PREFACE.......................................................................................................................................................1 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................................................................5 EHS AN INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................6 PURPOSE........................................................................................................................................................7 MATERIALS AND METHODS..................................................................................................................9 RESULTS AND FINDINGS.......................................................................................................................10 ATTRITION IN THE BPO INDUSTRY...................................................................................................................

.10 EXITING PROCESS AT HCL.............................................................................................................................12 Exiting Process....................................................................................................................................12 Employee Separation in HCL..............................................................................................................15 FULL AND FINAL PROCESS..............................................................................................................................18 About....................................................................................................................................................18 Full & Final Components ..............................................................................................................................................................19 Full and Final Process in HCL............................................................................................................20
Resignation....................................................................................................................................................20 Absconding....................................................................................................................................................23 Termination....................................................................................................................................................24

PROVIDENT FUND...........................................................................................................................................27 Provident Fund as per Government of India.......................................................................................28 Advantages...........................................................................................................................................32 Disadvantages .....................................................................................................................................34 Provident Fund in HCL.......................................................................................................................34 PF Process in HCL..............................................................................................................................35 Reject Forms........................................................................................................................................40 PF Loan...............................................................................................................................................41 Condition for PF LOAN.......................................................................................................................41 EX-EMPLOYEE VERIFICATION..........................................................................................................................45 VOUCHERS...................................................................................................................................................46 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS.......................................................................................46 According to my observation at HCL BPO, the exiting employees have cited all the previous reasons mentioned above. Therefore, as I was training under the exit process I felt the need to address the issue of attrition. Some recommendations for addressing attrition in the organization are as follows: ..............................................................................................................................................................48 HOW TO SMOOTHEN THE EXIT PROCESS .............................................................................................................51 PROBLEMS FACED IN THE EXITING PROCESS OF EMPLOYEES AT HCL......................................................................51 RECOMMENDATIONS ......................................................................................................................................53 FUTURE PROSPECTS..............................................................................................................................54 REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................................55 APPENDICES..............................................................................................................................................56

Preface
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) is a form of business process which involves the contracting of operations and responsibilities of specific business functions or processes to a third-party. Originally, this was associated with manufacturing firms, such as Coca Cola that outsourced large segments of its supply chain. In the contemporary context, it is primarily used to refer to the outsourcing of services. Given the proximity of BPO to the information technology industry, it is categorized as an Information Technology Enabled Service or ITES. Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) and Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) are some of the sub-segments of BPO industry. BPO or Business Process Outsourcing is one of the sunshine sectors in India. According to statistics by World Bank and Goldman Sachs, an investment banking firm in India will attract about 80% of the worlds BPO industry by 2020. BPO is one of the most outperforming sectors in the Indian economy. Services, which account for almost 35% in Indias productivity has BPO at the heart of the growth. Over the last ten years, Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has proven to be a sunrise industry in India due to its talented, skilled personnel and its geographically strategic location. India has drawn attention and investment from multiple international stakeholders who are looking to hive off their business processes. Recent times have witnessed a dramatic change in the countrys economic environment owing to the presence of fierce competitors like Vietnam and the Philippines as well as factors such as recession and hike in salaries. Despite this, the BPO industry appears to be churning out better-than-expected performances, all the same growing at the steady pace. This is evident in a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), which has estimated a 47% rise in IT-

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BPO export revenues for Financial Year 200910, thereby reaching US$ 50 billion, approximately. Other factors contributing to sustained growth include continued domestic demand, recessionary trends in the West and the inevitable cost savings that BPO still gives enterprises. Moreover, some BPOs in India have expanded to other countries in order to leverage cost savings. The domestic BPO segment in India is estimated to increase to 65 billion US dollars by the end of 2010. India hosts around 200 call centres that have a turnover of 2 billion USD and a workforce of 150,000 skilled personnel.

1. GENPACT: Founded in 1997, Genpactthe erstwhile-outsourcing wing of GE

Capitalleads the pact. Having formed an independent entity in 2005, Genpact has a network in 13 countries of more than 30 operations centers, including leading enterprises such as Nissan, Wachovia, Hyatt and GE. It offers a wide range of services including finance, IT infrastructure, supply chain management and analytics and hence is guaranteed to stay at the top of the list for years to come. With a workforce of more than 37,000 employees, Genpacts revenue for the year 2008 stood at $1040 million.

2. WNS Services: Principally distinguished by its deep domain expertise and endto-end service offerings, WNS Global Services occupies the second place in this list. Based in Mumbai, Warburg Pincus is its main investor firm. WNS boasts of 215 plus global clients. Established in 1996, this Nasdaq-listed company has been serving numerous industries such as healthcare, manufacturing, retail, distribution, insurance and travel. At present, WNS has more than 21,000 persons working for it and has clocked revenues of about $539 million as of 2008.

3. IBM DAKSH: The brainchild of four ambitious and talented professionals, IBM
Daksh grew from a relatively small enterprise to a global hub that employs more than 30,000 people today. Celebrated for its excellent leadership and empowering vision, IBM Daksh has been effortlessly managing business processes for its international clientele over the past 5 years. As a result, it has won accolades for its outstanding performance, including the Most Respected BPO Company in India by Business World. The company has 25 service

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delivery centers in India and the Philippines. While IBM Daksh is primarily a solutions provider for various industries such as financial services, communication and distribution, it also offers its expertise to the hospitality and travel sectors.

4. WIPRO BPO: Spectramind was acquired by Wipro in 2002 and renamed as

Wipro BPO Solutions, which has since then carved a niche for itself in the outsourcing industry. The company has been rated one of the Best Employers in India by the Best Employers Hewitt Survey in 2007. The HQ of Wipro BPO is based in Bangalore, with over 19,000 employees committed to providing high quality services to its customers. As of 2008, the company generated revenue of approximately $395 million, thus giving it recognition as one of the top 10 BPOs in India. Wipro BPO offers financial and accounting services, HR services and knowledge services to industries including insurance, healthcare, telecom, travel and hospitality, among others.

5. TCS BPO: One of the key players in the present-day outsourcing industry, TCS
BPO offers various services in the realm of healthcare, telecom, travel, media, KPO and banking, among others. TCS BPO has won accolades for its services and performances as a result of which it was named one of the worlds top BPO providers by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, in 2006. Although its headquarters is based in Bangalore, it is spread across the heart of the country with branches in Goa, Pune, Mumbai, Lucknow, Gurgaon and Hyderabad. TCS BPO Its clientele includes 132 entities that span over 32 countries. At the end of fiscal year 2008-09, the BPO contributed around Rs 1,900 crores to the companys revenues.

6. FIRSTSOURCE SOLUTIONS: Firstsource was established in 2001 and was

formerly known as ICICI Onesource. Ranked among the top 10 ITES companies in 2007 (by Nasscom), it is a leading player in global business process management. It is commendable to note that Firstsource is the first pure play BPO company in the world to secure ISO 20000 and ISO 27001 certifications. It has numerous leading global clients to whom it offers BPO services spanning customer care, billing and collections, business research and analytics and customer acquisition. Among several notable clients, Firstsource boasts of a

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clientele subsuming FTSE 100 media companies, 3 of the 5 largest US banks, top 5 UK banks and 2 of the worlds largest telecom companies.

7. ADITYA BIRLA MINACS: A global IT business solutions company and

subsidiary of Aditya Birla Nuvo, Aditya Birla Minacs has over 26 years of experience in offering BPO solutions to over 15 Fortune 500 companies. Nasscom 2006-07 ranked the company as Indias third largest BPO, by export revenues. With a primary focus on three areas, namely contact centre solutions, integrated marketing services, and knowledge process outsourcing, Aditya Birla Minacs has employed over 13,000 employees across its facilities in the world.

8. AEGIS: A leading player in customer care and acquisition for over thirty years,
Aegis has numerable Fortune 500 clients to whom it provides immeasurable support by way of customer interaction, back office and other routine business processes. Aegis has been recognized as eighth among the top 15 BPO exporters for 2008-09 by Nasscom. It operates out of 40 locations spread across the globe with complete support from a 39,000-strong staff strength. Its headquarters are based in Mumbai. Essar Global Limited, its parent company, is an $18 billion group well established in 130 countries.

