It would have been, without doubt, a good on the part of Mr. Dholakia, if he had re-invested the money in some charitable institution for the larger benefit of the society and the poor people in his own proximity. Although it is true that charity always begins at home, but in any case, his firm could have opened more schools and institutes or started more job centric industries. But by showing such magnanimity, he has provided a tool and convenient stick to the trade unions to beat other employers.
Do you remember Savjibhai Dholakia? Yes, it is the same person who came into limelight for the first time in 2012 when he selected three employees of his Surat based Hare Krishna Exports company to give them cars as Diwali gift. However, in 2014 he massively hit the headlines of Newspapers and News Channels when he decided to give away 500 cars and about 200 flats besides expensive jewellery as Diwali bonus to 1200 of his employees. The selection of the employees was done based on their performance.
Savjibhai Dholakia is the owner of a diamond company but what he did this year has surpassed all records. This year he decided to give cars to 1,250 employees and flats to 400 employees as Diwali bonus, in keeping with his firm Hare Krishna Exports’ tradition of generously rewarding performing employees. A Patel from Saurashtra region, Mr. Dholakia created Rs.5000-crore empire dealing in diamond-cutting and polishing, textiles and realty, and is known for giving away fat Diwali bonuses to his staff every year.
He says that he selects best-performing staff and rewards them with their requirements, like a four-wheeler to those who have houses but no car, and flats to those who have no houses of their own. According to him, he spends more than Rs. 75-100 crore to reward employees and staff members every Diwali for the last few years. As per the details, his company will bear Rs. 5000 per month as EMI for car loan and housing loan for five years.
“Rs. 5000 will be paid by the company while remaining will be borne by the employee,” said a staff member of Hare Krishna Exports, which employs more than 6000 persons in two factories for cutting and polishing rough diamonds. “They are not our workers or employees but are our family members. They all have humble family backgrounds and are very sincere in their work so I consider it as my duty to take care of their families,” says Mr. Dholakia, fondly known as Kaka.
What brought a different flavour this Diwali for 1200 employees of Shree Hare Krishna Exports was the all-expenses-paid family tour to Haridwar. The promoters also joined the employees in the 12-day journey, which started from October 28 and ended on November 9, in a specially hired fully-AC train from Surat.
The company had spent in the range of Rs. 15,000-20,000 for each participant of the tour, thereby costing the company around Rs. 2-2.5 crore. There was something for everyone on the tour. Elderly got religious flavour, young got adventures and children had fun visiting places. There were also activities like Swachchata Abhiyan on Ganga Ghats besides blood donation among others.
The Chinese companies are known for their innovative and imitative ideas. And that is the reason they are beating hollow even to some of the developed countries of the world. Only last May a Chinese company Tiens Group chartered 20 planes and booked 1650 hotel rooms in Madrid (Spain) for the holidaying of its employees at the company’s cost. France rolled out the red-carpet welcome for another Chinese company when it decided to send more than 6,400 of its employees there in what was reputedly the biggest tour group ever to visit the country. For that mass holiday, the owner of the company Li, who is worth at least $5.9bn and has been ranked as China’s 33rd richest person, splashed out on 84 planes, 200 hotels and a private tour of the Louvre. Even as China’s economy has slowed down, the trend of sending planeloads of staff on all-expenses paid excursions has continued to grow.
The motivation to pay for these industrial-sized tour groups appears to be in part a ruse by extravagant billionaires to please their staff, and in part a marketing technique. The Global Times, a Communist party tabloid, heaped praise on the billionaire Li’s treat, describing such trips as proof of China’s rise. In fact, by carrying out the collective France trip in a lavish manner, the company has killed two birds with one stone, both motivating its staff members and publicising the company.
There is no doubt what Hare Krishna Exports is doing is laudable. Dholakia’s decision will go a long way in incentivising the employees. The other companies also need to follow this generosity to have the army of trustworthy, dedicated and labourious employees. Such employees can certainly work wonders when they are assured of their proper care by the employers. This is the reason that Hare Krishna Exports get dozens of applications from job seekers because they think that it is the dreamland of work.
Nevertheless, what Hare Krishna Exports has been doing for the last so many years should be taken with a pinch of salt for two reasons: One is, the human behaviour is such that if you give much more then they will further raise their demand and ask or hope for even more. The second reason is that by creating such islands by pampering the employees would be the cause of jealousy for the employees of other organisations.
Thus, instead of establishing cordiality it may cause hostility and bad blood among employers and employees, which will be counterproductive if the level of satisfaction achieved by a small section of employees is drowned by the dissatisfaction.
Indian media has become paranoid over the generosity of the ‘diamond king with the golden heart’ but it must consider the overall development of the industry. All industries cannot be compared with the diamond trading firm, where the profits are enormously high. There are innumerable small and medium industries, which do not post any profit at all, some of them may be even in the red but the way this story of unimaginable gifts is being touted and tom-tommed fills other industries with a sense of inferiority complex for which they are least responsible.
Those who are in the know of the traits and tactics of the trade unionism in India will take no time to understand that these trade unions will feed the stories of dishonesty and duplicity against the industries and business houses to sub-serve their own interests. After all, the diamond polishing and trading firm cannot be equated with a shoe company or even a software company, since the profits are undoubtedly more than many other businesses. This generosity of the diamond king is certainly going to cause a lot of heart burns in other sectors.
It would have been, without doubt, a good on the part of Mr. Dholakia, if he had re-invested the money in some charitable institution for the larger benefit of the society and the poor people in his own proximity. Although it is true that charity always begins at home, but in any case, his firm could have opened more schools and institutes or started more job-centric industries. But by showing such magnanimity, he has provided a tool and convenient stick to the trade unions to beat other employers. Therefore, before taking such steps business houses ought to do some comprehensive homework on the pros and cons of their actions.
It is not that this is the only firm in the world that has taken people by storm. There is China-based tech company Qihoo, which surprised its employees with one of the most unique incentives – a night with Japanese Pornstar Julia Kyoko. Bet everyone wanted this one!
Facebook fame Mark Zuckerberg is without doubt one of the hottest properties apart from Google’s Larry Page and Sergey Brin. He takes good care of his employees with a $4000 payback on the arrival of a child at any employee’s home, reimbursements on day-care and adoption issues, also a four month paternity/maternity leave. Not far away, an Indian company Religare found a way to retain exceptional talent in the company by doling out luxury cars for the ones with extraordinary performers. Luxury cars included – BMWs or Mercedes Benz.
Email : hlkumar@vsnl.com
