Nuisance @ Workplace

July 18 was the last day for me to complete a mandatory training on ‘Preventing Workplace Harassment’ and that too of 2.5 hours (obvsly at Deloitte ;-)). While going through the training I doubted, do we actually need to do this training?? Do other firms have this compulsory training?? That reminded me of an article, I read few days back, something about a good-looking (sexy) female employee being sued from a MNC. The reason being her dressing style, which according to the officials was sexually distracting. I thought of google-ing something around the same and I caught the article on the roster. It was of Debrahlee Lorenzana, a 5'5“, slim-n-trim, attractive brunette. So attractive, that her employer had to fire her for being `too distracting' for her male colleagues. C’mon, WTF!!! Is it her predicament if the male doles are not able to control their feelings or concentrate on work or whatever. The brawl begin sometime back when she sued her bosses at Citibank for creating a “discriminatory atmosphere“ at the workplace.
Does that mean that the women need to be behenjis at work?? Or the dress code for women needs a transform??
Do the companies have a sexual harassment act in place??
A recent survey suggests, more than 52% of Indian Private companies lack any kind of act or policy against sexual harassment. However, all the MNCs have a strict policy and a training plan in hand to tackle workplace harassment. It implies that the Indian private companies seriously need to act before it’s too late.
Nevertheless, there are always two sides to every story. A survey reveals that the harassment policies are biased towards women, favoring them 80% and around 40% women colleagues take undue advantage of the act as well!! Now, it all depends on the women how they dress up at the workplace and help in creating a healthy environment.;-)

Its all about walking!!

Never imagined a place that houses numerous brands can ever be used as a runway for walk or jog. The concept, not new in the West, is gaining some impetus here as well. Called Mall Walk, the exclusive concept has been initiated keeping in mind the paucity of green space around Malad and the increasing awareness towards a healthy lifestyle. A new place for walking and jogging for health freaks has come up in the shape of Malls. Everyday in the dawn at around 6 am, Malad’s Inorbit Mall is a flurry of activity. The gigantic arena is used for regular morning walk by the people in the vicinity of the mall. Nearly 50 -60 people can be spotted from 6 am to around 8 am, mostly middle-aged group. After passing the customary security check, patrons can use the entire area of the mall (first and second floor) as well as the car parking for walking or jogging. On the top of it a trainer is also available to give fitness tips. Though the notion is currently active only at InOrbit mall, Malad but the InOrbit mall at Vashi is also toying with the idea of something similar.
It won’t be a surprise to see some juice wallas and breakfast vendors in these malls offering their stuff in the early hours of the day. It anyways is a earning practice for them. Plus it provides additional free marketing to the uncountable branded stores in the mall. I guess these community-building measures will actuate people not to skip their walks even in the rainy seasons. Great job, Mall owners or whoever brought this inspiration to Mumbaikars.

La Econimics de una victoria

For a nation struggling with towering debts and weak banks, highest unemployment in the continent, and the recent burst of the housing bubble at least has something to savor now as their heroes have defeated Netherlands to lift their first FIFA World Cup trophy. This feat could materialize only after Iniesta’s winning kick in the 116th minute as both the sides were goal-less in the regulation 90 minutes in a short-tempered grand finale which saw 12 yellow cards, one red card, nearly 40 free kicks and uncountable fouls. The Spanish team obtained a warm reception when they reached the Madrid Airport on Monday. Throngs gathered at the airport to hail the team which emerged from the plane with keeper-captain Iker Casillas, coach Vicente del Bosque and the golden trophy. The team will be facilitated by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and an open bus ride is also in the offing through the national capital. New world champions Spain, the eighth such team in history, joins the melee of the title holders - Brazil (five titles), Italy (four), Germany (three), Argentina (two), Uruguay (two), France (one) and England (one).
This victory should bolster the dilapidated economy of Spain. For all those who don’t have any idea about the Euro zone crisis, Spain belongs to a group of weaker economies, called PIGS – Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, in profound economic trouble in the Euro zone which is a term used for 16 members of the European Union that use a common currency, namely the Euro. Although Spain is the world’s 9th largest economy, almost 4 times as that of Greece, it could not bear the brunt of its debt burden. Even though is is one of the major exporters of automobiles in the entire Europe it failed to save its GDP declination of 3.6 percent and hence led to an all time high unemployment rate of 19.5 percent. It also lost its presence in global market by losing majority of international jobs. Collapse of a bubbled housing market led to a stagnant economic development and made the Socialist government in Madrid introduce tough austerity measures, including wage cuts for public-sector workers, in a bid to prevent a Greekstyle debt crisis. Also it is a part of EU and hence have zero control over its currency.
Well, Spain is on the route to follow Greece for the bailout package since deep financial crisis seems inevitable. But, will the German Chancellor Angela Merkel approve the trillion-dollar bailout package as she was the lone warrior against the Greece’ $1-trillion rescue plan that was co-financed by the euro region and the International Monetary Fund. I hope the World Cup will elevate the spirits in Spain to exchange blows against an uneven economy and help them evade the trillion-dollar bailout-rescue package.

