ENDEARING AN ORGANISATION TO ITS EMPLOYEES

I was prompted to write down the following due to certain issues that came up for discussion among my friends in the Banking fraternity. These things came up with regard to the present scenario after large scale mergers/takeovers that took place in the Banking and various other sectors/industries.

Every Organisation is establised with certain defined objectives. The management tries to fulfil these objectives by deploying the assets at its disposal.

One of the important assets at the disposal of the management is the Human Assets (HA) or the workforce of the organisation. For making the HA deliver the optimum output, the organisation has to evolve itself as an excellent entity to work for.

An attempt is made here to list out some of the measures which will make an organisation a great place to work.

1. Facilitate an encouraging work environment which values, recognizes and rewards qualitative performance.

2. Invest in ongoing training with an eye on enhancing knowledge, upskilling, developing sense of belongingness and loyalty to the organisation and improved performance with passion.

3. Facilitate blending of experience of senior staff with the knowledge of younger employees.

4. Keep in place a well defined and encouraging career path.

5. Keep in place a channel for Employees' Suggestions and reward those who make valuable contributions suitably.

6. Ensure work - life balance.

These steps will definitely make an organisation a great place to work, if not, the employees feel left out and stressed which directly affects the productivity and loyalty of them.

STRESS MANAGEMENT—IT IS THE ATTITUDE AND PREPAREDNESS

Dr. Albert Ellis, an American psychologist who in 1955 developed rational emotive Behaviour therapy stated that:

“People and things do not upset us, rather we upset ourselves by believing that they can upset us”

Yes this is one reason which leads us to stress. Different situations which they face for survival by each human being in their lives are to be managed. Here comes one’s attitude and beliefs, these two things determine how one behaves. This may be influenced by internal thinking, external circumstances which lead to management by self to survive different situations as mentioned above.

As we know the body is gifted to serve others. Here different situations are faced by the body (which includes internal self and systems) to survive the demand made on it. Body responds to the increase in demand by more physical, mental and chemical variations in it. This change affects the attitude and behaviour. This influence is by the nervous system which allows the human beings to think—the pressure is generated through increased demand which produces stress hormones by pituitary and adrenal glands regrouping the body to face the demand.

Richard S Lazarus, a renowned psychologist of 20^th century stated that stress as a result from an imbalance between demands and resources.

If we think from the angle of a service provider or a manager—he has to face agitated customers, shortage of staff /resources, his authorities for not reaching the allotted targets even after putting in his best efforts etc etc. he cannot explode nor express his emotions and therefore the stress situations keep on repeating day by day, breaking down his adaptability capacity forcing him to breakdown. This affects his health leading to increased blood pressure, palpitation, sleep disorders, insomnia, heart diseases, stomach problems etc

To cope up with stress is to manage it properly. Stress is that one occurring when pressure exceeds one’s ability to cope. We cannot avoid stress altogether in life. One have to live with it. One should not ruin life by ignoring it and this is where management comes. Without stress, what is life? Life is a Snakes and Ladders game. Snakes are the risks and ladders are the opportunities in life. We need to play it and move forward. Shocks in life leads to stress, overcoming it is management. One needs to be resilient to adapt to these conditions. Always try to be the right person for the situation demanded and adapt to the circumstances, enjoy it and use it to one’s advantage. Learn to prioritise and do what you love. It is the technique one can use to relax and this will definitely lessen the stress level. Physical exercise is another way to counter stress like yoga, exercises etc. Be positive and cheerful in attitude so that negative thoughts are driven away. These are the healthy ways to deal with stress.

Many people resort to unhealthy ways to deal with stress like drinking, smoking, drugs etc which will lead to more harmful things like addiction rather than lessening the level of stress.

To conclude, don’t ignore stress but tune your belief system to interpret and judge things positively avoiding negative thoughts. This allows a positive behavioural pattern, preparedness and expectations which gives a solution for stress management.

WORKING FROM HOME— Certain thoughts in the present scenario of Covid19

The global Corona virus pandemic has increased the work force working from home. The present crisis forced employers to allow their work force to work from home which was accepted whole heartedly with both the hands by the employees. They were able to say goodbye to the tedious commute to work place, finding affordable dwelling places, food, dress etc.

