12 Hour Shifting for an Outsourcing Business

Hi All, 

I am working for a full service outsourcing organisation. Many of my colleagues in the

Leadeship team are from Manufacturing background. They keep on demanding for making
our 8 hour shift to 12 hour shift for the speific work convenience. I am fighting 
saying that it is against the law of the land. 

But now they claim to be have done in companies which are highly renowned for their
ethical standards. Is it possible, other than for processes which are continuous in nature. 

They take the names of Automobile companies which are basically having assembly lines. 

Can someone throw some light into this please. 

Regards,

eChoice Training

Message From: rkuppili Total Posts: 113 Rank: Learner

Post Date: 16/06/2009 07:24:04 Points: 565

The working hours on a given day are not to exceed more than 8 hours and 48 hours a
week. Besides 8-working hours a day also include breaks. The companies can't ask an
employee to work more than 48 hrs in week and more than eight hrs per day.

The BPO firms work all seven days of the week. On an average, BPO employees put in 40
hours every week. However, now with revised working hours, an employee would have to
put in 50 hours a week. 

The Indian arm of the Union for Information & Technology Enabled Services (UNITES) is
planning to file a public interest litigation (PIL) against the alleged “arbitrary policy’ of
many Indian and multinational IT/ITeS firms in India who have, for the past two months,
reportedly been enforcing longer working hours that violate the daily eight-hour working
mandate of the Indian Factories Act, 1948. 

UNITES, the country’s first union in the IT-BPO sector, is affiliated to the Indian National
Trade Union Congress (Intuc). It claims to have around 10% of the total IT-BPO workforce
of 2 million as members, and said the numbers have been dramatically rising over the last
two months on the back of lay-offs in the sector. The union is also part of Union Network
International (UNI), which has over 16 million workers in 13 different sectors from 163
countries. 

IT firms, on their part, insist that the Act is not being violated since IT workers have to
work for 48 hours a week — eight hours daily for six days. However, since most IT firms
have a five-day working week, they work longer hours, hence the misconception. 

But some IT-BPO employees and UNITES are not buying the story. “The labour law
in India allows an eight-hour working day, whereas in most IT companies in India
people are involuntarily working for over 12 hours daily,” R Karthik Shekhar,
UNITES’ secretary general for India told Business Standard. 

He added that the increase of daily working hours from eight to almost 10 hours by
Indian and multinational companies officially is “a double standard by the IT firms,
who, on the one hand are firing people saying they are not getting enough work, and
on the other hand, forcing employees to work more since they are getting more
work”. 

He said UNITES has requested industry body Nasscom to step in to clarify the stance. 
The IT sector in India was once the torchbearer of many best HR practices, including flexi-
office hours. 

However, the situation has changed on the back of a slowing economy. Global IT services
firm Accenture, for instance, is reportedly planning to increase working hours by almost an
hour with effect from January 1 next year. Infosys, India’s second-largest IT exporter, too,
has asked its employees' to strictly abide by the duty hours that the company has fixed as
9.15 hours a day on all working days. Wipro also has stipulated 9.5 hours working hours a
day, and is becoming much stricter in terms of timing. 

On condition of anonymity, a team leader working with vCustomer, said: “In call centres
people are used to long working hours. During peak season (December-January), they work
even 14 hours a day. But now due to the ongoing crisis, expectation levels are very high.
Performance is being monitored frequently.” 

Shekhar alleges that most IT firms do not display a “standing order” (regarding the eight-
hour duty), which is certified by the labour department, on a notice board at the entrance of
every firm. Instead, they have the order posted on the company’s Intranet. 

“I believe stressing on increased input is always a mistake — the industry needs to focus on
more productivity and value creation on the output side,” said Ganesh Natarajan, Chairman,
Nasscom, when contacted. He, however, did not comment on whether Nasscom would be
working on fixing a limit on daily working hours for companies. 

Hope this will throw some light on your doubts...

