment in view of gravity of the charges of theft.

Interference of Labour Court is not justified unless thepunishment is so harsh touching to the conscience of the court.

Their Workman Dev Prasad Mitra vs. Employees in relation tothe Management of Tata Steel Limited. 2020 LLR 26 (Jhar. H.C.)

Enquiry is liable to be set aside when conductedarbitrarily in three hearings only, neither supplieddocuments to workman in spite of his demand evidencerecorded ex-parte.

Enquiry held by the Employer is liable to be set aside if theLabour Court held the same conducted as arbitrarily, only inthree hearings, non-supplying documents to workman despitedemand raised by workman, evidence of MWs were recordedex-parte, no opportunity of cross examination or producingdefence was given to the workman and more so, no preliminaryenquiry was conducted.

When the inquiry is vitiated being in violation of principles ofnatural justice and fair play, the order of dismissal, passed bythe disciplinary authority, is liable to be set aside.


Enquiry would be illegal when workers are not givenproper opportunity to cross-examine managementwitnesses.

Enquiry proceeding is liable to be set aside if workers are notgiven due and proper opportunities for cross examination ofthe witnesses of the management.

When enquiry proceeding is set aside, the punishment ofdismissal imposed on the basis of enquiry finding is also liableto be set aside.

M/s. Premier Distilleries (P) Ltd. vs. The Labour Court,Pondicherry. 2020 LLR 151 (Mad. H.C.)

DismissalDismissal for misappropriation of money is justified.

Dismissal of workman from service on account ofmisappropriation of money of the employer is justified.

Misappropriation of money of employer of workman is a graveand serious misconduct.

Quashing of finding of Labour Court on validity of enquiry,

upheld by Ld. Single Judge, by the Division Bench, withoutreasons is not justified.

Departmental circular can't be taken effective retrospectivelyby the Court.

The Depot Manager APSRTC (Now known as TSRTC) vs. N.Danaiah. 2020 LLR 119 (S.C.)

Dismissal justified for dis-orderly and riotous behavior.

Punishment of dismissal from service imposed upon workmanis justified for commission of disorderly and riotous behaviorin the factory premises by him including instigating theworkman for stoppage of work, insubordination, disorderlybehavior, violence inside the factory premises, loitering,holding demonstration, signing and shouting, during workinghours etc.

When rift between the election office bearers lead to anindustrial unrest, victimisation of workmen on part ofManagement cannot be established since the workmen cannotbe allowed to indulge in commission of misconduct or illegalactivities inside factory.

No illegality is there in initiating disciplinary proceedingsagainst workmen who were found commission of gravemisconducts.

Any leniency, towards workmen who committed disorderly andriotous behavior in the factory premises, is misplacedsympathy not admissible in law.

When enquiry finding is found based on proper evidences,charges as leveled stand proved, then there is no reason to setaside the dismissal order or awarding compensation.

Labour Court/Industrial Tribunal must exercise itsdiscretionary power under Section 11-A of the IndustrialDisputes Act, 1947 cautiously - Discretion on certain mitigatingcircumstances, if any grave injustice is committed to anemployee - Adequate reasons must be recorded for modificationor cancellation of punishments imposed by disciplinaryauthority.

The Management of Brakes India Ltd. vs. The Presiding Officer,I Additional Court, Chennai & Anr. 2020 LLR 64 (Mad. H.C.)

Employees’ Compensation ActHouse owner will be liable to pay compensation to thedeceased dependents in case of failure by contractor.However house owner can recover the same fromcontractor.

Owner of the House is liable to pay compensation if theBuilding Contractor will not pay and consequently may recoverthe same from the Contractor in accordance with terms andconditions of House Construction or Property DevelopmentAgreement between owner and contractor.

Commissioner ought to have not made observations whilepassing second order, rejecting application of the Owner, whichis having contrary meaning to the first order.

Sh. Pushpender Singh Chawla vs. Commissioner EmployeesCompensation Act and Anr. 2020 LLR 9 (Delhi H.C.)

Commissioner has no power to determine loss of earningcapacity.

Employees' Compensation Commissioner does not have powerto determine loss of earning capacity. Determination of loss ofearning capacity is primary function of the Medical expert.

In the absence of evidence of Medical experts, for assessing theloss of earning capacity, award passed if any, is not sustainable.The may be put to face action for assessing the loss of earningcapacity without jurisdiction.

New India Assurance Co. Ltd. vs. Tapan CH. Das and Others.2020 LLR 15 (Gau. H.C.)



Ex-gratia payment is not analogous or treated at par withcompensation paid for loss of life under the Act.

Ex-gratia payment can't be treated as compensation under theEmployees Compensation Act, 1923 since it is not analogous ortreated on par with compensation paid for loss of life.

Ex-gratia is towards Medical expenses as per section 7 of theAct of 1977, an obligation of the employer and it is not agratuitous payment by State/employer.

Compensation under Section 3 and 4 read with Schedule IV, ofthe Employees Compensation Act, 1923, in real sense, is for lossof life, income and non-pecuniary loss etc.

Claimants are not precluded compensation under the Act of1923 on receipt of ex-gratia under 1977 Act since the provisionsof Section 16 of Act of 1977 are in addition to provisions of anyother enactments nor in derogation of it.

State of Maharashtra and Others vs. Learned Judge, LabourCourt & Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation, Buldhanaand Others. 2020 LLR 56, 2019 (4) LLN 92 (Bom. H.C.)

Employees’ Provident FundEPF Tribunals is empowered under Section 7-O with thediscretion to grant complete or partial waiver fromrigours of making pre-deposit by recording reasonsthereto.

Principal employer is not liable to pay EPF contributions inrespect of employees engaged through contractor if the samecontractor is getting work done from those employees also forthe other principal employers.

Non-disputing calculations made by the EPF Authority by thePrincipal employer, does not mean that principal employer hadadmitted its liability.

Challenge to an interim order in writ petition after 3 and halfyear, without any explanation thereto, is a good ground todismiss the writ petition.

Central Board of Trustees EPFO thro. APFC Delhi (South) vs.Kendriya Bhandar. 2020 LLR 67 (Delhi H.C.)

When the employer has deducted the EPF contributionsfrom the amount of incentives paid to its employees, itcannot plead that the employee was not having knowledgeif the EPF contributions is payable in respect ofincentives paid to all employees.

Mens rea on the part of employer stands established whendeduction towards EPF contributions has been made from theincentives paid to all employees but not remitted to the EPFAuthority and no further evidence is required.

It is not incumbent on the part of EPF Authority to sendreminders to the employer for remitting the EPF contributionsnor there any such statutory requirement.

After having allotted PF Code number the employer is underobligation to deposit the EPF dues within prescribed limitationand any delay will attract damages and interest.

Prowiz Mansystems Pvt. Ltd. vs. Assistant Provident FundCommissioner. 2020 LLR 71 (Delhi H.C.)

When compliance of earlier order, passed under Section7A of the EPF Act, 1952 is made, challenge to subsequentorder passed under Section 14-B and 7-Q of the Act is notsustainable.

When the cause of action has remained the same as in earlierdecision, passed in logical consequence of earlier order, theprinciple of res judicata is applicable.

If the matter is one purely of fact or mixed question of law andfact, decided in the earlier proceeding by a competent Court,must in a subsequent litigation between the same parties beregarded as finally decided and cannot be reopened.

When decision is on a question of law, it will be res judicata insubsequent proceedings between the same parties if the causeof action is the same.

Where the question is purely of law relating to jurisdiction ofthe Court or a decision of the court sanctioning somethingwhich is illegal, by resort to the rule of res judicata, the affectedparty will not be precluded from challenging the validity ofthat order under the rule of res judicata, for the rule ofprocedure cannot supercede the law of the land.

Monish Das vs. Union of India and Others. 2020 LLR 73 (Gau.H.C.)

While issuing attachment order, the EPF Authority has toconsider balancing purposes to avoid unnecessarylitigation. An employer is duty bound to deposit EPF dueswell within stipulated time period without waiting forcompelling action.

Malabar Medical College Hospital vs. The Regional ProvidentFund Commissioner & Anr. 2020 LLR 76 (Ker. H.C.)

Assessment of EPF dues without identification ofbeneficiaries is not sustainable.

Object of the Act is welfare of the weaker section and not forwelfare of nameless and faceless persons thereby enriching theEPF organization.

If the EPF Authority cannot identify individuals, it cannotcompel compliance merely numbers.

M/s. Car Scanner vs. The Employees' Provident FundOrganisation. 2020 LLR 77 (Pat. H.C.)

Issuing arrest warrant against the employer for recoveryof dues by the Recovery Officer/EPF Authority is notsustainable without making compliance of provisions ofSection 8-B of the EPF Act, 1952.

Section 8-B of the Act provides that it is obligation upon theRecovery Officer first to adopt the mode of attachment and saleof movable and immovable properties of establishment, then ofemployer and in case amount of EPF dues recovered from thesale of properties remains short then only take steps for arrestof employer for detention in prison.

Directly issuing arrest warrant against the defaultingemployer for putting him in prison is not contemplated underthe Act.

M/s. Sri Nachammai Cotton Mills Ltd. vs. The RegionalProvident Fund Commissioner & Others. 2020 LLR 78(Mad. H.C.)

Payment of EPF dues in instalments, when employer isfacing financial crisis, is justified.

Reduction in damages only on the ground of financial crisis isnot justified until the establishment is not declared sick unit.

M/s. S 428 Gendiganahalli PAC Bank Ltd. vs. The AssistantProvident Fund Commissioner (PDC). 2020 LLR 79 (Mad. H.C.)

Damages and interest, determined under Sections 14-Band 7-Q of the EPF Act, 1952 cannot be reduced or waivedof on the ground of financial crises unless theestablishment is declared sick unit by BIFR.

EPF Appellate Tribunal ought not put a condition of limitationof imposition of damages to any extent while remanding thematter for assessment of damages back to the EPF Authoritysince it would affect the decision on merits by the EPFAuthority.

The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner vs. M/s. DeccanEnterprises and Another. 2020 LLR 80; Tamil Nadu Khadi andVillage Industries Board vs. The Assistant Provident FundCommissioner. 2020 LLR 82 (Mad. H.C.)

Belated payment of EPF dues without sufficient cause tothe satisfaction of the authorities would attract damagesand interest.



Tribunal while remanding the matter back to EPF Authoritywith some direction but not to assess the levy of damages atany fixed rate.

The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner vs. M/s. HivelmIndustries and Another. 2020 LLR 83 (Mad. H.C.)

When employees of a factory continued to remain thesame, Lessees (contractors) used, same code number ofEPF, Lease deeds were unregistered and identical, Lessor(Employer) was to ensure that lessees were paying EPFcontributions properly in respect of workers initiallyengaged by it.

If the lessor/woner/employer does not ensure that lessees ofthe factory are making payment of EPF contributions inrespect of workers, he would be liable to pay EPFcontributions, damages and interest.

Objection taken by the employer later on that EPF Authoritydid not make compliance of principles of natural justice is notsustainable if due notices/summons were sent repeatedly andproperly by the EPF Authority to the employer and employersubmitted his reply but did not attend the proceedings.

Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner vs. M. Girilal andOthers. 2020 LLR 85 (Mad. H.C.)

In the absence of mens rea proved against the employer,levy of damages is not justified.

Law is well settled that existence of mens rea or actus reus tocontravene a statutory provision is a necessary ingredient forlevy of damages.

Non-deposit of employer's share of PF contributions due tofinancial crisis without proving mens rea on the part ofemployer, levy of damages is not proper.

The South India Mines and Mineral Industries Ltd. vs. TheEmployees Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal & Anr. 2020 LLR90 (Mad. H.C.)

Remittance of EPF dues may be allowed to be paid ininstalments, considering financial position of thepetitioner.

If an employer after having granted opportunity to remit theEPF dues in instalments, commits default, the EPF Authorityis at liberty to recover the entire amount in accordance withlaw.

M/s. OGUN SECURITAS vs. The Regional Provident FundCommissioner-II. 2020 LLR 92 (Mad. H.C.)

Damages under Section 14B of the EPF Act, 1952 are notto exceed the amount of arrears.

Central Board may reduce or waive the damages subject tosuch terms and conditions as may be specified in the Scheme.

Reduction in damages must be on the basis of sufficientreasoning recorded in writing and a mechanical approach onthe basis of blanket statements not permissible.

If reasons are genuine only then discretionary power isinviolable by the Tribunal.

In the absence of reasons the whole exercise in reducing thedamages would exceed its main provisions and a futileexercise.

Provisions regarding discretion under Proviso Clause wouldnot provide any absolute power where as discretionary poweris an exception to the main clause.

Exercise of discretion is not to exceed the main provisionenacted, empowering the authorities to impose damages in allsuch cases where there is a default on the part of employer.

Section 14B of the Employees Provident Funds andMiscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 is unambiguous thatauthority is empowered to impose damages.

Power provided under state will prevail over the Proviso

clause, providing power to authorities to reduce damages.

Rule must be implemented at the first instance anddiscretionary power is to be exercised on exceptionalcircumstances where an establishment is declared as a sickindustry and financial condition is so much depressed thatdamages are not payable by it.

Rule is to be implemented strictly and power of discretion is toexercise discretely.

Discretionary power should not exceed the scope of mainprovisions since by violation of main provision, discretionarypower becomes null and void.

When the employer has not placed any document showingdeclaration as 'sick unit' under BIFR Act, reduction of damagesis in violation of Section 14-B itself and exercise ofdiscretionary power become excessive, not sustainable.

