Manufacturing, Media, and IT Staff Least Confident About Future Opportunities: LinkedIn’s Confidence Index

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network on the internet, today announced findings of their second Workforce Confidence Index, a fortnightly pulse on the confidence of the Indian workforce. Findings for the week of April 13-19 introduce industry-specific insights along with professionals’ current sentiments about the jobs market, their financial status, career progression, and their expectations going forward.

LinkedIn’s second Workforce Confidence Index shows a slight dip in the overall confidence towards future opportunities with a composite score of +51 (a rolling average of weeks April 1-7 and April 13-19), as professionals foresee testing times ahead. This is two points less than last fortnight’s score of +53. A tough jobs market, pay cuts, and an ailing economy are suspected to have caused unrest amongst Indian professionals as findings show that 1 in 3 Indians have reported a decrease in their personal incomes, whereas 48% of active job seekers and 43% of full-time professionals anticipate fewer job openings in the next 2 weeks.

Online learning continues to see a steady rise in demand as 67% professionals (in comparison to 64% professionals from last fortnight) will increase their time spent in online learning, while 37% of Indian companies (in comparison to 31% from last fortnight) will offer online resources to professionals in India.

Below are key findings that show how professionals in India across industries perceive future opportunities amid the pandemic:

Professionals in IT, media, and manufacturing feel their companies will fare worse in the next 6 months

Survey findings show that professionals in healthcare, education and corporate services industries (such as management consulting, accounting, and human resources) are the most confident about the future of their companies. This fortnight’s report states that 52% of corporate service professionals, 50% of healthcare professionals, and 33% of education professionals are confident about their companies faring better in the next 6 months. These industries are also confident about their companies’ long-term outlook, as more than 4 out of 5 healthcare professionals, 4 out of 5 corporate service professionals, and more than half of all education professionals in India think their companies will do better in the next 2 years.

In contrast to this optimism, IT, manufacturing, and media professionals display low confidence towards job stability and career progression, as companies in these industries buckle under the      pressure of COVID-19. Findings show that 1 in 4 manufacturing professionals, more than 1 in 5 IT professionals, and more than 2 in 5 media professionals feel their companies will fare worse in the next 6 months, exhibiting a bleak outlook towards the short-term future. However, the same industries are confident about strong long-term growth as 77% of manufacturing professionals, 67% of media professionals, and 65% of IT professionals feel their companies will fare better in the next 2 years.

62% of self-employed professionals report a decrease in income

This fortnight’s findings state that 32% of the Indian workforce reported a decrease in earned income, while 45% reported a decrease in personal spending. This strain on personal finances is particularly prevalent among business leaders as 39% of senior executives in comparison to 27% of individual contributors cite a decrease in earned income. However, self-employed professionals emerge as the worst hit with 62% reporting a decrease in income as businesses adopt cost-cutting measures to avoid long-term financial insecurity.

As various sectors announce a hiring freeze, job-seekers have reset their expectations as more Indian professionals anticipate fewer job openings going forward. Findings support this by stating that 48% of active job seekers think there will be a decrease in available job opportunities, up 9% from last fortnight’s findings. Findings also show that 36% of active job seekers expect a decrease in recruiter response in the next two weeks, up 8% from last fortnight’s findings.

Indian companies struggle to meet wellness needs of employees during COVID-19

While more companies (37%) in India are offering online resources when compared to last fortnight (31%), fewer SMB professionals feel their companies are providing them with selected benefits in response to COVID-19. Findings show that only 17% of SMB professionals are offered support for physical health, while 14% are offered support for emotional well-being - a decrease of 7% and 3% respectively from last fortnight’s findings. This gap indicates the immediate need for companies to strengthen their wellness initiatives for the benefit of their employees.

The Workforce Confidence Index also explains that the perception of people towards challenges depends on how confident they are. Findings show that people with a high confidence index consider 'working remotely' and 'changing communication methods' as key challenges, whereas those who are less confident cite job uncertainty, job market, finances, and social & health impact as bigger professional challenges. Monitoring these challenges during different stages of the pandemic can articulate how ‘confidence’ influences an individual’s outlook towards future opportunities.

