IBM TarGet!!

What killed Ranjan Das? Please Read

Carried : Wednesday, 11-November-2009 What killed Ranjan Das and Lessons for Corporate India A month ago, many of us heard about the sad demise of Ranjan Das from Bandra, Mumbai. Ranjan, just 42 years of age, was the CEO of SAP-Indian Subcontinent, the youngest CEO of an MNC in India . He was very active in sports, was a fitness freak and a marathon runner. It was common to see him run on Bandra's Carter Road . Just after Diwali, on 21st Oct, he returned home from his gym after a workout, collapsed with a massive heart attack and died. He is survived by his wife and two very young kids. It was certainly a wake-up call for corporate India . However, it was even more disastrous for runners amongst us. Since Ranjan was an avid marathoner ( in Feb 09, he ran Chennai Marathon at the same time some of us were running Pondicherry Marathon 180 km away ), the question came as to why an exceptionally active, athletic person succumb to heart attack at 42 years of age. Was it the stress? A couple of you called me asking about the reasons. While Ranjan had mentioned that he faced a lot of stress, that is a common element in most of our lives. We used to think that by being fit, one can conquer the bad effects of stress. So I doubted if the cause was stress. The Real Reason However, everyone missed out a small line in the reports that Ranjan used to make do with 4-5 hours of sleep. This is an earlier interview of Ranjan on NDTV in the program 'Boss' Day Out': Boss' Day Out: Ranjan Das of SAP India . Here he himself admits that he would love to get more sleep ( and that he was not proud of his ability to manage without sleep, contrary to what others extolled ). The Evidence Last week, I was working with a well-known cardiologist on the subject of ‘Heart Disease caused by Lack of Sleep’. While I cannot share the video nor the slides because of confidentiality reasons, I have distilled the key points below in the hope it will save some of our lives. Some Excerpts: · Short sleep duration ( <5 or 5-6 hours ) increased risk for high BP by 350% to 500% compared to those who slept longer than 6 hours per night. Paper published in 2009. As you know, high BP kills. · Young people ( 25-49 years of age ) are twice as likely to get high BP if they sleep less. Paper published in 2006. · Individuals who slept less than 5 hours a night had a 3-fold increased risk of heart attacks. Paper published in 1999. · Complete and partial lack of sleep increased the blood concentrations of High sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-cRP), the strongest predictor of heart attacks. Even after getting adequate sleep later, the levels stayed high!! · Just one night of sleep loss increases very toxic substances in body such as Interleukin-6 (IL-6), Tumour Necrosis Factor-Alpha (TNF-alpha) and C-reactive protein (cRP). They increase risks of many medical conditions, including cancer, arthritis and heart disease. Paper published in 2004. · Sleeping for <=5 hours per night leads to 39% increase in heart disease. Sleeping for <=6 hours per night leads to 18% increase in heart disease. Paper published in 2006. Ideal Sleep In brief, sleep is composed of two stages: REM ( Rapid Eye Movement ) and non-REM. The former helps in mental consolidation while the latter helps in physical repair and rebuilding. During the night, you alternate between REM and non-REM stages 4-5 times. The earlier part of sleep is mostly non-REM. During that period, your pituitary gland releases growth hormones that repair your body. The latter part of sleep is more and more REM type. For you to be mentally alert during the day, the latter part of sleep is more important. No wonder when you wake up with an alarm clock after 5-6 hours of sleep, you are mentally irritable throughout the day (lack of REM sleep). And if you have slept for less than 5 hours, your body is in a complete physical mess ( lack of non-REM sleep ), you are tired throughout the day, moving like a zombie and your immunity is way down ( I’ve been there, done that ). Finally, as long-distance runners, you need an hour of extra sleep to repair the running related damage. If you want to know if you are getting adequate sleep, take Epworth Sleepiness Test below. Interpretation: Score of 0-9 is considered normal while 10 and above abnormal. Many a times, I have clocked 21 out the maximum possible 24, the only saving grace being the last situation, since I don’t like to drive ( maybe, I should ask my driver to answer that line ). In conclusion: Barring stress control, Ranjan Das did everything right: eating proper food, exercising ( marathoning! ), maintaining proper weight. But he missed getting proper and adequate sleep, minimum 7 hours. In my opinion, that killed him. If you are not getting enough sleep ( 7 hours ), you are playing with fire, even if you have low stress.. I always took pride in my ability to work 50 hours at a stretch whenever the situation warranted. But I was so spooked after seeing the scientific evidence last week that since Saturday night, I ensure I do not even set the alarm clock under 7 hours. Now, that is a nice excuse to get some more sleep. Unfortunately, Ranjan Das is not alone when it comes to missing sleep. Many of us are doing exactly the same, perhaps out of ignorance. Please forward this mail/article to as many of your colleagues/friends as possible, especially those who might be short-changing their sleep. If we can save even one young life because of this email, I would be the happiest person on earth. SAP India CEO Ranjan Das Dies After Gym Workout Ranjan Das, CEO and MD of SAP Indian subcontinent died after a massive cardiac arrest in Mumbai on Wednesday. One of the youngest CEOs, he was 42