Since no reason is given to reduce the damages, impugnedorder is quashed.

The Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner vs. The EmployeesProvident Fund Appellate Tribunal & Anr. 2020 LLR 93 (Mad.H.C.)

PF dues have to be paid in priority to all other debts of theCompany since the PF dues is first and paramount chargeon the assets of the company in preference to all debtswhether secured or unsecured in view of Sections 7A, 7Qand 14B of the Act.

Section 7A of the Employees' Funds and MiscellaneousProvisions Act, 1952 provides that no order can be passedwithout conducting a full-fledged inquiry as if the matter isdecided in a civil suit in respect of cover ability as well asdetermination of the amount.

Sub-section (3) of Section 7-A of the Act shows that No ordershall be made under sub-section (1) of Section 7-A of the Actunless the employer concerned is given a reasonableopportunity of representing his case.

Article 21 of the Constitution of India is to provide protectionof life and personal liberty, under Article 38 of the Constitutionof India, the State is to secure a social order.

Protection of life can never be compromised, poor labourscannot be left in lurch, hence Article 38(2) has to be readharmoniously with Article 14, 21 and the Preamble of theConstitution and it reveals that the State is bound to minimizethe inequalities in income, endeavor to eliminate inequalitiesin status, facilities and opportunities.

In view of object of the EPF & MP Act, Constitution of Indiaand Public Policy, the EPF dues as per calculation of OfficialLiquidator i.e. a sum of Rs. 7, 90, 60, 50, 56 be paid to EPFAuthority who in turn is bound to settle claims of employeeseligible as expeditiously as possible and for any negligence orlapse, concerned officials of the Department must be heldliable.

The Authorised Officer, Indian Overseas Bank vs. The Employees'Provident Fund Organization and Others. 2020 LLR 96 (Mad.H.C.)

Without exhausting remedy of statutory appeal providedunder Section 7-I of the EPF & MP Act, filing of writpetition challenging the order of the EPF Authority is notadmissible.

Challenging the order passed by the EPF Authority underSection 7-A and 7-B of the Employees' Provident Funds andMiscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, is not sustainable.

Principal employer have first have to remit the EPF dues inrespect of employees engaged through the contractor for whomthe contractor has not remitted EPF dues and then he mayrecover the same from the contractor in terms of contract withthe contractor for supply of man-power.



Contract between principal employer and contractor for supplyof manpower will not have any binding effect as far asstatutory authorities are concerned.

Principal employer cannot shift the responsibility ofdepositing the EPF dues upon the contractor simply statingthat the contractor is liable for the same.

In the absence of any error or irregularity in exercise of powerby the EPF Authority in respect of its jurisdiction, writ Courtwould not disturb finding of the EPF Authority.

M/s. S.L.K. Contract Services, Chennai vs. Assistant P.F.Commissioner, Chennai, and Another. 2020 LLR 108 (Mad. H.C.)

If no data is produced by the employer to show/prove thatworkmen were paid allowances for any extra work doneby them, such amount would be included in the basicwages which would attract EPF contributions up toprescribed limit.

Emoluments which are universally, necessarily and ordinarilypaid to all employees across the Board are basic wages.

Where the payment is made to those who avail the opportunitymore than others, such payment is not basic wages such asovertime allowance, leave encashment, bonus for extra hour ofwork etc.

Any amount paid to an employee as a Special Allowance for hisdoing some special activity will not be basic wages.

The amounts paid which are variable would not be included inbasic wages such as leave encashment.

DTDC Courier Cargo Ltd. vs. The Regional Provident FundCommissioner & Ors. 2020 LLR 110 (Mad. H.C.)

Default in payment of EPF dues attracts prosecutionunder Section 406/409 of IPC.

Violation of provisions of Employees Provident Funds andMiscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 attracts criminal action.

Bail is granted by the High Court only when prosecution hasconfirmed that defaulter has deposited the amount due.

Ishwar Singh Nain vs. State of Haryana. 2020 LLR 113(P&H H.C.)

An apprentices engaged under the Apprentices Act, 1961or under the Standing Orders are excluded from thedefinition of 'employee' as provided under Section 2(f) ofthe EPF Act.

Apprentices being learner under the Model Standing ordersare not 'employees' under Section 2(f) of the Act.

Apprentices/trainees, receiving stipend duringapprenticeship/training period have no right to claim regularemployment after their training is over.

M/s. Gehana Gold Palace (P) Ltd. vs. Employees P.F. AppellateTribunal and Another. 2020 LLR 114 (Ker. H.C.)

Employer may be allowed to remit EPF dues in easyinstalments considering financial constraints being facedby the employer.

If employer remits EPF dues in instalments, he be allowed tooperate his bank accounts by quashing the order ofattachment, issued by the EPF Authority.

If employer fails to pay agreed instalments, the EPF Authoritymay recover the whole recoverable amount in accordance withlaw.

M/s. Dongsan Automotive India Pvt. Ltd. vs. The AssistantProvident Fund Commissioner & Ors. 2020 LLR 117 (Mad. H.C.)

Remittance of EPF dues/interest may be allowed inreasonable monthly instalments. Financial crisis is to beproved on the basis of documentary evidence.

M/s. NEPC Textiles Ltd. vs. Asstt. Provident FundCommissioner. 2020 LLR 173 (Mad. H.C.)

Remittance of EPF dues/interest may be allowed inreasonable monthly instalments.

When financial crisis is proved on the basis of documentaryevidence, remittance of EPF dues is justified.

M/s. Singara Estate vs. Regional Provident Fund Commisioner-II. 2020 LLR 174 (Mad. H.C.)

An employee drawing salary/wages more than theprescribed limit is covered under the term 'excludedemployee' and not entitled to become a member of theScheme under the Act.

Application for condonation of inordinate delay in filing ofwrit petition against the order of the lower authorities withoutsufficient cause cannot be condoned at the mere asking.

Making a bald statement that 'delay is due to shifting ofpetitioner's office' is not a 'sufficient cause' for condonation ofdelay more than seven and half years.

APFC Employees' Provident Funds Organisation vs. M/s.Profolab. 2020 LLR 175 (Delhi H.C.)

EPF authority order under Section 7-A is liable to be setaside when contention of the employer about excludedemployees is not considered.

A writ petition filed against the order passed under Sections 7-A and 7-B of the Act, is maintainable when review applicationfiled under Section 7-B of the Act has been rejected in view ofprovisions of conjoint reading of Sections 7-B and 7-1 of theAct.

An unreasoned order under section 7A of the Act is liable to berejected.

Non-consideration of contention of the petitioner that itsemployees are 'excluded employees' proves non-application ofmind by the EPF Authority

Remanding the matter back to the EPF Authority isappropriate when the EPF Authority has passed the impugnedorders under Sections 7A and 7B of the Act withoutconsidering the contentions of the petitioner based ondocuments.

The Municipal Council, Dhamgaon, Distt. Amravati vs.Assistant P.F. Commissioner. 2020 LLR 177 (Bom. H.C.)

When an employer is not coverable under the Act as perprovisions of Section 16 of the Act, demand ofapplicability of EPF dues is not sustainable.

Clause (b) of Section 16 read with Section 1 (3) of theEmployees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous ProvisionsAct, 1952 shows that applicability of the Act would be subject toSection 16 of the Act.

Demand of EPF dues under Section 7-A of the Act for the oldperiod when the Act was not applicable, is not sustainable.

Demand of EPF dyes under Section 7-A of the Act, for oldperiod is not justified since old records of the employers maynot be available and identification of beneficiaries would bedifficult.

The Officer Incharge and Assistant P.F. Commissioner vs. Cityand Industrial Development Corpn., Aurangabad and Ors. 2020LLR 181 (Bom. H.C.)

Principal employer, if retains the amount to be paid to itscontractors enabling them to make payment of EPFcontributions in respect of employees engaged for thework of establishment, the principal employer is liable topay damages and interest.

Since the Principal employer has proved on the basis ofdocumentary evidence that the amounts have already beenpaid by it, accounts of the principal employer freezed by the"EPF Authority, be defreezed.

Normally, additional document (s) is not accepted by the writ



court but considering factual position that principal employerwants only to submit document to prove that he has alreadyremitted the amount of EPF dues towards damages andinterest as imposed by the EPF Authority, the additionaldocument is admitted on the record.

M/S. Cema Electric Lighting Products India (Pvt.) Ltd. vs.Recovery Officer and Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner.2020 LLR 185 (Guj. H.C.)

EPF Authority must avoid attachment of bank accountsof the employer before disposal of objections raised bythe employer by passing a speaking order.

EPF Authority is under a legal obligation to dispose ofobjections raised by the employer by passing a speaking order.

Employer, facing financial crisis may be allowed to remitarrears of EPF dues in instalments.

HI-CARE Gloves Pvt. Ltd. vs. The Assistant Provident FundCommissioner & Others. 2020 LLR 189 (Ker. H.C.)

An order passed by CGIT Tribunal without territorialjurisdiction is not sustainable.

The appeal, if filed before the Tribunal having no territorialjurisdiction, may be transferred by that Tribunal to anotherTribunal having territorial jurisdiction.

Swadesh Prakashan (Gwalior) Pvt. Ltd. vs. Employees'Provident Fund & Ors. 2020 LLR 190 (M.P. H.C.)

Waiving of or reducing of pre-deposit condition asprovided under Section 7-O of the EPF Act is under thediscretion of the Tribunal by recording reasons thereto.

Once Tribunal chosen directing employer to deposit 40% of theassessed amount but by not assigning any reason, enhancingpre-deposit from 40% to 60% on passing a speaking order thattoo holding that appellant has a prima facie arguable case, isnot tenable.

M/s. JBM Auto System Private Limited vs. The RegionalProvident Fund Commissioner-II (C&R). 2020 LLR 192(Mad. H.C.)

EPF Authority is under an obligation to provide certifiedor attested copies of records in its possession relating toconcerned employer against charges thereof.

A.J. Bensam vs. The Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner-II(C&R). 2020 LLR 194 (Mad. H.C.)

Levy of damages without considering reasons of delayedremittance is not proper.

Levy of damages by the EPF Authority under Section 14-B ofthe Employees' Provident Funds and Miscellaneous ProvisionsAct, 1952, without proving mens rea or actus reus by passing aspeaking order on the part of employer is not sustainable.

Financial crisis on the part of employer, if proved by employer,levy of damages is not justified without giving reasons theretoby passing a speaking order.

M/s. Bojaraj Textile Mills Ltd. vs. P.O., E.P.F. AppellateTribunal, New Delhi and Others. 2020 LLR 194 (Mad. H.C.)

Issuing of arrest warrant against the principal employerwithout summoning of concerned contractors, havingindependent PF Code numbers, is not sustainable.

Undoubtedly, principal employer is liable to remitcontributions for employees engaged through contractors andthere-after recover the same from the contractors to achieveultimate object of the Act to ensure welfare of workmen.

EPF Authority ought to make efforts to summon the concernedcontractors and workmen on the basis of information providedby the principal employer.

Principal employer has to inform the EPF Authority thecorrect addresses of the contractors through whom theemployees are/were engaged enabling the Authority to

summon the contractor concerned.

If the principal employer does not participate in the enquiryconducted by the EPF Authority knowingly, he later on will notbe entitled to say that he was not given due opportunity tosubmit his defence before the Higher Authority or Court.

The Commissioner, Udumalpet Municipality, Udumalpet vs. TheAssistant Provident Fund Commissioner, Coimbatore. 2020 LLR197 (Mad. H.C.)

Employer is not liable to deposit EPF dues since wageswere not paid during closure period to erstwhileemployees.

As per Section 32 of the Sick Industrial Companies (SpecialProvisions) Act, 1985, it has got overriding effect of other lawincluding EPF & MP Act, 1952.

Memorandum of settlement between employer and employeesis having binding effect as per Section 18 of the IndustrialDisputes Act, 1947.

M/s. Ballarpur Industries Ltd. vs. Employees Provident FundAppellate Tribunal & Ors. 2020 LLR 199 (Orissa H.C.)

An order passed under Section 7-A of the EPF Actwithout giving proper opportunity to the employer tosubmit his defence, is not sustainable.

Issuing recovery notice to a person who has not beenimpleaded as a party to proceedings under Section 7-A of theAct, is not sustainable.

Issuing recovery notice to a person who does not fall under thedefinition of 'employer' as defined under Section 2 (f) of theAct, is not sustainable

Recovery proceeding under Section 8 of the Act can be initiatedonly against employer or from any person against whommoney is due or may become due or from the establishment orfrom any person who holds or subsequently held money onaccount of employer.

Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited vs. The RegionalProvident Fund Commissioner and Others. 2020 LLR 211 (P&HH.C.)

Provident Fund and pension under the EPF Act are to betreated as retiral benefits.

Doctrine of finality or resjudicata is a matter of public policyon which is judicial system is founded. Once a judgmentbecomes conclusive, matter covered under that judgement,cannot be reopened unless fraud or mistake or lack ofjurisdiction is challenged.

Considering the Act as beneficial, social legislation,authorities concerned are directed to correct the date ofcessation of service to which there is no objection from theopposite parties and recalculate the pension in accordancewith law and actual amount due, if any, be credited to thepetitioner.

Arani Mukhopadhyay vs. Employees' Provident FundOrganization and Others. 2020 LLR 214 (Cal. H.C.)

The law did not permit the EPF Authority to recover theamount by attachment of Bank account of the employerwithout issuing any notice under Section 8-F (3) of theAct.

Writ petition against the order of EPF Authority ismaintainable if the decision making process was contrary tothe settled principles of law.

