Companies tweak pay norms to help staffers | Economic Times

From paying advance salaries to employees down with Covid-19 to offering financial and medical support for an extended period to the family and sponsoring the education of children if a staffer succumbs to the viral infection, companies are tweaking their compensation policies amid the deadly second wave of the pandemic.HCL Technologies, Dabur, PepsiCo, Capgemini, Flipkart, Ashok Leyland and several others have introduced new policies to support employees and their families in battling the pandemic and managing its aftermath, as a larger number of the workforce is getting infected now compared with the first wave.This month, Dabur has decided to support the families of employees who have lost their life to Covid, by continuing to pay their monthly salary for a year, in addition to extending the company’s term insurance cover to the dependents for the same period.82719566This covers all employees — about 5,000 in India and around 2,000 abroad. “While we understand that this can in no way make up for the loss, we feel this small gesture would help support the family through this tough period,” chief executive Mohit Malhotra said.PepsiCo has recently started offering advance salaries to those infected by the virus. This facility is available to its 2,000 direct employees across plants and offices, said Pavitra Singh, chief HR officer at PepsiCo India.HCL Technologies has enlarged the scope of its family assistance programme to support the dependents of employees who succumbed to Covid. The IT company is providing medical cover for the dependents for three years, in addition to sponsoring the education of the employee's children for five years. “In case the deceased employee’s spouse is willing to join HCL, the company will also provide training wherever roles are available to make them ready for the role,” said a spokesperson.Flipkart and Capgemini have rolled out new initiatives that include payment of salary advance for Covid-related treatment. In case of the death of an employee due to Covid, effective January 1, 2020, Capgemini is giving an ex-gratia financial assistance to their nominees/next of kin.Tata Steel rolled out a new social security scheme in the first wave itself wherein the family gets the last-drawn salary if an employee succumbs to Covid, till the time when the employee would have turned 60 years of age.The family would also continue to get access to medical benefits and residential accommodation, mostly at plant sites. Besides, children's education expenses till graduation in India will be taken care of by Tata Steel for its frontline employees who while on job get infected by the virus and die, said a spokesperson.Indiabulls Housing Finance is supporting employees’ families who have lost their lives to Covid, by paying the salary of two years and supporting their children's education till graduation.“This financial assistance won’t be able to bring back our dear colleagues but I hope it will provide the family some time to stabilise, reorient and deal with this unfortunate life changing event,” managing director Gagan Banga said.In addition to paying six months’ salary to the family, Ashok Leyland is clearing up the unpaid hospital expenses in case an employee dies due to Covid.