Work @ IT

Compliance With Labour & Retrenchment Laws in India - Hire & Fire Policy of the Indian IT Industry

One of the most critical need of the burgeoning Indian software industry and other outsourcing service providers is to have the flexibility and the independence to hire the most worthy of the manpower and fire the unproductive employees. There is also a growing need to draw a fine balance between the hire and fire policy of the employer and the rights of the workmen. This article proposes to discuss the Indian retrenchment laws, right of compensation of employees and applicability of these laws to Indian Information Technology (the "IT") industry.

Termination of employment needs to be in accordance with the Shops and Establishments Act as applicable to the jurisdiction where the IT company is situated and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter the "ID Act"). The Shops and Establishment Act usually enables the employer to discharge his employee, other than an employee engaged for a specified period or in a leave vacancy, from the service by providing the employee a thirty (30) days notice in advance or such longer period as may be required under the terms of employment or salary in lieu thereof.

The Shops and Establishments Act is not usually applicable to employees occupying positions of confidential, managerial or supervisory nature, i.e. all non-workmen can be terminated at will in terms of the contract of employment entered into with the respective employee.

The ID Act which is applicable to all industrial and commercial establishments defines employee/workmen and both skilled or unskilled persons may be considered as 'workmen'. However, a person employed mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity or if the nature of services rendered by an employee is supervisory in nature, the employee may not be considered as workman. In view thereof, the Head, Project Managers, Manager (business development) of the project teams at an IT or outsourcing company may not be termed as 'workmen' subject to actual assessment of their roles and responsibilities. However, it is likely that the other team members, associates, trainees, etc., employed by an IT company may be considered 'workmen' subject to assessment of their specific job profiles, roles and responsibilities.

Termination of service of a workman (other than for specified reasons as discussed below) is referred to as 'retrenchment'. In terms of section 2(oo) of the ID Act, retrenchment "means the termination by the employer of the service of a workman for any reason whatsoever, otherwise than as a punishment inflicted by way of disciplinary action, but does not include -

(a) voluntary retirement of the workman; or

(b) retirement of the workman on reaching the age of superannuation if the contract of employment between the employer and the workman contains a stipulation in that behalf; or

(bb) termination of the service of the workman as a result of the non-renewal of the contract of employment between the employer and the workman concerned on its expiry or of such contract being terminated under a stipulation in that behalf contained therein;

(c) termination of the service of a workman on the ground of continued ill-health."

In view of the aforesaid definition, it is clear that employees who have been employed for a specified training period may be asked to leave at the conclusion of that period without providing them an offer of employment by the IT company. If the company needs to extend their training period, it may extend the specified period and reserve its right to offer employment at the conclusion of the extended training period failing which the training period of each of these employees would be deemed to have been concluded.

The legal requirements with respect to termination of services are more onerous once a company employs more than 100 workmen. In terms of ID Act, if an industrial establishment employs more than 100 workmen, a company may not retrench, that is, terminate the services of any workman who has been in continuous service for not less than one year unless the (i) workman has been given three (3) months notice in writing indicating the reason for retrenchment and the period of notice, and (ii) the prior permission of the concerned state government has been obtained for the retrenchment (section 25N of the ID Act).