The Covid 19 has taught the employers that a percentage of the total work force working from home enable a distributed work force and it will keep the operations running even during a disaster either man made or natural. Both entry level unskilled workers to those requiring specialisation / training/expertise can work from home.

The employers must ensure that working from home is productive through proper follow up. They have to ensure that there is a designated work space set up with right technology and internet connection with required speed. There must be a scheduled way of social contacts, dealing with kids and family members, pets and other potential disruptions that can happen. One should be able to separate their work space from their personal space and use it only for work.

Take the case of Amazon, Dell Inc, Infosys, IBM, TCS etc – where they have implemented the process of working from home and have stated that by 2025 their 75% employment will be working from home (various reports in the media and news sites). It is also reported that many of the Companies may vacate 50% of their infrastructure too thus cutting down their expenditure which will have appositive impact on their bottom line.

The major negative aspect is that both the employer and at the same time employees must be able to avoid scam. Working from home has come a long way and with the present pandemic debacle it has peaked thus everybody is eager to earn a living without leaving home and hence must be very careful. The job seekers must always do a homework regarding the job providing employer so as to ensure that the firm is an established one and having good repute. Otherwise the job seekers may land into the trap of fraudsters where both are eager for money , one trying to earn for living and the fraudster using the opportunity for making easy money through cheating. For example: if working from home requires one to pay a fee upfront or need to buy a start up kit or requires parting/investment of sizeable amount, then it may probably be a scam.

The employee must stick to certain schedules otherwise they may fall into workaholic tendency (the employer need only maximum productivity). Even though it is said that there is freedom of work, added to that freedom there comes hours of uninterrupted hard work followed up by employers which makes working from home not that easy. For the employee it is working from home due to being at home, access etc but for the employer it is just an another location.

Finally working from home may be empowering, exciting and profitable and this will be to those who is aware of the pros and cons of working from home. There must be always a proper planning, focus, foresight and self discipline to make it exciting thus avoiding stress and strain.

SUICIDES…ARE THEY INCREASING DURING LOCKDOWNS/SOCIAL DISTANCING.

At the outset the answer is YES. From various reports it is understood that in various countries during the initial outbreak of novel Corona virus disease, the suicides were on the rise. But later the same has come down even when the lock down and social distancing was continuing. This may be due to people have come to know more about the virus, the stress has come down, the people becoming despair and falling into state of depression has come down and thus the suicides too.

Work pressures which were contributing earlier before the outbreak changed into sort of panic situation among the job holders of losing their jobs which contributed to suicides during the initial stage of lock down due to COVID 19. People subsequently adapted mentally to live with the virus and governments also followed with relaxations thus complete shutdown became a restricted lock down.

The above situations were among the working class but large number of farmers in developing and also agriculture dependent countries committed suicide since their products like cotton, vegetables, fruits, grapes etc were affected due to lock down. Take for example farmers of Marathwada region of Maharashtra state in India suffered huge loss and resorted to distress sales since their vegetables and grapes were rotting in the fields. Many farmers committed suicide because they were not able to meet both the ends and moreover the financial indebtedness led them to despair and they killed themselves.

another aspect is that people are never content in their way of life. They desire to have more and run behind luxury and create debts for achieving that. The mental satisfaction levels of people are low in most of the countries. Added to that the lock down reasoned for the loss of job and thus the income, the fear of loss of employment, loss in business, the freedom of movement which restricted the mental happiness etc contributed to people becoming despair in their attitude and they committed suicide. However in the later part most of the affordable countries came up with financial package to reduce the sufferings of their people, which reduced stress and panic situations thereby reducing suicides. Japan, Canada , Germany are examples.

On the other side—social distancing will definitely have a control over the spreading of the virus but definitely have a negative impact on people with depression and psychiatric problems. Mental health experts say the effects of the shutdown could lead to increases in anxiety, depression and suicide. 

Prof.Dr. Ulrich Hegerl, Chairman, Deutsche Depressionshilfe (DDH) warned that due to social distancing there may be less chance that friends or relatives recognize when someone is in a suicidal crisis and can organise professional help. That means help for arranging medical /clinical help and support system will lack and importance will be given to people affected with corona virus.