Check out the news item and member commentary on the index on LinkedIn here.

About LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index

The Workforce Confidence Index is a fortnightly pulse on the confidence of the Indian workforce. It is based on an online survey of 2,254 members across two weeks: April 1-7 and April 13-19, and uses a scale from -100 to +100 to reflect professionals’ current sentiments about the jobs market, their financial status, career progression, and their expectations going forward. It is a measure of how professionals feel about their job stability and access to opportunity as well as how business leaders expect to invest in their companies in the near and mid-term.

About LinkedIn

LinkedIn connects the world’s professionals to make them more productive and successful and transforms the way companies hire, market and sell. Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce through the ongoing development of the world’s first Economic Graph. LinkedIn has more than 690 million members and has offices around the globe.

Employee Wellness and Immunity-Boosting Activities Gain Importance in COVID-Era Boardroom Discussions

Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged citizens to follow immunity-boosting guidelines issued by the Ayush Ministry to supplement the fight against COVID-19. While there is still no cure for the disease, a lot of health experts are saying that a strong immune system could help. 

As the tables have turned, the prime agenda of corporate management discussions has also shifted to employee wellbeing with many corporates evolving their employee wellness initiatives extensively by introducing webinars on ayurvedic nutrition and its benefits and virtual yoga sessions and respiratory exercises.  Several companies are reaching out to counselors, psychiatrists, Ayurveda experts and to help employees to boost their immunity. Here is the list of companies helping their employees to boost their immunity and mental well-being:

Brookfield Properties (a global real estate services company),  is hosting a webinar with Dr. Shijoe Mathew (Consultant, Ananda in the Himalayas) on how right ayurvedic nutrition can help boost one's immunity and gut health. This is a part of the ‘‘Positive Pulse, A Wellness Initiative’, where the company is hosting a series of engagement activities, interactive sessions with industry experts, creating engagement videos and running rewarding contests. Through this, it is ensuring the safety of its stakeholders and employees across its Commercial Real Estate portfolios, CandorTechSpace in Gurgaon, Noida and Kolkata; as well as for Powai Business District and Equinox Business Park in Mumbai.

Xanadu Realty a real estate B2B consulting firm over the past four weeks has driven the engagement agenda through constant engagement with associates with the leadership including live address to the group by the CEO. They have also introduced free online health checkups for associates and their families. They have introduced an innovative digital talent hunt - Xanadu’s Got Talent - which encourages all associates to express themselves and share it with the rest of the organization to make the WFH fun.

OZiva, pioneers of plant-based nutrition in India has started an initiative called ‘Each one, one call’ for their employees. Everyday they draw 2 chits and the names in the chits are supposed to talk to each other for an hour or so. This practice is done to keep the team connected and making sure that each one has someone to talk to. Because in the times where people are stuck at home, many times we might have anyone to talk to and that’s the main reason for stress and depression. This initiative helps the employees in their mental well being.

Stanza Living, India’s largest shared-accommodation player is conducting webinars for its employees & their families, wherein members from their internal L&D (Learning & Development) team are conducting live rejuvenating yoga sessions. These are 1 hour long sessions, to keep the teams physically & mental wellness. Such initiatives are helping employees to keep themselves motivated and energized during these unprecedented times.

Accenture cares about both the minds and bodies of its employees. The business management consultant company offers employee assistance programs, which provide confidential support for issues like stress, substance abuse, depression, and anxiety. Additionally, employees are offered Teladoc services, where they can ask a physician any health-related question 24/7. As for fitness, Accenture’s innovative wellness program allows employees to set health goals and offers rewards for completing healthy activities. 