If the permission is not obtained, the retrenchment will be deemed to be illegal from the date on which the notice was given and the workman will be entitled to all the benefits under law as if no notice had been given to him. From a practical standpoint, obtaining state government's approval for retrenchment is considered nearly impossible due to the implications of the resulting unemployment. Therefore, companies rarely apply to the state government for permission for retrenchment. Penalty for contravening the aforesaid provisions on retrenchment is imprisonment up to one month or fine which may extend to Rs. 1000, or with both. Assuming that the state government approval is obtained, the services of the workmen can be terminated upon provision of three months' prior notice and payment of 15 days average pay for each completed year of service in excess of six months.

The term 'workmen' within the meaning of ID Act has not been interpreted by the courts with specific reference to data processors or software workers. However, the courts have addressed the question whether a company engaged in the development of computer software is an 'industrial establishment' within the meaning of the ID Act. In the matter of Cholamandalam Software Ltd. v/s. Additional Labour Court Madras [(1995) (S) LLJ 78 Mad], the Hon'ble Single Judge of the Madras High Court examined the question whether Cholamandalam Software, a company rendering computer services relating to the collection and maintenance of information and developed computer software applications for the requirements of its customers, was an 'industrial establishment' within the meaning of section 25L of the of the ID Act. For the purpose of solving this question the Hon'ble Judge addressed the question whether the company was a 'factory' and engaged in any 'manufacturing process'. The Hon'ble Judge stated that Explanation II to section 2(m) of the Factories Act is clearly intended to exclude the premises on which electronic data processing or computer units are installed and wherein no other manufacturing process is being carried on from the scope of the definition of 'factory'.

The Hon'ble Judge, thus, essentially took the view that electronic data processing units had been specifically excluded from the definition of 'factory' in Explanation II. Therefore, Cholamandalam Software could not be considered a factory under section 2(m) of the Factories Act and in turn, could not be considered an 'industrial establishment' within the meaning of section 25L of the ID Act. This judgment was later upheld by the Division Bench of the Madras High Court, after which the workmen of the company filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court while distancing itself from the interpretation provided by the Madras High Court recognized that the key question is whether the activity of data processing and preparation of software would constitute a 'manufacturing process' and further referred the matter to a larger bench of the Supreme Court for consideration, the decision of which is still awaited.

In view of the pending Supreme Court's consideration, the question as to whether the software companies or other outsourcing service providers would constitute an 'industrial establishment' under the ID Act remains unanswered as of date and there is no clarity as to whether a software company can dismiss its employees without compliance with the ID Act if it has more than 100 employees.

From a practical standpoint, the IT industry does not consider itself an 'industrial establishment' within the meaning of section 25L of the of the ID Act and follows the 'hire and fire' policy without compliance with the ID Act of seeking prior state government approval, taking support from the Division Bench judgment of the Madras High Court which has held that the software companies are not an 'industrial establishment' and hence are not covered under the stringent provisions of retrenchment mentioned under Chapter VB of the ID Act.

Notwithstanding the above flexibility, the software companies will need to comply with the retrenchment related provisions of section 25F of the ID Act which applies to all industries (and not only industrial establishment) and requires that "no workman employed in any industry who has been in continuous service for not less than one year under an employer shall be retrenched by that employer until -

(a) the workman has been given one month's notice in writing indicating the reasons for retrenchment and the period of notice has expired, or the workman has been paid in lieu of such notice, wages for the period of the notice;

(b) the workman has been paid, at the time of retrenchment, compensation which shall be equivalent to fifteen days' average pay for every completed year of continuous service or any part thereof in excess of six months; and

(c) notice in the prescribed manner is served on the appropriate Government or such authority as may be specified by the appropriate Government by notification in the Official Gazette.

In view of the foregoing, an IT Company may terminate the services of those employees who have not completed one year of employment in terms of their respective contract of employment, i.e., by providing a minimum notice of one month without compliance with the aforesaid retrenchment provisions.

As regards the employees who qualify as 'workmen' and have competed continuous service of one year, in cases other than misconduct, the IT company may terminate their services by providing minimum one month's notice (or such agreed notice) in writing indicating the reasons of termination together with retrenchment compensation equivalent to 15 days average pay for every completed year of continuous service in excess of six months and necessary intimation is provided to the appropriate labour authority.

Article: Seema Jhingan!!