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IDBI Federal Life Insurance Continues The Appraisal Cycle, Salary Hikes And Promotions During Covid-19 Disruption

Digital annual appraisals were a source of stability and a factor of boosting morale for the employees of the Insurance company in lieu of the global pandemic and ensuing lockdown

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Even in times when the world economy is taking hits for the worse and resorting to measures of laying off people and salary cuts because of the pandemic crisis, IDBI Federal Life Insurance resurrects an image of positivity and hope by resuming its appraisal cycle and providing its employees with salary hikes.

With its ‘Employee-First’ philosophy embedded at its core; the company has averaged out a bonus of 22.4% in FY19-20. Despite the allocations of recent guidelines by the central government which allowed the statutory rate of EPF contribution by both employer and employee to be reduced from 12% to 10% for the months of May, June and July 2020; the insurance giant retained its EPF at 12% keeping sight on the long-term benefits of their employees. In addition to this, the company also provided provisions of promotion to 15% of the total taskforce. These measures have been introduced without any delays to maintain employee growth and ensure the morale stays high even in the downturn of events.

Notwithstanding the lockdown impositions, Vighnesh Shahane, MD & CEO, IDBI Federal Life Insurance, comments, “We were determined to ensure that our appraisal process was completed as per the timelines. As done every year, we launched our process at the end of March and announced the rewards by the middle of May.”

The process of appraisal included submission of the online self-appraisal by the respective employees, followed by performance discussions with the reporting managers or reviewers and signing off on the appraisal in the system. The key difference in the procedure as compared to previous years was that all discussions were conducted digitally as per the mutual convenience of the managers and their repartees, while the methodology remained the same.

The lockdown was introduced upon the company just about 10 days before the end of their FY and hence the employees were evaluated on the basis of their performance and achievements during the last fiscal. The company understood that because of the lockdown, employees may struggle to balance managing their professional commitments with their personal work and thus originated policies of space and liberty to work as per their comfort, through initiatives, such as flexi-timings. Speaking more on the topic, Shahane adds, “We have created a work culture that fosters openness and transparency, promotes meritocracy, and limits politics and bureaucracy. We trust our employees to focus on their goals and do what is necessary to achieve them.”

Kapil Udaiwal, chief people officer, IDBI Federal Life Insurance reveals how the Company opted for an early salary disbursement post the lockdown. “The moment the lockdown was announced on March 24, we immediately released salaries to all the employees to ensure that they had adequate cash to meet all their requirements.”



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