Whirlpool Offers Technical Service Support Through Remote Online Services Throughout Indian Market

The lockdown has put forth umpteen problems for the entire nation. While everyone is staying indoors and managing their household chores, our home appliances are our real heroes, supporting us in leading a clean and comfortable life indoors. All home appliances including washing machines, dish washers, air conditioners and refrigerators require regular servicing. In the current time, since service technicians are unable to offer on ground support, we at Whirlpool of India have come up with a range of initiatives to help our consumers.

Mr. Vishal Bhola, MD, Whirlpool of India, “At Whirlpool we believe in ensuring our consumers have our 100% support, especially in these times. Smooth functioning of home appliances is critical and therefore, we are offering a host of services to guarantee that every need of the consumer is looked after. We have trained our highly skilled service engineers to offer assistance through virtual formats and make sure we extend care at its best.”

These include extending product warrantees, DIY tips with illustrations, DIY videos, live chats, etc. to bring respite from challenges posed by remote working.

Personal chat for service-related queries on Whirlpool’s website now available. Log on to www.whirlpoolindia.com
DIY video for AC filter cleaning to take care of the summer - Easy steps to clean your Whirlpool AC filters on your own
SMS and Toll Free numbers now operational
SMS ‘WPL’ to 58558 | Email us at helpdeskindia@whirlpool.com | Call us on our toll-free number 1800 2018 1800
All product warranties ending during the period of the lockdown (22nd March 2020 – 3rd May 2020) have been extended till 31st May 2020 (T&C Apply)
About Whirlpool India:

Whirlpool of India Limited headquartered in Gurugram, is now one of the leading manufacturers and marketers of major home appliances in the country. The company owns three state-of- the-art manufacturing facilities at Faridabad, Pondicherry and Pune. Each of the manufacturing set-up features an infrastructure that is witness of Whirlpool's commitment to providing its consumer with forward looking solutions.

Whirlpool entered India in the late 1980s as part of its global expansion strategy. It forayed into the market under a joint venture with TVS group and established the first Whirlpool manufacturing facility in Pondicherry for washing machine category. In 1995 Whirlpool acquired Kelvinator India Limited and marked an entry into the refrigerator market as well. The same year the company also saw acquisition of major shares in TVS joint venture and later in 1996, Kelvinator and TVS acquisitions were merged to create, Whirlpool of India Limited. This expanded the company's portfolio in the Indian subcontinent to washing machines, refrigerator, microwave ovens and air conditioners.

Additional information about the company can be found on Twitter and Facebook @whirlpool_india

Azizi Developments Inks Partnership with 3i Infotech for IT Transformation

Azizi Developments, a leading real estate developer in the UAE, has partnered with 3i Infotech, an internationally acclaimed, global IT company, to enhance its Information Technology (IT) infrastructure. This announcement comes in light of Azizi Developments’ unwavering pursuit of Digital Transformation and customer experience enhancement.

The agreement comprises noteworthy overhauls of Azizi’s cyber security, data protection, cloud and end-user computing and IT Governance Risk Compliance (GRC), gearing the developer up for its Digital Transformation and granting property seekers a safer, more seamless, transparent and convenient home-shopping experience.

Dr. Syed Mahsud Ali, Chief Information Officer at Azizi Developments, said: “This partnership serves as the ideal launchpad for our IT Transformation, a cornerstone in our overall, swiftly-progressing Digital Transformation journey. Having the right IT infrastructure in place is a much-needed step in propelling ourselves to the very forefront of digital innovation. Only by implementing the latest technologies, which are ultimately to the benefit of the end-user, can we become the most customer-centric developer in the UAE and beyond – a vision that we are now much closer to realizing.”

“We have found ways to optimise our costs, with our comprehensive, world-class IT Transformation now only costing us 0.92 per cent of the total corporate budget, while the real estate industry’s average usually lies at 1.5 per cent,” he added.

