With Ganesh Chathurthi being celebrated in a small way this year, many craft workers have gone jobless and are without money. To support them, some societies have also collected donations from residents to support them. During the past several months, some of our fellow citizens have continued to pay their cooks, maids and drivers their salaries for the last 5 months; some have continued to pay them half the salary and some may even have stopped paying them totally based on their own situations. It is gratifying to see that some citizens are cooking meals to serve for the housekeeping and security staff of their society while others are arranging dabbas for migrant workers. Some may give away old clothes to them some are supporting by sponsoring their monthly grocery. I am not propagating one way is the right way. All I am saying is that we as Indians have been doing our bit to help and contribute to others.
Corporate India has also been compassionate to its employees during these stressful Covid times. Most privately operated large scale companies have come up with various employee beneficial schemes to help and retain their employees. Right from Dabur to Flipkart to TATA Steel, all of them have focused on their employees’ wellbeing across both emotional and physical aspects. Companies are coming up with a variety of innovative ideas like fitness and meditation sessions, virtual team lunches, doctor / counsellor on call to name a few in order to keep their human capital engaged in productive ways. They are also sponsoring gym memberships and dedicating specific work from home time slots so that employees can balance between work and family. Some organizations have scheduled group wide initiatives with leaderboards to keep the momentum high and get all employees focus on their health and wellbeing.
Next, the Government of India has also initiated a lot of programs and schemes for the working and farmer class. The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojna covers two thirds of our population and would provide 5 kgs of wheat / rice to every family for free. The Finance Minister has announced medical cover for our health care workers who are working 24 hours taking care of Covid patients and spending days away from their family. A lot of these schemes take time for implementation but a few states have performed well and are taking care of the daily wage workers and ensuring no Indian goes hungry. In fact in many places, things have opened up and people are back to their workplace be it at building construction sites, temporary road construction works or even the courier services. Apart from this, a lot of social service organizations like Rotary have also taken the lead to organize innovative programs to focus on well-being and contribute to society.
But that does not mean that “all is well”. The small players namely kiranawalla, startups and even the service industry at large have all taken a big hit and this in turn has affected their employees too. Though many are working on a home delivery model, there has been a slump in demand especially in the big ticket consumer durables market. This is the peak festive season in India and the sales for durables are usually double the regular sales with various schemes and marketing techniques by all. But this year, there is a big difference with consumers buying only if a need arises unlike earlier years where consumers bought to either to upgrade or to show off their lifestyle to family and friends.
As an Indian, I truly believe that being compassionate is part of our DNA. No Indian can say that he / she is not compassionate. What may only differ is our level and intensity based on our capacity. We may not show it off through badges but every individual is doing his or her bit to help. So, let us continue to do our part to support others to the best of our capacities.
RiteAlign HR 