Some of the factors keeping Spain awake at night :
Highest Unemployment rate in the European Continent
90% Banks in heavy debts
Weakening GDP
Blah blah blah...

Bloggingness Personified

What should be the blog about?
Should I stick to a sole topic or ought to some universal subjects?
Should it be personal or unrestricted?
Will I be able to continue blogging, as the worn-out office hours takes a lot out of me?
Will the readers stumble upon some fascinating fixation, every time they hit my blog’s URL?
How frequently should I update the blog with new posts?
How many people have commented on my posts hitherto?
These are just a few out of the inestimable questions dwelling in my brain. Is this a whiff of my addictiveness towards blogging?
I often wake up thinking, "Wonder what I can blog about today". I sometimes can't wait to get home from work so that I can access my blog. Every weekend I mull over my next/new post. Every now and then I hunt for new widgets for my site. I visit numerous blogs everyday penned by diversified people across the globe. Bookmarked a lot of them, as they hold the trait of pulling me back or insisting me to visit every day. Blogging, I believe, has its own set of followers, one who have a passion for writing in their blood and other who like to keep themselves occupied with something novel. I can sense, I fit in the later.
I am constantly on the lookout for experiences or events or news stories to blog about. Like recently, I was glad to know some of my friends who don’t have much idea about the G-20, found my post (about G-20, June archived) to be an educational and a revealing one. Occasionally, I can't wait to finish reading a book or for that matter linger on an out of the ordinary Indo-Pak cricket match because I want to blog about it. I wish, if I was a good designer to be able to design my own header and blog template, or what it would be like to have my own custom domain. I seriously don’t know if these are the symptoms of addictiveness.
Well, if I'm addicted. Do I need a rehab? Is there any blogging-rehab?
Maybe it's not a problem yet. ;-)
Nevertheless, akin to this post, I would continue to write, no less.

Learn CSR with PepsiCo

It may be known as a Manufacturer of wide variety of global products ranging from wafers to juices, mineral water to cold drinks, biscuits to dairy products, and what not. It is known for its numerous products that we consume in our daily lives. What makes this brand unique is their Portfolio of Corporate Social Responsibilities across several states in India. With initiatives from Water Conservation and Waste Management to Partnering with Farmers, PepsiCo India impacts the community hard with its diversified initiatives targeting different woes of the society.
PepsiCo India is a firm believer of Performance With Purpose which articulates its belief that its businesses are intrinsically connected to the community and world that surrounds it. PWP is about delivering more than financial performance, it’s about saying committed to continuously giving back to the community and helping enrich society. It continues to build on its strong foundation of achievements on the Purpose or CSR agenda and scale up its initiatives while focusing on the following critical areas that are linked to its businesses and where it can have the most impact. Some of their initiatives are :

Water conservation: Since PepsiCo is very much into manufacturing processes, water forms the heart of their products. And no other than PepsiCo knows it well. Over the last five years it has been able to conserve nearly 45% water. Using procedures like Reducing, Recycling, Re-engineering, it has saved around 3 billion liters of water in the year 2009, thus becoming Positive Water Balance company i.e. it will help save more water through various initiatives than it will consume in its business. Through a multipronged approach comprising awareness commitment and monitoring mechanisms for making beverages, they have been able to reduce the amount of water consumption(for making beverages) considerably. Recycling water at every possible stage of manufacturing processes and re-engineering the processes through installation of water recovery equipment and innovative processes outlines the DNA of their entire manufacturing cycle.

