HR-E News Letter

A quarterly In-house HR News Letter

HR-E News Letter

SL NO 1 2 3 4 5

Contents Business News HR News Research Focus Important Judgments Book Summary

Page No 3-4 5 6-7 8-10 11-12

HR-E News Letter

Business News

HR & IR NEWS

HR-E News Letter

EPFO Members to Submit AADHAR Numbers by June EPFo vide its circular dated R-1/UID/2010/30051 dated 21 st January 2013 has made Aadhaar number mandatory for its members. According to the circular all the members joining the scheme after 1st March 2013 should mandatorily have Aadhaar Number or Employers shall give Enrollment Identification Number (EID) which shall later be converted to Aadhaar number. All the existing members shall submit their Aadhaar number before 30th June 2013. PF Subscribers to get 8.5% intrest for 2012-13: EPFO has announced a higher interest rate of 8.5% in 2012-13 compared to 8.25% announced in last year for its subscribers. The interest rate is announced by Central Board of trustees and would later be notified by Ministry of Finance. Utilization of Milage Points and other Incentives earned by officials on Official tours: DPE vide its circular F.NO. 3(4)/08-Fin dated 20 th February 2013 has informed as follows: All the Mileage Points earned by employees of CPSEs on tickets purchased for official travel shall be utilized by the Concerned CPSEs for other official travel by their employees. It is the responsibility of the employees concerned to ensure that free mileage points are used only for official travel and not for personal trips. Any other incentives and similar packages such as free companion etc. should be negotiated by CPSEs so that benefit comes to the CPSES Clarification issued by DPE on Retirement Benefits for the employees retired before 01.01.2007 and after 01.01.2007 (after introduction of SBFS) 1. DPE has clarified that the Corpus of 1.5% post PBT is for employees who retired before 01.01.2007. For the employees retiring after 01.01.2007 superannuation befit fund should be introduced in which 30% of individual Baic+DA shall be contributed. Therefore, the two schemes should be mutually exclusive. Further it has also clarified that the two schemes should not be combined in no circumstances. 2. It is permissible to cover the workmen who retired before 01.01.2007 under the scheme dated 08.07.2009 which provides for creation of corpus of 1.5% of PBT. However, the workmen retiring after 01.01.2007 should be governed by the superannuation benefit scheme arrived after settlement. 3. It is clarified that minimum service requirement to be eligible under the scheme dated 08.07.2009 which provides for creation of corpus of 1.5% of PBT for an employee would be 15 years.

HR-E News Letter

4. DPE has further clarified that the 30% of Basic +DA is kept outside the 50% celling prescribed for perks and allowance.

Purchase, use and entitlement of Car facility to GMs and Above DPE vide circular No.2 (23) /11-DPE (WC)-GL-V/13 dated 21 st January 2013 has issued guidelines for purchase/use/entitlement for staff vehicles for GM and above Grade of CPSEs. The important points of the circular are provided belwo: 1. CPSEs can purchase latest models of Cars not exceeding 2000 cc for staff car purposes 2. The Car would be provided to CMD/Directors. The executive director/GM heading projects may also be provided with Cars. 3. The ceiling for Non Duty Journey is provided. 4. The recovery amount for private/Non duty journey should be Rs 2000/-.

Amendments in Act

HR-E News Letter

Research Focus
People who are socially skilled are also more proficient in spatial skills:

A new study led by a Johns Hopkins University psychologist found that the more socially accomplished a person is, the easier it is for him or her to assume another person's perspective (literally) on the world and is more proficient in spatial skills (Spatial Skills are ability to understand problems involving physical spaces, shapes, or forms)

HR-E News Letter

In the study, 48 men and women ages 18 to 22 viewed a model of buildings constructed from LEGOs . A series of seven figures (one time it was 13" faceless "dolls," a second time it was toy cameras and a third time it was colored plastic triangles) was arrayed around the building model. Participants then viewed images on laptop computers, each of which corresponded to the would-be visual perspective of one of the figures (dolls, cameras, triangles) and were asked which figure could "see" that view of the buildings displayed on the computer screen. The study subjects also completed a pencil-and-paper test designed to assess the degree to which adults of normal intelligence showed five different traits associated with autism spectrum disorders: social skills, perseveration, attention to detail, communication, and imagination. Of particular interest in this inquiry were the social and communication scores, as those are aligned with typical social behaviors. The critical finding was that there was a strong correlation between overall social acumen and the study subjects' accuracy in taking the perspective of the figures only when the figures were dolls, and not when the figures were the toy cameras or triangles. According to Shelton, this suggests that when people are faced with a task involving taking a different perspective, they "bring something extra to the table when it involves a person, or a potential person, rather than just an object."
Source: Science Daily