An order passed by the EPF Authority is to be vitiated underWrit Jurisdiction if the same is passed by not following thestatutory provisions of law.

EPF Authority under Section 7-A of Employees' ProvidentFunds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952, was required tocollect more evidence for proper adjudication of the dispute,which would not be possible before the Appellate Tribunal.



EPF Authority cannot attach the amount and hold on to thesame as if the amount was their won since that amount is forthe identified beneficiaries which were never identified.

Proceedings under Section 7-A of the Act could not be reopenedafter 6 years by issuing a notice for a de-novo proceeding.

M/s. Sheong Shi Tannery and Another vs. Regional P.F.Commissioner and Others. 2020 LLR 222 (Cal. H.C.)

Any order passed by the EPF Authority without givingopportunity of hearing to the employer is not sustainablebeing contrary to principles of natural justice and fairplay.

The EPF Authority while issuing a show cause notice, care isto be taken that it should be clear in its terms to avoid anymisconception in the mind of the notice.

Plea of merits is to be decided by the Trial Court/Authority onthe basis of recording of evidence and not to be decided underWrit jurisdiction by the High Court.

A final order by the EPF Authority is to be made a speakingorder, after hearing the parties concerned, recording theirsubmissions, considering all documents.

R.R.K. Sai Fashion vs. The Assistant Provident FundCommissioner (Comp). 2020 LLR 226 (Mad. H.C.)

A beneficiary can claim interest on delayed payments ofits retiral benefits including EPF dues either as per Rules,administrative instructions, guidelines or norms, if any.

A beneficiary can claim interest on delayed payments even inthe absence of any Rule under Part III of the Constitution ofIndia on Articles 14, 19 and 21.

Retiral benefits are not in the nature of "bountry" so claiminginterest is justified.

Interest is payable by the EPF Authority on the simpleprinciple that it charges interest on delayed remittance and isequally liable to pay interest on its delayed disbursement.

The Regional Provident Fund Commissioner vs. Tuticorin PortTrust & Others. 2020 LLR 227 (Mad. H.C.)

For levying damages establishing mens rea on the part ofemployer is an essential ingredient.

Damages levied without considering financial crisis pleaded byemployer on merits considering mens rea on the part ofemployer are not sustainable.

A non-speaking order having no reasons to the finding is notsustainable.

M/s. R.D. 34 Ariyakudi Primary Agricultural Cooperative Bankvs. Employees' Provident Fund Appellate Tribunal & Anr. 2020LLR 229 (Mad. H.C.)

EPFO is liable to pay interest at the market rates in eachyear on the amount illegally recovered or withheld to theemployer.

As per law settled by Supreme Court in Clariant InternationalLtd. & Another vs. Securities & Exchange Board of India, (2004)8 SCC 524, interest can be awarded;

(i) In terms of an agreement;

(ii) As per statutory provisions;

(iii) By reasons of usage or trade having the force of law,

(iv) Or on equitable considerations;

(v) In absence of any agreement or statutory provisions of amercantile usage, interest payable can be only at the marketrate.

Interest cannot be awarded by way of damages except wheremoney is wrongfully withheld and there are equitable groundsif written demand is made.

Interest is not payable from the date the EPFO offered demanddraft of only principal amount but petitioner did not accept thesame for want of interest which EPFO refused.

Interest is payable irrespective of legal provisions in the Actsince the EPFO have failed to establish that petitioner fallsunder the purview of the Act or Scheme under the Act.

Gee Pee Furniture (New) and Another vs. The Central Board ofTrustees and Others. 2020 LLR 231 (Pat. H.C.)

Writ petition is not maintainable since the petitioner didnot attend proceeding despite repeated notices sentgranting sufficient opportunity to him.

Appeal against the order of Authority could not be filed as thelimitation for filing appeal has admittedly already expired.

If the order passed by Authority is without jurisdiction thenthe writ petition would be maintainable.

Mulibai Charkha Shikshan Prasarak Manual vs. Assistant P.F.Commissioner, Akola. 2020 LLR 233 (Bom. H.C.)

An order passed under Section 7A of EPF Act withoutsubmitting report of E.O. and relevant documents toconcerned establishment is not sustainable.

If relevant report and documents are not submitted by the EPFAuthority to establishment concerned, it would be violation ofprinciples of natural justice.

Ashlesha Power Controls vs. Employees' P.F. Appellate Tribunal,New Delhi. 2020 LLR 234 (Bom. H.C.)

LIC is not coverable under EPF Act. Notice issued under7A not maintainable.

Both general insurance and life insurance are treated asseparate genres of the insurance business is evident from theprovisions made in the insurance act 1938. Even after thepromulgation of IRDA Act, 1999 and in the absence of achallenge or denial to the submission that LIC is not engagedin insurance business, it is manifest that the provisions of the1952 Act would not apply.

Senior Divisional Manager, LIC of India vs. EPFO. 2020 (164)FLR 404 (All. H.C.)

Mother of the deceased not dependent on him will not beentitled to any share in the amount towards providentfund.

Smt. Bharati vs. Smt. Bebitai Punjabrao Atole. 2020 (164) FLR548 (Bom. H.C.)

Ex-parte AwardSetting aside of ex-parte award would be justified whenmanagement had a case to prove against the workman.

When the management has pleaded misconduct of theft,committed by the workman, resulting into his resignation settingaside an ex-parte award is justified irrespective of the fact that ex-parte award was passed for non-appearance of the managementdespite due and proper service of summons upon it.

It is not an appropriate plea by the Management that summonsaddressed to the Managing Director of the Company, receivedby a clerk under the stamp of the company, is not properservice.

Service of summons upon Company is proper when ProcessServer has reported that he served the summons upon theCompany under the signature of an employee/Clerk of thecompany by putting rubber stamp of Company under hissignature.

M/s. May Fair Biotech Pvt. Ltd. vs. Sanjeev Kumar. 2020 LLR 58(H.P. H.C.)



Factories ActFor an offence of running factory without licence wheredue to fire one employee suffered minor injury andaccepting guilt by the owner, fine of one lakh rupee wouldbe justified.

Running a factory without licence and permission of thecompetent authority is a criminal offence under the provisionsof Factories Act, 1948.

The closure report based on the opinion of the AdditionalPublic Prosecutor, accepted by Judicial Magistrate, First Class,taking cognizance of offence under Section 92 of the FactoriesAct, 1948 in order.

Considering incident causing fire of 2006 in which one workersuffered minor injuries and appellant of 70 years who hasaccepted guilt and sought leniency, conviction and sentence issubstituted by fine of Rs. 1.00 lakh to be deposited within fourweeks, is justified.

Subir Bose vs. Inspector of Factories. 2020 LLR 6 (S.C.)

Summoning order can't be challenged in writ.

Disputed questions of facts cannot be considered under writjurisdiction.

The Chief Judicial Magistrate is empowered to takecongnizance of the complaint filed by the competent authorityand issue summons to the accused.

Aijaz Gaffar vs. State of U.P. and Another. 2020 LLR 153 (All. H.C.)

When offence under Section 67 of Factories Actadmittedly committed, penalty has to be imposed underSection 14(1) of the Factories Act.

Prem Chandra Agarwal vs. State of U.P. 2020 (164) FLR 498 (All. H.C.)

GratuityIn case of exempted establishment, authority under theAct cannot pass any order against the establishment.

When an establishment is exempted from the applicability ofthe Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, an order or award passed bythe controlling Authority under the Act or upheld the same bythe Appellate Authority under the Act, for payment of gratuityunder the Act against such an establishment is not sustainable.

An exempted establishment cannot be burdened to payGratuity under the Act by the concerned Authority.

Exempted establishment has to make payment of gratuitybenefits as per its own Rules on the basis of which he hadobtained exemption.

The Superintending Engineer, Mettur Thermal Power Station vs.Appellate Authority under the Payment of Gratuity Act. 2020LLR 17 (Mad. H.C.)

Grievance of gratuity by union through writ petition isnot maintainable. Individual workman has to approachbecause gratuity is to be settled as per respective payscale of individual employee.

For claiming gratuity payment for different workmen writpetition filed by Union is not maintainable since the Gratuityis to be settled as per respective scale of pay, on the basis ofindividual particulars and even payable amount varies fromindividual to individual.

Aggrieved employee can move for redressal of his grievanceindividually giving necessary particulars by filing writpetition.

N.R. Trade Union Congress vs. Union Territory of Puducherryand Others. 2020 LLR 18 (Mad. H.C.)

Gratuity of retired employee cannot be forfeited simply

because a criminal case was pending against theemployee.

Denial of gratuity to a retiree employee having put continuousservice of a long period of 34 years and above is not justified inthe absence of termination of his services irrespective ofpendency of criminal case against him.

Gratuity shall be forfeited only to the extent of damages or losscaused to the management subject to fulfillment of conditionsas per Section 4(6) (a) of the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 forwhich necessary precondition is termination of service on thebasis of departmental enquiry or conviction in a criminal case.

Gratuity shall be forfeited as per provisions of Section 4(6) (b)of the Act for which necessary pre-condition is termination ofservice on the basis of departmental enquiry or conviction in acriminal case.

M/s. Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. vs. Union of India and Others.2020 LLR 29 (Jhar. H.C.)

If an employee is convicted by criminal court involvingmoral turpitude, gratuity forfeiture is automatic. In caseof pendency of criminal case employer has a right to withheld the gratuity by giving an undertaking of payment incase of acquittal of employee by court.

Gratuity is a valuable right and not any gratuitous act ofemployer.

Corrupt or immoral employee cannot be given premium in theform of gratuity.

Gratuity has to be paid to an employee for his meritorious andhonest service.

If an employee is convicted by a criminal court involvingmoral turpitude then in that case forfeiture of gratuity isautomatic.

In case of pendency of a criminal case against employee, theemployer has a right to withhold the gratuity by givingundertaking under Section 7 of the Payment of Gratuity Act,1972 that if the employee gets acquittal, the gratuity along withinterest will be paid as contemplated by the Act itself.

Offence of misappropriation of money involves moralturpitude justifying forfeiture of gratuity.

Baldin Ram vs. The Chief Manager (P-EE), M/s. BharatCocking Coal Limited and Others. 2020 LLR 31 (Jhar. H.C.)

Interim relief pay to employee immediately before hisretirement would fall within the meaning of wages underSection 25 of the Act for the purpose of calculation ofgratuity under Section 4(2) of Act.

U.P. Financial Corporation vs. Appellate Authority (GratuityAct) Kanpur. 2020 (164) FLR 470 (All. H.C.)

Only length of service and last drawn wages of employeewill be relevant for computation of gratuity. Question asto from which date services of employee regularisedwould be of no consequence for calculating total length ofservice for claiming gratuity.

U.P.S.R.T.C. Thru. Its R.M. Vikas Nagar Kanpur vs. State of U.P.2020 (164) FLR 478 (All. H.C.)

Industrial Disputes ActGovernment cannot delve in to merits of dispute andrefuse to refer the same.

Appropriate Government having referred the dispute of otherworkman, ought to have not refused to entertain the dispute ofworkman on the ground of delay and latches.

Appropriate Government cannot delve into merits of thedispute since as per settled legal position of law function of itis an administrative and not judicial or quassi-judicial.



If the management disputes that a person is not a workman, itwould be on the workman to produce cogent evidence tosubstantiate his claim that he was workman under themanagement.

Bellary Zilla Gani Karmikara Sangh vs. Union of India andAnother. 2020 LLR 35 (Kar. H.C.)

Concession can never be construed legal or statutoryright. Holiday declared under Negotiable Instrument Actdoes not create any legal right to the workers of a factorysince it is not applicable upon factories working underFactories Act.

When workers have no legal or statutory right to claim holiday,they are not entitled to claim any relief under Section 33-C (2)of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

A concession is nothing but a conditional right and not anabsolute right.

'Right' in Civil Society' means which a person is entitled to haveor to do or to receive from others, within limits prescribed by law.

Until there is an absolute/statutory right in favour of workers,application under Section 33-C (2) of the I.D. Act is notmaintainable.

The Management of Bimetal Bearing Limited vs. The PresidingOfficer, Labour Court, Salem and Others. 2020 LLR 63 (Mad. H.C.)

Section 33 (2) (b) of I.D. Act permits an employer todischarge or punish a workman by way of dismissal orotherwise for any act or misconduct in accordance withstanding orders applicable or in such absence inaccordance with terms of contract express or implied bypaying one month wages to seek approval of action taken.Sub-section (1) speaks of previous permission whereassub-Section (2) speaks of ex-post facto approval.

M/s. Pearlite Liners Pvt. Ltd. vs. R. Nagaraja. 2020 (164) FLR 526(Kar. H.C.)

Industrial UndertakingBank is an 'industry' under Section 2(j) of the IndustrialDisputes Act, 1947.

Employees of the Bank, covered under the definition of'workman' as per Section 2(s) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947,are entitled to raise an industrial dispute for redressal of theirgrievances.

Writ petition without exhausting alternate efficacious remediesprovided under Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 before the IndustrialAdjudicator, is not maintainable.

Ravi Shankar Sinha vs. State Bank of India and Others. 2020 LLR147 (Pat. H.C.)

Loss of ConfidenceReinstatement is not justified where the misconduct uponthe workman is of 'loss of confidence in the employee.

The choice and quantum of punishment is within the jurisdictionof the employer.

The Labour Court/Industrial Tribunal should interfere in thepenalty only when the penalty imposed by the employer is foundshockingly disproportionate to the conscious of the Court.

Kisan Sahkari Chini Mills Ltd., and Others vs. Presiding Officer,Labour Court, LKO and Another. 2020 LLR 55 (All. H.C.)

