Swiss Re Plans 1st India Fintech Accelerator

Global re-insurer company Swiss Re plans to launch a fintech start-up accelerator in July, touted to be the country’s first to focus specifically on ventures within the insurance sector. “Approximately 25% of our revenue comes from emerging business markets. From an insurance tech perspective, India will be a very strong focus for us this year,“ said Jason Richards, head property and casual business management at Swiss Re.

The company plans on providing non-equity based grants to the selected start-up and will evaluate early stage and venture based start-ups. According to Alok Kumar, managing director at Swiss Reinsurance company, three core themes will define their selection of fintech players. From Internet of Things based sensors and machine devices to systems of engagement, which include robo advisory systems such as artificial intelligence driven bots, and smart analytics, where deep learning will be leveraged for creating predictive systems, underwriting claims and fraud management.

Source: The Economic Times (Bengaluru)

Date: 29^th April, 2016

How many people does it really take to identify the best job candidate?

A lot of employers have multiple people interviewing job candidates. But is that really the right way to go about hiring people? Here’s the answer employers have been seeking.

According to a new study, the more people you have interviewing candidates — and reviewing their responses — the better your odds will be of selecting the best job candidate.

In other words, there’s no point of diminishing returns when it comes to selecting how many people to put in front of a job candidate — at least in terms of upping your ability to make the right call. The more, the merrier.

Seriously, what’s the real number?

Of course, you can’t realistically put dozens of interviewers in front of job applicants. Things would get weird, right?

First of all, that would be pretty intimidating for even the most seasoned job candidate, and the hiring process would likely drag on forever.

So what’s the real number — the amount of people you can realistically put in front of job candidates and significantly increase your odds of selecting the best one?

Let’s go to the figures:

The study was conducted by the Behavioural Insights Team, a U.K.-based company aiming to help people and organizations make better decisions through behavioral science.

In the study, it set out to see in what ways having more interviewers affected the odds of selecting the best candidate.

It asked 398 individuals to rate interview responses from hypothetical candidates, and what it found was that collectively the reviewers’ combined ratings coalesced around the best candidate.

But realizing that organizations can’t have hundreds of people review candidates, the research team went to work trying to determine at which point the group became “wise.”

The answer? When at least three reviewers were involved.

The researchers found that in difficult cases — i.e., when candidates were very similar to each other — one interviewer made the best choice just 49% of the time.

But having three interviewers increased the odds of making the best hire to 63%.

However, if you get seven people involved, the odds of success jump to 72%.

In easy cases — when candidates are more varied — one interviewer could make the correct call 84% of the time.

Add two more people to the mix, and the odds of success jump to 94%. And with seven reviewers, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get the right candidate.

After reviewing all of the results, Kate Glazebrook, the principal advisor at the Behavioural Insights Team, recommended having at least three reviews to vet each job candidate. But adding more when possible can only improve your chances of success.

 

Source: HR Morning

Date: 15^th April, 2016.

Cutting to the chase: Questions that will spotlight the A-players you’re looking for

Ever wish you had a list of sure-fire questions you were confident would identify the best job candidates?

Well, serial entrepreneur Mitchell Harper, who’s hired a lot of people to run his five businesses, thinks he’s come up with one.

He put it together after reviewing his experiences with applicants — especially A players, the candidates all companies crave.  “I thought about the commonalities between them … and I also thought about my actual interviews with them ?— ?even the interviews back in the early 2000s,” Harper wrote. “When I asked myself,  ‘What do they all have in common that would form the foundation of an A-player?’, I came up with a series of personality traits and past experiences.”

And from that exercise came a list of interview questions. Some highlights:

1. Have you been promoted in a previous role? 
   A-players rise through the ranks quickly. Harper says, “(Being promoted) once is great, twice is amazing and three times is out of this world.”
   If a candidate’s never moved up in the ranks, chances are he or she’s not in that stratosphere.
2. Have you led a big project? 
   This will show you if a previous manager had enough confidence in the person to lead others.
3. Is this the same role as your last job? 
   Harper believes A-players don’t change companies, they change roles – because they like challenges and being put in new situations.
4. Are you committed to continual learning? 
   Having a commitment to adding new skills is critical. Ask what candidates plan to learn with you and how they plan to learn it.
5. What do you like about us? What would you change? 
   A-players do their homework. So they should be able to provide constructive feedback on what they like about your business, as well as what they aren’t so sure of.
6. What would you like to know about us? 
   This shouldn’t be a one-sided affair, but rather a conversation. The questions candidates ask are often way more informative than the answers they provide to the tired old queries like “Where do you see yourself in five years?”
7. There’s one more question interviewers need to ask themselves:Is the candidate confident without being cocky?
   There’s a fine line to walk here, Harper says. Ideally, the candidate is candid and concise about his or her accomplishments, but also acknowledges the assistance of co-workers and mentors.