“We are delighted to be selected as a strategic partner by Azizi Developments, a leading real-estate organisation in the Middle East region, for their Digital Transformation journey.” said Mr. Suryanarayan Kasichainula, President & Global Head - ERP and Global Sales & Solutions Head – IT Services, 3i Infotech. “Our continuous commitment to high quality, cutting edge technology solutions along with our proven experience in understanding customer challenges will enable us to create solutions for their ongoing requirements and long-term goals alongside Digital Transformation.  This partnership endorses the value we bring in with our Infrastructure and Cloud Services to deliver world class experiences by using Cloud, Maggie (Virtual Engineer/BOT), Artificial Intelligence, predictive analytics and integrated solutions that enhance employee and end-customer experiences.”

Notably, Azizi Developments has successfully implemented state-of-the-art Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and Business Analytics (BA) technologies, and is now looking at enablers like digital workplaces, advanced process optimisation, and radical digitalisation. The developer is also using other business intelligence and data analytics tools to create actionable strategies for existing and new business opportunities.

Emirates SkyCargo Calibrates Operations to Keep Trade Open in Seven Destinations in India

Emirates SkyCargo has announced it is operating dedicated cargo flights to Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai and Thiruvananthapuram, ensuring key trade lanes are kept open during the Covid-19 crisis.

Last week, Emirates SkyCargo carried around 140 tonnes of equipment and commodities to Bengaluru and Mumbai from East Asia, the US, Europe and its hub in Dubai. From Bengaluru, the cargo airline carried around 70 tonnes of medical equipment and perishables to destinations in the GCC and Europe.

Emirates SkyCargo uplifted 52 tonnes of perishables, including fruits and vegetables, from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai and the GCC countries that rely on India for their crucial food supply. Another 83 tonnes of perishables made their way from Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai to these destinations.

Abdulla AlKhallafi, Cargo Manager India, Emirates, said: “In these challenging times, Emirates SkyCargo stands by its commitment to India and the global community to act as a global conveyor belt for transporting essential commodities such as food, medicines, machinery and other commodities vital for communities and businesses.”

Emirates Pharma is also uplifting pharma products and medical equipment from India and beyond. Last week, Emirates SkyCargo flew a charter operation carrying 60 tonnes of life-saving pharma from Mumbai to New York, while a scheduled freighter from Ahmedabad uplifted 80 tonnes of mostly pharmaceuticals to destinations across the US, Europe and Australia.

Apart from its fleet of 11 freighters, Emirates is also operating its Boeing 777 passenger aircraft as cargo-only flights.

Acronis Launches World’s First Comprehensive Cyber Protection Solution in India

Notes

* Able to curb cyberthreats and improve remote working practices during the pandemic
* Enables service providers to cut costs by 25-30% and defend their clients through AI-powered integration of data protection and cybersecurity – with Zoom security and COVID-19 URL filtering

Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, announced today the launch  of Acronis Cyber Protect, an innovative new cyber protection solution that integrates backup, disaster recovery, next-gen anti-malware, cybersecurity, and endpoint management tools into one service. Acronis Cyber Protect eliminates complexity, improves productivity, and enables managed service providers (MSP) in India to efficiently make security a focal point of their portfolio – ensuring their business can meet client expectations for data, applications, and systems security and protection.

As per Acronis, the primary challenges service providers in India face are: complexity, inadequate security, and low productivity. The lack of integration between the patchwork of vendor solutions they use to build their services decreases security, complicates employee training, productivity, and usability – all while increasing support and licensing costs with multiple vendors. Acronis Cyber Protect changes the game by introducing a single solution to deliver backup, anti-malware, security, and endpoint management capabilities such as vulnerability assessments, URL filtering, and patch management – while on average saving service providers 25-30% in operational costs.

These integrated capabilities create new opportunities for MSPs to deliver enhanced cybersecurity. With Acronis Cyber Protect, MSPs can proactively avoid cyberattacks, minimize downtime, ensure fast and easy recoveries, and automate the configuration of client protection to counter the latest cyberthreats. The result is improved margins, better profitability, easier SLA compliance, greater performance, and decreased churn – all at a lower cost.