MisconductDismissal is justified for the misconduct of theft proved in

enquiry and he has lost confidence of the management.

Their Workman Dev Prasad Mitra vs. Employees in relation to theManagement of Tata Steel Limited. 2020 LLR 26 (Jhar. H.C.)

ReinstatementReinstatement not justified to daily wager who did notcomplete 240 days in last 1 year.

Without documentary evidence contentions of the workmancannot be considered for grant of any relief.

When the workman has not denied the documents of themanagement, these documents will be admitted in evidence.

If workman fails to prove his claim of continuous service of 240days in last year on the basis of documents, he is not entitled toget any relief.

Compliance of Section 25-F of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 isrequired only when the workman has proved continuous serviceof 240 days during the preceding 12 calendar months and nototherwise.

Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation vs. Anil Budhabhai Vegad.2020 LLR 11 (Guj. H.C.)

Reinstatement justified when termination was done withoutcompliance of Section 25-F of I.D. Act. Artificial breaks haveno adverse effect upon the continuity of services of theworkman.

To prove service of a workman with the employer if is sufficientevidence that MW admitted in his examination that workmanwas engaged before his joining in 2008 and attendance record ofworkman is available in College from 1995 to 2005.

Illegal termination of service entitles the workman to claim fullback wages and to prove that he was not gainfully employed afterhis termination.

In the case of illegal termination, denial of back wages wouldamount to indirectly punishing the employee and rewarding theemployer which is never the object of the Industrial Disputes Act,1947.

If employer wants to deny the back wages, it has to plead andprove that workman was gainfully employed during theintervening period.

State of M.P. Through Principal Secretary, and Another vs. KirpaRam. 2020 LLR 24 (M.P. H.C.)

ResignationWithdrawal of resignation after statutory limitation is notvalid if the resignation has already been accepted andrelieving order issued.

Statutory limit would by calculated from the date of receipt ofwithdrawal of resignation letter and not from the date of dispatchof resignation letter.

P.A. Janarthanan vs. Presiding Officer, II Addl. Labour Court,Chennai and another. 2020 LLR 149 (Mad. H.C.)

RetrenchmentIllegal retrenchment would attract reinstatement whichcannot be denied on the ground of long time spent inlitigation.

Retrenchment of a workman who had completed service for about630 days, was discharged from service without notice or noticepay, is illegal.

Termination of services without compliance of Section 25-F and25-H of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 is illegal attracting



reinstatement with back-wages.

Non-granting back wages since the workman was found earninghand during the period of litigation, is proper.

Long period spent in litigation is no ground to refuse relief to theworkman for which he is otherwise entitled.

Yogesh Vallabhdas Kelaiya vs. Jetpur Navagadh Municipality. 2020LLR 58, 2019 (4) LLN 164 (Guj. H.C.)

No court can compel the employer to run the unit in theabsence of any malafide on its part. Application forretrenchment under Section 25-N instead of 25-O(1) of I.D.Act is not fatal for granting permission.

Submission of application, seeking permission for retrenchmentof 163 workers, made under Section 25-N of the IndustrialDisputes Act, 1947 instead of Section 25-O (1) of the Act is not fatalfor granting permission.

In the absence of any material, given by the Union thatManagement has not made compliance of Section 25-N of the Actor there is any oblique motive or Unfair Labour Practice, on thepart of management, appropriate authority cannot deny thepermission.

Management it within its right to stop work, if unit has beenincurring continuous losses

Permission is granted by Labour Commissioner after consideringrequirements in details and by giving opportunity to theworkmen for accommodating them in other units with someincentives as free accommodation but they did not accept, henceworkmen are not entitled to any relief from writ court.

General Secretary, Bombay Rayon Fashions Ltd. vs. Managementof Bombay Rayon Fashions Ltd. 2020 LLR 60 (Kar. H.C.)

Sexual HarassmentIn the absence of any prejudice, non supply of copy ofpreliminary enquiry report is not fatal and enquiryproceedings are not be vitiated.

Non-supply of copy of preliminary enquiry report, conducted bythe Internal Complaints Committee, constituted underHarassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibitionand Redressal) Act, 2013, is not fatal if no prejudice is caused tothe aggrieved person in view of the fact there is no such provisionunder the Act to supply copy of preliminary enquiry report to thedelinquent employee.

The High Court is disciplinary authority as per Delhi HigherJudicial Service Rules, 1970 and All India Services (Discipline andAppeal) Rules, 1969 since as per Article 235 of the Constitution ofIndia, it is having control and general superintendence over theDistrict Judges and judges subordinate to it, includingdisciplinary action and provisions of Sections 11 and 13 of the Actof 2013 do not affect the control of the High Court, in any manner.

Aggrieved person is having a statutory right of appeal tosafeguard his interests, challenging the finding of InternalComplaints Committee, concluded in enquiry held by it, withinprescribed limitation on receipt of copy of that enquiry reportwhich is to be supplied to both the parties wherein the aggrievedperson is having full right to raise all pleas of facts and law beforethe appropriate Appellate Authority.

Dr. P.S. Malik vs. High Court of Delhi and Another. 2020 LLR 65 (S.C.)

Circumstances may also amout to sexual harassment if itoccurs or is present in relation to or connected with any actor behavour of sexual harassment. Remarks of MedicalSuperintendent 'if she wanted to continue she should begood to him or else he will make her work difficult','comments upon her dress and outfits', 'avoiding signatureon her bills of reimbursement', 'hours together making herto sit in his cabin, creating obstruction and causing

harassment in technical and operational support', 'talkingwith her in high pitch voice with contempt and offendingher dignity and chastity', she was not allowed to participatein the marketing', 'she was marginalized and embarassed',she was subjected to typical hostile work environmentintimidating with her future employment', 'on her approachto superiors none came to her rescue but all turned deafears and shown cold shoulders' etc. etc. all constitute 'sexualharassment at workplace'.

Scope and dimension of term 'sexual harassment at workplace'must not receive narrow and pedantic meaning. It includes an actof violation of human rights, women right to live with dignityand protection against all types of discrimination as evident fromthe international stands formulated in CEDAW convention,international treaties, not restricted to governmentalorganizations but also for private sector in case of failure to actwith due diligence to prevent violation of such rights. Unwelcomeacts or behaviour, directly or by implication, shall amount tosexual harassment. Circumstances may also amout to sexualharassment if it occurs or is present in relation to or connectedwith any act or behavour of sexual harassment. Remarks ofMedical Superintendent 'if she wanted to continue in Medant, theshould be good to him or else he will make her work difficult','comments upon her dress and outfits', 'avoiding signature on herbills of reimbursement', 'hours together making her to sit in hiscabin, creating obstruction and causing harassment in technicaland operational support', 'talking with her in high pitch voicewith contempt and offending her dignity and chastity', she wasnot allowed to participate in the marketing', 'she wasmarginalized and embarassed', she was subjected to typicalhostile work environment intimidating with her futureemployment', 'on her approach to superiors none came to herrescue but all turned deaf ears and shown cold shoulders' etc. etc.all constitute 'sexual harassment at workplace'.

When the word 'includes' is used in the definition, the legislaturedoes not intend to restrict the definition; it makes a definition ofenumerative but not exhaustive and as such the provisions of theAct are required to be interpreted broadly and liberally to achieveits aims and objectives.

Non-constitution of Internal Complaints Committee or non-existence of the Committee at the relevant point of time, mayattract penalty.

If the Local Committee has passed the order under Section 13(3)of the Act, based on enquiry report, that order passed is withinthe jurisdiction of the Local Committee.

Complainant would also be entitled to monetary compensation forpains and sufferings, loss of reputation, emotional distress andloss of salary resulting into deprivation of right to live withdignity.

Enquiry not to be vitiated if the employer itself did not crossexamine the witnesses of the complainant.

Behavior of the Medical Superintendent/accused and itsrepresentatives being hostile and non-cooperative before theLocal Committee, due to which the enquiry prolonged, wouldprove that Hospital/management was hellbent to terminateservices of the complainant

If the enquiry report is found to be appropriate, no interference iswarranted in report of the finding of Local Committee since it isself explanatory.

Enquiry report would be appropriate if it contains the factualposition i.e. the complainant being highly educated with richcorporate experience in the field of marketing has performed herduties to the best of her ability, assigned tasks accurately and ontime, keen to learn new things, to take on more responsibilities,communicate will, cooperative with other team members,disciplined, polite in behavior, adheres to organizational policiespertaining to attendance, dress code etc.



Termination of services of complainant would be arbitrary,stigmatic and not simplicitor if no appraisal, no counseling andeven no notice was ever issued to her, no material to show that thecomplainant was lacking in indicators of (i) job performance, (ii)conduct, (iii) inter personal relationship, (iv) IPR, (v) targetmarketing/activity, description or distribution etc. say ex-facie asequel to her complaint against Medical Superintendent,factually investigated by the Local Committee appropriately.

Since the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace(Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is a socialwelfare legislation, its provisions must be interpreted broadly andliberally.

Constitution courts must endeavor to foster respect forinternational treaties in view of Article 51 ( c) of the Constitutionof India, particularly in the context of 'sexual harassment, atworkplace not only in government organization but also forprivate acts if they fail to act with due diligence.

Global Health Private Limited vs. Local Complaints Committee,District Indore and Others. 2020 LLR 40 (M.P. H.C.)

Enquiry cannot be declared invalid merely because the pastrecord of the employee was not considered by the employerbefore imposing punishment.

Scope of enquiry in cases of sexual harassment is fulfilled if theEnquiry by the Court is held to be fair and proper.

If in domestic enquiry, prima facie guilt on the part of delinquentemployee is established, non-compliance of technicalities of lawmay not be having any weight age, considering maintainingdiscipline at workplace.

Discipline and decorum at workplace is of paramountimportance.

Scope and dimension of term 'sexual harassment at workplace' mustnot receive narrow and pedantic meaning since it includes an act ofviolation of human rights, women right to live with dignity andprotection against all types of discrimination not restricted togovernmental organizations but also for private sector.

Short period past record less than an year or so, if not taken intoconsideration during the full-fledged enquiry, without causingany prejudice to the workman, cannot be such a drawback thatenquiry be vitiated.

Normally the competent authority endorses the finding of theEnquiry Officer if in reply to second show cause notice no newgrounds are submitted.

Concept of lesser punishment to employees charged withmisconduct of sexual harassment, cannot be considered with anysympathy or leniency in view of increase in such like cases.

Since sexual harassment is an anti-social activity, any sympathy orleniency in such a heinous offence would be misplaced sympathy.

Constitution of India supports to strive towards excellence in allspheres of individual and collective activity for nation constantlyrises to higher levels of endeavor and achievements.

Claiming right requires to follow corresponding duties sincerights and duties are inseparable and approach is to be pragmaticand balancing.

Allegations of man-handling or physically attacking or assaultingco-employees or higher officials can never be tolerated.

Compromising discipline will lead to destruction andmaladministration or corruption not to be tolerated.

Courts are duty bound to ensure that such respects are alsoprotected.

The Management of Ford India Pvt. Ltd. vs. The AssistantCommissioner of Labour (Conciliation)-I & Anr. 2020 LLR 61(Mad. H.C.)

Complaint of sexual harassment is to be filed before the ICand not women cell or any other authority.

Complaint of sexual harassment under the provisions of SexualHarassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition andRedressal) Act, 2013, as per Section 4 of the Act, is to be filed beforethe Internal Complaint Committee, constituted under the Act.

Any complaint of sexual harassment filed to Chairperson ofWomen Cell or before any other authority is to be transferred tothe Internal Complaint Committee.

Internal Complaint Committee has to consider the complaintafter following proper procedure.

In terms of provisions of the Act and Guidelines of the SupremeCourt of India in the cases of Vishakha and Others vs. State ofRajasthan an Others, AIR 1997 SC 3011, every employer mustconstitute complaint redressal mechanism through InternalComplaint Committee.

Priya Gunaji Gaokar vs. Union of India and Others. 2020 LLR 128(Bom. H.C.)

ICC cannot be said to be biased simply because the PresidingOfficer was colleague of the perpetrator. Shouting at womanby male officer may be misbehavior but itself not coveredunder sexual harassment without having any sexualovertones.

Merely because Presiding Officer was colleague of delinquentemployee (PK) is no ground to doubt integrity and independenceof ICC.

Any doubt about the integrity or independence of ICC is notsustainable since it was constituted for implementation of the Actfor a fixed period of three years and not to deal only withcomplaint of petitioner but to consider all complaints.

Shouting in anger at woman by male officer may be a misbehaviorbut it itself it not covered under 'sexual harassment'.

Inappropriate behavior by male staff with woman at workplacewithout having any sexual overtones would not be covered under'sexual harassment'.

Termination of the enquiry proceedings in the absence of anyevidence/document provided by the complainant in support ofher complaint, despite calling five time on different dates givingsufficient time, is not illegal.

Writ Court have no jurisdiction to interference with the transferof the complainant to another division.

Abhilasha Dwivedi vs. Department of Women and ChildDevelopment NCT of Delhi. 2020 LLR 169 (Delhi H.C.)

Standing OrdersWhen application seeking modification of standing orderslies before Certifying Officer, he is not justified directing theemployees union to approach management for the purpose.

Ranipet Grieves Employees Union vs. Additional Commissioner ofLabour Authority. 2020 (164) FLR 503 (Mad. H.C.)

Training BondEmployer is in his right to call back employee from trainingbefore completion of period. On resignation by employeebefore bond period completion, employee is liable to payliquidated damages.