9. Infosys Technologies: Infosys Technologies set up Infosys BPO in April 2002

as its business process outsourcing subsidiary. With a focus on integrated endto-end outsourcing through lesser costs, Infosys BPO holds high ranking among the top BPO companies of India. It clocked revenues of $250 million for fiscal year 2007-08 and has its operation centres in Mexico, Bangkok, India, Poland, China, and the Philippines, among others. Backed by over 16,295 employees, Infosys BPO Ltd. is bound to stay put in the slot for top 10 BPOs in India for many years to come.

10. HCL BPO: Founded in 2001, HCL BPO is a subsidiary of HCL Technologies Ltd. It offers services in various realms of operations such as customer relationship management, finance and accounting services, supply chain management, knowledge and legal services to diverse industries including retail, telecom, media, insurance, and publishing and entertainment sectors. Even before the IT industry had recognized the -4-

potential and opportunity in the BPO sector, HCL was one of the first IT companies to penetrate into this area. Financial year 2008 witnessed a revenue generation of about $232.15 million by this fast emerging BPO

Introduction
Employee Separation is one of the very important and crucial function / process of HR Department. This process, if not handled in an efficient manner, can lead to various legal complications. Lets understand the term employee. According to various definitions an employee can be defined as: 1. A worker who is hired to perform a job 2. An individual who provides labor to a company or another person 3. An individual who provides services for compensation to an employer and whose duties are under the control of the employer. An employee works for an employer and gets paid for his work and nothing else. The relation of an employer and employee has a beginning; they stay together for a while and then they separate. Beginning of the relation is called as recruitment process or talent acquisition that passes through selection phase and followed by induction. Staying together in the relation comprises the various phases such has performance management; career management; professional growth; development and etc. And the final stage of the relation is the separation. Broadly speaking, in normal scenarios the separation between employer and employee can be due to any of the following three (this will be discussed in detail in subsequently): 1) Resignation Employee decides to leave the organization. 2) Termination Employer decides to break the contract of employment

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3) Absconding When the employee decides to leave the organization without tendering his resignation or following the proper process of separation. Apart from the above mentioned, the relation between employer and employee can also be terminated during the lay-offs (Financial or economic crisis); during the process of mergers, acquisitions and take-over; or any other legal intervention by the state or central government. Based on the type of employee that has been hired by the company, if local or an expatriate or a national of other country or if an employee is hired through outsourcing agencies, the process of separation and the documents involved in it also differs. Later in this report we will discuCSss these things in more detail.

EHS An Introduction
EHS stands for Executive HR Services It is a corporate function at par with other support functions like HR, Finance, and S&M etc. In HCL, keeping in mind the Employee first initiative instead of a per say HR department an EHS Team was formed to streamline and resolve issues of employees expeditiously at a more interactive level. The EHS team takes care of employees from the point they join till they exit.

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JOINING VERIFICATION SAP HIRING

F&F

STATUTORY

EXIT FORMALITIES

PAYROLL

EMPLOYEE WELFARE

Purpose

To provide a Single Window to employees to take care of majority of their day-today HR related queries with a WE CARE attitude. There were certain duplication of efforts at HR, Finance and Administration. There was a need to optimize the resource utilization from the company point of view. There was a need for a single group focusing on policy implementation and independent group for creating the policies.

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There was a need to create a team with multi discipline expertise to handle the employee transactions

HR Resource Management Policy Formulation Performance Management Career & Succession Planning Employee Grievance Mgmt. Reward & Recognition Employee Engagement

Day to day Employee Transactions Joining Uniform Policy Implementation Feedback/input collection on policies Payroll Processing Exit Management SLA Driven SwS Statutory & Regulatory Compliance

EHS Mission
To provide efficient and high quality services to employees while adhering to internal control norms by consistently achieving a. Pre-defined benchmarks for Service Level in respect of each type of service; and b. Zero defect in adhering to pre-defined internal norms and regulatory requirements

In this report contains the role played by EHS in the exit management of the company.

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Materials and Methods

Most of the data I collected and included in my report was through secondary sources provided to me by the company. Primary data included in the project was in the form of my first hand experience, understanding and analysis of the working within the organization and my interaction with the employees and my guide. Ive made use of flowcharts in order to make the understanding of the processes easy and presentable I also included some documents regarding various exit procedures to help clarify the process in the project. I have started with explaining about the organization and the general terminologies in terms of general business practices, then relating these to the company and highlighting its own practices, then moving into individual component and processes of the working of the organization with regard to my topic. My personal challenge would not just be to analyze and understand the current processes and policies followed by the company, but also to come up with possible recommendations and suggestions for the company to help improve its current working state or to help achieve its desired working state. The suggestions and analysis in the project is personal and entirely based on my experience and observation within the organization.

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Results and Findings

Attrition in the BPO industry

Unpredictable and uncontrollable, but normal, reduction of work force due to resignations, retirement, sickness, or death" Staff attrition rate and workers' absenteeism means significant costs to the organizations. In many organizations, workers are leaving even after the organization is spending huge amount of money for the benefits of the workers. Many organizations accept workers' mobility as part of doing their business, but it is a matter to be regretted. In these circumstances, the HR Department has got a significant role to play The IT enabled services (BPO) industry is looked upon as a big employment generator. It is however no easy task for HR in this sector to bridge the ever increasing demand and supply gap of professionals. Unlike his software industry counterpart, the BPO HR is not only required to fulfill this responsibility, but also find the right kind of people who can keep pace with the unique work patterns in this industry. Adding to this is the issue of maintaining consistency in performance and keeping the motivation levels high, despite the monotonous work. The toughest concern for HR is however the high attrition rate. The much hyped "work for fun" tag normally associated with the industry has in fact backfired, as many individuals (mostly fresh graduates), take it as a pas-time job. Once they join the sector and understand its requirements, they are taken aback by the long working hours and later monotony of the job starts setting in. This is the reason for the high attrition rate as many individuals are not able to take the pressures of work. The toughness of the job and timings is not adequately conveyed. Besides the induction and project training, not much investment has been done to evolve a continuous training program for the agents.

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Motivational training is still to evolve in this industry. But, in all this, it is the HR who is expected to straighten things out and help individuals adjust to the real world. I believe that the new entrant needs to be made aware of the realistic situation from day-one itself, with the training session conducted in the nights, so that they get accustomed to things right at the beginning. The high percentage of females in the workforce (constituting 30-35 percent of the total), adds to the high attrition rate. Most women leave their job either after marriage or because of social pressures caused by irregular working hours in the industry. All this translates into huge losses for the company, which invests a lot of money in training them. Many experts are of believe that all these challenges can turn out to be a real dampener in the growth of this industry. This only raises the responsibility of finding the right candidate and building a conducive work environment, which will be beneficial for the organization. The need is for those individuals who can make a career out of this. All this has induced the companies to take necessary steps, both internally and externally. At HCL Technologies BPO as of last quarter of 2009 the attrition rate was at 21% with total employee strength of 55688 and net addition of 1691 employees against an industry attrition rate average of 30% prevailing in the industry. Attrition Rate is good for the organization as long as the rate is at normal level. This will help the organization to get new blood into the organization and for the organization to develop. But it becomes a problem when the attrition rate is abnormal. Therefore, HR Department has the most crucial role to play

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Exiting process at HCL

Exiting Process

Exit Formalities

F&F

PF

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Types of Separation

Resignation

Absconding

Termination

Resignation - This is the most common way of separation. Employee leaves his job and employment with his employer to pursue better opportunities; a better position at a better compensation package in a branded company (or better known company) in a same city and country or in a different city or different country. So, an employee resigns for: 1) 2) 3) 4) Better compensation and benefits Higher position / level Challenging role To move from an unknown or lowly branded company to a highly branded and

reputed company (Top 10 or 25 companies in the world etc) or his Dream company 5) For foreign or international assignments etc.

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Termination - Usually, this process is perceived negatively by employees. In termination, an employer uses his right to terminate the contract of an employment. There can be many reasons for an employer to terminate the contract of employment but some of the common reasons are: 1) Non-Performance 2) Indiscipline 3) Misconduct 4) Insubordination 5) Theft and etc Absconding - This is one of the most unethical, unexpected and unprofessional way to terminate the contract of an employment. In this, on one fine day an employee decides not to go to work. He does not care to hand-over his stuff. In case an employee decides to abscond (or run-away), it becomes very important to understand his motives and intentions. Employees can abscond in either or all of the below mentioned circumstances / situations:

1)

After stealing the confidential information or documents or database from the

company. 2) 3) If the intentions of an individual is to commit a crime. If there is a work-pressure and stress and the individual is not able to cope-up with

it (as it happens in call-centers, BPO and other high-stress industries). 4) If the employee has committed any crime outside the office and after working hours

(such as murder or getting involved in terrorist activities or theft or any other civil crime). 5) Then, when priorities are different. Employee has asked for leave due to some

urgency at his home (or might be he is trying to escape from his work responsibilities) and at the same time his team also needs him in the office and his leaves are not approved. 6) If he has got some exceptionally good opportunity that requires him to join

immediately and he feels that the process of separation in his company is a bit too complicated. He assumes few things and do not really try to face the challenge.