“Our security team has been seeing a dramatic growth in cyber attacks in India over the past few months – as much as 30-70% growth in some cases.  In these turbulent times, service providers need to offer their clients integrated cyber protection that covers all Five Vectors of Cyber Protection - safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security. The industry needs a unified, modern cyber protection, this is the need of the hour. And with Acronis Cyber Protect, service providers will have just that,” said Rustom Hiramaneck, Country Head, South Asia at Acronis.

AV-Test, the renowned German security institute known for carrying out rigorous tests on malware security solutions, used a computer running Windows 10 Professional – thus testing both the status and dynamic detection rates of Cyber Protect - and scanned a set of 6,932 malicious Windows executable (PE) Acronis files. Acronis scored perfectly with a verified 100% detection rate, and delivered a perfect result in the lab’s false-positive test, causing zero false positives. More information about the test is available here.

When it comes to the ever-evolving cybersecurity measures, it is impossible to achieve 100% guaranteed security. So, if a threat does slip through – you need the best business continuity plan to restore affected data, applications, and systems quickly and effectively. Acronis Cyber Protect grants just that.

“Traditional backup solutions are dead because they are not secure enough, and traditional anti-virus applications do not protect data from modern cyberthreats. Legacy solutions are no longer able to counter the dangers today’s businesses face,” said Acronis Founder and CEO Serguei “SB” Beloussov.

Acronis Cyber Protect is a demonstration of the power of integration. It features one unified licensing model, one agent and backend, one management console, one user interface, and a high level of integration among services – sharing data and automating actions to greatly improve the security posture for endpoint and edge devices.

“Acronis is among the companies on the forefront for integrated data protection and cyber protection,” said Phil Goodwin, Research Director, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies Group, IDC. “We believe that Acronis Cyber Protect is among the most comprehensive attempts to provide data protection and cybersecurity to date.”

Helping MSPs secure remote work amid COVID-19

Acronis rapidly developed a holistic set of features for Acronis Cyber Protect to help MSPs and their clients smoothly and safely meet the challenges of today’s remote work environments including:

* To help protect employees: Voice-enabled, touchless control for remote connections to office machines for end-users; Security alerts from Acronis Cyber Protection Operations Centers related to COVID-19

* For remote work devices and users: Default templates with secure protection plans for remote work devices; Native VPN capability; Secure file sync and share integration; Remote data wipe; Full protection for video conferencing platforms.

* To help with finances: The ability to pause billing for non-paying customers while preserving their backups; Launched Acronis #CyberFit Financing and promotions through July 31, 2020; No extra charges for Acronis Cyber Protect and no billing for Acronis Cyber Backup for new clients

The Acronis roadmap expands the availability of Acronis Cyber Protect to all businesses worldwide, with a personal version of the solution planned for release in Q3 2020.

Availability and Promotions

Please visit https://www.acronis.com/en-us/business/cyber-protect/ to sign-up online or request a fully-functional trial. To support businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, Acronis Cyber Protect is available at the same cost of Acronis Cyber Backup Cloud for all service providers until July 31, 2020.

About Acronis

Acronis sets the standard for cyber protection through its innovative backup, anti-malware, disaster recovery, cybersecurity, endpoint management, storage, and enterprise file sync and share solutions. Enhanced by its award-winning AI-based active protection technology, blockchain-based data authentication and unique hybrid-cloud architecture, Acronis protects all data in any environment – including physical, virtual, cloud, mobile workloads and applications – all at a low and predictable cost.

Founded in Singapore in 2003 and incorporated in Switzerland in 2008, Acronis now has more than 1,500 employees in 33 locations in 18 countries. Its solutions are trusted by more than 5.5 million consumers and 500,000 businesses, including 100% of the Fortune 1000 companies. Acronis’ products are available through 50,000 partners and service providers in over 150 countries in more than 40 languages.

