Page 76 - DMGT516_LABOUR_LEGISLATIONS

Unit 3: The Factories Act, 1948

"My performance targets were unreal," continued Mathur. "Show me one company that
has increased its toothbrush sales and I'll walk out of this room and never complain."
"True," said Arora. "But look at it from the organisation's point of view. There are other
units that have taken a hit, with the result that our sales for last year were down. We've
tried to do the best under the circumstances."
"Probably, but why penalise me for somebody else's fault," Mathur complained.

"I don't understand."
"I am referring to the new toothbrush that my team was supposed to launch in the second
half of last year," Mathur explained. "We couldn't introduce it because the design team sat
on it for a long time, and then the engineering team took its own sweet time bringing it
into production. By the time we were ready to go, we realised that the launch expense
wouldn't be worth it. The variable component in my compensation is 20 per cent and it's
been a double-whammy for me. The fact that we didn't meet our targets ensured zero-
increase in my incentives, and the increase in base pay doesn't even beat the rate of
inflation."
"Anil, don't forget that most of us in Care Soft are in the same boat. That said, I do think we
have an issue here. Here's what I can promise: I'll put forth these issues to the compensation
committee. I cannot promise anything else."

Both men looked at the clock on Arora's table. It was well past 10.
"I have to pick up medicines for my son," said Arora. "If I don't find a chemist open now, I'll
be signing my divorce papers tomorrow." Both men laughed and parted.
On Monday, the first thing Arora did was to call his CEO, Rishab Patel, and advise him to
convene a Compensation Committee meeting.
"This week I have a diary so full that a knife wouldn't go through it," the CEO told Arora.
"Do me a favour, Nitin. I'll send out the meeting request, but could you handle it?"
"But how can we decide on anything without you being there?" Arora asked.

"Don't. Flesh out the issues and keep them ready for me. Let me finish with our foreign
partners' visit this week"
"Should we have the meeting next week in that case?"
"No, go ahead. We can have a second meet next week."
One thing that had irked Arora all along was the fact that Patel seemed inadequately
concerned with HR problems. He was more concerned about what he called "strategic
issues".
By afternoon, Arora had got a confirmation to the meeting request sent out by Patel. The
committee would meet on Wednesday pre-lunch. ("Can't tackle HR post lunch," somebody
had wise-cracked in acknowledgement.)
Care Soft's Compensation Committee comprised, apart from Patel and Arora, the CFO
Narayan Shastri, coo Niranjan Roy, Director (Marketing) Utpal Sinha, a principal from the
consulting company that had drawn the new compensation structure Anurag Kesaria, and
an independent director, who was a chartered accountant by profession, and widely regarded
for his management wisdom – Raman Behl.
The agenda for the meeting had already been circulated the previous day. Therefore, all
the men were aware of the issues at hand.

Contd...

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