Can You Retain Your Talented Employees?

In the battle for talents, often organizations fall short of skilled employees. Many companies are looking for ways to maintain the talented workforce in their businesses. Paycom recently has designed an infographic which reveals the various factors as to why employees leave their jobs. Some of the common factors are- inadequate pay, lack of believes in senior authority, unhealthy environment and lack of concern for development.

Moreover, if you try asking the workers what's the reason that is pushing them to discontinue the job the response may shock you. More than cash employees want other factors also to encourage them in their position of perform.

Although employees love if they are recognized by money and financial rewards but they also want to be praised publicly for their good work. It is found that this process increases the employee retention rate by 27 percent. It was also found that organizations which practice talent management programs have benefited not only in retaining their top talented employees but also as high performing organization.

Take a look at the infographic below to get specific information on how to retain talented personnel.

Criticism on EPFO's Decision May Lead to Its Suspension

The news of Aadhaar becoming a compulsory element for new EPFO members surprised almost every individual last week. However, after the harsh opposition from trade unions EPFO may suspend its decision to make Aadhaar Card mandatory for new and existing EPFO members. “Amid the pressure from trade unions, the EPFO is likely to put in abeyance its office order issued to field staff for collecting Aadhaar numbers of existing members and new subscribers joining the EPF scheme," a source said.

EPFO asked its field staff to mandatorily ask for Aadhaar numbers from new members with effect from March 1, 2013 and existing members by June 30, 2013. Raising a red flag against this decision, trade unions leaders said that it would be impossible for members to provide Aadhaar numbers as the scheme was not operational in many parts of the country. Also, it was cumbersome to get the numbers in states where the scheme is operational, unions had said.

"They should not have taken this decision suo motu. It should have been discussed in the EPFO's apex decision making body the Central Board of Trustees (CBT)", Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh General Secretary Baij Nath Rai told. Rai who is an EPFO trustee also, further said, "It cannot be done outrightly as there are a lot of hiccups in making Aadhaar number in many parts of the country."

Another EPFO trustee & All India Trade Union Congress Secretary D L Sachdev has entirely opposed it saying that EPFO does not need to use Aadhaar number as unique account number of its members. We are opposing this move. All members do not have Aadhaar numbers. They should make it voluntary," he said adding that EPFO can give unique account number of all members without using the Aadhaar number and platform. Sachdev who is also an EPFO trustee said that AITUC would raise the issue with Labour Minister as well as take it up in the CBT meeting on February 15.

Hind Mazdoor Sabha Secretary A D Nagpal said, "I do not think that this could be done by June 30. We will ask for extension of the deadline in the forthcoming meeting of CBT next month."

A lot of criticism has been shown against EPFO’s decision to make the Aadhaar card necessary for the members. Probably, we all knew it when the buzz came into air last week, right? We would like to have your opinions also about the issue. Share your views with us at connect@pimanpower.com.

Aadhaar Card A Mandatory KYC for New EPFO Members

Wish you all a very Happy Republic Day from PI Manpower. We always endeavor to make our nation proud and will always do. Today we come up to you with a big news buzzing from the EPFO Office.

New members joining the EPFO's retirement fund scheme will have to necessarily furnish Aadhaar number as KYC (Know Your Customer) credential for enrolment from March 1, 2013. The Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), which serves around 13 crore employees and is the world's largest social security scheme, has decided that from March 2013 all new members should have an Aadhaar card. However for current members, the procedure of Aadhaar number has to done in a time bound manner," an official order to the field staff said.

Last month, it had released directions for linking the payment of EPF benefits to current members with the Aadhaar card. This relates to 43 districts where the government is applying its direct cash transfer scheme for subsidies on pilot basis. However, the December 31 deadline for the job has not been met.

While government seems to be driving the Aadhaar card scheme through EPFO, sources within the organization said that it might lead to a huge chaos in the beginning. Getting new members is an ongoing process but not everybody has an Aadhaar card yet, said the source. The EPFO order asks field offices to contact the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency providing Aadhaar cards, to hold camps in commercial and industrial areas or other suitable centers to provide workers with cards. The field offices have been directed to coordinate with district bodies too, says the order.

In case any worker does not have issued the Aadhaar number, the employer can issue an Enrolment Id (EID) as per the recommendations of the body. This EID would be switched into Aadhaar number later on, the order said. The body would also look the Aadhaar numbers of its pensioners through the banks. EPFO has made the decision to use Aadhaar as compulsory KYC credential to enhance its services. The pensioner can submit their Aadhaar number either to their pension paying branch of the bank or to the EPFO office.

Previously, EPFO had thought of replacing its members account number with the Aadhaar numbers to ignore inconvenience of members as they had to apply for transfer of PF money to the new account with the new employer.

EPFO is working on to create a master data base where all members would have a unique account number and would not require to switch PF accounts to another one on changing job. Besides, this would help the members, particularly the construction workers, who often change their jobs or contractors.

Sources within the organization said connecting Aadhaar with EPFO would only complicate work. "Ensuring that each one gets Aadhaar card cannot be EPFO's mandate, which is basically assigned to implement the EPF Act," said an official here. A large number of workers are situated in distant areas, where Aadhaar was yet to reach, said a senior official in the ministry of labour.

