Advocacy - Achievements

Indian Staffing Federation meeting with Dr V Ananth Nageswaran, Hon'ble Economic Advisor, Government of India

ISF met with Dr V Ananth Nageswaran, Hon'ble Economic Advisor, Government of India, pre budget consultation,  to understand the implications on the reduced GST rate for staffing industry and other recommendations in the presence of Shri Ramesh Krishnamurthi, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India. Indian Staffing Federation also launched its Annual Flexi Employment Trends 2024, in their august presence.

Indian Staffing Federation meeting with Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India

Indian Staffing Federation invited for consultation with Ministry of Labour and Employment to discuss issues on job growth and employment formalization. Meeting was chaired by Dr V Anantha Nageswaran, Hon'ble Chief Economic Advisor to Government of India.

1. Discussion on employment generation and formalisation through staffing
   
2. Recommended GST rate of 5% for employment services industry
3. Formal staffing companies can help with job ready skills for formal employment growth
4. Impact on migrants, mobilisation process, and informal to formal transition
5. Discussion on social security schemes for gig workforce and domestic workers
6. LabourCodes implementation and challenges that can be resolved through national/state licence for staffing industry enhancing ease of doing business
7. Suggestion to list formal staffing companies on Ministry of Labour and Employment website
8. Increasing women workforce participation
9. Discussion on new formats of employment and impact of AI on jobs

Indian Staffing Federation invited for pre budget consultation : Hon'ble Finance Minister, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman on Employment and Skilling.

ISF was invited for pre-budget consultation among 10 representatives in the country, to deliberate on Employment and Skilling 

1. ISF Recommendation: Employment is a basic necessity for livelihood, thus services towards employment must be considered under ‘merit services’. GST Rate on employment service to be considered at 5% (with cenvat credit) allowing more companies to consider adopting formal employment practices 
   
2. ISF Recommendation: Formal Staffing Companies to become agents in addressing formal employment growth with appropriate job ready skilling to meet market demands. To launch a program for employment Ready Skilling Yojana through Staffing Industry 
3. ISF Recommendation: Increasing Social Security ambit as a measure of ‘dignity of labour’ & employment formalization for Domestic workers.
4. ISF Recommendation: Specialized focus required to encourage employers to bring more women workers into employment , increase 80jjaa schene threshold to 50k per month.
5. ISF Recommendation: Implementation of Labour Codes for ease of doing business and formalization of employment

Indian Staffing Federation: Unveils Vision Paper- India @ Work: Vision Next Decade

Indian Staffing Federation launched its paper titled India@ Work: Vision Next Decade, outlining key strategies and goals for the staffing industry in the next decade. The report emphasizes the need for collaboration and innovation to drive sustainable growth.

With the support and participation of various stakeholders, including trade unions and corporate users, the launch of this Vision Paper marks a crucial step towards achieving a more formalized and organized employment in India. The event was attended by representatives from trade unions, corporate user companies, and media, who all recognized the need for formalization which can happen through the staffing industry, and the potential for our industry to play a significant role in shaping the future of work in India.

Indian Staffing Federation pursuing EPFO to delink PF to Aadhar seeding compulsory for UAN Generation

Indian Staffig Federation has been highlighting the issue of F Aadhar seedigfor generation of UAN to the EPFo officlas for long. There are situations where there is mismatch of other information, such as Name being spelt wrongly or DOB not updated correctly in the Aadhaar database, as against the declaration provided by the employees at the time of taking up employment or shifting from one employer to another. Many job seekers do not remember their old UAN.

In light of the above EPFO Headquarters called for the meeting with ISF and has agreed to work on a viable solution which is job seeker and employer friendly to provide a respite at the earliest.

Indian Staffing Federation with persistent efforts with Ministry of Labor & Employment (Central) has been able to move the CLRA Amendment on National License for staffing companies to reduce administrative hassles to procure license to provide manpower

Ministry of Labor and Employment finalised the changes in the Contract Labor and Regulation Act amendment. The persistence to bring change in our industry through this amendment finally has gone through with the same is expected to be presented to parliament in the next session. Indian Staffing Federation has been involved in the amendment process to bring the National License and its impact across the rules of the act as required to be changed since last two years. Highlights of the amendment to be;

1. National License will be provided by the state basis the headquarters of the customers. If the staffing player is citing more than one customer/establishments outside of the state, they can be given National License to operate. In case staffing partner would prefer to cater to customers/establishments only in one state, they can be given the state license as well.

2. All licencing processes to be done online.

3. 3 years validity of a license to operate for the Contract Staffing Company, which can be revoked on violation.

Indian Staffing Federation working on the 4th Labor Code of Occupational, Health and Safety for inclusion of current CLRA Amendment

Indian Staffing Federation through its regulatory committee is working on the 4th Code where CLRA will be merged. This change will be more in lined to incorporate the National License and other changes that the ndustry anticipates for consideration. Ministry of Labour and Employment will evaluate with all concerned groups accordingly, to bring the code into parliament maybe by next year before elections.

Ministry of Labor & Employment (Central): Amendments to bring Online Maintenance of Registers under 9 Labour Laws (Central Sphere) and launched Unified Annual Return Report, with the involvement of Indian Staffing Federation

Indian Staffing Federation has been working with Ministry of Labour and Employment in the amendment process of simplification of reports for an effective labour reform. The Ministry of Labour & Employment, for ease of compliance of Labour Laws reduced the number of Registers to be maintained to 5 in place of 56 Registers which were provided under the following Central Labour Laws/Rules. Along the same effort, the ministry also focussed on the Shram Suvidha portal being developed to further enhance and support with its services to meet the process change across labour acts and report submissions. Ministry of Labour and Employment, has initiated a dialogue with all states to bring a one format reporting in due course, and maybe ISF’s efforts co ordinating the same, could add value to the agenda with the states. This will reduce a lot of administrative burden on the industry, where statewise reporting is a big challenge using different data columns for similar heads.

