Coronavirus Outbreak: Berger Paints says no plan for retrenchment or salary cut during pandemic crisis

Kolkata: As uncertainty over pay and job security is looming large over the country’s industrial houses because of the COVID-19 triggered lockdown, coating major Berger 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 also stated that there will be no impact of the crisis on new recruitment offers. [caption id=“attachment_6004721” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] “We are like one big but closely knit family and would fight this battle together. These are challenging times and might require small sacrifices from the entire family to sail through the crisis. However, there won’t be any retrenchments or involuntary furloughs,” Berger Paints MD & CEO Abhijit Roy said. “Even in the current scenario, when our sales in April plummeted to negligible levels and May business would depend on the (duration of) lockdown, the company will pay full salaries to its employees for April and May,” Roy told PTI when asked. The ongoing nationwide lockdown is scheduled to be lifted on 4 May. Berger said it has decided against any involuntary furloughs or organisational restructuring that may lead to downsizing of headcount and consequent loss of livelihood during the time of widespread uncertainty. The company had also engaged with its service providers to ensure that salaries of their associates are paid to avoid hardships. The company has onboarded a total of 21 lateral employees in management and non-management levels in April and the induction process of more than 100 campus offers is slated to begin shortly, Berger said. They had been assured that the job offers, including salary benefits, would not be revoked even though the lockdown delays their joining. On the resumption of plant operations, the company said it is closely working with various state authorities and currently the plants in Assam, Goa, Pondicherry and Gujarat are in line to get started with a capacity of 30 percent with strict adherence to the MHA directives.