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7)

Lastly, it is a personality issue. Employees that abscond have different

personalities. They are low in confidence. They are too weak to face the reality and challenges of life. They feel that running away from the problem is as good as solving the problem. They are cowards to take the problems head-on. Once an employee decides to resign and leave the organization, whatever one may do but he will leave; if not today then tomorrow. On the other hand, if the employer decides to terminate the contract, he might change his mind, provided the case against the employee is not very severe. Absconding, as mentioned above is in itself is a crime; something that only coward people do; such people just give-up without even making an attempt. These people run away from the reality of life and from the challenges that life offers to get the best out of you and to make you the master. As an employee whenever one decides to leave the company, one should do it in a more professional and acceptable manner. As an employer, whenever you decide to terminate the contract of employment of any employee, make sure that you document all the incidents in a chronological manner and have in your possession, all the required evidences. Unfortunately, decision of resignation cannot be challenged in any court and it is considered as a right of an employee but decision of termination can be challenged. Employee separation is a big process and does not involve unilateral decisions. Accuracy and professionalism is the key

Employee Separation in HCL

In India, the average attrition rate in the BPO sector is approximately 25%-30%percent (2010). Now it is apparent with such a rate of attrition the company must have an efficient HR that can handle the exit process of such high numbers of exits. In the HCL, this task is dedicated to the EHS team.

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The employee separation in HCL is just a 4 step process involving the resignation, exit interview, F&F and Relieving letter along with the coordination of the EHS Team and the various centers (N1 & N2, N3, N4, and N5). The process is similar to the general norms of exit in corporate organization. However, there is a slight difference in the exiting process of HCL. In a normal exit situation this is how the process follows:

Need to leave the organization

Reporting Manager

Retained

Line HR

Retained

Resignation is accepted and notice period begins

Employee fills MoT and initiates F&F

EHS team completes F&F formalities

Finance completes settlements with company

Relieving Letter

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1. Firstly, the employee recognizes his need to leave the company after which he
submits his resignation letter to his immediate superior or manager. 2. The reporting manager before accepting the resignation has a 1-on-1 interview with the employee to see if there is any scope of retaining the employee. If he is able to convince the employee to stay then the employee withdraws his resignation and resumes work as decided. 3. However, even after the session the employee still insists on leaving then his resignation is accepted by the reporting manager and forwarded to Line HR(which is the HR in his respective center) 4. The Line HR again has a 1-on-1 with the employee on a second attempt to retain him and gain feedback from the employee. 5. If the employee still wants to leave, his resignation is accepted and depending on the nature of the resignation (with notice / without notice) his full and final formalities as initiated at the centre and his salary is put on hold. Notice period of the employee varies with his designation. 6. Before the employee starts with his F&F formalities at the centre he has to fill up the MoT (Moment of Truth) it is somewhat like an online exit interview where the employee fills up the form providing feedback and reasons to the company. 7. Then, the employee fills the F&F form at the centre and submits it to his HR. 8. The center then forwards the form to the EHS team for final clearing and separation. 9. The EHS team processes the form, updates the SAP and makes the payroll clearance. It also calculates the necessary recoveries and payables and forwards them to finance.

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10. The finance team then works on the settlement provided by EHS, they segregate the form centre wise and processes them, after which they are sent to a signing authority who authorizes the issuing of cheque for the settlement of the employee or if there is a recovery then the employee has to give a demand draft of the amount to be recovered to the EHS team before receiving his resignation letter.

11. Finally, once the F&F is done the employee is handed over his relieving letter and
his cheque (if applicable).

Full and Final Process

About

Full and Final Settlement is a process wherein you settle all financial transactions with the employee who is leaving with respect to his salary, leave encashment, bonus(if applicable) etc. It is a part of separation formalities to be completed to pay the legal dues of any resigned employees. At the end of the process, the company doesnt owe anything to the employee and the employee doesnt owe anything to the company as well....that's the whole purpose of F&F.

Also, F&F also includes settlement of all assets, equipment, electronics and other tangible items belonging to the company that is provided to the employee during his tenure in the organization and vice-versa. So, even if you terminate the employee, you still need to do his F&F settlement. Its not something you 'ask from' the employee. Its something you need to do as part of the exit process for each and every employee whether resigned or terminated.

A formal resignation letter (duly signed) should be obtained from the resigned employee. Please note SMS / phone call are not formal ways of resignation.

When any employee resigns, they are required to serve a notice period on completion of

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which a No Dues Clearance Certificate required to be obtained from all the Dept concerned stating that he has no dues / issues pending with the Company. On completion of the above procedure, his full and final settlement dues can be issued. The F&F consists of payment of, Unpaid Salary (if any) Balance Leave Encashment (Annual Leave) LTA / Medical or other Reimbursement pending Notice Period Payment (in case of planned /mutual agreed resignation) Administration recovery Company lease Bonds / Agreements / Commitments. Car Lease Gratuity - Applicable only if employee has completed minimum 5 years in the Company or for a death case. An experience letter / relieving letter can be issued to the resigned employee mentioning the Last working date.

Full & Final Components

Before we understand the process, we should look at what the F&F settlement form contains. In HCL, a typical F&F clearance form contains: 1. Part A: Clearance from Reporting manager 2. Part B: Clearance from Line HR 3. Part C: Clearance from Technology/I.T 4. Part D: Clearance from Administration 5. Part E: Clearance from Transport Dept. 6. Part F: Clearance from Finance Dept.

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7. Part G: Employee Clearance 8. Part H: Clearance from Corporate HR

Full and Final Process in HCL

Full & Final process varies with 3 types of cases: Resignation Absconding ATL (Asked To Leave)/Termination

Resignation
A normal exit procedure begins with the submission of the resignation letter by the employee to his reporting manager. After his resignation is accepted by the reporting manager and Line HR he can then start his F&F process at the centre. As we saw earlier in order to complete F&F formalities the employee has to get a clearance of dues from various departments. The employee starts his F&F procedure with his reporting manager. The manager fills part A of the form where he verifies the date of resignation, acceptance of resignation, notice served, notice to be recovered, his last working day, if he is given a waiver or not, and deactivation of his email id. Once he is cleared by the reporting manager he moves to his centre HR department or Line HR. The HR SPOC checks for his date of resignation, acceptance of resignation, notice served, Date of joining, separation from PRU, covered under bond or not and reason of leaving.

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He then goes to his IT department to deactivate his internet access account, email id, administrator password, Nortel phone etc Also, the department checks for any dues on laptop that is provided by the company or any other company asset.

He also has to go to the administration department to return the id card/smart card and access card provided to him by the company failing to do so the company can charge a recovery of Rs.1100/- from the exiting employee. Those employees who have availed locker services have to return their locker keys before exiting as well.

If the employee is availing the company transport services he has to get a clearance from them by removing his name from the transport roster.

Finally, he goes to his centers finance department for settlement of dues like notice recovery; advance salary, vendor balance etc.

In part G, of the form the employee fills in his own details like his employee code, name, address, contact information, and provides his name and signatures at the end.

After all this, the employee is separated from SAP and he submits this form to his centers HR who collect other forms from other employees and send them to the EHS team in Corporate HR at EOD (End of Day).

Now the final processing is done by the EHS SPOC in Corporate HR, where he checks for the employees separation from SAP, his LWD, his resignation date, DOJ, the last day of salary transfer and the day the salary was put on hold. Now, his PL encashment is calculated using the formula Balance Leaves x Basic Salary / 26 His absences are checked and matched with the SAP. They also check if the employee has an incomplete bond. In that case a recovery is put for the bond amount which is calculated using

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Bond amount x No. of days not worked / 274

Now, in resignation cases we have 3 cases based on his notice period served. Notice period varies with different levels of the organization.