Contempt in the workplace may actually improve employee task performance: A new study by Shimul Melwani and Sigal G. Barsade of the University of Pennsylvania suggests that contempt in the workplace may actually improve employee task performance. The study was conducted with undergraduates to determine if receiving contemptuous remarks had a negative or positive effect on work performance. They also examined whether the social status of the recipient of the contempt had any influence on how well they completed the assigned task. Using 268 undergraduate students from the University of Pennsylvania, the researchers divided the participants into three social classes and teamed them with a virtual partner that bombarded them with contemptuous remarks about completed tasks. The researchers conducted three separate studies on the participants to arrive at their conclusions. In Study 1, which examined the task performance and interpersonal outcomes of contempt, recipients of contempt had significantly better task performance but also significantly more interpersonal aggressiveness toward their virtual partners compared with recipients of failure, angry, or neutral feedback. The second study revealed that contempt lowered self-esteem, but those with low self-esteem had less aggression. Finally, the third study showed that those assigned to low social-status had less aggression and higher task performance outcomes. Our findings, possibly unique to the work environment, highlight that being a recipient of contempt led to significantly better performance quality, said the team. Yet, these higher performance outcomes did not occur without a cost. They added that, We found a significantly negative influence of contempt on interpersonal relations in the form of greater expressed verbal aggression toward ones partner. However interesting these findings may be, the authors concluded on a cautionary note. They said, Although the results offer support

HR-E News Letter

for the positive influence of contempt on task performance, this does not mean that contempt is an unmitigated good within the workplace. Reference: Melwani, S., & Barsade, S. G. (2011, June 27). Held in Contempt: The Psychological, Interpersonal, and Performance Consequences of Contempt in a Work Context. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/a0023492 Hay Group report offers outlook on key global trends impacting leadership In a foresight report released by Hay Group, the global management consultancy, identifies the six most significant trends that will affect organizations, employees and managers over the next two decades, and the key competencies required of successful future leaders. The report, Leadership 2030, examines six global trendsglobalization 2.0, climate change, demographic shifts, digitization, individualization and technological convergenceand their impact on leadership and organizations. Hay Groups findings on four of these major shifts, and the ways they are changing the competencies required of successful leaders, include: 1. Globalization 2.0: As globalization accelerates, the new business world will be characterized by increasingly diverse teams and declining loyalty between organizations and employees. The balance of power will shift to Asia, a global middle class will rise, and greater inter-connectedness will result in greater volatility in the economic markets. Leadership Impact: Companies will need to be more agile and collaborative to manage the global/local divide; their leaders will need to be flexible, internationally mobile and culturally sensitive, and they must have strong conceptual and strategic thinking capabilities in order to manage risk and cope with the dangers and uncertainties associated with globalization. 2. Climate Change: Rising emissions and temperatures will be further aggravated by growing residential and industrial waste in developing nations. The scarcity of strategic resources like water, minerals and fossil fuels could trigger price hikes and violent conflict. Leadership Impact: Organizations will be forced to lower their eco-footprint, adapt to rising operational costs and restructure along sustainable lines; leaders will need outstanding cognitive skills to balance the competing demands of financial success, social responsibility and environmental custodianship, and must act as change agents, advocating environmentally responsible business practices. 3. Demographic Shifts: As the world population grows and ages, demographic imbalances are emerging, leading to skills shortages in some areas and increasing migration. Leadership Impact: For organizations, fewer people means the war for talent will continue to rage; leaders will need to attract, motivate and retain increasingly diverse teams and find ways to develop and promote the growing numbers of international

HR-E News Letter

migrants,

women

and

older

people

into

leadership

positions.

4. Digital Lifestyle and Work: Technology will continue to blur the boundaries between private and work lives, will broaden generational divides, and will shift power to employees with extensive digital skillsparticularly the rising class of knowledge workers, who can work anywhere. Leadership Impact: As organizations become increasingly virtual, leaders must recognize and harness the critical skills of digital natives, foster collaboration between them and traditional workers, and encourage high levels of openness, integrity and sincerity to build reputation in a more transparent world. Source:www.haygroup.com

Important Judgments

In the High Court of Judicature at Madras Special officer, O.1878 Kallur, Suthamali Primary Agriculture Co-op Bank Limited v. Joint Commissioner of Labour 2012 I CLR 184 Background: The workman was employed as secretary in the Bank. The workman reached age of superannuation on 12.06. 2001 and as per practice followed in Bank he will be allowed to be superannuated on 30.06.2001. The workman was issued charge sheet on 17.09.2001 for misappropriation of funds and was put under suspension on 22.06.2001 (After 10 days of date of his superannuation and 8 days before his

HR-E News Letter retirement.). Domestic Inquiry was conducted and the Petitioner was dismissed after 10 months after his date of retirement. The Workman made an application before the Joint Commissioner of Labor (Authority under Gratuity Act) for payment of Gratuity. The Joint Commissioner of Labor ordered Management to pay gratuity to the workman as dismissal subsequent to age of Retirement was not acceptable. Hence this Writ Petition by Management against the order of the Joint Commissioner of Labor: Defense taken by Petitioner Management Defense taken by Respondents

