July 22, 2021

Ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sharekhan has been doing everything possible to protect its staff. Staff safety has been its top priority all through the COVID-19 situation and the company has rolled out many initiatives for staff well-being in response to pandemic. For instance, Sharekhan was among the first to quickly switch to the work-from-home mode last year, it arranged safe transport for the critical staff who need to work from office, follows all COVID-19 protocols at all its establishments that are open and regularly updates the staff on its response to the unprecedented health crisis.

Recently, in response to the second phase of the pandemic, Sharekhan rolled out several staff support initiatives, here is a quick update on the same.

Employee support initiatives announced in response to COVID-19 2.0

Emergency ambulance service: In response to the pan-India ambulance crisis, we have tied up with Stanplus Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Stanplus) to provide employees and their dependents access to emergency ambulance service through a dedicated toll-free number: 1800 120 03 80. The facility is currently available in eight cities of India including Mumbai, Delhi–National Capital Region, Chennai, Pune, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad. We are also working with the vendor to make the service available in more locations.

COVID Special Leave: To offer relief to those staff who are directly affected by COVID-19, we have introduced two categories of COVID Special Leave, five days of paid leave for COVID-19 positive/symptomatic employees and five days of paid leave for those whose family members are affected. The leave policy applies to all staff including full-time employees, retainers and contract staff.

Free Doctor on Call service: Using this facility, the staff can call Dr Dhananjay D. Dukhande for medical advice on phone. Dr Dukhande is a general physician (D.H.M.S) with 20 years of experience in the medical and fitness field.

Dedicated COVID helpline: We have rolled out a 24x7 COVID Support Helpdesk for the staff to resolve their queries related to COVID-19 and assist them with hospitalisation, ambulance, COVID-19 test, oxygen etc. Sherus can seek help by calling the helpdesk on 08035021701 or writing to the helpdesk team at support@rigvedtech.com. We have joined hands with Rigved Technologies for this service. This facility is currently available for employees located in eight cities: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi – National Capital Region, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Pune.

Insurance: The employee health and life insurance cover for our contract staff has been enhanced and now covers COVID-19 related treatment. The group mediclaim insurance policy already covers COVID-19 for the full-time staff. Click here for details.

Webinars and training: Virtual events on various health related topics are being organised from time to time by the Learning & Development unit of the HR team to help the staff cope with the situation better.

Vaccination of our employees: Sharekhan has launched a COVID-19 vaccination drive for its staff as part of which it is organising vaccination camps in various locations in collaboration with local well-known hospitals and diagnostic centres. So far vaccination camps have been organised in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. In Chennai, Sharekhan is participating in a similar drive organised by BNP Paribas India. Last month, about 360 Sherus took part in the vaccination camps that took place in Mumbai and Chennai. In July, about 192 Sherus participated in these vaccination camps. In all, 928 people including staff, their dependents and guests have got vaccinated as part of the Vaccination Drive so far. Sharekhan is also bearing the cost of vaccinating the staff and up to three of their dependents (spouse, parents and children above 18 years of age). Furthermore, it will reimburse the staff for the expenses incurred in getting vaccinated against COVID-19 privately. Learn more about the initiative here.

Employee Assistance Programme: We have started this facility in tie-up with 1to1Help to offer free counselling and other support tools to the full-time employees and three of their dependents.

We had also organised a virtual Open House with the four directors of the company on May 21, 2021 to apprise the staff of these staff welfare measures. As a virtual platform that seeks to facilitate two-way communication between the management and the staff, the Open House initiative has proved to be successful. We will organise more Open Houses on various other relevant topics with the other leaders of Sharekhan going forward. Participate in these virtual events to stay connected and informed in these challenging times.

The Sharekhan management and the HR team continue to closely watch the pandemic situation to ensure the company does the right thing for the health and safety of its staff.

Sharekhan ke COVID-19 initiatives avail kar, khud ko aur auron ko bhi protect kar, Sharekhan kar.