Kerala: Amid protests, Bevco launches trial run of shift system for staff in outlets
KOTTAYAM: Amid strong protests from trade unions, including the prominent CITU-led union, the Bevco has initiated a trial run for the implementation of a shift work system for the employees in its outlets. The shift work has been introduced in its Piravom and Kanhangad outlets for the first time, with plans to expand it to more shops soon.
Under the existing work pattern, the working hours of outlet employees are from 9.30 am to 9.30 pm, with employees being paid an additional allowance for extra duty of four hours from 5.30 pm to 9.30 pm. However, in the trial run started at Piravom and Kanhangad, there are four shifts - 9.30 am to 5.30 pm, 1.30 pm to 9.30 pm, and 12 pm to 8 pm as well as a break shift from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm (4 hours) and 5.30 pm to 9.30 pm (4 hours). In the break shift, the same employees have to work both four-hour shifts.
The trial run plan also insists that the shop in-charge and shop assistant should work for 12 hours from 9.30 am to 9.30 pm and are eligible for additional allowances.
Harshita Attaluri, CMD of Bevco, said that the primary goal of implementing the shift system is to alleviate the burden of extended 12-hour duties for employees, thereby fostering a more relaxed and productive work environment at Bevco outlets.
“The Bevco employees work under difficult circumstances with 12-hour shifts and they have to work even on Sundays. This leaves them with little time to spend with their families or attend to personal needs. Additionally, with day-care centres and play schools closing by 5 pm, their children have nowhere to go, causing a lot of hardship for many people. It is in this situation that we have started the shift system on a pilot basis in two outlets,” she said.
She added a survey was conducted earlier among employees in which 45 per cent of employees supported the shift system while 55 per cent opposed, fearing that they would lose their overtime allowance, she said.
Meanwhile, the employees have expressed strong concerns regarding the shift work system, citing potential issues that may arise, including impacts on financial management within the outlets. “The main concern is the shortage of employees in the outlets. Each outlet should ideally have between 9 to 15 employees based on sales volume, but currently none of the shops meet this requirement.
When one or two employees go on leave, it would disrupt the operations significantly,” Arun V S, general secretary, KSBC Staff Association (KSBC SA) affiliated to CITU. “Moreover, employees are required to hand over the stock balance and sales report, which include financial transactions, when changing they change shifts. This is to verify whether there are any differences in the income and volume of sales. Due to the ongoing sales activity, it is not feasible to conduct stock-taking and financial checks, resulting in potential financial risks for employees,” Arun added.
In the break shift duty, employees have to turn up for duty at 9.30 am, take a four-hour break from 1.30 pm, and then join back at 5.30 pm. This duty effectively becomes a 12-hour duty as employees from long distances can’t go home between schedules, said employees.
The CMD emphasised that the initiative is currently in the pilot phase, and challenges will be identified and ways will be explored to enhance the system. Additionally, management plans to implement a 50:50 model, allowing interested employees to choose a 12-hour work shift, dividing the shops to ‘shift shops’ and ‘non-shift shops’.
Out of around 4,000 employees at Bevco, approximately 2,600 are currently working in the 284 outlets across the state. The CMD added that the management has requested 200 more employees to address the manpower issues, before implementing the shift system completely in a phased manner with every phase covering 10 shops.
Interestingly, the management proceeded with a shift work system while a proposal was under consideration to increase the additional allowance for the employees from Rs 400 per day to Rs 600. Hence, employees believe shift work move is a cost-cutting measure by the government, as only shop in-charges and assistants will receive additional allowances under the new system.
Different take
Harshita Attaluri, CMD of Bevco, said that the primary goal of implementing the shift system is to alleviate the burden of extended 12-hour duties for employees
Employees have expressed concerns regarding the shift work system, citing potential issues including impacts on financial management within the outlets