Involving States – Ministry of Labour from Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Maharashtra in discussion for supporting organised staffing

The big change as advocated by ISF is to bring a ‘ease of business’ by organised flexi staffing industry in discussion with state labour ministries. Among other recommendations being pursued actively are the online acknowledgement of licenses, which is currently granted offline. The state Ministry of Labor departments however, want to take small steps initially. Discussion with Maharashtra, Delhi, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. With most states, they are keen to partner on bringing jobs and increasing employment, thus seek support in being able to mobilise the employment. Currently, Job fairs are the only active model that most states have adopted, and most cities are not viable for travel. ISF recommends online Job fair as the best next move for the purpose, which is under deliberation in Delhi and Maharashtra. ISF shared the insights of the Indian Flexi Staffing Research report to all the Labour Ministers and the need for ministry to look at the flexi staffing as a strong enabler of job growth in the state. ISF proposed changes in the labour reforms to support the job generation for the state.

ISF partnered with Association of Infrastructure Industry (India) to bring recognition to employment in the Infra sector through combined activities

Association of Infrastructure Industry, India (AII India) is a fledgling national body for stakeholders in the infrastructure industry space and aims to represent the industry on all forums. Incorporated in February 2017, as a Trust, the AII India seeks to act as a nodal and premier body that not only brings together the various stakeholders, but also aims to provide quality inputs to both governments as well as the industry thereby facilitating infrastructure growth of the country. It aspires to create platforms that generate concrete actionable ideas as well as conducting research that furthers inclusive infrastructure growth in the country. AII India believes that the infrastructure transformation of India is achievable through an inclusive approach – of Governments, Private Corporations and Public. The need is for continuous outcome-based dialogue that engages all stakeholders – dialogues that give actionable intelligence.

ISF had a dialogue with Association of Retail Industry to identify and work on issues to improve the contract employment in the sector through combined activitiesISF had a dialogue with Association of Retail Industry to identify and work on issues to improve the contract employment in the sector through combined activities

ISF initiated a dialogue with Retail industy association to be able to work together on issues of contract staffing/skilling for the retail and ecommerce industry.

ISF had a dialogue with Association of Plastics Manufacturing Industry to work on issues to improve the contract employment in the sector through common activities

ISF initiated a dialogue with Plastics manufacturing industy association to be able to work together on issues of contract staffing/skilling for the industry.

CLRA amendments

Provision to include provision for National License for Staffing Companies, Minimum Turnover as threshold base to allow organisations to operate in the space Renewal of Licence in a 3-5 yr period

Involving States – Ministry of Labour from Maharashtra, Telangana in discussion for the Contract Labor and Regulation Act Amendment

The big change as advocated by ISF is to bring a License to operate in flexi staffing industry. This will not only regulate the staffing industry but also reduce the unorganized sector. Employers will gradually have to shift to work with the license holding staffing companies to operate in this industry. The state Ministry of Labor departments however, want to take small steps initially. Maharashtra announced and amendment with number of contrat workers being increased to 50 from 20 to bring ease of business and procurement of CLRA by employer.

Central Ministry of Labor & Employment working on National License for staffing industry along with Indian Staffing Federation in the 4th Labor Code and amendment to the current act

Ministry of Labor an Employment initiated the change in the contract labor and regulation act among several other acts last year, being amended under labor reforms. Indian Staffing Federation has been involved in the amendment process to bring the National License and its impact across the rules of the act as required to be changed. The same is being done in 2 stages and is expected to go to cabinet within next 1 year.

Digitisation of records, Ministry of Labour and Employment

Ministry of Labour and Employment called ISF into a committee meeting for presenting opinion on draft Digitization of Labour records.

Format standardization of Central and State forms.

Use of Aadhar and PAN effectively as validations and draw data from their database to pre-fill forms.

Change in Gratuity form to do away with the need for witness.

Industry Demand Led Skilling with Employment linkage by Staffing Companies project (specially for aspirational and focus districts).

Industry Demand Led Skilling with Employment linkage by Staffing Companies project specially for aspirational and focus districts.

In a collaborative and impactful initiative aimed at bolstering India's skill ecosystem, the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and the Indian Staffing Federation (ISF) with its member staffing companies, have united to spearhead industry demand-led skill training and employment generation for the nation's youth. 

This collaborative effort stands as a pivotal force in providing formal employment opportunities, recognizing the critical role that skill development plays in meeting the demands of various industries. By combining the strengths of NSDC's expertise in skill development with the extensive reach of the Indian Staffing Federation and its member companies, the initiative strives to bridge the gap between industry requirements and the skill sets of the youth. 

With an unwavering commitment to transforming the employment landscape, staffing companies have emerged as central figures in providing not only job opportunities but also empowering the temporary workforce with work choices, fair compensation, social security, and health benefits. 

This unified approach not only enhances employability but also contributes significantly to the overall economic development of the country by fostering a skilled and empowered workforce. This concerted effort aims to establish formal employment linkages, focusing on upskilling candidates to bolster their employability and aligning their educational qualifications with the evolving demands of the job market.