Calling back the employee, sent for training to Germany for sixmonths training, only after two months is not contrary to theterms and conditions of Service Bond, since as per terms andconditions of contract period of six months was extendable andreducable depending upon need of company and the companywas not under an obligation to impart training to the employeeminimum of six months.

Resigning from the service of the company by the employee is



breach of conditions of service bond since as per undertaking,the employee was to serve the company for at least two years afterhis return to India, not necessarily after completion of six monthstraining but immediately after return to India.

Company is entitled to claim damages since it has also provedexpenses incurred towards air fare, lodging, boarding,conveyance, training fee etc. when the employee was sent toGermany and remained there for two months.

Company has given reason for reducing the period of trainingsince it was entitled to call back the employee at an early date asper terms and conditions of contract.

Since the employee has committed breach of contract, he is liableto pay liquidated damages.

As per Section 7 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, the cardinalprinciples is that he offer and acceptance of an offer must be absolutewithout giving any room of doubt; offer and acceptance must be"based or founded on three components i.e. certainty, commitmentand communication and a Contract cannot be valid if there islacking of either component in the offer or in acceptance.

Mr. Yeshwant Raghunath Mulay vs. M/s. Motor IndustriesCompany Limited. 2020 LLR 155 (Kar. H.C.)

TransferFor non compliance of transfer order, dismissal withoutholding detailed enquiry would be illegal.

Transfer order in respect of an employee on transferable post isnot sustainable if on his non-reporting for duty at the place oftransfer, his services are dismissed/terminated without givinghim sufficient opportunity to submit his cause by holding adetailed enquiry.

Dismissal of service of a sales promotion employee withoutholding detailed enquiry is not sustainable since it is in violationof principles of natural justice.

An ex-parte order is liable to be set aside when no negligence,inaction or want of bonafide is attributable to employer sincesuch a situation comes within the purview of sufficient cause.

In the absence of any negligence, inaction or want of bona fides,attributable to employer, condonation of delay is justified toachieve ends of justice.

A sales promotion employee is a workman for the purpose ofinvoking provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 since itprovides a more effective forum to deal with the dispute betweenemployer and employee.

Any disciplinary action against the workman, for anymisconduct, is bad in law without holding detailed enquiry priorto taking such a disciplinary action against him since such anaction is contrary to principles of natural justice and fair play.

If enquiry is not conducted or is held to be not fair and proper, allsubsequent actions against the workman, would be liable to bequashed.

U.C.B. India Pvt. Ltd. and Others vs. Additional LabourCommissioner, Indore & Ors. 2020 LLR 130 (M.P. H.C.)

A transfer order is illegal if it is in violation of provisionsof Section 9-A of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Burden is upon the Management to prove that transfer is notviolative of any provisions of Section 9-A of the Act.

Under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, the High Court haslimited jurisdiction to seeing that an inferior court or Tribunalfunctions within the limits of its authority and not to correct anerror apparent on the face of the record, much less an error or law.

In exercising the supervisor power under Article 227, the High

Court does not act as an appellate court or Tribunal and not toreview or re-weigh the evidence upon which the determination ofinferior court or tribunal purports to be based or to correct erroror law in the decision.

Caparo Engineering India Ltd. vs. Kanchaiyalal Madaria andOthers. 2020 LLR 144 (M.P. H.C.)

Unauthorised AbsenceDismissal justified for two years of unauthorized absence.

Unauthorised long absence of about two years withoutreasonable explanation is an appropriate ground for justifyingdismissal from service of a workman.

Delay of 442 days in filing writ appeal is a proper reason todismiss the appeal.

Scope of judicial review in disciplinary matters in very limitedunless and until it is apparent that the discretion used by thelower authority suffers from vice is illegality ormaterial/procedural irregularity, sufficient to shock theconscience of the Court and no otherwise.

Roshan Lal vs. Delhi Jal Board. 2020 LLR 7 (Delhi H.C.)

Dismissal for unauthorized absence at the place of transferwould not be proper when employee expressed inability towork due to awkward environment and offered forvoluntary retirement.

Punishment of dismissal from service is not appropriate onaccount of unauthorized absence if petitioner was feeling himselfdifficult due to family problems to adjust at the place of transfer byfacing awkward environment and he had offered for voluntaryretirement.

Unauthorised absence from duty is not so fatal if severalapplications for leave were sanctioned, may be without pay, sincethat proves that absence has been regularized by themanagement.

Threat to commit suicide is to be considered in view of facts andcircumstances creating difficulties to the employee to which he ispractically not able to face.

When the delinquent employee has admitted that guilt ofunauthorized absence, there is no need to conduct further regularenquiry and Enquiry Officer has to consider such submissionappropriately.

Ran Vijai Singh vs. State of U.P. 2020 LLR 13 (All. H.C.)

VRSOnce VRS accpeted by the employee, he is bound by theterms of contract of such VRS. Benefits of a subsequentscheme floated by the company could in no way entitle theemployee to legally claim any difference of monetarybenefit.

Chandan Singh vs. M/s. Tinplate Company of India Ltd. 2020 (164)FLR 442 (Jhar. H.C.)

WorkmenSales Promotion Employee or Sales/Medical Representativeis not a 'workman' under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Industrial Adjudicator have no jurisdiction to entertain and try thedispute raised by an employee, not covered under the definition of'workman' as defined under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Unichem Laboratories Ltd. vs. Sanjay Goyal and Another. 2020 LLR140 (M.P. H.C.)

Courtsey - Labour Law Reporter, FLR, CLR and LLJ

BM

H.L. KumarAdvocate, Supreme Court, New Delhi


LABOUR LAWS notapplicable on grouphousing SOCIETIES

Since the housing societies are not business entities therefore, they are exempted from

fulfilling the obligations of labour laws. This is the reason that employing labours in hous-

ing societies has become a very onerous duty for the office bearers, who work there in

an honorary capacity.

Co-operative Group HousingSocieties have become preferred residential placesthese days, particularly in big

and medium-sized cities. These societiesprovide good community lifestyle. A coop-erative housing society is a set-up formedthrough mutual cooperation and consentof a number of members. The membershave an understanding and a sense ofcommunity spirit and camaraderie whichmost of the living in independent housesmiss. Besides gated security, the essential support services like electricians,plumbers, carpenters, masons, paintersand sweepers etc. are available on a calland the charges for these services arewithin the monthly payment for maintenance of the apartment.

The residents in such societies also comprise cross-sections of the societieslike practising Lawyers, CompaniesExecutives, HR Professionals among others. They are often asked by the office-bearers of such housing societies asto whether the labour laws are applicable to them or not as in the case ofshops, establishments, educational institutions, hospitals or factories etc. Thescope of applicability of labour laws is verywide, more so, when non-profit makingestablishments are covered by theIndustrial Disputes Act but the HousingSocieties are exempt from the obligationsof labour laws. Due to the expansion of theI.D. Act benefits/privileges like coverageunder ESI Act, Employees Provident Funds& MP Act, Minimum Wages Act, ContractLabour (R&A) Act, and Payment of BonusAct provide the umbrella cover to almostall employees. Labour laws are not restrict-

ed to only providing for job security and conditions of service as ensured under theIndustrial Disputes Act, 1947.

It is immaterial whether one is conversant with labour laws are not butmost of the residents are often confrontedwith such queries about the status of theHousing societies. Hence an attempt hasbeen made here to clarify the applicabilityof important labour laws upon the employ-ees of such cooperative housing societies.

Industrial Disputes Act, 1947In Dhanalakshmi vs. Reserve Bank of

India, 1999 LLR 278 the Karnataka HighCourt has held that the Industrial DisputesAct, 1947 is admittedly a social welfare legislation enacted for the purpose ofindustrial peace by protecting the interestsof the workmen who were found subjectedto exploitation by the employers. The objectof the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 is tomake provision for the investigation andsettlement of industrial disputes and forcertain other purposes. The machinery ofthe Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 has beendevised with the object of preventingindustrial strike, maintaining industrialpeace and achieving collective amitybetween labour and capital by means ofconciliation, mediation and adjudication.The object of the Industrial Disputes Act,1947 is to protect the workmen against victimization by the employer and toensure termination of proceedings in connection with the industrial disputes ina peaceful manner.

The full bench of the Supreme Courtin Bangalore Water Supply and SewerageBoard vs. A. Rajappa, 1978 (36) FLR 266has held that whether an activity would

fall within the purview of the definitionof the industry will be as follows:-

"...(i) systematic activity, (ii) organized by co-operation betweenemployer and employee (the direct andsubstantial element is chimerical) (iii)for the production and/or distribution ofgoods and services calculated to satisfyhuman wants and wishes..."

The above judgment was considered inthe case of Som Vihar Apartment OwnersHousing Maintenance Ltd. vs. Workmen,2001 LLR 599, where it was held that whenpersonal services are rendered to members of a society which is constitutedonly for the purposes of those members,the activity would not be treated as anindustry nor the employees would betreated as workmen. This judgment wassubsequently followed in the case of M.D.Manjur & Ors. vs. Shyam Kunj Occupants'Society & Ors., AIR 2005 SC 1501 and itwas reiterated that the housing co-opera-tive society is not an industry and itsemployees cannot be treated to be "workmen" as defined under section 2(s)of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Reference is made to a recent case inArun Vihar Residents Welfare Associationvs. State of UP and other, 2020 (164) FLR 29wherein it has been held by AllahabadHigh Court that the existence ofjurisdictional fact as a sine qua non forassumption of jurisdiction by a Court orTribunal. The existence of the jurisdictional fact has thus been held to bethe sine qua non or the condition precedent before the Court assumes jurisdiction to decide the lis on merits. Inthis judgment, it has been observed by the


LABOUR LAWS NOT APPLICABLE ON GROUP HOUSING SOCIETIES

High Court that the jurisdictional essenceis the presence of an industrial dispute.The petitioner being not an "industry"and its employees were not "workmen"within the meaning of the terms asdefined under the Industrial Disputes Act,1947, there could not be said to have arisenany "industrial dispute" and therefore theaward of the Labour Court suffers from afundamental error of jurisdiction and isthus legally unsustainable.

In Arihant Siddhi Co.op. HousingSociety Ltd. vs. Pushpa Vishnu More andOthers, 2020 (164) FLR 304 while relyingupon the judgment 'Bangalore WaterSupply' (supra) holding that where multiple activities are carried on by anestablishment, what is to be consideredis the dominant function, the BombayHigh Court has held that merely becausethe society charged some extra chargesfrom a few of its members for display ofneon signs, the society cannot be treatedas an industry under section 2(j) of theIndustrial Disputes Act, 1947, for carrying on business of hiring out ofneon signs or allowing display ofadvertisements and set aside the awardpassed by the Labour Court holding theSociety as an 'industry'.

Contract Labour (R&A) ActIn Smt. Rachana Gopinath & Another

vs. The State of Karnataka, 2016 LLR 864the Karnataka High Court has held thatContract Labour (Regulation andAbolition) Act, 1970 is applicable to onlythat establishment, which is engaging 20or more employees. As such ApartmentOwners' Association or Society is not anestablishment under section 2(e) of theContract Labour (Regulation andAbolition) Act, 1970 as it is neither anoffice, department of the Govt, a localauthority nor any activity of an industry,trade, business, manufacture or occupation is carried on in any place ofthe Association, to attract the applicabili-ty of the Act. When the ApartmentOwners' Association or Society is neitheran establishment nor an 'industry' underthe Industrial Disputes Act, personsemployed by it cannot be characterised asworkmen under the Act. Hence non-regis-tration and non-maintenance of recordsunder section 7, Rule 17(1) read with section 29 of Contract Labour (Regulationand Abolition) Act, 1970, is not its violation since Association is not an establishment to be covered under the Act.The building of a cooperative housingsociety does not make a commercial establishment to carry on any business orany commercial activities. Such a societyis a collective effort of the members, whohave organised themselves to maintainthe society and to carry on its affairs in accordance with the bye-laws, rules andthe Act. It is a distinct legal entity from

its members. It collects the maintenancecharges, service charges, and propertyand water charges payable to the municipal corporation. It acts as a statutory agent to collectively representthe members. It looks after the maintenance of the building and rendersservices such as collecting the prescribedcharges from the individual members anddisburses or spends them in accordancewith law for repairs, water charges,property taxes, payment of wages etc. andkeeps proper accounts and gets theaccounts approved annually in its generalmeeting. There is no evidence or materialto conclude or to infer what other activities are engaged in by society.

Employees' Provident Funds Act &MP Act, 1952

In Backbay Premises Co-operativeSociety Ltd. vs. Union of India, 1997 (2)CLR 1075, it was held that the petitionersociety consisting of various premises,which are used for business purpose bythe members are required to collectmaintenance charges and statutorycharges from its members under the provisions of Co-operative Societies Actand Bye-laws. Such activity of the society would not amount to commercialor business activity. The petitioner society was hence not covered by the Acteven under Section 1(3)(b) of the PF Act.

Employees' State Insurance ActIn Regional Director, Employees' State

Insurance Corporation vs. TulsianiChambers Premises Co-operativeSociety, 2008 (116) FLR 656 wherein while considering the applicability of theEmployees' State Insurance Act, 1948 to aco-operative housing society it was heldthat the society could not be said to becovered within the meaning of the word"shop" so as to bring it within the ambitof the E.S.I. Act, 1948. The status of ahousing co-operative society under various statutory enactments was considered and it was held that the society could not be said to be carryingout commercial or trading activities.

