HR Operations

Broadly we can describe HR operations as all the activities and services from recruitment to exit provided by an HR professionals, HR team, and department to meet business goals.

In simple deliver daily HR services to management, employee, and stakeholders. Identify and resolve operational issues and support business process. All HR team members are part of HR operations.

Supporting cross function team in day to day function, and ensure employees and other stakeholders are provided best in class customer service.

Major HR operations activities are:  

Recruitment

Appointment

On-boarding

Employee engagement

Employee relationship management

Training

HRIS

Compensation and benefits

Statutory compliance

HR helpdesk

Employee Services etc

Skills required being effective HR service provider:

Excellent communication skills (verbal and written)

Strong understanding of compliance matters and payroll

Solid interpersonal skills;

Ability to establish priorities and work effectively in a team-based environment

General Designation for HR operations professionals are Executive, Sr. Executive, Manager, Sr. HR Operations manager

Some designation targeting specific areas of HR operations are HR operations – Payroll, Operations – Employee life cycle, HR Operations –Service delivery, HR operations – Global mobility. 

HR services diverge from organisation to organisations, nature of business and strength. HR function plays a key role in overall business process transformations.

UAE labour Laws for HR functions

In the UAE Labour issues are governed by Federal Law No. 8 of 1980 Regulating Labour Relations as amended by Federal Laws No. 24 of 1981, No. 15 of 1985 and No. 12 of 1986 (the "Law"). According to Article 3 of the Law, the law applies to all employees and workers in the UAE including UAE nationals and expatriates. 

The Law covers every aspect related to the employee-employer relationship including employment contract, wages, working hours, leave, vacations and public holiday, restrictions on the employment of women and juvenile, safety and protection of employees, penalties and employment related accidents, injuries and death, termination of employment and end of service gratuity payments.

Key Provisions are as follows;

Working hours
Official leaves and vacations
Wage protection
End of service benefits
Safety at workplace 

Working hours.

As per the Article 65 of the UAE labour law normal working hours for private sector is 8 hours per day or 48 hours a week. The working hours may be increased to 9 hours a day for bar, hotels and cafeteria after approval from Ministry of Human Resource and Emiratisation.

6 hours working hours a day during holy month of Ramadan.

Overtime: working beyond normal working hrs will be considered as Overtime. Overtime is entitled to pay equal to normal working hrs plus 25% of normal pay and 50% extra pay if working between 9 pm to 4 am.

Midday working time: working is prohibited between 12.30 to 3.00 pm in open area and shelter to be provided for rest during that time.

Work schedule must be displayed in language understood by the labours and Arabic.

Official Leave and vacations

Week off – Friday is the official week end for all workers, except for daily wages workers. If employee required to work on week end must be paid normal wages plus 50% additional pay.

Paid holidays

Private employees are entitled for paid leave on all declared public holidays

Annual Leave:

2 days per month, after 6 month service. 30 day after completion of one year of service.

Sick leave:

Employee is not eligible for paid sick leave during probation period.

Employees are entitled for 90 days per year subject to conditions as per law. Employee shall get First 15 day with full payment, next 30 days half pay and sick leave without pay for next 45 days.

Special Leave:

Employee may grant not more than 30 days special leave without pay for the performance of Haj once throughout his service.  

Maternity Leave:

Women employees are entitle for 45 days paid leave, to get this benefits woman employee must have completed one year service. Those not completed one year service will get half pay. Women employee can extend 10 days extra leaves without payment.

Post delivery first 18 months women can get two rest break for child feeding but not exceeding 30 minutes each. 

Minimum Wages:

No minimum wage stipulated in the UAE labour law; however it broadly mentioned that wages/salary must cover the needs of employees.

End of service benefits

Gratuity payment:

The worker having spent one year or more in continuous service shall be entitled to an end of service gratuity upon the termination of his service. The days of absence from work without pay shall not be included in the calculation of the period of service,

Employee who completed one year or more in continuous service shall be entitled to end of service gratuity upon the termination of employment.

Limited Contract:

Employee is eligible for 21 days wage for first 5 years and 30 days wage for every additional year. Wage means basic wage not other allowance to be considered. Intotal gratuity payment shall not exceed two years total salary figure.