FAITH Doubles Loss Guidance on Tourism From ₹ 5 Lakh Crores to ₹ 10 Lakh Crores in Meeting with EG-6

Key Pointers

* Requests CEO Niti Aayog for immediate help with Governments & with RBI
* Stop the clock on all statutory payments
* 50% value of the almost 10% of India’s GDP from Tourism at risk from collapse
* The 2- month old earlier guidance tourism value at risk doubled
* Learnings from China show a minimum of 6 months tourism shutdown before a soft opening for very short haul domestic tourism

Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality, the policy federation of all the national associations representing the complete tourism, travel and hospitality industry of India (ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI, TAFI) has revised upwards it’s value at risk to Indian tourism.

In a meeting with EG -6, yesterday, FAITH informed that they would like to revisit and double their earlier guidance.

The earlier guidance which was calculated and was shared with the Government in March 2020 had put tourism’s economic value at risk at almost ₹ 5 lakh crores + from this pandemic.  FAITH believes this value at risk could go as high as ₹ 10 lakh crores given the way tourism supply chains are breaking down in India across all its key inbound, domestic & outbound markets.

The direct and indirect economic impact of Tourism industry in India is approximately estimated at ~ 10% of India’s GDP.  This roughly puts the full year economic multiplier value of tourism in India at almost ~ ₹ 20 lakh crores.

This value covers the whole tourism value chain across airlines, travel agents, hotels, tour operators, tourism destinations restaurants, tourist transporters, tourist guides etc. These are across all the segments of tourism be they leisure ( inbound, outbound, domestic) corporate travel, heritage, adventure, meetings incentives, exhibitions & events, religious and spiritual tourism and in upcoming high value niche tourism products such as sea & river cruises, camping, rafting, golf  film tourism, jungle tourism, agri tourism and many more.

Tourism has one of the largest economic multipliers. FAITH based upon its industry estimates believes, that in India given its globally unique natural and cultural heritage which is spread across the Indian hinterlands, each rupee spent on tourism could have an economic multiplier of between 2.5 - 3 times. While this is India’s global competitive advantage in tourism, this can also quickly translate into a competitive disadvantage due to this pandemic, if not supported immediately as tourism jobs are spread right across the cities to remote areas pan India.

Empowered Group -6, an inter-ministerial group of Government of India, headed by the CEO Niti Aayog has carefully listened to the concerns across all the tourism verticals and have assured to take it up with the Government and with the RBI.

FAITH has requested that for revival of any demand in tourism, the tourism supply in India has to first remain intact. For the same, they have requested Niti Aayog for a COVID 19 Tourism fund of minimum ₹ 50,000 crores which can be used by tourism enterprises in India as a 10 year interest free loan for taking care of their employees. This along with a 12 months full waiver of all banking loans & of all  central and state statutory liabilities be it PF , ESi, income taxes, GST , fixed power and utilities tariffs, property tax, excise, inter-state tourist transportation taxes and license fees, all without any accumulated or penal interest has to be done immediately.

FAITH communicated to EG 6 that this is the only win - win - win outcome as it will not only keep the Indian tourism industry alive for a revival, it will also keep the jobs intact and it will also protect the exposure of the banking sector to tourism preventing their loans from  becoming NPAs.

The meeting was attended by the presidents of all founding associations of FAITH - ADTOI, ATOAI, FHRAI, HAI, IATO, ICPB, IHHA, ITTA, TAAI, TAFI and by WTTC.

China’s recent experiment of opening up after a minimum of 6 months lockdown saw some soft opening of Tourism and that too with very limited, short- haul  domestic travel.

Faith believes that if one goes by that example a minimum of 6 months of direct and indirect output of tourism will be impacted which will put almost ₹ 10 lakh crores economic value at risk in India.

FAITH has already raised requests over the past seven weeks to the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, customized requests to each of the 28 chief ministers,  to RBI, to the Tourism Parliamentary panel,  to Ministry of Commerce, ministry of Civil aviation and is closely in coordination with ministry of tourism.