Minimum Wages ActIn one case, the Bombay High Court

was required to consider whether a co-operative society owning industrialunits or galas wherein members or shareholders are carrying on commercialor trading activities in the said unitswould make the society amenable toMinimum Wages Act, 1948 as far asemployees of the Societies are concerned.This was considered in the case of KiranIndustrial Premises Co-operative SocietyLtd. vs. Janata Kamgar Union, 2001 (89)FLR 707 (Bom.), it has been held that asociety, in which its members carry oncommercial and trading activities, cannotbe treated or said to be engaged in any

commercial venture or business, trade orprofession and does not even amount to"commercial establishment" much less a"shop". The Hon'ble Judge concluded asunder :

Let us now analyse the legal provisions. The claim of the employeesfor minimum wages is under theMinimum Wages Act. Item 17 of Part I ofthe Schedule reads as under:

17. Employment in any shops or commercial establishment (not being anemployment in any bank or employmentwhich is excluded) under any of theother entries in this Schedule.

Explanation- For the purpose of thisentry, the expressions, "Shop" and"Commercial Establishment" shall have themeaning respectively assigned to them in theBombay Shops and Establishments Act, 1948.

Security Guards ActIn Maharashtra Rajya Suraksha

Rakshak and Gen. Kamgar Union vs.Security Guards Board for Greater Bombayand Thane District, 2007 (113) FLR 515 (BomHC), it has been held that a Co-operativeHousing Society having residential andcommercial tenements is not an establish-ment if it is not carrying on business, tradeor profession even though some of itsmembers are carrying on business, tradeor profession in their premises. Relevanttest is whether the society is carrying onbusiness, trade or profession. Mere rendering of service by Society to its members, cannot be said to be either business or trade or commercial activity.

Shops & Establishments ActIn Smt. Rachana Gopinath & Another

vs. The State of Karnataka, 2016 LLR 864the Karnataka High Court has held that theApartment Owners Association is anAssociation created for the benefit of theMembers of the Association and the so-called workmen employed by theAssociation are rendering only personalservices to the Members of theAssociation. As aforesaid, to attract theprovisions of the Act, the essential ingredients of an 'establishment' as set outin Section 2(e) of the Act which contemplates that the activities must becommercial in nature, carried on by theoffice or department of the Government orthe Local Authority must be satisfied. Inthe absence of such satisfaction,respondent insisting for compliance of theprocedures prescribed under the Act iswholly unsustainable. Therefore, the registration obtained by the petitioners ona wrong conception under the KarnatakaShops and Commercial EstablishmentsAct, 1961 and further not renewed wouldnot entitle the respondent to harass thepetitioners' Association by filing a criminalcomplaint on some flimsy grounds beforethe Magistrate. BM


Statutory Canteen:

Liability ofPrincipal Employer

Deepanjan DeyGeneral Manager-HRM, Tata Steel BSL Ltd.,

Angul, Odisha

While dealing with thequestion of automat-ic absorption of con-

tract labour the constitutionbench in Steel Authority of IndiaLtd. v. National Union WaterfrontWorkers, (2001) 7 SCC 1has explicitly stated that cases per-taining to statutory canteen fallunder a different category alto-gether and stand in a differentfooting. The Court in this casehas inter-alia opined that wherethe question arose in regardtodischarge of a statutory obliga-tion of maintaining Canteen inan establishment and the employ-er has availed the services of a contractor, the Courts have heldthat the contract labour wouldindeed be the employees of theprincipal employer. While com-ing to such conclusions the ApexCourt, in the SAIL case, referredto many previous of its judge-ments. In this article we shalltherefore deal with thoseandother judgements of the SupremeCourt available in this field to comprehend the liabilities of aprincipal employer in case itscanteen is run through a contrac-tor.

In Sarsapur Mills Co. Ltd. vs.Ramanlal Chimanlal (1974 (3)SCC 66) the question for determi-nation was whether the workersemployed by co-operative societyin running the canteen of theappellant Mill were the employ-ees of the appellant. It was heldthat as part of statutory liability"under the Factories Act it wasduty of the appellant to run and

maintain the canteen for the use of its employees" and therefore theemployees of the co-operative are the employees of the appellant Mills.In G.B. Pant University of Agriculture & Technology, Pant Nagar,Nanital vs. State of U.P. (AIR 2000 SC 2695) it was observed that the reg-ulation framed under the statute U.P. Agricultural University Act, theUniversity was under the obligation to maintain the cafeteria to servefood as the inmates of the hostel were not allowed to have food from out-side. The court held that in view of the requirement of the regulationsframed under the Act having statutory sanction and force with overallcontrol and supervision being established the employees of the cafete-ria are the employees of the university. In Union of India V. MohammedAslam (2001 1 SCC 720) it was opined that the employees working in theunit-run canteens was held to be government servants, as it hasemerged that providing canteen facilities to the defence service per-sonnel is obligatory on the part of the Government. All these threecases cited above have been referred to in the SAIL case.

One of the important case in the field has been Parimal ChandraRaha & Ors. vs. L.I.C. of India & Ors. (1995 (Supp.) (2) SCC 611 cited inSAIL case, has set out the broad principlefor regularization of employ-ees working in canteen of an establishment. The following importantratio can be enunciated from this case:

I) Where under the provision of the Factories Act, it is statutorilyobligatory on the employer to provide and maintain canteen for the useof his employees, the canteen becomes a part of the establishment and,

The Factories Act does not govern the rights of the

employees with reference to recruitment, seniority, pro-

motion, retirement benefits etc. These are governed by

other statutes, rules, contracts or polices. Therefore, the

workmens' contention that employees of a statutory

canteen ipso facto become the employees of the estab-

lishment for all purposes cannot be accepted".


LLR 387 (SC)= 1996 (1) LLN 465(SC) canteens at various loca-tions are managed by theImplementation Committee(Canteen Committee) of theBank, Co-operative Society andContractor respectively. In thisinstant case the court did notagree with the opinion of theTribunal that the ratio laid downin M.M.R. Khan's case (supra)shall apply. The Court was of theopinion in the absence of anystatutory or other legal obliga-tion and in the absence of anyright in the Bank to superviseand control the work or thedetails thereof in any mannerregarding the canteen workersemployed in the three types ofcanteens, it cannot be said thatthe relationship of master andservant existed between theBank and the various personsemployed in three types of can-teens.

In Hari Shankar Sharma andothers vs. M/s Artificial LimbsManufacturing Corporation andothers ((2002 (92) FLR 14 (SC) =2002 (1) CLR 13 (SC) = 2002 LLR 88(SC) = 2002 (1) LLJ 237 (SC)) theApex Court ruled that wheneverin discharge of a statutory man-date, a canteen is set up it shouldnot be deemed that obligation hasbeen cast upon the principalemployer to regularize the serv-ices of the contractor employeesengaged for the purpose of main-taining a statutory canteen. Incase of statutory obligationunder section 46 of the FactoriesAct the court was of the opinionthat that it cannot be said as anabsolute proposition of law thatwhenever in discharge of a statu-tory mandate, a canteen is set upor other facility provided by anestablishment, the employees ofthe canteen or such other facilitybecome the employees of thatestablishment. It would dependon how the obligation is dis-charged by the establishment. Itmay be carried out wholly or sub-stantially by the establishmentitself or the burden may be dele-gated to an independent contrac-tor. There is nothing in Section 46of the Factories Act which pro-vides for the mode in which thespecified establishment must setup a canteen. Where it is left tothe discretion of the concernedestablishment to discharge itsobligation of setting up a canteeneither by way of direct recruit-

therefore, the workers employed in such canteen are the employees ofthe management.

II) A canteen which is run as an obligation by the employer other-wise than an obligation to provide a facility to run canteen and eventhough it is not a statutorily obligation the canteen become a part ofthe establishment and the workers working in the canteen will be theemployees of the management.

III) The obligation to provide canteen may be explicit or implicit. Ifproviding canteen services has become a part of the service conditions of the employees, the canteen becomes a part of the estab-lishment and the workers in such canteen become the employees of themanagement.

However, another landmark judgement in the field is IndianPetrochemicals Corporation Ltd. vs. Shramik Sena (1999 (6) SCC439=1999 LLR 961 (SC) which set out the principle that "that the work-men of a statutory canteen would be the workmen of the establishmentfor the purpose of the Factories Act only and not for all other purpos-es". In this case an important question was raised by the court as to theimplication of the status of the workman under the Factories Act. Thecourt inter-alia observed:

"The question however is: does this status of a workman under theFactories Act confine the relationship of the employer and the employ-ees to the requirements of the Factories Act alone or does this defini-tion extend for all other purposes which include continuity of service,seniority, pension and other benefits which a regular employee enjoys.The Factories Act does not govern the rights of the employees with ref-erence to recruitment, seniority, promotion, retirement benefits etc.These are governed by other statutes, rules, contracts or polices.Therefore, the workmens' contention that employees of a statutory can-teen ipso facto become the employees of the establishment for all pur-poses cannot be accepted".

However, based on the affidavits filed by the parties the court onmerits of the facts cumulatively and in addition that the canteen in theestablishment of the management is the statutory the court was of theopinion "that in the instant case the respondent workmen are in factthe workmen of the appellant management". The facts upon which thecourt based its opinion are as follows:

a) The canteen has been there since the inception of the appellant'sfactory.

b) The workmen have been employed for long years and despite achange of contractors the workers have continued to be employed inthe canteen.

c) The premises, furniture, fixture, fuel electricity, utensils, etc. havebeen provided for by the appellant.

d) The wages of the canteen workers are reimbursed by the appel-lant

e) The supervision and control on the canteen is exercised by theappellant through its authorized officer, as can be seen from the various clauses of the contract between the appellant and the contrac-tor.

f) The contractor is nothing but an agent or a manager of the appel-lant, who works completely under the supervision, control and direc-tions of the appellant.

g) The workmen have the protection of continuous employment inthe establishment."

The submission of the Management that in view of no abolition ofthe Contract Labour is in place it is open to the appellant establishmentto manage the affairs of the canteen through a Contractor had beennegated by the court as the Contractor was wholly not independent ofthe management and therefore the court held that "for all purposes" theworkmen in this instant case are in fact the workmen of the manage-ment.

In the case between Employers, Management of Reserve bank ofIndia vs. Workmen, Reserve Bank of India (1996 (73) FLR 965 (SC)= 1996

STATUTORY CANTEEN: LIABILITY OF PRINCIPAL EMPLOYER


STATUTORY CANTEEN: LIABILITY OF PRINCIPAL EMPLOYER

ment or by employment of a con-tractor, it cannot be postulatedthat in the latter event, the per-sons working in the canteenwould be the employees of the establishment. In regard toPrarimal Chandra Raha's caserelied on by the appellants thecourt was of the opinion that thelarger bench in IndianPetrochemicals Corporation Ltd.vs. Shramik Sena and Others(supra) the workmen of theestablishment only for the pur-pose of the Factories Act and notfor all other purposes unless itwas otherwise proved that theestablishment exercised com-plete administrative control overthe employees serving in the can-teen.

In Haldia Refinery Canteenemployees Union & others vs.M/S Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.and Others (2005 LLR 529 (SC))negating the contentions of theappellant the Apex Court consid-ered the Indian PetrochemicalsCorporation Ltd. case and exten-sively quoted the judgment of theIndian PetrochemicalsCorporation Ltd. case (supra) tobring home the point that theIndian PetrochemicalsCorporation Ltd. case elaboratelyreferred and analyzed M.M. RKhan case and Parimal ChandraRahas case and it was held inthese cases that the workmenwere the employees of the man-agement for the purposes of theFactories Act alone and did notbecome the employees of theestablishment for any other pur-pose. On facts of the case thecourt was of the opinion that therespondent management doesnot "exercise effective controlover the Contractor" andobserved the management haskept with it the right to test,interview or otherwise assess ordetermine the quality of theemployees/workers with regardto their level of skills, knowledge,proficiency, capability etc. so asto ensure that the employees/

workers are competent and qualified and suitable for efficient per-formance of the work covered under the contract. This control hasbeen kept by the management to keep a check over the quality of serv-ice provided to its employees. It has nothing to do with either theappointment or taking disciplinary action or dismissal or removalfrom service of theworkmen working in the canteen. Only because the management exercises such control does not mean that the employeesworking in the canteen are the employee of the management.

In Hindalco Industries Ltd. vs. Association Of Engineering Workers(2008 (2) LLJ 1064(SC) = 2008 (1) CLR 1023) held that even though therecord shows that canteen is being run by the Contractor, ultimate con-trol and supervision over the canteen is of the Company. Inasmuch asthe facts on hand are identical to the decision in Indian PetrochemicalsCorporation Ltd. case (Supra) which is a three-Judge Bench decisionthe court accepted the conclusion arrived by the Industrial Tribunaldirecting to absorb all the employees of the canteen in the company'semployment and pay them wages and other benefits to the extent of lastcategory of the unskilled workers in the company .

In Balwant Rai Saluja vs. Air India Ltd. 2014 (9) SCC 407 it was heldthat the workers engaged by a Contractor in statutory canteen will be aworkman under the Factories Act and not for any other purposes. Thecourt was of the opinion that for the workers to be called the employeesof the Factory for all purposes need to satisfy the test of employer andemployee. It was observed that as the appellant workmen are not undereffective and absolute control of Air India and therefore not entitled toregularization of their services. During its judgement the court reliedupon cases of Indian Petrochemicals Corporation, Hari ShankarSharma, Haldia Refinery Canteen employees Union which we dis-cussed in foregoing paragraphs of this article.