I0 (Internee) E0 (e.g. Executives) E1 (e.g. Senior Executives) E2 (e.g. Managers) E3 (e.g. Assistant Manager) E4 (e.g. Senior Managers) E6 (e.g. General Manager) E7 (e.g. Associate Vice President) E8 (e.g. Vice President)

7 days 1 month 1 month 2 months 2 months 3 months 6 months 6 months 6 months

E5 (e.g. Deputy General Manager) 3 months

In case of, Notice period served In this case his notice period recovery is waived off as he has served his notice period. Notice period partially served Then the company makes recovery from the exiting employee after calculating his due using his basic salary Basic Salary x No. of days not served / 30

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Notice period not served When the employee leaves immediately without serving his notice period the employee has to give the company his basic salary equal to the notice period.

The EHS SPOC then makes the entries for all these components into SAP, makes the payroll clearance, and changes his salary transfer from hold to cheque. After this final part of F&F is complete, the employees form is sent to the corporate finance department who make a settlement of the employee. If the employee has a recovery then a recovery letter is sent to him informing him about his dues and asking him to personally come and meet an EHS SPOC with a demand draft of the amount due before his relieving letter can be given to him. If there is a payable to the employee then the company gives him his cheque settling the dues and his relieving letter.

Absconding
When the employee decides to leave the organization without tendering his resignation or following the proper process of separation he is considered absconding in other words, one fine day the employee just stops coming to work without informing the company or taking permission of his superior. When the company realizes his absence a DAF in sent to the employees contact after 3-4 days. The employee is given a period of time within which he should report to work or else he will be considered absconding, this period of time given is called the intimation period. If the employee fails to return after this period, he is then separated from the company. There are two scenarios in this case, firstly, the employee can comeback later to complete his F&F himself, or the centre where the employee worked initiates the F&F process where the employee fails to return.

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HCL is an employee friendly company hence it allows the absconding employees to rejoin or finish their exiting formalities. F&F process remains the same when the employee comes back to fill his F&F form. He goes through all the processes mentioned above. But he is charged his entire basic salary as recovery because he ahs failed to serve the notice period. In the other case where the employee hasnt returned there administration charges its administration fees of Rs.1100/- and his entire notice recovery. HCL does not disclose or show in the relieving letter that the employee has or had absconded. However, the company doesnt mention wishes for his future endeavors while relieving him of his services.

Termination
HCL can ask the employees to leave on two grounds: Performance: When an employee performance poorly which is at the NI (needs improvement) rating. The employee is put to a PIP (Performance Improvement Program) where he undergoes various exercises to help him improve his performance if again he performs poorly then he is put into another PIP and if he again fails to perform and continues to be a hindrance to the team he is asked to leave. Another method that is followed is that the employee is moved to another process so that he is able to perform in a different process. This is done assuming the fact that a person who may not be good at one type of work can be good at some other work. However, when all this fails and the employee does not deliver he becomes a liability not only to the company and his team but personally as well. Hence, the company can ask him to leave.

Behavioral:

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HCL has a ZTP (zero-tolerance policy) laid down and signed by all employees in the organization. If any employee is found violating this ZTP he can be terminated. The general guidelines of the policy are as follows: 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 Demonstrate non-professional behavior/attitude towards customer. Usage of profane or vulgar or abusive language. Offensive or inappropriate references to Race, Ethnicity, Religion, Gender, Lifestyle, Sexual Orientation, Disability and Age. Consistent interruptions in a rude and sarcastic manner with a customer. Unauthorized release of confidential information. This refers to the customers/organizational information such as account information etc. Inappropriate fraternization with customers. Exchange of personal e-mail addresses, flirting or making dates with customers. Coming to work intoxicated or any disciplinary issues on the floor. Refused to escalate to a supervisor at the customer's request. Indiscipline while on production: sleeping extended wrap time (applicable for agents), taking unscheduled breaks, unapproved/ unscheduled leaves, reporting late to work etc. 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Insubordination with the customers or its representatives. This may be on the floor/off the floor or with any of the HCL Management Representative. Disparaging remarks about HCL or customers, its affiliates, and products. Using any of the Process Level Transactions for personal purposes. Call avoidance (for Voice Processes): Agent intentionally disconnects the customer during the call (Intentionally transferring a call back into the Queue) Usage of Cell-Phone on the floor.

Prematurely transferring a call to another department for them to do the troubleshooting. Intentionally giving inaccurate information or Placing a customer on hold deliberately until they hang up. Transaction Avoidance (For Data Processes): Agent intentionally does not accept/respond to the customer through a data transaction.

1.16

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Intentionally transfers a Transaction back into the Queue. Prematurely transferring his/her volumes to another person/department to work for them. Intentionally giving inaccurate information or steps in order to release his/her workload without assisting the customer. Beside the above mentioned clauses there are few process specific clauses which are defined and available with respective Process Managers. It is the responsibility of the Process Manager to ensure that all employees covered under mentioned scope are aware about the process specific clauses and they are practiced across the scope.

The procedure on ZTP 2.1 A ZTP undertaking covering the above mentioned clauses is signed by every employee joining the organization and the same is maintained in their respective personal file. 2.2 In the instance of an employee violating any of the aforementioned clauses and or any of the process specific clauses, the same is escalated to Line HR by the Team Leader/ Process Manager/ Function Head. 2.3 2.4 After receiving the escalation the Line HR Head forms a ZTP Committee in order to give an opportunity to the concerned employee to be heard freely and fairly. In a case of an agent the ZTP committee comprises of the Line HR Head, Concerned Process Manager, Concerned SDL and another SDL of other process. In all other cases the ZTP committee will comprise of the Line HR Head, Reporting Manager, Function Head, Center Head/ Sr. Management. 2.5 2.6 2.7 Based on the observations of the committee members a ZTP Letter with the details of the case and action taken is given to the concerned employee. The receipt of the letter and a copy is documented in his/her personal file. If the ZTP Committee decided to terminate the concerned employee, then the standard full and final procedures are followed. Now, in the case of termination on either ground the F&F remains the same the employee is asked to submit his resignation to keep his integrity and the rest of the F&F remains the same.

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However, in termination cases no recovery is taken from the employee as the company is asking him to leave so hence he is not liable for a notice recovery. These cases are given priority when the EHS team processes the F&F forms over the other F&F cases.

Provident fund
It is the fund which comprises of the contributions made by the employee service period with an equal contribution by his employers. It is calculated as a percentage of his salary, says 10%, and is returned to him on his retirement or his exit from the company. The provident fund was originally set by an act of parliament known as Employees Provident Fund Act, 1952 in a bid to provide monetary security to employees when they retire. Too often, people find that the twilight years of their life are years marked by financial inadequacy and dependency on relatives or children. The provident fund is designed to provide the retiring individual with dignity and security. However, it has, over the years, developed into a broad plan for social security which covers the retirement, buying houses, medical expenses and related expenses. There are different types of provident funds. They are:Statutory Provident Fund - All industries and establishments that employ more than 20 or more people are bound to contribute towards this fund. This fund covers those whose income is below a certain limit prescribed by the government. Voluntary Provident Fund: - The contributions to this fund are voluntary. This is applicable for all those whose salary is beyond the limit specified by the government. This is applicable if the employee covered under EPF is willing to increase his contribution towards PF. Recognized Provident Fund: - This is a fund wherein the contributions are recognized for income tax calculations.

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Unrecognized Provident Fund: - As the name suggests, contribution to these funds are not recognized by the by the Commissioner of Income tax in accordance with the rules contained there in the Act unlike a statutory provident fund, recognized provident fund or public provident fund. Public Provident Fund: - The Central Government has established the Public Provident Fund for the benefit of general public to mobilize personal savings. A salaried employee can simultaneously become a member of employees provident fund and the public provident fund. This kind the provident fund is designed for self-employed people like doctors, lawyers, engineers, businessmen etc A person who is a member of a provident fund can withdraw money from fund up to a maximum ceiling set a by the government after attaining a certain age, say 54, or at actual retirement. In addition there are, generally, provisions for withdrawal of the amount, such as, acquisition or construction of property or repayment of loans taken for the same, treatment of illness, for marriage expenses, for purchase to alleviate the hardship caused by handicap etc.

