Berger says no to job or salary cut during coronavirus crisis

Kolkata, Apr 24 () As uncertainty over pay and jobsecurity is looming large over the country's industrial housesbecause of the Covid-19 triggered lockdown, coating majorBerger Paints on Friday said it has no plan for salary cuts,retrenchment or involuntary furlough for its employees.The company having 2,920 employees on its roll alsostated that there will be no impact of the crisis on newrecruitment offers.

"We are like one big but closely knit family andwould fight this battle together. These are challenging timesand might require small sacrifices from the entire family tosail through the crisis. However, there won't be anyretrenchments or involuntary furloughs," Berger Paints MD &CEO Abhijit Roy said."Even in the current scenario, when our sales in Aprilplummeted to negligible levels and May business would dependon the (duration of) lockdown, the company will pay fullsalaries to its employees for April and May," Roy told when asked.

The ongoing nationwide lockdown is scheduled to belifted on May 4.

Berger said it has decided against any involuntaryfurloughs or organisational restructuring that may lead todownsizing of headcount and consequent loss of livelihoodduring the time of widespread uncertainty.

The company had also engaged with its serviceproviders to ensure that salaries of their associates are paidto avoid hardships.

The company has onboarded a total of 21 lateralemployees in management andnon-management levels in April andthe induction process of more than 100 campus offers is slatedto begin shortly, Berger said.They had been assured that the job offers, includingsalary benefits, would not be revoked even though the lockdowndelays their joining.On the resumption of plant operations, the companysaid it is closely working with various state authorities andcurrently the plants in Assam, Goa, Pondicherry and Gujaratare in line to get started with a capacity of 30 per cent withstrict adherence to the MHA directives. BSMNN NN