Over five years ago, EPFO had released a project similar to Aadhaar which was ceased. The national social security number was anticipated to be unique identification number for EPF members. The entire project was discontinued after payment disputes and other issues jumped up with Siemens, the company providing the technical infrastructure.

We would like to hear your views on the addition of Aadhaar as a necessary KYC for the EPFO members. 

You may write to us at connect@pimanpower.com. 

How to Get the Best Out of Your Annual Appraisal

The month of January is about to end and a few days from now you will be facing up to your boss for the annual performance appraisal exercise. We’d like to help you to form an appraisal strategy depending on which of the following scenarios you fit into.

NOT SURE ABOUT PERFORMANCE

"I am not sure how well I have done this year and not sure what to expect from the performance appraisal."

The way out: Be honest and genuine about performance areas you are sure of. Rate yourself on things that you did do, but be candid on areas where you did not fare as expected. On areas where you are unsure about your performance, try and find out what your boss thinks about it. Elicit feedback from the authority without sounding unsure.

DELAYED PROMOTION

"My promotion is stalled for the last one year. How should I convey this in the performance appraisal chat?"

The way out: Refrain from mentioning this (being overlooked the previous year) if the manager does not bring it up, as the conversation could then steer towards old projects instead of focusing on last year's performance.

If you are confident your performance this year can get you a promotion, approach it from the perspective of seeking advice. Ask an open-ended question like so what do you think is holding back my promotion? Is it something in my control or is it because of external factors? If the answer is the former, seek advice on what you need to do.

FEEDBACK IS PRE-MEDIATED

"My boss seems to already have an opinion on my ratings. He is unlikely to do the appraisal seriously or objectively."

The way out: Always document and list your achievements even when you fear the feedback would be pre-meditated. Prepare yourself with formal mails and documents.

SUDDEN, UNEXPECTED CRITICISM

“I've done well, but the boss is criticizing me at the appraisal, without ever giving any negative feedback during the year."

The way out: Hear the boss without being defensive. Thank your boss for the feedback and learn from it. Don't get into a debate on the finer details of the reasons he is criticizing you for, as the meeting could then revolve around it. Turn the discussion towards positive areas.

We hope the above points would guide you through your appraisal process. Should you have more suggestions, we’d love to hear them from you.

Wish You A Very Happy Makar Sankranti..

May the blessed occasion of Makar Sankranti usher in good luck and prosperity - PI Manpower

Don't Be A Defaulter, Pay Your PF Dues Now

Wishing all a very happy new year once again..!! PI Manpower wishes you joy, contentment and prosperity.

No wonder, the year 2013 has brought new hopes but it certainly is bringing a lot of surprises. One of the biggest was EPFO finding G4S guilty for not paying PF dues upto Rs 133 crore. Shocking huh?

All of us are aware of the fact that how big the organization is! G4S has operations in 125 countries with 657,000 employees, 90% of whom are employed in front-line positions servicing customers. The company, which is listed both on the London and Copenhagen stock exchanges, clocked revenues of £7.5 billion and profits of £198 million. The Indian unit accounts to 62% of the company's total Asian workforce. Its revenues have grown from Rs 213 crore in 2002-03 to nearly Rs 1,000 crore in 2009-10.

Recently, it came in the news that the Delhi Provident Fund Department has found the Indian unit of G4S guilty of not paying complete PF dues which accumulates to approximately Rs 133 crore. Sources say that if all PF state offices come to a similar conclusion, the company may be asked to compensate an amount of Rs 1,900 crore. According to an order passed by Delhi regional PF commissioner Gautam Dixit on December 18, 2012, while paying its security guards, G4S divided their salary into two elements - 50% basic pay and 50% paid as special allowances - and remitted PF dues only on the basic pay component. This allowed it to account half of the PF contributions gathered from clients.

G4S, however, stated that it has charged its clients on the basis of its wage structure and deposited the same with the PF department. It also conveyed that it’s in the process of availing the appropriate statutory right of taking legal action against the said order.

EPFO, since the last year is certainly making efforts to streamline the process of PF contributions. Firstly, making the process of filing PF Challans online was a real revolution in the last year. This effort itself made it possible to identify the loopholes and filling the same. Then, in November 2012, there came a new circular that asked companies to include several allowances into the basic wage so as to stop a number of organizations from filling less PF contributions than what is actually accrued.

This is definitely high time that the defaulters start paying their PF dues completely or else they would be charged just like G4S. Strong commitments are coming into action from EPFO and this would certainly help in collection of actual PF contributions.

Apart from the steps taken to evade defaults in PF contributions, discussions for increasing PF interest rate are also in the air. EPFO trustees who were to meet on Jan 15 for fixing the new interest rate are now likely to meet on Feb 15.

According to the sources, the preliminary estimates of EPFO indicate that the body would neither have surplus nor have deficit if it pays 8.6 per cent rate of interest to its over 50 million subscribers. However, the unionists are demanding keeping the interest rate at par or above 8.8 per cent provided to the subscribers of Public Provident Fund, which is voluntary scheme. They have also been demanding increasing the interest rate to 9.5 per cent provided by the body in 2010-11 for this fiscal. EPFO had slashed the interest rate by 1.25 per cent to 8.25 per cent for 2011-12.

We’d keep updating you about the upcoming decisions to be made by EPFO. Till then, we advise you to file your PF contributions completely. Should you need our assistance, we’re always there at your service.