 Cheers!!! Radhika

 Impact of HR Outsourcing on Internal HR Practices

The increasing number of success stories of companies using outsourcing to gain competitive advantage and
increase shareholder value has sparked a growing quest among enterprises for best practice tips on
structuring the outsourcing initiative as well as managing the ongoing relationship. We asked leading HRO
firms for advice on three questions; here are their recommendations. 

Q: What are the top success factors to incorporate into the contractual and relationship structure
to avoid the pain of having to switch providers?

Steve Bohannon, President, EDS HR Business Process Outsourcing: The structure of an HR outsourcing
relationship, and ultimately the contract, is an outcome of much that goes before it. Success emanates from
the hard work that goes into creating a positive relationship with open communication. 

-> Alignment of Goals: What makes that foundation work is the alignment between provider and client
around their mutual understanding of the value proposition. The client's clarity of thought around what it is
seeking in an HR outsourcing agreement is absolutely critical. Those goals need to be understood at many
levels within the organization. Secondly, it's equally important that the provider has clarity around its ability
to deliver on that value proposition.

-> Open Communication: Once goals and value propositions are understood, it is important to merge them
through open, honest communication steeped in realistic expectations around how things are going to work.
The structure of the relationship must reflect realistic expectations about economic returns, levels of
services, and transitions.

-> Governance Structure: A key element of the contract is the governance structure. A model with the
following four committees, made up of client and provider members, helps ensure that the relationship
honors the spirit and letter of the contract. The Executive Steering Committee guides the overall process,
making sure that both parties adhere to the principals of the relationship. The Operating Committee is
responsible for day-to-day success of service delivery and the economics of the contract. The Projects
Committee focuses on the projects that require attention away from the day-to-day operations. The
Incidents Committee manages issues and creates process to quickly deal with any problems. 

Ultimately, it is the ability to communicate openly at all levels in a complex relationship that is the key
success factor.
Can company change Third party for outsourcing ?

Hi 
Please guide on this issue - can a company change third party out sourced vendor for
exisitng employees who were hired mentioning another third party and have been receiving
salary slip from the old third party. 

Inputs awaited 

Regards,
Dharm

Message From: nina123 Total Posts: 2 Rank: Beginner

Post Date: 19/11/2008 19:51:28 Points: 10

Hi dharm, 

It is possible but certain issues has to be sorted out. Before firing the existing 3rd party,
ensure u have another 3rd party in hand who is willing to give his name for hiring the same
set of people. this generally should not be a problem given the proliferation of such
manpower supply agency and so long as hi commission is flowing. Now dehire the existing
3rd party only after ceasation of the contract period and not prematuredly to avoid any
litigation (if however u have firm evidence of violation of contract norms, then the contract
can be terminated prematuredly). Then u have 2 ensure that the existing set of people are
interested to desert their previous employer and accept offer from the new supplier. Though
theoretically speaking, on termination of a particular contract a outsourcing agency is
expected to relocate his employee to any of his other work point and the employee in the
process maintain perpetuity and not loose out on long term benefits like gratuity, truly
speaking thats an utopia. Outsourcing agency engage people on specific asignment basis
(for jobs of generally non technical in nature particularly in ervice industry) and would
generally dump his workforce on expiry of the assignment. So the employees should not
mind to join the new outfit if his emuneration remains identical. 

Recieving salary slip is mandatory under shop and establishment act but that in no way
deter the employee from switching allegiance so long as you as principal employer continue
to fulfill your statutory obligation. however before changing your 3rd party, let me know
why r u changing. is it because of deficiency in service or is it just a veil to pay less to your
employees through a new 3rd party vendor. if the case is latter, u have to look at the
possible ramification considering the threat perception of your employee mix. otherwise
merely changing the 3rd party while keping the same set of people for your business interest
 should not be a problem. 

