Body Startups are known for making lucrative offers to job seekers which are difficult to reject, but the recent scenario in the market has forced startups to take extreme steps making it a scary place. Some of the popular startups in India like Vedanta, Meesho, Trell, Furlenco, Unacademy, Cars24 and many others have laid off over 5000 employees. It is estimated that the firings will continue further. Most of the laid-off employees stated that they were not even given prior notice before being fired. Talking about the exact figures, in the first quarter of 2022, Ola laid off close to 2100 employees, Unacademy let go 926 employees, Vedantu fired more than 600 employees, whereas Cars24 has laid off 600 employees. Even Meesho, a newly founded startup, has laid off around 150 employees. The main reason behind these firings is unknown, but cost-cutting is the common reason for the layoffs. Other reasons might include the slowed funding to the startups that are eventually building pressure from the investors. A popular ed-tech company Vedantu has a workforce of 5900 employees and has asked 424 of them to leave the job, which accounts for 7% of the workforce. A successful e-commerce platform, Meesho, which clocked 100 million users and registered a 6 lakh sales base, has also laid off close to 150 employees. The company's management has promised to offer severance packages and outplacement assistance to laid-off employees. A used car marketplace Cars24, has also fired over 6% of its workforce in May, accounting for over 600 employees. The company has not revealed the reason for the firing as yet. Share on: */

Body Remote working has been the latest modification in the way businesses operate. Earlier, it was a luxury for the employees to work remotely, but it became a necessity in the past couple of years and might become a norm in the future. It will eventually give exposure for talents from tier 2 and tier 3 towns more opportunities by enabling flexible working, which would not mandate them to migrate. As talent boundaries expand due to the current scenario of working from home, organisations need to focus on being inclusive in their compliance approach by promoting flexible working. The business world might witness the much-anticipated unified labour code roll-out in 2022, which will simplify compliances. A close working of human resources and information technology has always been a boon for the organisations, and it has grown drastically since 2020, considering the hybrid working models. It becomes more crucial for HR and IT to collaborate as more technology influences how employees perform their jobs. Organisations need to focus on promoting leaders to manage change, identify new opportunities, and execute new strategies in the currently evolving business environment. Businesses have started recognising the value of skills in terms of leadership development for a broad range of managers. In 2021, businesses witnessed a higher turnover of employees because of industrial expansion, which resulted in a sudden decline in talent demand. As per the estimates, in 2022, organisations will avoid buying talent from outside and focus more on building organic talent. Share on: */

Body As per a recent study conducted by Tracking Happiness, the employees seem to be less happy when it takes more time to commute to work. The survey stated that more than 25% of employees travel less than 10 minutes to commute to work. About 15% travel less than an hour, whereas 10% travel for less than 50 minutes to reach their workplace. About 2% of the employees travel less than 90 minutes to work. The average travel as per the survey comes to 40 minutes. The data provided is for the one-way commute to work. A negative correlation is evident after the comparison between commute times and average employee happiness scores. The data revealed that the employees' happiness decreases if the commuting time is more. The study even revealed that the average happiness scores remained relatively stable when the commute time is less than an hour. However, if the commuting time exceeded over an hour, then the happiness scores fell drastically. Another declaration of the survey states that remote work arrangement makes the Millennials happiest. The survey included responses from 12,455 respondents, and most of the young people from them appeared to be happy with the remote working arrangement. The study revealed that millennials who were allowed to spend an extra day working remotely seem to show signs of increased happiness by 4% at the workplace. The data even revealed that the youngest and oldest generations are the happiest at work. The study even concludes that the return of the work from office set up after two years of work from home has reduced the happiness of the employees. Share on: */

Body Lieutenant Governor of Jammu & Kashmir has announced that minimum wages of daily wagers, as well as casual labourers, have been increased from ₹ 225 per day to ₹ 300 per day in the state. The hike will apply to all government departments. The decision is still temporary, but the formal revision of the wage rates would be decided by the Department of Labour and Employment. A significant sector of the workforce from the government departments, municipalities and local bodies would be benefitted from the revision rates. Prior to the proceedings of the revision, the state government’s Labour and Employment Department will evaluate the current minimum wages in other states and Union Territories. The process is estimated to take three months to complete. In North Bengal, Tea trade unions are looking forward to protesting via strikes, rallies and dharnas to make sure that the government notices their condition and acts accordingly to fix a reasonable minimum wage for the State’s tea industry consisting of over three lakh workers. Although tea planters’ associations held several meetings and discussions to address the issue, but results were futile. Tea planters are still not clear as to why the basics such as food, clothing and shelter are not considered while calculating the minimum wage. The Tea union has even indicated an industry-wide strike if the authorities fail to make a relevant decision. Share on: */

Body Existing provident fund (PF) accounts are likely to be divided into two parts from April 1 as per the new Income-tax (I-T) rules notified by the government last September. It highlights that employee's PF contribution of over ₹ 2.5 lakh annually is taxable. The main aim of the government by implementing these rules is to ensure high-earning people do not take advantage of government welfare schemes that are drafted for the less privileged. Listed below are the five important highlights regarding the revised I-T rules initiated by the government. PF accounts will be divided into two categories of taxable and non-taxable contribution accounts. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stated that the non-taxable accounts will embrace their closing account as it was on March 31, 2021. The CBDT formulates policy for the I-T department. The rules may come into effect from April 1, 2022, onwards as per the official sources. A new section 9D has been formed under the I-T rules to tax the employee's PF contribution that exceeds ₹ 2.5 lakh per annum. Two separate accounts would be maintained within the existing PF account to assess the person's taxable and non-taxable contribution.   Share on: */