The secondary consequences of social distancing is the  economic stress, social isolation, reduced access to mental health treatment and could increase suicide risk. The role of the Governments, NGOs, Social workers etc  have a great role to play here. Some suggestions to reduce mental stress and thereby suicides are given below.

• Through various information system the people must stay informed of the virus, its outbreak and it must be up to date. The people should not be confused and lead them to panic situation. Counselling centres to be set up by NGOs and social workers following all norms of social distancing... tele counselling can be an option.  
• Government must review the situations as they are doing and come out with economic measures to avoid financial uncertainty and sustain livelihood and those steps directly improve the emotional and mental health of the people.
• Steps to be taken enabling more employees to work from home and thereby the fear of loss of job can be avoided. They also get more time to be spent with their family which reduces stress and thereby increasing their mental health.
• Anxieties of school/college students regarding their career must be reduced by the Governments announcing well in advance the steps being taken, to be taken so that there will not be any lag in their course period.
• Government to ensure  that the financial commitments like loan repayments, payment of fees, contractual commitments etc to be extended for the maximum possible period which will avoid both financial and mental stress.

Those people who are capable must understand that during adversities there are many opportunities hidden and must act positively. They should strive for victory and thus contribute their mite, knowledge and experience for the upliftment of the economy by generating new employment opportunities.

When we elaborate about the suicides due to lock down and social distancing we should note that death due to other reasons like non attention of non Covid  patients, lack of public health systems in many countries, very expensive private health system, non availability of services of private hospitals, deaths due to starvation, exhaustion etc in various countries during the exodus of migrant labourers to their home place due to loss of job, place of stay and food are some of the things that governments, NGOs, social workers etc has to address to with humanitarian consideration. 

Nature acts when human beings cross the limits. A lesson everybody has to learn is to respect the Nature.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA??? WHETHER RACISM LIFTING ITS HEAD AND DIVIDING THE PEOPLE OF AMERICA???

It was very disheartening to see the sight that Mr George Floyd, a blackman, was killed due to pressing knee on his neck by a white policeman. Floyd died on 25th May 2020, after a Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin pinned him to the ground and put his knee on Floyd's neck for about eight minutes. This has happened on the basis of colour or what we call the racist thoughts.Previously released footage shows Floyd, pleading with the Police Officers.

"Please, please, please, I can't breath," he said. "My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Please, please. I can't breath. 

Ignited by the killing of Floyd by a law enforcement Officer, demonstrations targeting racial injustice and police brutality took place nation wide. If anyone was able to actually sit through the complete video recording of seeing George Floyd struggle for air, crying out to his Mama and pleading with the officers that he could not breathe, it is not a mystery why thousands of people, across the country are protesting in anger.

The entire America is paying for the act of these cold blooded policemen. With the COVID 19 outbreak already there and this outbreak of protest due to sadistic act by some policemen will affect the morale of the people. At this time I pray that let politics don’t interfere and deny justice to the victim.

The pain and suffering of families torn apart and children left without fathers is hard to even think about. It does not make our communities, society safe, it destroys them. There is no discrimination for the pain but there is discrimination between black and white, powerful and powerless, rich and poor. This must change in the enforcement of law, the law must be the same for black and white, powerful and powerless, rich and poor. 

No divinity or sacredness to be given to any people according to colour of their skin since all are sons of God.

COVID 19—LET US BREAK THE CHAIN—LEARN TO LIVE WITH THE VIRUS—NEVER PANIC--LOCKDOWNS TAUGHT US TO UNDERSTAND THINGS WHICH ARE ESSENTIAL AND NON ESSENTIAL—CONTINUE IT AND PREVENT AN OUTBREAK.

COVID—19, i.e Corona Virus Disease is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered virus named Corona virus.

It is mainly transmitted through droplets generated out of sneeze, cough or exhales by an infected person. These droplets stick on the floors or surfaces.one can be infected by breathing in the virus if one is within close proximity of the infected person or by touching a contaminated surface and with that touching ones nose, mouth and eyes. Most people who are infected with the virus will experience mild to moderate symptoms and recover without special treatment—as epr reports. But these people can be carriers of infectious corona virus and people with other serious ailments(high risk group) and with less immunity will be seriously infected which may be fatal too.