Provident Fund as per Government of India

Employees Provident Fund Scheme 1952 defines the rules, definitions and working of EPF in India. The schemes of provident funds act as a social security measure and are meant to induce employees to save a portion from their present earning for their future. This scheme comes under the Employees Provident Funds Act, 1952. It states the following: Employee Definition: "Employee" as defined in Section 2(f) of the Act means:

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Any person who is employee for wages in any kind of work manual or otherwise, in or in connection with the work of an establishment and who gets wages directly or indirectly from the employer, and includes any person employed by or through a contractor in or in connection with the work of the establishment. Membership: All the employees (including casual, part time, Daily wage contract etc.) other then an excluded employee are required to be enrolled as members of the fund the day, the Act comes into force in such establishment. Basic Wages: "Basic Wages" means all emoluments which are earned by employee while on duty or on leave or holiday with wages in either case in accordance with the terms of the contract of employment and witch are paid or payable in cash, but dose not include a. The cash value of any food concession; b. Any dearness allowance (that is to say, all cash payment by whatever name called paid to an employee on account of a rise in the cost of living), house rent allowance, overtime allowance, bonus, commission or any other allowance payable to the employee in respect of employment or of work done in such employment. c. Any present made by the employer. Excluded Employee: "Exclude Employee" as defined under pare 2(f) of the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme means an employee who having been a member of the fund has withdraw the full amount of accumulation in the fund on retirement from service after attaining the age of 55 years; Or An employee, whose pay exceeds Rs.5000 per month at the time, otherwise entitled to become a member of the fund. Explanation: 'Pay' includes basic wages with dearness allowance, retaining allowance, (if any) and cash value of food concessions admissible thereon.

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Employee Provident Fund Scheme: Employees' Provident Fund Scheme takes care of following needs of the members: (i) (iv) Retirement Family obligation (ii) Medical (v) Care Education of (iii) Housing Children

(vi) Financing of Insurance Polices How the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme works:

As per amendment-dated 22.9.1997 in the Act, both the employees and employer contribute to the fund at the rate of 12% of the basic wages, dearness allowance and retaining allowance, if any, payable to employees per month. The rate of contribution is 10% in the case of following establishments:

Any covered establishment with less then 20 employees, for establishments cover prior to 22.9.97. Any sick industrial company as defined in clause (O) of Sub-Section (1) of Section 3 of the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 and which has been declared as such by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction,

Any establishment which has at the end of any financial year accumulated losses equal to or exceeding its entire net worth and Any establishment engaged in manufacturing of (a) jute (b) Breed (d) coir and (e) Guar gum Industries/ Factories. The contribution under the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme by the employee and employer will be as under with effect from 22.9.1997.

Employees'

Provident

Fund

Interest

rate:

The rate of interest is fixed by the Central Government in consultation with the Central Board of trustees, Employees' Provident Fund every year during March/April. The current interest rates for the Employee Provident Fund (EPF) is at 8.5% p.a. This rate has been maintained since 2005-06. As we know that, every year the rate is reviewed and if possible it will be revised. But, the current rate is maintained for the past six years in a row. It is expected to be the same interest rates for the following financial year 2010-11. It will be decided on the coming Feb 26, 2010 meeting. They have a plan to

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increase the rate to 8.75%, but would face a deficit of Rs 426.53 crore if it paid out a return of 8.75%. So, there wont be any changes in the rates. Benefits: A) A member of the provident fund can withdraw full amount at the credit in the fund on retirement from service after attaining the age of 55 year. Full amount in provident fund can also be withdrawn by the member under the following circumstance:

A member who has not attained the age of 55 year at the time of termination of service. A member is retired on account of permanent and total disablement due to bodily or mental infirmity. On migration from India for permanent settlement abroad or for taking employment abroad. In the case of mass or individual retrenchment.

B) In the case of the following contingencies, the payment of provident fund be made after complementing a continuous period of not less than two months immediately preceding the date on which the application for withdrawal is made by the member:

Where employees of close establishment are transferred to other establishment, which is not covered under the Act: Where a member is discharged and is given retrenchment compensation under the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947.

Withdrawal before retirement: A member can withdraw up to 90% of the amount of provident fund at credit after attaining the age of 54 years or within one year before actual retirement on superannuation whichever is later. Claim application in form 19 may be submitted to the concerned Provident Fund Office. Accumulations of a deceased member:

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Amount of Provident Fund at the credit of the deceased member is payable to nominees/ legal heirs. Claim application in form 20 may be submitted to the concerned Provident Fund Office. Transfer of Provident Fund account: Transfer of Provident Fund account from one region to other, from Exempted Provident Fund Trust to Unexampled Fund in a region and vice-versa can be done as per Scheme. Transfer Application in form 13 may be submitted to the concerned Provident Fund Office. Nomination: The member of Provident Fund shall make a declaration in Form 2, a nomination conferring the right to receive the amount that may stand to the credit in the fund in the event of death. The member may furnish the particulars concerning himself and his family. These particulars furnished by the member of Provident Fund in Form 2 will help the Organization in the building up the data bank for use in event of death of the member. Annual Statement of account: As soon as possible and after the close of each period of currency of contribution, annual statements of accounts will de sent to each member through of the factory or other establishment where the member was last employed. The statement of accounts in the fund will show the opening balance at the beginning of the period, amount contribution during the year, the total amount of interest credited at the end of the period or any withdrawal during the period and the closing balance at the end of the period. Member should satisfy themselves as to the correctness f the annual statement of accounts and any error should be brought through employer to the notice of the correctness Provident Fund Office within 6 months of the receipt of the statement.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Advantages
Broadly we may categorize the benefits into three:

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Provident Fund Benefits | Pension Benefits | Death Benefits 1. Provident Fund benefits
o

Employer also contributes to Members PF @ 3.67% (1.67% in case of sick industry - e.g.: beedi) EPFO guarantees the Employer contribution and Govt. gives a decent interest to PF accumulations Member can withdraw from this accumulations to cater financial exigencies in life No need to refund unless misused On resignation, the member can settle the account. i.e., the member gets his PF contribution, Employer Contribution and Interest.

2. Pension Benefits
o o o

Pension to Member Pension to Family (on death of member) Scheme Certificate

This Certificate shows the service & family details of a member This is issued if the member has not attained the age of 58 while leaving an establishment and he applies for this certificate Member can surrender this certificate while joining another establishment and the service stated in the certificate is added with the service he is gaining from the new establishment. After attaining the age of 50 or above, the member can apply for Pension by surrendering this scheme certificate (if total service is atleast 10 years) This is a better choice than Withdrawal Benefit, as a member dies holding a valid scheme certificate, his family will get pension (Death when NOT in service)

Withdrawal Benefit

if not eligible for pension, member may withdraw the amount accumulated in his pension account the calculation of this amount is based only on (i) Last average salary and (ii) Service (Not based on actual amount available in Pension Fund Account)

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No amount is taken from Member to give Pension to the Member. Employer and Govt. contributes to Pension fund @8.33% and @1.16% respectively EPFO guarantees pension to members, even if the Employer has not contributed to Pension Fund. Pension calculation is similar to that of Govt. Employee.

3. Death Benefits
o o o o

Provident Fund Amount to Family (or to Nominee) Pension to Family (or to Parent / Nominee) Capital Return of Pension Insurance (EDLI) amount to Family (or to Nominee)

No amount is taken from Member for this facility. Employer contributes for this.

Nominee is basically determined as per the information submitted by the member at this office through FORM-2

Disadvantages
There are practically no disadvantages to the Employee Provident Fund. The rate of return is not as high as what you would get from high-risk investments such as shares and mutual funds. These investments may give you big money but the returns are not steady or guaranteed. With EPF the returns may be lower but are definite.

Provident Fund in HCL

Provident Fund is the fund which is composed of the contributions made by the employee during the time he has worked along with an equal contribution made by his/her employers. Employer contributes 12% out of which 8.33% goes to Pension fund & 3.67% to PF fund, subject to maximum of Rs.541/-. Employee can contribute a minimum of 12% & maximum rate of 20% of the basic wages, dearness allowance and the retaining allowance. This amount can be withdrawn by the employee at the time of retirement, in case of termination of services

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Once the employee becomes a part of HCL BPO he/she can avail the benefit of PF & for Pension the employee need to have tenure of minimum 6 months with the company. PF can be of 3 types: Withdrawal Transfer In Transfer Out

PF Process in HCL

In HCL, for the employee to begin his PF process he must go through all his exiting formalities and complete his full and final formalities. Once the employee is separated from the company he can begin his PF process. After an employee leaves the organization he can either choose to withdraw his PF amount or transfer it to his new companys PF account. Firstly, based on whether the employee wants to withdraw or transfer his PF amount he fills up the respective forms. (Form 19 or Form 13) Form 10C is for withdrawing his pension amount. Form details are filled by the employee who then hands it over to the EHS SPOCs. They are Special Points of Contact through which the employees can interact with the EHS team. As the forms are received by the SPOCs, they are checked for discrepancies after which they are put for processing. The necessary details in the form are matched with the SAP server that is a common intranet server between the HIL Trust and HCL.

