Airtel doing in Pandemic 1. Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s largest integrated telecommunications company, today announced special measures to assist low income group customers impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. • Airtel has extended the pre-paid pack validity for over 80 million customers till April 17th, 2020. All these customers will continue to get incoming calls on their Airtel mobile numbers even after the validity of their plan is exhausted. • Airtel will also credit an additional Rs 10 of talk time in the pre-paid accounts of all these 80 million customers to enable them to make calls or send SMS and therefore stay connected with their loved ones. The program has been kicked off, and these benefits will be available to users in the next 48 hours. These 80 million customers effectively cover all under-privileged households on the Airtel Network. These special measures will particularly benefit migrant workers and daily wage earners who may have been impacted due to the nationwide lockdown to combat COVID-19. All other customers on Airtel’s network are already recharging their accounts using online platforms. 2. As part of its mission to use its networks and digital tech for the good of society, Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”) today announced an innovative collaboration with Apollo 24|7, the digital business unit of The Apollo Hospitals Group to support India’s battle against the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership aims to bring together Airtel’s pan-India network reach and Apollo Hospital’s industry leading digital healthcare platform – Apollo 24/7 to raise awareness and break the chain of spread of COVID-19. Apollo 24|7 has launched a FREE digital self-assessment test on Airtel Thanks app to enable its customers to check their COVID-19 risk profile. The test, which has been developed by Apollo 24/7, uses AI based technologies to allow users to assess their COVID-19 risk profile by answering a few simple questions. Based on the user responses, the digital tool generates a risk score and suggests next best action including online consults on Apollo 24|7 free, dialling COVID nonprescriptive helpline from the app itself, self-care tips, social distancing guidelines and other important prevention steps as suggested by WHO and MOHFW. 3. https://www.firstpost.com/health/coronavirus-outbreak-airtel-to-pay-april-salaries-of-nearly-25000staff-employed-by-distributors-retail-franchisees-8278551.html 4. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel today said it is collaborating with Vahan, a Bengaluru-based AI-startup, to connect migrant labourers and workers impacted by the lockdown imposed due to Covid-19 or coronavirus pandemic, with the nearest support centres and NGOs. Airtel said it will further launch a SMS campaign to reach out to the impacted workers.The SMS which will be sent in English, Hindi and Kannada, will contain a link that will guide users to Vahan’s platform. 4. May salaries https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/telecom-news/covid-19-crisis-airtel-topay-may-salaries-of-30k-staff-employed-by-retail-distribution-partners/articleshow/76508061.cms? from=mdr 5. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/telecom/telecom-news/bharti-group-commits-rs100-cr-to-fight-pandemic/articleshow/74906989.cms?from=mdr Unable to copy text 6. See if it helps – not sure https://www.livemint.com/market/mark-to-market/airtel-s-june-quarter-results-show-its-world-isflat-post-covid-11596085146901.html HR While Airtel is among the largest employers in the telecom sector in India, with 14,818 employees as on March 31, 2019, the attrition rate for the company has increased by about 5% in fiscal 2019, largely owing to the unprecedented challenges and pressure on the telecom industry. Speaking to the business daily, Paul Dupuis, CEO, Randstad India, said consolidation in India’s telecom industry may impact 60,000-75,000 jobs and the effect may continue in 2020 as well. An industry executive, who wished not to be named, said the sector has already let go 15,000-20,000 employees in the last six months ending September 30. However, Ranjan Mathews, director general of COAI, said the industry has overcome the “worst hump” and is now seeking to hire fresh talented youngsters for AI, big data and 4G network expansion. He added that the first two quarters of FY19 were the worst for the sector in terms of job losses. He went on to add that there will be a maximum of 5,000 layoffs in the entire telecom industry ecosystem in the two remaining quarters. It may be noted that the telecom industry has been suffering significantly due to excessive competition which started since 2016. Last year, telecom industry profitability was hit significantly due to the environment of a price war triggered by Reliance Jio’s price disruption. While some companies like Vodafone and Idea decided to merge, Aircel was not fortunate enough. The ripples of the crunch in the telecom industry were felt deeply by ancillary industries including those in the tower and other network infrastructure providers, retail chains and distributors as well. However, CRISIL believes that increased employee engagement and career planning initiatives being taken by the company should help moderate the employee attrition rate going forward. Human Resources has been a key enabler for Airtel, as it works towards creating a digitally empowered and futureready organisation. Airtel continues to have a strong people agenda built around the three pillars – Learn, Lead and Grow. Each pillar consists of various focused programmes, supported by state-of-art tech platforms. These initiatives have been created under the tutelage of experienced HR leaders and tech practitioners. The first pillar – Learn ensures consistent upskilling and empowerment of talent to make them ready for a highly dynamic market. Airtel continues to invest significantly in its digital learning and development capabilities. In addition to the ongoing learning at one’s job & classroom programs, delivered in partnership with leading training organizations & institutes, Airtel also has 4 prominent digital learning platforms for employees. The organization continues to partner Coursera, a global leader in online education and learning, to provide high level certifications from Ivy League universities. The tie up with Pluralsight, a leading technology learning platform, ensures our digital talent is equipped with the latest from the world of data and technology. Linkedin Learning continues to be a success story at Airtel and has been enabling employees to enhance leadership, functional and behaviourial skills Airtel 101, the mobile learning platform, provides micro learning modules based on content developed by inhouse teams. Airtel 101 continues to be one of the most frequented digital learning destinations at Airtel. The second pillar – Lead, continues to focus on growing leaders & aims to groom them for leadership roles within the organization. Airtel launched Airtel Leadership Academy, a common framework for leadership development of top talent across all levels. Under the initiative, Airtel currently runs Future Leaders Program (FLP) to groom talent for middle management roles and Advanced Leaders Program (ALP) to groom talent for senior management roles. The third pillar – Grow, focuses on empowering employees to take absolute ownership of their careers within the organization. Under this pillar, career development programmes catering to different business functions, has helped employees to take up larger cross-functional roles with ease. This has also resulted in strong internal succession pipelines, providing better growth opportunities. The flexibility offered under the programme in addition to employee readiness through developmental interventions, has helped the organization to fill over 80% of the leadership roles internally itself. Today, over 15% of the employees are getting promoted regularly annually – another testament to the success of the programme. JIO ATTRITION RATE