The first case of Covid--19 in India was reported in Kerala on 30^th January 2020.three students who came to Kerala from Wuhan province of China. Two of them were Medical students at a University in Wuhan. A pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan, China was first reported to the WHO Country Office in China on 31 December 2019.
The outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020.

In Kerala the cases went on to increase up to the first two weeks of April 2020 and the graph line straightened only during first week of May 2020. But again with the inflow of NRIs, expatriates, migrant labourers, allowing interstate transport for bringing stranded Keralites and further relaxations in lockdown norms will definitely increase positive cases of Covid--19 in Kerala. Kerala Government has taken all the steps to track the expatriates who arrive at the airports and railway stations and also for basic medical screening. For those arriving through other means from other States, administrative and medical steps are arranged for an early detection of Covid—19 and thereby arresting any outbreak.

It may be noted with concern that in Kerala if the reported cases of Covid—19 are on the increase then the fate of bigger States of India will be worse. Only awareness with economic package for the poor for their survival only can help the outbreak of this pandemic. A monthly free ration of essential items along with some amount into the personal account of members of poor family members, unemployed, those who have lost employment will help a long way in curtailment of this exodus taking place in India. all political differences must be kept aside by the government as well as the opposition , so that together we will arrest any outbreak by following guidelines and thereby staying healthy and safe.

LET US BREAK THE CHAIN—LEARN TO LIVE WITH THE VIRUS—NEVER PANIC--LOCKDOWNS TAUGHT US TO UNDERSTAND THINGS WHICH ARE ESSENTIAL AND NON ESSENTIAL—CONTINUE IT AND PREVENT AN OUTBREAK.

RESOURCES ARE OF THE SOCIETY PRACTICE ZERO WASTAGE OF IT

The lockdown is further extended by 19 days in India,i.e; upto May 3,2020 and therefore all items required for preparing food is amongst the essential items for all for survival.

Restrict to one curry or two in your meals, try practising fasting. This will lead  us to practicing zero wastage of resources. The resources is needed by the society and it is theirs too. You can purchase but you cannot Always remember that there are very large number of people who needs bare minimum of food for their very existence which may be equal to those quantity of food wasted by many,

Storms will not last long. But it can cause damages. By foreseeing it we can restrict the damage. Yes we will fight Covid 19 together but the impact on the economy must be foreseen. 

That is why I said at the beginning save your resources and restrict its use and practice zero wastage.

RESOURCES ARE OF THE SOCIETY PRACTICE ZERO WASTAGE OF IT.

A COVID RESOLUTION AFTER THE CRISIS FOR SELF SUFFICIENCY

Kerala do have traits of developed countries in many fields...we are always setting the developments of those countries as our target in further areas too. But remember we should not fall like USA,UK,Spain Italy,France etc as COVID 19 has proved....It is time to think, think and think together.

As we know Kerala, known as God's own country,was a State producing rice, blackgrams, vegetables etc. Kerala was having many flourishing small scale industrial clusters like coir, handloom,cashew etc. From a productive State it has transformed into a cosumer State which I feel is a downfall over a period of time.

Earlier the festivals of Kerala in any part of it was linked to the harvest season and now we observe that it had slowly turned out to be market oriented consumption sales during festivals like Onam, Christmas,Bakrid etc etc.  Vegetables and rice comes from our neighbouring States for our daily consumption.

Now this COVID crisis had proved that our State shivers once the borders are closed. We depend too much on others for our daily needs which we can produce at our backyard. Neighbouring States never have such problems because for food they have their own production,what they suffer is commercial loss due to non selling of their products to Kerala if borders are closed.

Hence a suggestion is that the administration from the root level to State level must take steps to think and implement as to what we do for making ourselves self sufficient for rice, vegetables etc. Agriculture to be given more importance and Agriculturist must be rewarded properly through setting up marketing centres,subsidies for quality seeds/manure and finally good rate for their products.

Cottage industrial clusters can be revived through revival packages( even though it is there) with more subsidies and tax concessions. With Kudumdasree and other SHGs/JLGs are very active in our State,we can implement the above through themand build up a Self sufficient State of Kerala..Let this be our resolution once the COVID crisis is over.