Very recently in Chennai Port trust vs. The Chennai Port TrustIndustrial Employees Canteen Workers Welfare Association & Ors(2018 LLR 612 (SC)) the court has upheld the single and Division Benchjudgement of Madras High Court wherein it directed the appellant toregularize the services of the canteen workers. The canteen in questionwas run through a Co-Operative Society called "Chennai Port TrustIndustrial Employees Co-operative Canteen Limited" since 1964. Theapex court concurred with the findings and judgement of the lowercourt wherein the Division Bench of the said High Court relying uponIndian Petrochemicals Corporation case has found great similarities inthe facts of both the cases.

Conclusion:

Hence from our discussion we can conclude that though the SAILjudgment has put the canteen cases in different pedestal but merelybecause a contractor employee is engaged in a statutory canteen he willnot automatically accrue the right to be regularized unless and until itis proved that the contractor labours are under the effective andabsolute control of the Principal Employer. From our above discussionwe can conclude that the Indian Petrochemicals Corporation case ispioneer in the field as we found out from various judgments discussedabove. Hence, in terms of this judgement a Contractor employeeengaged in any statutory canteen shall be deemed to be a workmanunder the Factories Act and not for any other purpose unless and untilit is proved that the effective and absolute control lies with thePrincipal Employer and there exist a relationship of Employer andEmployee between the Principal Employer and contractor workmen.

Though the SAIL judgment has put the canteen cases in different pedestal but merely

because a contractor employee is engaged in a statutory canteen he will not

automatically accrue the right to be regularized unless and until it is proved that the

contractor labours are under the effective and absolute control of the Principal

Employer.

The VP-Corp. HR of theFMCG Company havingthree facilities in thecountry, Mr. Kulvinder was

not very happy when he was told by HRhead of one facility that the workscommittee members have submitted awage increase demands letter in the lastmeeting and requested for quickresponse.

Kulvinder was hard core old timer HRprofessional who had enough exposureto deal unions and employee relationsissues in his career in previous jobs. Hehas the philosophy that workers willremain workers and they can't bedeveloped as business partners withpositivity because it was class conflictwhich will remain always betweenmanagement and workers, no matterhow much you invest in training forthem. Their mind set will not change.When it comes to job security and salaryincrease, they will have collectiveapproach against the management. Hewas of the view that workers shouldnever be given formal or informalplatform to unite and raise their voicecollectively, so he was not in favour ofhaving any such forum of workscommittee where workers get united andget opportunity to raise their demandsregularly because it is human desirewhich never ends. Though suchcommittee was required for compliance,Kulvinder had cautioned facilitybusiness head and HR Head about suchpossibility of situation, because workscommittee was not the forum to raisefinancial demands on company. Whatdisturbed Kulvinder was the idea ofpresenting collective wage increasedemands in writing sounding theformation of a formal platform ofunionism and not the wage increaseissue itself because Kulvinder was

already working on annual wageincrements of all facilities' employeesbased on their feedback mechanism.Though it was late by few months thistime, before he could clear the annualincrements, this demand letter came tohim.

Kulvinder concluded that it wasfailure of facility HR head and businesshead. They did not handle workscommittee functioning well and did notget a feel what was going on below thewaters.

Company has fair policy of wagerevision in all facilities every year withtransparent processes based on overallperformance and conduct of everyemployee. Kulvinder was thinking howto diffuse the situation because once heopens the negotiation on wage increasewith works committee members andagree on certain amount, the same thingwill happen sooner or later in otherfacilities also.

Kulvinder decided to visit the facilityto gauge the workers committeemembers' depth of unity, commitmentand seriousness about wage increaseletter. He called upon facility businesshead and HR Head and informed abouthis visit. He also asked them to arrangefor meeting with committee members.He also asked to share the relevantemployment data, qualifications,experience and skill competencies,influence level on workers andassessment of their leadership qualitiesof all workers members of committee.

Business head and HR head were notin sync with Kulvinder's idea to meetworks committee members as such movefrom management may send wrongsignals to workers but could not resist.They also shared all detailedinformation which Kulvinder sought

about committee members.

Kulvinder held meeting with workscommittee members. Head HR andbusiness Head were also present.Mahesh among workers was noticedvocal and representing all. Mahesh wasthough process associate since last 10years but was informally helping hismanager in handling workers as lineleader. Having computer proficiency, hewas also able to support his manager inpreparing various reports pertaining toproduction etc.

Following was the discussion:

Kulvinder: So, didn't you have thetrust on management about yourincrement?

Mahesh: sir, nothing like that.Workers thought to share theirexpectations with management looking

Boon or Bane?

CA

SE

ST

UD

Y

Questions for Discussion:

1- Was the approach of Kulvinderin handling the issue proper andjustified?

2- What went wrong and where?

3- Does lower productivity,increased rejections and poortarget achievement reflectsfailure of Mahesh as supervisor?

4- According to you, what couldbe the accelerating factors inunion formation in both thefacilities?

5- What MD should do now andhow he should respond ERsituation?

Overconfidence -

- By Editorial Team


in to the ever rising price hike andincreasing cost of living. Moreover, it isdelayed by several months this time, andthere were apprehensions about lowerincrement than earlier.

Kulvinder: you know that workscommittee members can't give such wageincrease demands?

Mahesh: Sir, if it is so, kindly takes itas given on behalf of all workers. We cangive you signatures of all workers insupport of these demands.

Kulvinder: and if managementrejects your demands, then?

Mahesh: we don't think so, sir, wehave full confidence in our management.

Kulvinder: Ok. I would like to shareone more thing with you. Company isgoing to recruit few supervisors inmanagement cadre. Would you like alsoto be considered for such positions ormanagement should recruit directlyfrom outside?

Mahesh: I think management shouldconsider internal talent first.

Kulvinder: Business head will soonshare with you all requirements for theseposts and management expectationsfrom such persons.

With this meeting ended.

Kulvinder could visualise a potentialleader in Mahesh sufficiently capable ofleading the workers union in near future.

Business Head and HR head weretaken aback. They were not aware of anysuch supervisory openings. Aftermeeting, Kulvinder opened up his gameplan with business Head and HR Head.

He advised that few such workersincluding Mahesh, who are instrumentalin giving this wage increase letter having

potential leadership qualities should betaken into confidence separately, offerthem supervisory posts and diffuse thesituation on wage increase. In the meantime, management will announce theannual increment which will be slightlyhigher than previous year.

Business Head and HR head thoughnot in agreement with this game plan ofKulvinder as it may backfire also infuture setting up a wrong practice, butagain could not resist. They worked onthis strategy, talked to Mahesh and fewothers, shared with them themanagement expectations, offered themgood salary increase with other benefitswhich were available to managementcadre employees. Mahesh gave a thoughton management offer, discussed in hisfamily, got motivated to get promoted inmanagement cadre and agreed tomanagement offer. On seeing Maheshacceptance to management offer, fewothers also agreed. Kulvinder announcedannual increments first, asked Maheshto convince workers to remove anydissatisfaction. Mahesh did it veryintelligently and there was no apparentsign of dissatisfaction.

After few days, Mahesh and otherswere promoted as supervisors. Theirmanagers took their induction andorientation classes. Newly promotedsupervisors were made aware of theirpowers and authority in relation toresponsibility. Mahesh acquired betteracceptance and recognition in thesupervisory position from his superiorsand co workers within short span. Heperformed his duties in accordance withthe expectation of the management. Hetried his best to create an atmosphereamong workers that there was no need toadopt collective approach to raise any

issue before management because hismanager communicated him aboutmanagement's unhappiness about hiseffective role in mobilising workers toraise demand letter .

In next six months Mahesh foundhimself a failure in supervisory positionas in times of problems neither hismanager supported him and offered anyguidance, nor workers under him whowere very helpful and cooperative whenhe was working as line leader informally,accepted him as his supervisor resultinginto growing conflicts between him andworkers, low productivity, frequentfailure in achieving production targetsand quality rejections.

Neither business Head nor HR headwere happy with this situation andincriminating wok environment. Insteadof taking any initiative, they thought itproper to involve Kulvinder because thesituation was a creation of his gameplan.

After getting to know the detailedreport on this front From Business Headand HR head, Kulvinder advised thatMahesh should be transferred to otherfacility. He was of the view that by thisaction Mahesh influence over workerswill be finished, situation will becomenormal and ultimate objective of hisgame plan will be achieved.

Accordingly when Mahesh wasinformed about his under expectedperformance and decision ofmanagement to transfer him to otherfacility, He was shocked. He expressedhis displeasure about the managementmove. He also tried to explain that it wasmanagement non cooperative attitudetowards him that restrained him fromdelivering the results. His senior clearlycommunicated him either to move tonext place of posting or he can very wellleave the organisation.

Kulvinder was of the view that he willnot accept the transfer and clear the wayof management to remove him. But tothe surprise, Mahesh accepted thetransfer order, moved to other facilityand joined there in the same position.

Within next three months, Kulvinderfelt like drowning in deep waters, whenhe was communicated that in both thefacilities where Mahesh worked earlierand presently working, workers formedtheir unions and got registered too andsubmitted their demand charters.

Managing director was quite upset toknow all about deteriorating IR situationin spite of having all robust HR practicesand recognised as Excellent Company towork for. He called Business and HRheads of both the facilities along withKulvinder to explain as to why all thathappened? Kulvinder had sleepless nightand was not able to see a solution.


Managing director was

quite upset to know all

about deteriorating IR

situation in spite of

having all robust HR

practices.

BM

OVERCONFIDENCE - BOON OR BANE?

Mr. Kulvinder Singh the vice president HR at corporateoffice of the FMCG Company

has a firm belief of old school of thoughtthat workers are ultimately workers andthey are not going to be changed by anymeans when matter is particularly related to increase in remunerations andbenefits.

Despite of known fact that, formationof works committee is the law fullrequirement Under Industrial DisputeAct 1947and the main purpose ofcreating the Works committee is; todevelop a sense of partnership betweenthe employer and workers, Mr. Kulvinderwas of the opinion that, workers shouldnot be provided such forum where theycan be united.

Mr. Kulvinder is right logically andhas firm opinion to take action on theworkers who raised demand letter likeunion representatives and was of theopinion that financial demands cannotbe discussed in works committee. Hefound this as failure of local HR head andexpressed his deep annoyance on him.He was not interested to initiate negotia-tions due to unanticipated fear of spreadto other locations. He had his fix mindsetthat company will give raise as per estab-lished conventions of the organization.

Directing to arrange a meeting withworks committee members was the utterwrong move of Mr. Kulvinder which boththe business head and location HR Headexpressed to him and said that yourinvolvement may send wrong signals toworkers.

Mr. Kulvinder could not won over theanswers of Mr. Mahesh and decided toadopt the policy of divide and rule byannouncing the recruitment ofsupervisors where workers could also bepromoted.

The Business head and Location HRHead was not aware about any suchrecruitment drive so they remainedquiet, as this was the undesirable and adangerous move. However, Mr. Kulvinderexplained his strategic move about identifications of such potential andinfluential persons of leadership caliberwho can convince workers and help in

defusing the move of wage rise by charter of demand.

He was so confident on his thoughtprocess and forgot the basic principlethat "once you promote a worker to thelevel of supervisor you may lose a goodworker and create a bad supervisor if theperson doesn't have enough caliber tolead a team of workers...

Mahesh in his new role instantly gotthe acceptance and recognized amongthe workers. However, nowhere one-sidedapproach works be it management or beit workers. Mr. Mahesh should haveunderstood this fact. One side he was notable to gain the support of his Managersand other side he was losing confidenceof his people day by day. With change ofroles and responsibility, people foundhim away from them and this situationultimately resulted into low productivity,failure in achievement of targets and increasing trend in quality rejections.

Mr. Kulvinder again did another mistake and after getting reports fromthe plant, he advised to Business Headand the local HR Head to transfer Mr.Mahesh at another unit. He was the opinion that this way he will be removedfrom the scene and situation will becomenormal. He was also thinking that Mr.Mahesh would not accept the transferand he would make the way for hisremoval from the organization. Again,this was wrong perception of Mr.Kulvinder towards Mr. Mahesh.

Mr. Kulvinder missed to realize that leadership creates leader with trust and delegations. He ignored the voice of localHR Head and Business Head who wereactually accountable for their roles andresponsibilities. However, it is also equally fact that there is no meaning ofany role without authority and accounta-bility. Mr Kulvinder should have actedlike a mentor and supported to the unitand staff. Nevertheless, he played thedirty game and tried to establish his leadership in an authoritative manner,which went wrong. Sitting at the top ofthe ladder, he tried to resolve the conflicts without taking into confidenceto the people on the ground.

The Business Head and local HR Head

also did not play and justified their positions. They have not shown theirresistance at any level when they did notagree with the action, involvement anddecision of the Corporate HR Head Mr.Kulvinder. However, practically I mustsay often it happens in the organization,particularly where communicationschannel are not open and review mechanism of the organization is not soeffective.

Elevation of Mr. Mahesh and his otherco-workers who were involved in submission of demand letter for wagerise was also become the strategic failure. Once they were elevated, theyshould be given time to settle in new roleand instead of coaching them, themangers have enhanced their expecta-tion and made them responsible for thelow productivity, low targets, and highrejections. Further, the transfer of Mr.Mahesh gave wrong signals to the workers, which resulted into formationand registration of union at both theplaces.

In an organization, Leadership needsto be transparent and open. Instead oftricks and tact one should adopt the policy of firmness and fairness. Oneshould not deny what is genuine andshould never accept which is not fair. It isa diagnostic approach of thinking.