In case of,

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Withdrawal of PF Form 13 is filled to get the PF transferred and Form 19 for withdrawal. An employee can withdraw the PF amount after 60 days from resignation. The employee has to fill up form 10C along with form 19 in case of withdrawal tto withdraw the entire amount. To withdraw the same a cancelled cheque, 2 revenue stamps, relieving letter & pan card (photocopy) should be submitted to Corp EHS team.

The EHS team processes form 19 on the following parameters: 1. Name 2. Fathers Name 3. PF account number 4. PAN card number 5. Date of leaving 6. Reason of leaving* 7. Bank Details 8. Date of join and 9. Date of birth * Reason for leaving is very important component if reasons other than personal, family, education etc. are given like job change, better opportunity etc. or any other professional reason than the forms will not be accepted. And the pension form (10C) on the following parameters: 1. Name 2. Fathers Name 3. Date of Birth 4. Pension account number 5. Date of leaving and joining 6. Reason of leaving 7. Bank Details

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5 signatures of the employee are required, 3 on the withdrawal form and 2 on the pension form.

Steps for processing withdrawal of PF 1. The executive logs on to the SAP PF server. Not all employees of HCL have access to this server, based on the designation and nature of work the employee is given access to the SAP server i.e. an executive looking after F&F procedures will not have access to the PF server in SAP database, also finance department will have its own data and access in the SAP server which cannot be seen or modified by the HR department. 2. Since all HCL employee are provided with an employee code that is unique to all employees. Hence, this makes identification and access of employee data easy. The executive enters his code on the server which allows him access to the employees details. The executive matches the details on the form with those on the SAP server like HR full & final details PF & Pension a/c no & fathers name from personal details. 3. He/she then updates the bank details like a/c number, bank name, bank address in the PF SAP server from the cancelled cheque provided by the employee, also the reason for leaving should be the same mentioned in the form before the details are saved on the SAP server. Note: Reason for leaving should not be better prospect.

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4. Once the details are saved, a checklist is attached on top of the form, and company stamps are put on the designated spaces on the form, the form is sent to the concerned manager for final signatures.

5. The entries are made into a tracker and the forms are then couriered to the PF trust
office. Final processing of the forms is then done by the trust and in case of withdrawal the PF amount is transferred to the employees bank account in 1-2 months. Form 10C is sent to the government pension trust for processing. Also, in case of withdrawal there is a 33% tax cut if his PF amount unless the employee is withdrawing after 5 years. The Pension amount takes 3-6 months to be processed and transferred as it is a government trust and not run by the company.

Transfer Out When an employee moves out of the company and joins elsewhere his company requests HCL to start his PF process by filling form 13 with the employers stamp and request letter. The PF process for transfer can be made at anytime after the employee is separated from the company. The EHS processes form 13 on the following parameters: 1. Name 2. Fathers Name 3. PF account number of previous & present employer 4. Pension account number of previous & present employer 5. Name of previous employer 6. Date of leaving 7. Date of joining present employer 8. Address of previous employer 9. Address of present employer

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Any discrepancies in these details; the form gets rejected immediately.

Steps for processing Transfer out of PF 1. Again, just like in the previous case the executive logs on to the SAP PF server with his unique username and password. 2. He/She again verifies the details of the employee like his HR F&F, PF and Pension a/c no. & fathers name from personal details. 3. He/She then updates the Name of the new employer, Name of the new trust of RPFC & Reason for Leaving before saving it. 4. Once the details are saved, a checklist is attached on top of the form, and company stamps are put on the designated spaces on the form, the form is sent to the concerned manager for final signatures.

6. The entries are made into a tracker and the forms are then couriered to the PF trust
office. Forms 13 and 19 are processed by the companys PF trust. For PF, once, the form is accepted by the trust it takes 1-2 months for the amount to be transferred, as this is HCLs own trust.

Transfer In Transfer In is when an employee joins HCL from another company and wants to transfer his PF amount from the previous employer to HCLs. In that case, HCL requests the previous company to transfer the amount to HCLs own trust by sending the form 13 filled by the employee along with company stamp and letter

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Steps for processing Transfer in of PF 1. The steps are almost similar except in this case the employee has joined the organization hence his transfer amount needs to be transferred to the company PF trust from his previous PF trust 2. After the executive has logged on to the SAP PF server he uses the employees code to see the details of the employee. 3. In these details he updates the employees previous employment details. 4. After the data is updated, Fathers name, DOJ, PF a/c numbers etc. are checked and the data is saved in SAP. 5. The entries are made into a tracker and the forms are then couriered to the PF trust office The executive looks for discrepancies in the same parameters given above for form 13 before processing the forms.

Reject Forms

After, the employee submits his PF form; the EHS team screens the form for discrepancies. If any of these necessary details mentioned in the previous parameters are incorrect, missing, overwritten without signatures, dont match with the SAP server or if the necessary verification documents are missing then the form is rejected. When discrepancies are found in the form it gets rejected here itself and is not sent to the trust but there are cases where the forms despite the clearance from the EHS team, gets rejected by the trust.

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In that case, all rejected forms are sent back to the centre, where the PF executive then informs the candidates about the status and reasons. Database of the rejected forms are maintained by the PF department and they are couriered to the employee or destroyed and the employee is asked to initiate the process again.

PF Loan
During the tenure of the employee with the organization he cannot withdraw his PF amount. As we saw earlier, the concept of PF is to saving for the employees for social security purposes with equal contribution of the employer and employee. However, in certain cases and after a certain eligibility criteria the company allows the employee to take a loan from his PF a/c.

Condition for PF LOAN

Annexure to Loan Request

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Purpose of Loan

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility-Amount

Documents Required
1) A declaration from the member that, dwelling site

HR-Remarks

24 months wages For purchase of site for construction of house 5 Years of membership of the Fund (Minimum balance in members a/c should be Rs. 1000/-) * The purchase should be in favour of member or member & spouse (Basic & DA) OR 90% of ( Members own share of contribution + Companys share of contribution with interest thereon )

or dwelling house/flat or the house under construction is free from encumbrances and the same is under the title of the member or the spouse 2) copy of the title deed of seller. 3) copy of agreement to sell. 4) Copy of title deed in the name of member to be submitted with in six months from date of loan availed. 1)A declaration from the member that, dwelling site or dwelling house/flat or the house under construction is free from encumbrances and the same is under the title of the member or the spouse. 2) Copy of the title deed in the name of member or member and spouse 3) An estimate from contractor

36 months wages 5 Years of membership of the Fund (Minimum balance in members a/c should be Rs. 1000/-) * The purchase should be in favour of member or member & spouse (Basic+DA) OR 90% OF ( Members For construction of house own share of contribution + Companys share of contribution with interest thereon)

For purchase of a dwelling flat

5 Year of membership of the Fund (Minimum balance in members a/c should be Rs. 1000/-) * The purchase should be in favour of member or member & spouse

36 months wages (Basic+DA) OR l Members own share of contribution + Companys share of contribution with interest thereon

1) A declaration from the member that, dwelling site or dwelling house/flat or the house under construction is free from encumbrances and the same is under the title of the member or the spouse 2) copy of the title deed of seller. 3) copy of

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agreement to sell. 4) Copy of title deed in the name of member to be submitted with in six months from date of loan availed.