Unlimited Contract:

Between 1 - 3 years of service, Employee is entitled to one third of the 21-days gratuity pay.

Between 3 - 5 years of service, Employee is entitled to two thirds of the 21-days gratuity pay.

5 or more years of service, Employee is entitled to full 21-days gratuity pay.

 Safety at workplace

Every employer must provide adequate means of protection for the employee from the hazards of injuries and vocational diseases that may occur during work as well as the hazards of fire and other hazards arising from use of machines and other tools and the employee must use protective equipment and clothing provided to him for such purpose and he must abide by all instructions of the employer aiming at his protection from dangers and must not act in a way that may obstruct the application of said instruction.

Display of conspicuous point in the place of business detailed instructions concerning methods to prevent fire and protect employees from dangers while they perform their duties.

First aid box to be presented at workplace, each first-aid box must contain sufficient medicines for 100 employees.

Employer must provide proper cleanliness and ventilation in each place of business and must provide such places with adequate illumination, potable water and toilets.

Employee medical check once in six month for employees who expose to hazardous work environments 

These are general understanding and information on labour laws and rules in best of my knowledge, which I learned in my working tenure with private manufacturing firm. This piece information is written for general information to my professional network; it is not a legal advice. I am not liable for any errors or omissions. 

Source: uaelaborlaw.com

Compliance under The Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1961 and Rules, 1963

This is an act to provide for the regulation of conditions of work and employment in shops and commercial establishments in the state of Karnataka.

To enforce this act, the Labour Commissioner will be the Chief Inspector. It is notified that Inspector/Senior Inspector will be Inspector and all department-level authorities will be additional Inspector.

Applicability

This act covers shops and commercial establishments.

Shops means any premises where any trade or business is carried on or where services are rendered to customers, and includes offices, storerooms, godowns, or warehouses, whether in the same premises or otherwise

A Commercial Establishment shall mean a commercial or trading or banking or insurance establishment, an establishment or administrative service in which persons employed are mainly engaged in office work, a hotel, restaurant, boarding or eating house, a café or any other refreshment house, a theatre or any other place of public amusement or entertainment.

All types of shops/establishments including a private limited company, limited liability partnership, partnership firm or proprietary concern have to register under this Act.

The act is applicable even if you have one employee or none.

Compliance:

Registration of establishment: 

Registration to be done within 30 days from the date of commencement of business. Registrations are valid for a period of 5 years and can be renewed.

Instructions: http://164.100.133.176/ekarmika/Documents/instructiontoshopowner.pdf

Display registration certificate at visible place. 

Intimate the changes: inform authorities if any change in address, ownership, number of employee etc

After closing the business of his establishment, should surrender the registration certificate to the registration authority.

Hours of work:

Working period not exceeds nine hours in a day including overtime and 48 hrs in a week.  Maximum 50 hours overtime per quarter. No young person allowed being employed more than 5 hours in a day. One weekly holiday must be granted.

Prohibition of employment of children: no children allowed work in any establishment.

Prohibition of employment of women and young person’s during night: Young persons and woman shall not be employed during night, between 8 pm to 6 am.

Certain establishments are exempted like IT & IT enabled service shall employment of women during night subject to the condition that the establishment provides facilities of transportation and security to such women employees and subject 15 conditions. For the employer must get permission by submitting Form R. 

Annual Leave: One day for every twenty days work, one day for every fifteen days of work performed by him, in case of a young person. Leave encashment: upon termination, resignation, retirement or separation for any reason.

Sick / casual leave: not more than twelve days leave per year.

Record management:

Form A – Establishment registration/Renewal/To report change of information.

Form P - Notice of Holiday

Form Q - Appointment Order

Form C – Registration certificate to be exhibited

Form F - Register of Leave with Wages

Form H - Leave with Wages Book

Form T - Combined Muster Roll cum Register of Wages

Form R - Permission to allow women to work after 8 PM

Form U - Combined Annual Return before 31^st Jan

Visit book 

More detail visit: http://164.100.133.176/ekarmika/Static/Home.aspx   

Challenges in Payroll Process Management

Any business that has more than one employee must have a payroll system. It is a multifaceted process. Payroll process is a complex process due to a large number of calculations and statutory compliance requirements like taxation, social security benefit deductions.

What is payroll management?