Regards,

Nina

companies interested for pharma outsourcing

ear Friends,

In a HR conference, an issue was raised by one of the member about impact of outsourcing
HR activities on internal HR practices of an organisation. Some opine that Outsourcing may
even cause a threat for the very existence of core HR dept. and HR personnel in the
Company. Then what will HR professionals do...??? In my opinion, there are two ways of
looking at the whole issue. When viewed from a practical/ working part of HR activities
(PA, R&S, Compn.,T&D, etc) it is like a nightmare for any HR personnel. If all the
activities slowly get outsourced, then why is HR person required and what will he/ she do..?
If he/ she exists also, his/ her work will be more of administration of activities than actual
performance of core activities. But when viewed from soft part of HR activities
(Motivation, Attitudinal change, handling employee grievances, personalising company
value systems in each employee, etc) HR person has got a lot to do in here. According to
me, these activities can never be Outsourced. HRMs should be involved in high level
strategic decision-making. Our existence should be made felt in the organisation. Here is the
importance of HRM. We can work on generating new modules of HR practices to motivate
and increase the productivity of organisations. I have given a very small view as per my
understanding. I request the group to carry on this discussion and generate more insights
and perspectives. All comments are welcome. I dont intend to hurt anyone's feelings or
thoughts. Lets keep this discussion on.

Warm Regards

Rakhi

Message From: masterhr Total Posts: 25 Rank: Beginner

Post Date: 17/08/2007 01:33:08 Points: 125

Converting HR department into profit oriented department needs a critical look on HR

processes, culture and practices of the company. HR accounting can be used as a tool
towards this where in all the HR activities can be measured interms of cost and benefit
(profitability). This helps in eleminating the wasteful activities (in terms of time & cost) and
 improve the processes. Any comments and suggestions are appreciated the other group
members. About motivation, Could you let me know what exactly are you looking for. I
mean Motivation at which level of organisation? Do you need theoritical inputs? I would
definetly share my knowledge and would be happy if its of use to you..

Message From: anujjain Total Posts: 27 Rank: Beginner

Post Date: 17/08/2007 01:34:57 Points: 135

Hello Rakhi & friends,

In my view either we outsource HR activities or do it as internal HR practice the objective

is same - Search for Excellence and Effectiveness. 

After implementation of ISO-9000 (Old and new verion both) HR has really came in picture
.Further more new awards, systems & practices like Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award,
Malcom Balridge Award, CII-EXIM bank award , TPM,5-S etc has brought HR really in
driving seat because all these systems and awards call for real effectiveness ,which is
auditable also. 

Now the questions is - Can we deliever all ,what is being expected. This require many
diversified competencies. No organisation can think about total outsource of the HR
activities. But blend is always better. It brings new air. Some activities should be outsourced
but major part of HR activities should be carried out byt Internal resources . The only
question is - are we regularly assessing competencies of HR professionals to cope up with
the challenging demands.

Awaiting for more feedbacks..

Anuj Jain

Outsourced HR Functions & Services

Hello, Most organizations do not have Integrated HR Software systems. Partly this is because good HR
software is expensive and CEOs have other priorities when it comes to deploying capital. 

HR Software is not seen as critical to HR processes and therefore most companies make do with Excel
sheets and even paper for HR work. The sufferer is the ordinary employee who has to make do with lack of
basic services that a good HR system would provide. 

To overcome these hurdles, some service providers have started offering Internet based HR software which
the user company can pay for based on functionality and number of employees. The software is set up very
quickly and ready for use by the employees in a few weeks at the data center of the hosting company and
the employees can start applying for leaves, marking attendance, reimbursing expenses, planning travel
iteneraries, filing claims, declaring investments, getting salary slips all over the net. 
All this happens with the company spending relatively small monthly amounts which can be expensed off. 

This is becoming possible as internet bandwidth has become inexpensive and low intensity transactions like
employee services seem ideal for this kind of topology. 

Payroll outsourcing has been around for quite some time, but it is not integrated with HR. With HR also
going the outsourcing route, companies will be able to focus on their real business and Employees would
also get smooth basic services that they have always deserved but never enjoyed so far. 

What do you think of this concept and would you agree that employee services would evolve in this
technology and communication enabled direction.

Regards

Ronald