5 years from the date of completion of dwelling For additions, alterations or improvements to the dwelling house *The property should in the name of member or member and spouse 36 month wages (Basic Advance from the fund for repayment of housing loan 10 years membership of the fund & member should have taken loan from Govt. Body / Financial Institutions as specified under PF Rules + DA) OR Members own share of contribution + Companys share of Contribution with interest thereon Advance from the fund for Marriage of self/son/daughter/ sister/brother etc. 7 years membership of the fund & minimum balance in members account should be Rs. 1000/50% of members own share of contribution including interest Declaration by the member which is attested by the employer along with copy of marriage invitation Declaration by the member 50% of members own share of contribution including interest which is attested by the employer and copy of the registration documents and fees paid A certificate from the lending authority furnishing the details of loan and outstanding amount house 12 months basic or members own share of contribution with interest thereon. Copy of title deed and estimate from the contractor

Advance from the fund for education of Son/Daughter

7 years membership of the fund & minimum balance in members account should be Rs. 1000/-

Note:

(1) For calculation/ computing the period of membership total service exclusive of periods of break under the same employer before the scheme is applied to him, as well as period of membership of the fund is always included. (2) In case the loan is availed for construction of house the cheque can be drawn in favor of Member. In case of purchase of land/ flat/ dwelling house from some individual

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the amount can be paid to Member but in case the to the vendor

land/flat/dwelling house is

purchased or to be purchased other than individual then the payment has to be made

Points to remember
1. Form 19 PF withdrawal 2. Form 10C Pension withdrawal (Tenure need to be more than 6 months) 3. Form 13 Transfer of PF to another trust 4. PF loan form Marriage, reconstruction of house or reasons in word document need to be referred 5. Form 10 D& Form 20 Death case 6. Voluntary Provident fund form limit up to 20% only 7. Reason for leaving cannot be better prospect for withdrawal of PF form. It needs to be same as mentioned in the form. 8. Current PF contribution can be checked for employee not separated by PF server-> ZCST Current statement 9. For pension query office address: RPFC Gurgoan, Plot no 43, Sector 44. Employee tenure needs to be for more than 6 months for the same. 10. PF a/c need to be for more than 5 yrs in continuity (i.e. employee need to contribute for continuous 5 yrs for PF) other wise 33% of tax deduction will be there. 11. Verification form need to be sent to Chennai on everyday basis (if required) 12. In case PAN card & PF form signature of the employee do not match, inform HR manager & take suggestion. 13. Check the date of relieving letter & DOL mentioned by employee on form. Incase of mismatch dont send the form, correct the same. 14. Cancelled cheque need to be of employee & not of his family members 15. Status of PF amount need to be updated in tracker with help from PF trust via mail on regular basis.

16. If employee needs clarification of PF amount mail [email protected] & ask for
Annexure K.

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17. Status of PF form updated in PF server in SAP can be checked by downloading the report.

Ex-Employee Verification
This is post exit function of the EHS Team for ex-employees who have joined other organizations. After an employee is relieved of his services from HCL, when an employee joins another organization, they conduct a background verification of the employee. As the ex-employee shows the relieving letter of HCL as his previous employer the organization contacts the EHS SPOC in HCL to verify the details relating to the ex-employee. There are many things questioned by the recruiter during verification from the previous company, e.g.: 1. Reasons for leaving 2. Attitude 3. Technical Skills and performance 4. If terminated 5. Salary Package 6. Possibility of rehiring: No or Yes with Reasons. 7. Special Remark for the employee. For responding the queries of the recruiter; one has to frame certain policies: 1. Mode of communication: Email or through the telephone 2. Disclosure of information regarding the Ex Employee, these will cover points 1-7 above or any of 1-7. 3. Rehiring policies 4. Public Information Policy: Policy for the public statements that can be issued on company behalf. Therefore, at HCL we provide the following details as far as verification is concerned:

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1. Date of Joining 2. Last working day 3. His last designation 4. F&F status All verification queries are handled through mail, no verification is done through any other mode e.g. Telephone, SMS, Personal visit etc.

Vouchers
When an employee resigns from the company from that day on his salary is put on hold i.e. his salary is stopped from being transferred to his bank account. Also, there are cases where the employees salary is put on hold without receiving his resignation later e.g. If an employee takes unscheduled leaves during the time of his payroll then his reporting manager may put his salary on hold fearing that the employee may abscond after receiving his salary. An exiting employee who is serving his notice period has to be paid his salary for the number of days he is reporting for work hence to transfer the release amount to his account he has to fill a hold salary release voucher with the EHS SPOC. Also, there are times where an employee may want his salary in advance; in that case as well the person has to fill an advance salary release voucher which will allow him to avail this service.

Conclusion and Recommendations

It is interesting to note that the attrition rates in India - and the costs associated - are so high that they can override the benefits of lower wage costs. A Nasscom-Hewitt Associates Survey says that the cost of attrition in the industry is 1.5 times the annual salary.

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On an average, companies today lose 25% of their annual revenue as a result of attrition. Thus, even an 8-10% decrease in the attrition rate can have a major spin-off effect on the bottom line of a company. The specific reasons for attrition are varied in nature. A list of issues, some very prominent and some even trivial, are identified below: 1. No growth opportunity / lack of promotion: Only one in 10 people will ever make consultant; one in 100 will make it to line / practice manager. 2. Organizational matters: The knowledge employees always assess the management values, work culture, work practices and credibility of the organization. The Indian BPOs do have difficulties in getting the businesses and retain it for a long time. When there is no focus, and in the absence of business plans, non-availability of the campaigns make people to quickly move out of the organization. 3. Work environment: In the Indian BPO industry, rigid rules and strict monitoring are the norm. Employees often feel that they are being constantly spied upon. Sometimes, it even infringes on the employee's private space, thereby forcing them to look for other opportunities. 4. Job matters: A number of job related reasons contribute to the high attrition levels in this industry. These are given below: (a). Stress Levels: These jobs bring lots of pressure and the stress levels are high. Hence, employees leaving the job due to too much pressure on performance or any work related pressure are quite common. (b). Adjustment problems: Often employees are moved from one process to another. They take time to get adjusted with the new campaigns, and few employees find it difficult to get adjusted and they leave immediately. Many a time, the employees move out if there are strained relations with the superiors or with the subordinates or any slightest discontent. (c). Nature of the job: Monotony sets in very quickly and this is one of the main reasons for attrition. Besides the induction and project training, not much investment has been done to evolve a "continuous training program" for the employees.

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(d). Attitude of employees: Youngsters look at call center jobs as temporary and they quickly change the job once they get in to their own field. 5. Salary and other benefits: Moving from one job to another for higher salary, better positions and better benefits are among the most important reasons for attrition. 6. Personal reasons: The personal reasons are many and only few are visible to us. The foremost personal reasons are getting married or change of place. The next important personal reason is going for higher education. Health is another aspect, which contributes to attrition. Employees do get affected with health problems like sleep disturbances, indigestion, headache, and throat infection and lose interest in work. 7. Poaching: Poaching of trained and competent manpower from rival companies is very high. Most of the BPO organizations have employee referral schemes and this makes people spread message and refer known candidates from their previous companies, and earn too in the bargain. It is not easy to find out as to who contributes and who has the control on the attrition of employees. A pin-pointing of the prominent causes is the first step towards addressing the issue of attrition According to my observation at HCL BPO, the exiting employees have cited all the previous reasons mentioned above. Therefore, as I was training under the exit process I felt the need to address the issue of attrition. Some recommendations for addressing attrition in the organization are as follows:

1. Proper Hiring There is need for a higher degree of due diligence at the hiring stage. At the hiring stage itself, Recruitment team needs to make the prospective employee aware of what the job exactly entails, what is the performance standards expected, the career path for the

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candidate, etc. Recruitment team needs to check the background and other factors particular to the candidate that might be a potential source of early exit. However, under the tight labor scenario and resource crunch, it is very difficult for companies to be very selective. One solution can be to look beyond the present workforce alternatives. Sections like housewives, students, physically-handicapped people and retired persons can be explored. In fact, Datamatics Technologies Limited (DTL) has already implemented a unique model wherein it employs part-time workers whom the company dubs 'knowledge associate'. These associates could be housewives, students or retired folk. By hiring part-time workers, the company is able to manage fluctuations in customer projects. 2. Clear Communication & Expectations Management There is a view that a communication strategy with intention of honoring commitments would go a long way in managing attrition. The role of communication does not end with hiring. Once recruited, proper communication to employees is the primary step towards creating a conducive work environment. It should be the management's endeavor to provide employees with a good idea of how business has been the potential issues and the important events affecting the company. Greater involvement in the affairs of the company breeds motivation and loyalty. The organization should not only act as a paymaster but should adopt the role of a 'counselor' for its career-oriented workforce. This role of nurturing the talent and guiding them uplifts the motivational environment. This strategy is followed in HCL; the company follows the Employee First initiative under which internal initiatives designed to both give employees more personal responsibility for the companys service offerings and a voice with upper management. 3. Compensation & Reward Management Having employee reward policies and practices in the organization can help to attract, retain and motivate high-quality people. Rewards can be both financial and nonfinancial. Recognition is perhaps the most cost-effective way of motivating employees.

