Salarpuria Sattva Group Contributes To Central And State Funds To Fight The Battle Against COVID 19

Highlights

* Takes Up Community Outreach Initiatives, to Help the Needy During the Extended Lockdown Period
* INR 1 crore to PMCARES Fund
* INR 1.25 crores for Karnataka and Telangana CM’s Relief Funds
* INR 21 Lakhs to Iskcon’s Akshaya Patra

Salarpuria Sattva Group, India’s leading Property Development, Management and Consulting organization, has always been responsible in making a significant social impact to the communities it serves. Amidst the growing criticalities due to COVID19 crisis, where the most affected are from the marginalized sections of the society, Salarpuria Sattva Group has extended its boundaries and taken several noble initiatives for contributing to the upliftment of the impoverished, thus helping them survive in this challenging situation.

The group has donated INR 1 crore towards the PMCARES fund and simultaneously has contributed INR 1.25 crores to the CM relief fund of Karnataka and Telangana State Medical Services & Infrastructure Development Corporation, Telangana. These funds are aimed to be a conscious effort from the company’s end for the required upliftment of the deprived in a testing time like this. The group has also provided INR 21 Lakhs to Iskcon’s Akshaya Patra for distributing grains to the needy along with INR 5 Lakhs to Agarwal Samaj to feed the poor and needy during this unprecedented time. The company is also providing 1500 meals daily for migrant workers

Furthermore, the group continues their existing endeavor, to feed the needy across different locations in the city everyday, till the end of lockdown. The group is taking the onus of cooking by themselves while adhering to hygienic precautions and distributing it in a systematic manner, following the Govt. directives of social distancing. Amongst selected areas across the city, Old Airport Road (near Rajeshwari Theater), Royal Orchid Road (near Manipal Centre), Challaghatta,  Nagasandra, Murugeshpalya, Jyothi Nivas College at Koramangala, are the primary locations where the group has initiated food distribution. Police Stations at Jeevan Beema Nagar and Electronic City, have extended help to the company officials to successfully implement this initiative.

In addition to this, the group has organized ration packets consisting of essentials like rice, wheat flour, oil, lentils, salt and other necessities for the extended lockdown period, aiming to touch the lives of 1500 migrant workers on a daily basis

Greenwood High School, the educational entity of the group has also come forward to provide cooked food to more than 600 people at Varthur and other nearby localities every day

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Bijay Agarwal, MD, Salarpuria Sattva Group said, “It has been challenging times for the entire country. It is important that we come together and help those in need. As a responsible entity, we at Salarpuria Sattva Group pledge to help the marginalized sections and provide them with food till the situation demands. This is our humble effort to help the people in distress.”

Hershey India Demonstrates its Care for the Nation and Partners Amidst COVID 19

Notes

* The organization will provide 120,000 fortified beverages and cookies across 20 cities to medical staff, police, sanitation workers, migrant laborers and underprivileged children
* Allocates a special fund to cater to medical needs of frontline sales force and contract workmen
* Hershey India and employees also contributed towards PM cares

Hershey India Pvt Ltd will distribute 1,20,000 fortified beverages and cookies across 20 cities pan India to express their gratitude and support towards the medical staff, police, sanitation workers, migrant laborers and underprivileged children in these tough times. The organization will be distributing Hershey’s Milk Shake, Sofit Almond Milk, Sofit Soy Milk and Sofit Protein Cookies.  The distributed products are fortified with essential vitamins and minerals.

Hershey India has associated with India Food Banking Network (IFBN) of the Food Security Foundation India to conduct the distribution. The organization will also be distributing their products to the medical staff in All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhopal and Sion Hospital in Mumbai.

Commenting on the activity Herjit Bhalla, MD, Hershey India, said, “As India and the world continue to battle the pandemic, this is a small gesture of gratitude and support by Hershey India to lift the spirits of all the brave frontline workers and the affected communities. We salute the medical staff and the police who are gallantly serving the society in these critical times and hope that they continue to stay safe.”

Highlighting the steps taken by the organization internally he further added, “We have also rolled out several programs to ensure protection and safety for our frontline sales force, contract workmen and depot staff in these challenging times. We have implemented our ‘Hershey Cares’ program which ensures suitable insurance scheme for all our frontline sales force. Additionally, we have allocated a special fund to cater to medical needs of our frontline sales force and contract workmen.”

Hershey India and employees have also contributed towards PM cares. The Covid-19 pandemic has caused an alarming health crisis across India and the world, with the healthcare infrastructure overwhelmed with critical patients. The need of the hour now is for everyone to stand together and support the communities that need utmost care in these trying times.

About The Hershey Company

The Hershey Company, headquartered in Hershey, Pa., is an industry-leading snacks company known for bringing goodness to the world through its iconic brands, remarkable people and enduring commitment to help children succeed. Hershey has approximately 16,000 employees around the world who work every day to deliver delicious, quality products. The company has more than 80 brands around the world that drive $8 billion in annual revenues, including such iconic brand names as Hershey’s, Reese’s, Kit Kat, Jolly Rancher, Ice Breakers and SkinnyPop.

For more than 125 years, Hershey has been committed to operating fairly, ethically and sustainably. Hershey founder, Milton Hershey, created the Milton Hershey School in 1909 and since then the company has focused on helping children succeed.

AI Is No Magic: 4 Steps Your Organization Can Start On Its AI Journey

By Sandeep Alur, Director, Microsoft Technology Center, Microsoft India

For decades, artificial intelligence (AI) has demonstrated its heartbeat via the predictive power it possesses and the profound impact it can have on society. As with any emerging technology, AI went through its phase of hype where it was considered to be a futuristic magic pill, to becoming a reality, as we see organizations leveraging AI to light up aspirational use cases and develop new business models.

