Maruti to absorb all contract workers in two years

Maruti Suzuki on Friday said it would convert all contract workers at its factories in Gurgaon and Manesar to permanent or temporary staff over the next two years.

The process started soon after a violent clash at the company's plant in Manesar in 2012. Training programmes for contract workers have recently been started at the Gurgaon plant.

"The process has been completed at Manesar. It has now begun at Gurgaon. The roadmap is to complete the process in both units over the next two years," said S Y Siddiqui, Maruti Suzuki's former chief operating officer for human resources who was re-designated chief mentor in March.

In March 2014 Maruti Suzuki had 12,500 regular employees, 6,500 contract and temporary workers and 1,100 apprentices. An apprentice usually takes about a year to become a temporary worker in the company.

Maruti Suzuki's process for conversion of contract workers to temporary ones is extensive.

Trained workers from Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) undergo a seven-day HR induction process, followed by a three-day stint at the Maruti Suzuki Training Academy in Gurgaon. This is topped off with four weeks of training on the shop floor. Temporary staff get converted to permanent positions in nine months.

"At the training academy there is a simulated production line that makes complete cars, though they are not sold in the market. It is designed such that it takes care of all welfare issues," Siddiqui added.

Maruti Suzuki is hiring technicians from 30 ITIs and is looking at recruitment from 50 such institutes over time. The company spends Rs 8-10 crore a year on welfare, education and training for its workforce. Workers also get further training at a cost shared by the company. Maruti Suzuki has started a three-year technical programme with 60 workers in a batch. The first batch will pass out next year.

The decision to do away with contract workers in production roles and to use them only in supporting functions like maintenance and material handling was taken after Maruti Suzuki's internal investigation into the labour clash at the Manesar plant in July 2012 that claimed the life of an executive, Awanish Kumar Dev, and injured 100 others.

The company decided to convert all contract workers to temporary or permanent ones at Manesar first because the unit employs a relatively young workforce more prone to dissent.