Theory of needs is common to all be itmanagement or the workers. Today'stime is not to sit across the table for theresolution of the conflicts but the time isto move by joining hands and solve theissues by understanding of each otherneeds and mature dealing.

Managing Director of the companycan defuse the situation by respectingand recognizing the decision of the workers of formation of unions and tryto regain the trust and confidence ofpeople in management. Similarly managers at local level should also bedeveloped, trained and empowered forenhancing their communication withpeople and resolve the conflicts at locallevel. When conflict is managed effectively, it can bring new levels ofunderstanding, empathy and trustamong the people.


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M.D. should work onregaining the trustand confidence ofworkers

Anil MalikAM HR Solutions

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When arrogancebackfires!

Yashwant BhaidVice President Group HR,

Hexagon Nutritions, Mumbai

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Yashwant Bhaid

1-Kulvinder's approach was not basedon the facts and the ground realities inthe local context. Rather it was driven byhis own perception of the local situationwithout validating it with local BusinessHead and HR Head. While he is strategi-cally responsible for all units not takinglocal leadership into confidence was hisbiggest mistake. It also demonstrates hisover-confidence and in a way lack ofprofessional and business maturity.Presuming that the overall wage increments he was about to roll outwould be a game changer and any thingand every thing can be done to stop localmovements till then was in a way sign ofprofessional arrogance which backfiredbadly obviously.

2-Kulvinder failed on multiplefronts

1) He has not gone into depth andbreadth of the situation, not gatheredadequate and relevant facts to take aholistic view of the situation.

2) He has failed to take the cognizanceof the symptoms he received from thebusiness unit and its possible influenceand impact.

3) He has failed in taking a pause onhis overall compensation plan initiativein the backdrop of the local develop-ments in the business unit

4) He has failed to take buy in fromconcerned Business Head and the HRHead, this was most critical as they arethere running the plant day in and dayout.

5) He has failed to provide equalopportunity to local leadership to dealwith the situation and come up withtheir understanding and the game plan.He was any way having overall authori-ty to look at it and give his advice.

6) He has also failed to go beyondMahesh and cross check how muchimpact Mahesh has on the workers.Further simply taking Mahesh intosupervisory cadre in itself was not sufficient. He failed in assessingMahesh's supervisory skills. WhileMahesh carries acceptance in the mind

of workers and speak for their cause, hissupervisory skills in managing the operations was not assessed at all.

7) He failed in not involving local leadership even in implementing hisgame plan yet giving them adequate freedom to change the course of action ifneed be being local Managers.

3-Yes, Mahesh enjoys popularityamongst workers and has visible Unionleadership traits which has started tosurface in recent past. His assertion inthe interest of workers confirm thesame. While luring potential nuisancemaker a supervisory role is a typical ageold strategy, it need not necessarily workin the given context. While Maheshenvisaged personal and professionalgrowth for self in the opportunity to be asupervisor, by doing so he has lost hispersonal credibility in the eyes ofworkers. This was selfish move forMahesh which certainly has taken himpsychologically away from workers.Additionally, his background and experience does not seem to be maturedenough to handle supervisory role givento him. Mere change in designation intosupervisory role can not guarantee success in that role and hence Maheshfailed. Further his selfish movement tosupervisory cadre seem to have backfired workers confidence in himand as a result worker went into non-cooperation mode resulting into visible drop in production, quality andproductivity.

Mahesh's transfer against his willseems to have triggered the urge withinhim to lead workers cause and broughthim back close to workers. His proximi-ty to workers in both the plant allowed collective efforts in collaboration at boththe locations.

4- Accelerating factors in unionformation:

1) Lack of involvement of local leadership in the process. Kulvinder lostthe battle in first step. His over confidence was the biggest mistake.

2) Over confidence in elevatingMahesh into supervisory cadre. This haslost workers confidence in both Mahesh

and the Management. This has accerlated the Union formation.

3) Mahesh's transfer against his willseem to have brought him back close toworkers and triggered his urge within tolead workers cause, now in both theplants

4) Lack of involvement of local leaders also lead to lost opportunity toget ground level vigilance and IR symptoms during the entire process

5-Formation of Union is not something to panic about.

1) MD has to assert and giveKulvinder feedback on his failure inhandling the situation

2) MD shall call urgent meeting withKulvinder, Business Heads and HRHeads demanding their assessment ofthe situation and proposed action plan to salvage and manage the situation as oftoday and way forward.

3) MD can empower local teams tolead the solution

4) MD can demand Kulvinder to be afacilitator in the process

5) MD to ensure the damage does notspread in the third plant

6) MD should not fire Kulvinder butcan give him one more chance with timeline of one year to bring situationunder control.

7) MD has to ensure proper UnionManagement mechanism is in place andis effective.

He has failed to take buy

in from concerned Business

Head and the HR Head, this

was most critical as they

are there running the plant

day in and day out.

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Historically, the tenure of most CEOs, business heads and keyfunctional leaders of the best organizations globally have been short-lived despite these leaders being highly talented with credibleacademic qualifications, high caliber & proven track records. Onecommon factor that came to light was that they failed at a criticalpoint of business decision.The book has been crafted using well-researched & scientifically-analysed data and successfully introduces a new term in thepersonality spectrum, i.e., Precast Personality.The book argues that it is the Precast Personality of incumbent thatplays a predominant role over Apparent Personality acquired throughhigh profile academic/management courses to suit the assigned roleresulting into the failure at “a critical point of business decision.”The book blends Occult Sciences and Psychology to conceptualize &derive a Theory for decoding Personality to achieve OrganisationalSuccess. The book ultimately leads to design a Cosmo-Psycho Tool todecode Personality of incumbent.There are many types of Occult Sciences and Psychometric Tools inpractice across Corporates globally, this book refer only those can beused for Personality Predictive analysis of leadership positions,especially for the purpose of Organisation’s Human ResourcesManagement goals aligned with Business Goals.This Book "Decode Personality for Organisational Success - a Cosmo-Psycho Tool" is an attempt to derive a formal theory out of his experienceto decode Personality through Astrological inputs interpreted intoPsychometric terminology which relates to current era Industry.


EVENT REPORT BOOK LEARNING

Ninth national case writingworkshop at SVVV, Indore

The Ninth National Case Writing Workshop was conducted by Shri Vaishnav School of Management(SVSM) under the umbrella of Shri Vaishnav VidyapeethVishwavidyalaya, (SVVV), Indore in collaboration withAssociation of Indian Management Schools (AIMS),National HRD Network (NHRD) and Indian Society forTraining and Development (ISTD). The workshop wasscheduled from December 09 -11, 2019.

The workshop was inaugurated by Dr. Upinder Dhar,Hon'ble Vice Chancellor, SVVV, who was the facilitator onthe occasion. Dr. Dhar delivered the welcome address andbrief introduction to the workshop. Dr. Namrata Jain,workshop coordinator, introduced SVVV and Hon'ble ViceChancellor to the delegates and shared the details of threedays workshop with the gathering. The participants weredivided into four groups led by Hon'ble Vice Chancellor; Dr.Santosh Dhar, Dean, Faculty of Doctoral Studies andResearch; Dr. Rajeev K Shukla, Director, SVSM, Dr. T.K.Manadal, Professor, SVSM. Visit to different organiza-tions such as 94.3 MY FM, A.B Road; Elite Research,Vijay Nagar; Bhayaji Mercantile Pvt. Ltd, BardariIndustrial Area was planned for participants along withtheir group coordinators. Prior consent was taken from theseorganizations.

The second day began with the discussion on the organizations visited. The groups shared their experiences, data collected and information shared bythe representatives of the organization with othergroups. Dr. Dhar guided each group for preparing draftsof the case. Teaching notes were shared with the participants and the drafts were revised as per therequirements of The Case Centre and the suggestionsgiven by Dr. Dhar and other groups.

On the third day, each group presented the case withteaching notes and suggestions were given for final drafting of the case. The participants shared the feedback and marked it as a great learning experience.Certificates were distributed. Dr. Namrata Jain was workshop co-ordinator.

19 delegates from 11 different Universities/Institutions participated in the workshop.

Statement about ownership and other particulars aboutnewspapers entitiled “Business Manager” Alwar as required to bepublished under section 19 D of the press & registration of BooksAct. 1867.Place of Publication : Business Manager,

B-138, Ambedkar Nagar,Alwar - 301001 (Raj.)

Periodicity of the Publication : MonthlyPrinter’s Name : Mr. Anil KaushikWhether Cititzen of India : YesAddress : B-138, Ambedkar Nagar,

Alwar - 301001 (Raj.) Publisher’s Name : Mr. Anil KaushikWhether Cititzen of India : YesAddress : B-138, Ambedkar Nagar,

Alwar - 301001 (Raj.) Editor Name : Mr. Anil KaushikWhether Cititzen of India : YesAddress : B-138, Ambedkar Nagar,

Alwar - 301001 (Raj.) Name & Address of share : Nilholders of the company holdingmorethan 1% of the paidup capitalI, Anil Kaushik hereby declare that the particulars given above aretrue to the best of my knowledge & belief.1 March, 2020 Anil Kaushik

Publisher

Decode PesonalityFor Organisational

SUCCESS A Cosmo-Psycho Tool

Author: Vipul SaxenaPublisher : Notion Press, Old No.38, New No. 6, McNichols Road,Chetpet, Chennai-600 031Price : Rs. 249/-

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BOOK LEARNING

This book is an amalgamation of scientifictechniques, pure psychological approaches,and experiences of people who havebenefited immensely by career mapping.The idea here is to equip you to learn toSEARCH the right career for you, the onethat provides you job satisfaction andfuture growth.SEARCH helps you select the rightsubject or stream and guides you intosatisfying and enjoyable careers.SEARCH helps Enable the hiddenpotential within to its optimum. SEARCHhelps Attain your best in terms ofperformance and productivity. SEARCHhelps you reach your career goals a lotmore easily while enjoying your workevery step of the way. SEARCH helps youmold your career path in the positiveprogress direction. SEARCH helps yougain happiness in all that you do in yourlie at work or off work.Select, Enable, Attain & Reach CareerHappiness is that solution! The mantrahere is simple - search for a job/careerthat lights the path of happiness,satisfaction and success.Powered by the importance andsignificance of psychometric tools andtechniques, the idea is to help youidentify your true potential, the skillsthat you enjoy using the most and finally,find out the type of career that suits youthe best. It guides you to analyze youridea of what career happiness is, to takethe right steps and tone down your“SEARCH” journey by helping you to“SEARCH” right and ultimately reachyour career happiness!

To be H.A.P.P.Y. is our birth-right.Amidst our daily hassles andproblems, we often forget thatthrough our decisions, we choosehow our life goes. Everycircumstance that we findourselves in the middle of is acircumstance we create,knowingly or unknowingly. Whilethis may sound rather gloomy, theessential truth remains that wecreate our happiness.

To create happiness, we need toknow where we want to go and howwe want our happiness to look like.Once we have that figured out, theonly thing that remains is pavingthe path towards its, and the firststepping stone of that path must beself-awareness.

Holistic Approach to Personality,Psychometrics and YOU is atreasure chest for people fromdifferent walks of life to learn abouttheir true strengths, talents,behaviours, attitudes, competencyand thinking styles. The advantagelies in multiple tools andtechniques to interpret the peoplebehaviours to understand thediverse influences on human mindby varied factors like heredity,upbringing, situational,environmental and more.

SEARCHSELECT, ENABLE, ATTAIN &REACH CAREER HAPPINESSAuthors: Sreenidhi S K,Tay Chinyi Helena,Priyanka & M Neha KamathPublisher : Notion Press, Old No. 38, New No. 6,McNichols Road, Chetpet, Chennai-600 031Price : Rs. 300/-

H.A.P.P.YHOLISTIC APPROACHto PERSONALITY,PSYCHOMETRICS andYouAuthors: Sreenidhi S.K.,Tay ChinyiHelena, Priyanka, Vaishali and MayuriPublisher : Notion Press, Old No. 38,New No. 6, McNichols Road, Chetpet,Chennai-600 031Price : Rs. 300/-

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"Employee Engagement - a Recipe to boostOrganisational Performance" is a wellresearched Book authored by Dr. Vipul Saxenawho is a known HR leader of Country pursuing2nd Career after a glorious Defence Career asPilot & Aeronautical Engineer.

Dr. Saxena, has made a bold attempt to studyone of the most challenging concern ofCorporate Inc globally i.e EmployeeEngagement as even Top Organisations likeFacebook, Google who are amongst best choiceas Employer are facing huge attrition, missingout some link of gainful Engagement.

The author interacted with over 1000 employeesof 15 Organisations to understand the scalesover which Employees rate their employers andalso the range of factors that result intoEmployee Engagement.

Dr. Saxena could establish a "ConceptualModel" which defines direct connectionsbetween Employee Engagement toOrganisational Performance inter-linked withother factors which are comprehensivelyexplained in the Book.

The Book also suggests few types of Employeeswho may be engaged, yet non contributor to theOrganisational Performance. The author hascharted out Road-map for HR leaders to identifyrelevant Drivers and how to deal with it to helpachieve Organisational Goal.

Dr. Saxena has supported his study with wellanalysed data, presenting it through Tables &Graph which can be very useful for readers tounderstand and also for the B SchoolStudents/Research Scholars. The Book hasbeen adopted by many reputed Institutes andUniversities globally including IIMs.

EmployeeEngagementA RECIPE TO BOOSTORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCEAuthor: Vipul SaxenaPublisher : Notion Press, Old No. 38, New No. 6,McNichols Road, Chetpet, Chennai-600 031Price : Rs. 299/-

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March 2020 - Business Manager