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While the high cost of other rewards forces companies to give them sparingly, recognition can be given any time, at very little cost. Thus, companies should strive to build in a high value of recognition into every reward. Movie-tickets, a coffee-mug or a Tshirt can have far more motivational power than what their prices would suggest, if they are given with the right kind of appreciation. As far as possible, rewards should be linked to the performance of the employees. Today's employees have higher expectations for what work can and should be, and they want to receive rewards that reflect their personal efforts and contributions. Also, rewards need to be given as soon as possible after the performance has taken place. Immediate recognition of an effort most often ensures a better performance the next time. If delayed, the reward loses most of its motivational aspect. 4. Role of the Team Leader The quality of the team leader an employee receives is critical to employee retention. People leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave companies or jobs. Anything the team leader does to make an employee feel unvalued will contribute to turnover. Therefore, companies should look at ensuring proper competencies in their managers through training. 5. Providing Growth Opportunities & Career Options The information age employee is very career conscious. It should be the company's endeavor to devise means of adding to their employees' skills. This symbiotic relationship of nurturing and utilizing talent and skills is a great competency in fighting against attrition. A few initiatives in this regard are worth mentioning. HCLs i-Shine initiative offers various programs for post graduation, diploma, training courses etc. with tie ups in top B-schools (e.g. IIM-C). 6. Tackling Poaching Poaching is a constant problem that high growth industries face. The scenario for BPOs is no different. It is not possible for the industry to have an all encompassing agreement on poaching. Mutual understanding, cooperation and responsible behavior from companies are the only way.

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BPO industry is leading the Indian IT industry growth. The projections for future are encouraging but the challenges facing the industry are no less daunting. A shortfall of talented workforce coupled with a high attrition rate may have a crippling effect on the industry. Ability to arrest attrition, therefore, assumes strategic significance and can be used as a competitive advantage for long-term survival in the industry.

How to smoothen the exit process

During my training I worked under different processes in the exiting, primary being the F&F process. Through out my tenure I was able to observe different aspects of the exiting process. My conclusion of the entire process of exit process in HCL remains positive. With such high rates of attrition the EHS executives are always on a run to get the tasks done, attend and resolve queries, entertain and interact with ex employees and present employees, process bulk forms and perform effective management techniques in their work and communication. The exit process in HCL has a lot of dependency with other departments and centres, coordination between the centres and EHS, and coordination between the EHS and finance is the key requirement for effectiveness, efficiency and accuracy of the exiting process. The exiting process in HCL is very similar to its competitors as the processes remain same in all companies the only difference comes in the delivery or implementation of the processes. Like for example, in one organization the entire F&F process is done online through the intranet and the employee does not have to go to each department physically. In another company, the employees do not get to interact with the HR SPOC instead the employee initiates the F&F after his resignation and once the form is submitted he is given a date at which he can collect the cheque and relieving letter from a window in the office during the entire process there is no employee interaction.

Problems faced in the exiting process of employees at HCL

According to me there are no major problems in the exiting management of HCL BPO in fact the process has been more streamlined and EHS SPOCs have been placed at the

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processes where they are most efficient in handling the workload. Also, there is good coordination within the EHS team due to the efficient management of the team managers. However, like everything else nothing in the real world is perfect. Even though my tenure of training has not been long enough for me to discover all the problems or discrepancies in the system but I have made observation which are as follows:

One of the major problems being faced by the organization is that a lot of employees leave the company without any prior intimation, in other words they abscond or they leave the company without serving the notice periods. Now both the cases affect the company in a negative way. This behavior of employees hinders the smooth functioning of various departments. The company has a very friendly attitude towards the employees and hence they have made liberal policies on dealing with such employees so as to not give of a wrong message to the employee. Due this there are employees who tend to take advantage of this situation and misuse these liberties that are given to them by the company.

There is a lot of dependency between the centers, corp. HR and finance. This despite being inevitability it does hamper the performance of the EHS team at the corporate level. Therefore, turnaround time is officially not met due to this.

During the processing of forms I came across various forms where the employee was not been separated from SAP. Even though the separation can be done by the corporate EHS it is still the responsibility of the centers to make sure the employee is separated from SAP before his form is sent for separation to the EHS SPOC. Also, this again only delays the processing of forms and increases workload.

Also, though this problem is not significant but may be of concern often centre SPOCs submit the F&F forms at the end of the day. Hence, the forms remain unprocessed till the next day thus causing a day gap in processing and receiving which delays the form before it is given to finance.

Also, there is wastage of resources in the finance end where there are individual persons processing for different centres. Yet, there are delays beyond the estimated time of processing which is 1 week rather than faster processing.

There are occasions where the employee who has a bond agreement resigns before its maturity due to ignorance. Hence, the line HR should ensure that the exiting

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employee is reminded about his bond agreement before his resignation is accepted. By informing at the right time the employee may reconsider his resignation if the bond maturity is due or else he as to pay the recovery. This tactic can indirectly be used as a retention strategy. This also applies to gratuity cases, if an employee is resigning near the completion of his gratuity tenure, the line HR should inform him so that he can reconsider his resignation.

Resignation letter are not given in a professional manner though according to the company policy the letter should be submitted by email to the reporting manager but employees submit them in handwritten and at times even on rough sheets of torn paper.

In PF, there is lack of coordination between the HCL PF Trust and the Govt. Pension Fund hence there are times when the information or status on 10C form is wrongly provided.

The trust often does not provide with reason for rejection when sending back the rejected forms making it difficult for the EHS SPOC to reprocess the forms. The employees fill the wrong addresses and contact details making it difficult to provide them with information or status.

Recommendations
Sighting all these problems I have come up with recommendation that I hope will be relevant in the improvement of the exiting process in HCL.

Absconding employees are one of the most prominent problems facing the exiting process according to me they not only cause problems to their respective process but also to line HR and corporate HR, I believe that HCL despite being an employee friendly should remain friendly towards only those who are loyal to the company. Absconding is seen as a cowardly act by the entire corporate world and like the other HCL too should have strict policy on absconding employees.

One way is that rejoining bonus should not be given to absconding employee, in fact if they want to rejoin they should first settle their previous dues and recovery before being allowed to rejoin. Also, he should not be given any reimbursement or AL encashment.

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Another way is to retain documents of the new joining employees or by making new joinees sign bonds for a specific maturity period. This will not only hold the employee from absconding in the future but will also filter the new joinees as only those person would be willing to join who will be serious about making it in the company.

We can also redesign salary structures; include a variable component, which can be retained by the company as and when the situation arises. Variable payouts could include bonus, to be considered only after completion of a specific period of service

The company can also ask for a certain amount for security purposes at the time of joining which will be duly returned to him when he leaves the organization through formal channels

Improving coordination between Line HR and Corporate EHS is the key as there is high dependability and large volumes of processing required hence accuracy and timing becomes important. In my opinion a monthly meeting should be held by the Corporate EHS team with the Line HR SPOCs to discuss progress and problems with full disclosure and frankness.

Same should be done with the finance department as there is dependability between the departments they should be accountable for delays on their part which results in finger being pointed at the EHS department.

The concept of harmony, not discord should be applied here.

Future Prospects
The drop from 4th position to the 10th position is a worrying sign for HCL BPO. However, as the forthcoming merger with HCL Technologies takes place there will be changes made in the running and all the issues concerning the BPO will be tackled. Only time will how the merger affects the BPO Company. This project was my best effort to give back something to the company that has given me such a learning experience in the last few weeks.

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I hope this project will be of purpose to the company in the future and my insight. This project highlights the problems facing the exiting process and my suggestions to cope with those problems as well. I believe this document can be used as a reference at a future time for other training and learning purposes by other people. I believe my recommendations can be discussed further at the policy making level where my observations can provide insight to the decision making process

References
1. Form 13,19 & 10C 2. Employees Provident Fund Scheme, 1952 3. Employees Provident Fund Act, 1952 4. www.citehr.com 5. www.scribd.com 6. www.epfindia.com 7. www.chrmglobal.com 8. Standard Operating Procedure PF HCL 9. http://www.bpoindia.org/research/bpo-in-india.shtml 10. www.chillibreeze.com/articles/top-BPO-companies

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11. www.articlesbase.com Business Outsourcing 12. wordnet.princeton.edu/Perl/webwn 13. en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Employees 14. aspa.org/resources/res_news_glossary.htm 15. http://hrlink.in/news/employee-separation-resignation-termination-andabsconding 16. http://www.bpoindia.org/research/attrition-rate-big-challenge.shtml

Appendices

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