The payroll management process refers to the administration of an employee’s financial records which includes the salaries, wages, bonuses, deductions, and net pay.

Changes in taxes, employment regulations and compliance issues can make payroll processing highly time consuming and difficult to execute with accuracy, even more challenging task especially for new business owners, small companies, and start-ups due to lack of proficiency or time to administer or large businesses outsourcing as to save time, cost efficient and employee efficiency in other productive activities. 

Challenges of payroll processing:

Payroll processing is a complex task for HR professionals, payroll specialist and organisations.   

Salary Components: Having right salary/wage components is crucial, computing gross salary of employees varied. Deciding salary components like basic, DA, HRA, Other allowance, benefits, and incentives is challenge task. 

 

Statutory Compliance: Good governance with all applicable laws is a necessity in employee compensation. Noncompliance can lead to huge fines and other consequences. Hence being updated with latest changes in taxation and legislations at all level is must to comply with changes.

Time Consuming Process: Payroll is associated with lot of other related activities such as time sheet, leave management, benefits administration, opening of new employee bank account, and also salary components should be accurate and to be credited on time without any issues. 

Yes it’s a challenging assignment. To overcome from these challenges employer can have different approaches. Some of the solutions are outsourcing payroll process and buying payroll software and building payroll in-house team. Again buying software and hiring staff is additional cost. Hence most of the companies outsource payroll service for third party.   

Benefits of outsourcing:

Outsourcing the payroll function is a feasible way out for companies that want to optimize internal productivity. The benefits of outsourcing payroll processing includes:

Time saving

Guarantee compliance with all the applicable laws

Out of trouble

Low payroll related cost

Maintain information

These are some challenges and solutions for payroll process management. Success of business is all based making smart decisions. Yes with this employer can save time, money and lot of issues.

Thank you 

Information on the payment of bonus act, 1965

What is the bonus act?

The payment of bonus act is implemented to provide minimum guaranteed bonus for employees whose salary below certain limits. From the enactment of Bonus Act, 1965, bonus has become mandatory obligations for all establishments to whom it is applicable.

The bonus paid under bonus act is also called statutory bonus since this bonus is paid as per law.

Application of The Act:

The Bonus Act applies to every factory and every establishment that employs 20 or more persons, and unlike other performance linked incentives offered by companies, the bonus payable under this law is not linked to the performance of the employee. All employees earning up to the wage threshold and who have worked in the establishment for not less than 30 working days in the year are eligible to receive this statutory bonus.

Rate of Bonus: Minimum 8.33 % and maximum 20% of basic wages, maximum 7000/- or minimum wages can be considered for bonus calculation.

Definition of Employee: any person other than apprentice employed on salary or wages not exceeding Rs. 21000/- per month in any industry to do any skilled, unskilled, supervisory manual managerial work for hire or reward as per the terms of employment. 

Wage ceiling: bonus in respect of employee whose salary as payable to an employee exceeds Rs. 7000/- per month. If an employee salary / wage exceeded Rs. 7000/- per month or the minimum wage notification for the concerned employment as fixed by the Government (as per the minimum wages Act, 1948), whichever is higher.

Benefit for new establishments?

For the first 5 accounting year following the accounting year in which the employers sells goods/render services, bonus is payable only in respect of the accounting year, in which profit is made.

Employee eligible and disqualification for the bonus?

Eligibility:

• Employee must complete 30 days in that financial year.
• Employee must have a salary of INR 21,000 or below per month.
• Apprentices are not eligible.

Disqualification of bonus:

Employees can be disqualified from bonus payments if they are dismissed on the basis of fraud, misconduct, or even absenteeism. Employer has to maintain proper documentations on dismissal like: 

• Domestic enquiry,
• Proper documentation and
• Employee acceptance of the misconduct is all carried out as per the standing orders before disqualifying the bonus payment.

When is the bonus to be paid?

Bonus is paid within 8 months from the end of every financial year. So, in India, where the financial year ends in March, bonuses are usually due around October-November.

What the statutory forms & registers to be maintained in Bonus Act?

Employer is required to maintain the following registers and submit returns in the prescribed form

Registers

Form A - showing the computation of allocable surplus

Form B –showing the set-on and set-off of the allocable surplus

Form C – showing the details of the amount of bonus to each of employees, the amount of deductions if any, and the amount actually paid.