Water Replenishment : PepsiCo India invented a new concept of Direct Seeding which avoids three basic operations, namely, puddling ( a process where soil is compacted to reduce water seepage), transplanting and standing water, thereby saving about 30% water (0.9 million liters of water / acre). Even if 25% of the Indian rice cultivation(which uses around 75% of the farming water) can be shifted to direct seeding, water saving will be equal to the total water consumed by the Indian Industry. With the aim of harvesting water, it has developed several dams across diverse states like Karnataka, Uttaranchal, Maharashtra, etc. hence providing the accumulated water to the nearby villages as well. This is how PepsiCo has been able to reach their goal to conserve, replenish and harvest the precious asset, the water.

Waste to Wealth Programme : PepsiCo India has developed a Solid waste Management flagship in partnership with Exnora, an environmental NGO. This program not only aims at providing jobs to thousands of inhabitants of Andhra Pradesh and Haryana(majoritily women) but also proposing a clean environment to more than 450,000 people. This scheme recycles 97% of household garbage by segregating bio-degradable waste from the recyclable waste. The Bio-degradable waste thus amassed is converted into high quality organic manure through vermi-culture. This program has enabled PepsiCo to bag several National and International awards as well.

Partnership with Farmers : It has partnered with around 10,000 farmers across several states with a intend to bolster farmers income and farm-yield. These agri-partnerships have enabled farmers to learn various processes of utilizing their farms aptly to yield more. “In the next 5 years, we aim to partner with farmers from three more states and thus double the number of our partnered farmers”, states Sanjeev Chadha, the CEO and Chairman of PepsiCo India. It appears that PepsiCo is quite bullish of these partnerships as the partnered farmers also cultivate raw materials like potatoes which are used for manufacturing quite a few products like Lays, Uncle Chips, Cheetos, etc.
On being asked about the ultimate goal of PepsiCo India, Sanjeev Chadha utters, “Make significant and valuable impact in the lives of our countrymen with our products and social initiatives in the long term”. I hope the definition of CSR, for all the companies, transform as per PepsiCo’s appreciating efforts.

I can buy Merc soon!!

Few weeks back, German automaker BMW, which touched highest sales figures in the Indian luxury-sedan market in 2009, launched a scheme of selling second-hand BMWs with BMW authorized dealers. But this plan hasn’t been materialized yet as there are no BMW certified-used car dealers in the bazaar. However, its native arch-rival Mercedes-Benz has decided to boost its consumer base further with the launch of its analogous flagship of company-certified pre-owned cars. The company-driven agenda utilizes specific global benchmarks for vehicle evaluation, quality and warranty to offer company-certified pre-owned Merc cars. These pre-owned/used cars would be sold only through Merc authorized dealers.
“Comprehensive evaluation and refurbishment criteria, scientific tools for audit and inspection as well as manufacturer-backed warranty go into the making of a certified proven exclusivity vehicle. The dream of owning a Mercedes-Benz thus becomes even more achievable,” said Wilfried Aulbur, MD and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India.
Over 15 years of its presence in India, Mercedes-Benz had its dominance on luxury sedan market and sold around 30,000 cars but in the recent years the number is plummeting. Its local-soil contenders (Audi and BMW) have given Merc a run for their money in the Indian Market as more purchasers are paying attention to Audis and BMWs. Audi’s Q7 is recognized as the most powerful-diesel SUV in India while Audi’s A4 and A6,BMW’s 3-series and 5-series put forward a lot as compared to Merc’s C-class and E-class models.
Will the plan of providing used cars work for Merc to build up their lost vigor in the Indian Market, and will automobile aficionados like me(and some of my friends) be able to take a driving seat of Merc/BMW soon??