POLITRICKS..ONLY AFTER COVID..OBEY THE ADMINISTRATION NOW

Saddest thing, that still takes place in this country is scoring points through POLITRICKS rather that obeying and following the orders and guidelines of the Administration.

Instead of playing tricks, addressing ones loyalists to follow the guidelines to avoid spreading of this Virus is the most important and respectful thing that can be done to this country

Defying orders and crowding should not be allowed at any circumstances and media also must excercise restriction and should not give interviews to anyone just like that from these areas of action. Because certain things spelt out by them will be highlighted and sensationalized  which may give more problems to the administration rather than solutions by dampening the efforts of health workers, police, local administrators, panchayat members, ward representatives, bankers etc etc

Corona do not have any boundaries, any politics, any economic status or any sentiments. Hence take all steps to avoid oneself getting infected and make others understand the seriousness of this Virus.

Understand that lockdown is for one to stay inside wherever you are and not to move from one place to another alone or in groups,which we had seen in the case of migrant labours and others in certain parts of the country. This is not what the Government is expecting from each responsible citizen.

The Governments irrespective of politics must address the situation including taking stringent measures if the situation demands.

FIGHT CORONA STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND BE SAFE.

WHETHER INDIAN ECONOMY IS SHINING

Is there any truth in what our respected finance Minister's statement that Indian Economy is getting revived and progressing and coming back to normal. But the inflation during last month 9jan 2020) is 7.595, the highest during the last five and a half years. this inflation is assessed on the basis of Consumer Price Index which means increasing trend of prices of goods and services in the market. Industrial production also has come down. when there is a trend like this in the economy, there must be interest cut by the central bank of the Country, which has also not taken place.

The government machinery is trying to give a different picture to the public by statements - that there were gray areas earlier but there are lot of improvements...?

One cannot take into consideration the investment into the money market especially during first half of the financial year extending upto november. These investments made by FIIs/corporates/investors etc are for speculative purposes and when the Investments made won't fetch returns as they envisaged are bound to be withdrawn and repatriated. this will again make an impact on our financially stressed sector.

what the economic Survey Report mentioned about the financial situations of our Economy was not mentioned in Budget 2020. instead of coming out with corrective steps, which may be stringent, cover up of real situations was more evident. The public is left to suffer the confussions which were not understood by him because of jargons used. Added to that came the new Income tax regime with options either to continue with the old or go for the new...a total confussion for an ordinary Tax payer.

Hence it is totally confusing as to whether our Financial Investments--both short Term and Long Term-- will fetch returns or whether those investments land into the hands of  bigger corporates who will swindle away the money and claim banrupcy. WHETHER  OUR  ECONOMY  IS  SHINING  OR  FACING  RECISION  CRISIS  IN  OUR  FINANCIAL  SECTOR. we will WAIT,WAIT and WAIT because we are tolerant to anything and everything.




 

Bangladesh lift maiden U-19 World Cup title with 3 wicket victory over India

 

Potchefstroom: Bangladesh secured their maiden global cricket title with a three wicket win against India in the final of the ICC U-19 World Cup here ...Replying to India's meagre score of 177, which was reset to 170 in 46 ove...

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Finance Ministry offers opt-in Income Tax scheme.

Budget 2020 | Taxpayer opting for new tax regime to forego deductions on PF, children’s tuition fee, insurance

Since the demand for some relief  from the middle class Tax payers were very obvious,  a new personal income tax regime with reduced rates for those earning upto Rs 15 lakh was introduced in the Budget.

Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7. 5 lakh has been lowered from 20% to 10%, and for incomes between Rs 7.5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh to 15% from 20%. Similarly, tax rates have been lowered from 30% to 20% for those earning between Rs10 lakh to Rs12.5 lakh, and to 25% for those with incomes from Rs12.5 lakh to Rs15 lakh. 

Tax payers can, however, can opt for the new rates, if they give up almost all tax exemptions and deductions they enjoy under the old regime.

The budget speech has not mentioned regarding taking steps to overcome the financial crisis, moreover, it has indication on sales of profit making public sector undertakings like LIC of India, IDBI etc. The expectations of the stock market had a hit . Hope the agri sector may improve but most of the proclamations were there last year also. Whether MSME thrive or not, we will wait and see.

Altogether a budget which may not make a big impact on the present economic conditions of the country.