By attaining human parity across vision, speech, and text, AI has the potential to have a significant impact on business outcomes. At the Microsoft Technology Center, I interact with customers every day about infusing AI into their solution portfolio, and it is clear that we are past the incubation stage and the time is ripe to put our learnings into practice.

For organizations that are still trying to figure out their AI journey, here are four things I have learned from customers who have successfully implemented AI projects:

Be realistic

One of the common questions I hear from customers during our initial meetings is how they can experiment with AI to understand the ‘art of possibility’ and the eventual return on investment. I believe experimenting is absolutely the right thing to do since the most difficult task at hand is not implementation via technology but identification of the right use case. Being realistic about what you wish to solve or accomplish is the need of the hour, and this is where business and technology leaders must come together. It is also essential to strike a balance between the accuracy and precision you strike on day one versus the eventual goal post. The partnership should lead to choosing a use case that gives a head start to their AI journey and yet qualify to be a significant one from a business impact standpoint.

Invest in the evolution of an AI model

AI is no magic, and the outcome of implementing an AI model has a direct correlation to the underlying data that has gone into training it. Building an AI model involves eternal iterations, and the outcome only gets better with new or more data over time. Do not expect human parity on day one. Businesses need to invest in the evolution of the model that may take umpteen number of iterations, even before it reaches an acceptable level of accuracy and precision.

A real-world example that comes to my mind is related to our operations at the Microsoft Technology Center (MTC), where we host customers. A Technical Architect (TA) leads these engagements. By virtue of hearing and dealing with so many customer challenges, they get better each day in their ability to operate as trusted advisors. A TA’s knowledge graph gets updated daily with new learnings and they keep getting better to help our customers.

Similarly, an AI model has an evolution journey too. Invest in it.

Set guardrails for responsible AI

From a data science lifecycle point of view, when you choose a use case, you either realize that you do not have an apt dataset or you probably have taken on an area where technology is still evolving. Either way, organizations will fail fast or end up building an AI model with certain accuracy and precision.

But even before an organization starts building an AI plan and gets aspirational in infusing AI into their suite of applications, an element that should be the backbone of overall design thinking is related to principles of ethics and responsibility. Every organization needs to put into place guardrails on how it will develop and deploy AI models, and more importantly, the impact they will have on individuals.

At Microsoft, we have identified six principles for responsible AI that guide the development and use of AI with people at the center. These are - fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. You can read more about them here.

Organizations may develop their own principles according to the nature of their business, but the guiding principles will ensure that their AI models are trustworthy.

Establish trust

This is where one needs to understand that implementing a model into production alone is not success, but ensuring the outcome adheres to the design principles indicated above. Over a period of time, this will ensure that users can trust the predictions these models generate, and it should be an eventual goal post for any business.

For example, imagine a model in the healthcare domain, where the system predicts the outcome of a patient’s health check. For the care team to establish trust with the system, there have to be minimum ‘false positives’ and there needs to be a feedback loop for the care team to improvise the system. Hence, establishing ‘trust’ is critical on the trail of assessing AI impact for a use case.

To conclude, implementing AI in an organization needs business and technology leaders to invest in defining an operating manifesto to uplift the spirit of responsible AI. Success on this path will do a lot of good in instilling trust in the system. It is also imperative that one be realistic and practical about the expected outcome, and think long term.

Hyundai Announces Industry First ‘Hyundai EMI Assurance’ Program

Hyundai Motor India Ltd., country’s first Smart Mobility Solutions Provider and the largest exporter since inception, today announced Industry First ‘Hyundai EMI Assurance’ program to enhance convenience and raise positive customer sentiments. As announced, Hyundai Motor India is all set to re-open dealership operations under strict adherence of government directions in COVID-19 affected areas.  Maintaining all Safety and Hygienic parameters, all Hyundai touch points -showrooms and workshops are following contactless services for customer interactions.

Announcing the Industry First Hyundai EMI Assurance Program, Mr. Tarun Garg, Director – Sales, Marketing and Service said, “Hyundai is a Progressive, Innovative and Caring brand. We understand customer aspirations of buying a vehicle and to ease the vehicle acquisition in uncertain times, we have brought the unique and industry first Hyundai EMI Assurance Program. We are sure, the Hyundai EMI Assurance Program will give new Hyundai owners working in private organisations full peace of mind during these times and create positive and confident sentiments for Hyundai car purchase.”

To ease the buying process, while keeping the fear of employment uncertainty at bay, a unique and Industry first customer program ‘Hyundai EMI Assurance Program’ has been introduced for select new Hyundai customers covering up to 3 car loan EMIs. The program covers the customers under uncertainties such as employment loss in view of Poor financial health/Acquisition/ Merger of the company or due to any applicable laws.

The Hyundai Assurance Program is offered on select Hyundai car models purchased during the month of May’20 and covers the customer for a period of one year from date of sale of the car (Excluding first 3 months).

Hyundai Cares

Under the ambit of the ‘Hyundai Cares’ initiative, HMI has laid down guidelines to be followed at its Dealerships across India that encompass all facets of customer interactions. This will include Display car & Test Drive car preparedness, Customer Lounge & Washrooms sanitization (showroom & workshop), Delivery process of New car & Serviced car, Contactless Demonstration, and servicing. Customers can also opt for remote car demonstrations through online video conferencing application with Sales Consultants at Dealerships. Further, with Hyundai’s Click-to-Buy Integrated end-to-end online car sales website, customers can buy a brand-new Hyundai Car online. Hyundai is also offering customers its 360 Digital Service & Contact-less Service Experience, through which customers can book a service appointment online through the Hyundai Care app, WhatsApp, Hyundai Website, or a call to Dealers.

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