1. There are 10 workers including a gold 1. There is specific finding form the appraiser, who is not a workman and Respondent that there are 11 employees hence the act would not apply to working in the Bank and nothing on the petitioner bank record contrary to this finding. 2. Since the third respondent was to 2. Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 is code in retire only on 30.06.2001 as per itself and special forum is created in the practice followed in Bank, the Act to take recourse in case of grievances suspension order issued was valid and submission that the workman might 3. Since the action against the workman have claimed under Tamil Nadu was initiated under Tamil Nadu Cooperative societies Act is denied Cooperative societies Act, the 3. As the actual date of retirement is on respondent could not have taken 12.06.2001 and there is no order to extend amounts only in the terms of the said his service up t0 30.06.2001, the bank has act and not under Payment of erred in dismissing his service after gratuity Act, 1972 retirement. Judgment : The Court concurred with the findings on Joint Labour Commissioner on applicability of the Act. However, the Court differed with the finding of Joint Labour Commissioner that the Bank has erred in dismissing the workman after retirement as there is provision under Tamil Nadu Cooperative Societies Act to take disciplinary action on employee subsequent to Retirement. However, the Court has passed as Order to Pay Gratuity to workman as the Disciplinary Authority did not pass specific order for forfeiture of gratuity in the DA Order. Learnings : 1. The order for Forfeiture of Gratuity will have to be specifically passed by an employer along with the order of termination for forfeiting gratuity. It cannot be presumed or pleaded for the first time before the Gratuity Authority that it is the case of Forfeiture, if such order is not passed by the Employer.

10

In the High Court of Judicature at Madras HR-E News Letter WP NO 3603 of 2077 L Kannaki Vs Secretary of Government, Animal Husbandary 2012 I CLR 374 Background: The Petitioner was appointed as casual Laborer, on Daily wages, in the respondent Cattle Breeding Form, on 30.05.1988. The petitioner has rendered service for five years of service with the respondent and her name was mentioned for regularization to government. In the Meanwhile, the workmen along with union of 465 others approached Administrative Tribunal for absorption in to services. The said tribunal ordered the Respondent to absorb all the workmen including the petitioner. Vide its order dated 07.05.1997. However, the Petitioner became Pregnant and was not able to attend duties from 05.05.1996 and hence she requested the Respondent to grant leave which was denied. Subsequent to delivery, she approached the Respondent seeking employment. The respondent refused the same. Hence, she approached Administrative Tribunal for Reinstatement and Regularization. Since the Tribunals were abolished, the matter was transferred to High Court as WP No 3603 of 2077. Defense taken by Petitioner 1. The Petitioner intimated the Respondent regarding her Maternity Leave thru various representations Defense taken by Respondents 1. The Petitioner stayed away from work in May 1996 itself without any written intimation. 2. Though the Petitioner made representation dated 06.01.1997, 17.12.1997 and 01.05.1998, but however, there was no personal representation from the Petitioner 3. The Petitioner being casual workman, is not entitled for Maternity Leave as per Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

2. As per Section 5 (2) of a woman employee who has rendered service more that 80 days is entitled to maternity leave and as per section 12, the Act protects employment form arbitrary dismissal made by employer during pregnancy 3. All the Casual Workers working along with the Petitioner were regularized and hence the Petitioner should also be regularized.

Judgment: The Judgment is given in favour of the Petitioner. Accordingly, the Respondent was directed to regularize the services of the Petitioner from date of regularization of the casual workmen working with her prior to her termination. The basis of the Judgment is as follows: 1. As per earlier decision of the Honble supreme court in Municipal Corp. of Delhi Vs Female workers, the Casual workmen are entitled for Maternity Leave as per Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. 2. When the Petitioner reported to duty after deliver, the action of the respondents is arbitrary and violative of Article 14 and 16 of Constitution of India. Learnings : Female Casual 11 workman are entitled for Maternity Leave in case they work for more than 80 days as per provisions of Maternity Benefit Act, 1961

HR-E News Letter

Book Summary

Name: Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist Author: Tyler Cowen In "Discover Your Inner Economist," Tyler Cowen proves that incentives are a powerful influence in decision-making -- even if the logic behind that decisionmaking seems highly counter-intuitive. The scope of this book is wide and exciting. Dr. Cowen considers social contexts, the power of incentives, the recognition of human complexity and diversity, and cultural values. He discusses such economic and psychological concepts as: pattern recognition, the fundamental attribution error, the need for control, scarcity, aesthetic overload, "the tragedy of the commons", self-deception, depressive realism, the illusion of group productivity,

12

HR-E News Letter cross-subsidization, and micro-credit The book is full of fascinating stories in which psychology meets economics. The author applies the above concepts and ideas to a wide, wide variety of everyday situations, such as chess, doing the dishes, UN diplomat parking violations, bonuses in the workplace etc.

13

HR-E News Letter

14