WiFi hotspots and Cafe Coffee Day outlets within townships, jobs for qualified spouses, and extra leave — these are some of the carrots being dangled by public sector companies to cajole employees to work at remote sites.
The tough task before the public sector companies is to control attrition that is highest at the entry and senior levels while adhering to government pay-structure. NTPC chairman and managing director Arup Roy Choudhary said young and middle aged employees are increasingly moving to low profile jobs in cities for a comfortable life though they are capable of managing projects in far-flung areas.
The company is seking to upgrade all its townships with modern facilities such as Cafe Coffee Day and Haldiram outlets to give employees a city feel.
All the company's townships are Wi-Fi compatible. NTPC is also exploring tie-ups with coaching institutes like Super30 to prepare kids of employees for IIT-JEE entrances exams through web classes.
Choudhary said the company was exploring possibilities of offering jobs to qualified spouses at project locations. Additional home loans to enable employees relocate kin to nearby cities are also proposed.
NTPC, the country's top power company, generates 39,174-mw at 28 projects through 25,000 employees.
Choudhary said the company would need to recruit more than 1,000 engineering trainees every year for the expansion.
Infrastructure projects like steel and power plants come in clusters around coal belt areas of Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. For example, there are about 40 private and public infrastructure projects being set up in Chhattisgarh near NTPC's Sipat station.
State-run miner Coal India also feels the need to motivate employees to operate from difficult locations. Most of the company's mining projects are in forest and hilly terrain and some are in naxal-hit areas. The company is investing heavily for setting up educational and healthcare facilities at project townships for the benefit of employees.
India's largest hydropower company NHPC Ltd said it has been offering benefits to project engineers since decades. Hydropower plants are said to be the most difficult among infrastructure projects with gestation period as long as 10-12 years. Its director finance ABL Srivastava said the company has been offering home loans to employees and extra and emergency leaves to those in remote areas.
Air travel and chopper services are also some of benefits offered to non-executive class.The employee care initiatives are necessary to retain employees from moving to close by private projects. An ONGC spokesperson said specific benefit monetary and work-life packages are tailored by the company for employees serving in remote and difficult areas.
For instance an employee posted on an offshore installation has to work for 14 days consecutively in 12-hour shifts.
He can go on leave for the next 14 days and his transportation costs are borne by the company. However, the state firms feel constrained by government guidelines. As per guidelines of department of public enterprises, companies cannot pay more than 50% of an employee's salary as perks for staying in remote areas. Employees though have the option to choose from a range of perks including house allowance, entertainment and communication allowance.
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