Returns:

Form D - annual return to the Inspector appointed under the Act within 30 days from the expiry of time limit specified in Section 19 for payment of bonus.

Penalty: Any violation can lead to imprisonment for up to 6 months and may (or may not) include a fine amount.

Bonus act abstract, registers and returns copies

Also read related blogs on statutory compliance. 

The Roles of HR in an organisation

Human Resource is an evolving field of business management, which is essential for all companies. HR focus is attracting, engaging and retaining talent. The HR role in present organisation is not just about people, it is much more than that. HR made its presence in operational, administrative and strategic business partner to other functions.

If you want to build a business, build the people. 

--Brownie Wise--

Organisation cannot be driven by single function; it’s achieved by cross-functional collaboration. HR function is placed as cross-functional bridge which work with management, finance and accounting, sales and marketing, operations, legal, and IT function.

HR focuses on people related issues, connect business needs with employees needs and deliver services to other functions. To serve organisations effectively HR functions are designed / structured in many forms.

The compositions of HR team are varying by organisation size, business type and overall requirements, but in general most of the company we can see HR Leaders, HR Managers, Specialist, HR Generalists, and HR Business Partners.

Leaders: the Leader play strategic role, participate in strategy development and direct plan priorities and guide hr team. Titles may defer in organisations like CHRO, HR Director, President or vice president, HR Head, Chief People Officer.

Managers: lead a HR Functions division like talent acquisition, employee engagement, training, compensation and benefits, statutory compliance etc. HR managers plan, direct and coordinate the activities of their divisions and provide inputs to the leaders for HR strategy. They may have designations like Manager-Talent acquisition, Manager-Employee engagement, Manager-Statutory compliance etc.

Specialists: (Functional Experts) expertise in specific areas like payroll, legal compliance, recruitment, employee engagement, employee relations etc. Their role is to providing specific activities and supporting managers, business leaders.

Generalists: (HR Practitioners) are familiar with all the HR services. They may have expertise in one or more special areas; also skilled in each area of HR functions to provide services, and serves as consultant role in HR related issues to business units.

HR Business Partners: are more initiative and solution focused rather than performing daily/routine functions. Provide practical solutions to the business challenges, closely work with business leaders (division head) in order to develop HR agendas and support business needs.

HR titles and roles are more often depends upon organisations structure, business, and size of organisation. In the small and medium companies HR may have to give number of services to stakeholders especially in start-up organisations. The start-up organisations can hire third party contractors for administrative activities, implementation of specific service, and consultation for specific issues and projects.

HR role is imperative in every stage of organisation. Although HR function is supporting function and not generating revenue directly to the organisation, but providing value added services like bring talents, retaining, and motivating, protecting organisation from numerous legal issues, building harmonies relations and playing strategic business partner in organisation. 

Sources: SHRM learning system.

Labour Welfare Fund - Karnataka Labour Welfare Fund

Labour welfare fund is a statutory contribution managed by state authorities, objective is to provide social security, facilities and improve working conditions of labourers. Every state labour welfare board determines the amount and frequency of payments. The contribution and amount differ from state to state. Employer has to make deduction from the salary of employees and submit to Labour welfare fund board of concern state in prescribed forms as per schedule. 

For Karnataka state it is the Karnataka Labour welfare fund rules 1968.

Collection of Contribution Fund:  

Employee Contribution *	20	The payments to the fund may be made through SBI account No.30428019173 and the same bank slip (ie., Challan) along with Form-D of the Board send To,  The Welfare Commissioner, Karnataka Labour Welfare Board, Karmika Kalyana Bhavana, 2nd Floor, Mathikere Main Road (Near R.T.O. office), Yeshwanthpur,Bangalore-22.  Ph: 23475188,42848888
Employer contribution	40
Total	60
Also employer is required to deposit the unpaid accumulations like unpaid bonus, Wages after three years of their becoming due. and penalty and fines are to be paid immediately

*Employee contribution to be deducted whose name is stands in the register of the establishments on 31^st December of the year.

Contribution period: once in a year. (December)

Submission due date: 15^th of January

For more details visit following links:

1. Form D - /Form D
2. Benefits schemes under KLWF - //Schemes
3. KLWF Gazette Notification - KLWF/Notification