 

Source: HR Morning

Date: March 16^th, 2016.

Biocon’s net profit zooms by 79% in Q4 to Rs.361 cr

Biotech major Biocon has posted profit of Rs.361 crore for the fourth quarter (January-April) of 2015-16, registering a whopping 79 percent growth year-on-year (YoY) from Rs.201 crore in the like period a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter under review (Q4), however, grew 17 percent YoY to Rs.1,004 crore from Rs.854 crore in same period year ago,” the city-based company said in a statement here on Wednesday.

For entire fiscal (FY 20-16), net profit shot up to Rs.896 crore from Rs.497 crore in previous fiscal (2015), registering 80 percent growth YoY, while revenue, however, grew 14 percent YoY to Rs.3,570 crore from Rs.3,143 crore year ago.

Earnings before interest, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) for quarter increased 18 percent YoY Rs.238 crore from Rs.203 crore in like period and 21 percent YoY to Rs.903 crore for fiscal from Rs.749 crore year ago.

“Ebitda (operating) margin remained flat YoY for quarter at 24 percent and marginally one percent up to 25 percent for fiscal from 24 percent year ago,” the statement said.

Net profit margin 36 percent YoY for Q4 grew from 24 percent in like quarter year ago and to 25 percent YoY for fiscal from 16 percent year ago.

 

Source: ETHealthworld

Date: 28^th April, 2016.

Now, Google Glass to ‘rehumanise’ doctor-patient relationship

A San Francisco-based startup has raised $17 million to “rehumanise the interaction” between doctors and patients by using the Google Glass eye-wearable device.

Using Google Glass, Augmedix has developed a platform for doctors to collect, update and recall patient and other medical data in real time, technology website TechCrunch reported on Tuesday.

Google Glass is no longer available for consumers but its enterprise business continues to rise especially in the health care sector.

“When you are with doctors without Glass, they are charting and clicking on computers for a lot of the time and not focusing on their patients,” Ian Shakil, CEO of Augmedix was quoted as saying.

“When you put on Google Glass to collect and reference that information, it helps you engage with the patient better,” he added.

According to Shakil, the Augmedix plaform “takes care of documentation in the background faster than you would. It humanises the process.”

The software relies on a team to help enter info and update records in the back end.

“It’s almost more powered by humans than AI (artificial intelligence) and speech recognition today,” Shakil noted, adding that they will be deploying more natural language processing in the future.

Taking the benefits of the virtual reality (VR) technology in healthcare sector to a new level, doctors at Royal London Hospital recently livestreamed in 360 degrees an operation conducted upon a 70-year colon cancer patient using the VR technology.

Carried out by the leading cancer surgeon Dr. Shafi Ahmed, the entire procedure was watched live by medical students from the hospital and Queen Mary University Hospital though Google Cardboard VR headsets and smartphones, London-based newspaper Evening Standard reported.

People also watched the livestreaming by downloading an app on their smartphones. The operation was filmed on two 360 degrees cameras with multiple lenses.

In 2014, Dr Ahmed performed the world’s first live-stream of an operation using Google Glass which was watched live by nearly 13,000 students around the world.

A few enhancements and a piece of software can also make the eye-wearable device ready to help people with autism – a developmental disability known to cause communication and behavioural challenges.

A software has been designed to help those with autism make eye contact, engage in conversations and more easily read social situations, said a report on wbir.com.

“It coaches eye contact directly, rewarding points to the child or adult with autism. Then, when they look at someone in the eye, their little computer screen shows the emotions the other person is feeling,” said Ned Sahin, CEO and founder of Brain Power.

The Brain Power system adds enhancements to the Google Glass or other wearable technology and then a suite of software.

“A mom can speak to her child through the device and actually see what he is seeing. We activate the camera so it becomes a remote version of her eyes,” Sahin was quoted as saying.

The glasses can help make someone relax by playing soft music and even has a solution to the fear of “wandering”.

Clinical trials for the new technology will begin this fall at Harvard Medical School.

 

Source: ETHealthworld

Date: 27^th April, 2016.

 

At 7 crore, India among top 3 countries with highest diabetic population

Diabetes is rapidly increasing in India with around seven crore cases registered among adults in 2015, whereas the prevalence of the disease increased by 80% among women between 1980 and 2014, the government said.

“As per the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), the estimated cases of diabetes in India in the age group of 20-70 years were 6.68 crore and 6.91 crore in 2014 and 2015 respectively,” health minister J P Nadda said in Rajya Sabha. India is among the top three countries in the world with high diabetic population, he added, citing a report of medical journal Lancet.

However, China, which used to have second highest prevalence of diabetes, has overtaken India in the past few years, Nadda said citing a Indian Council of Medical Research study. As per International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Diabetes Atlas (7th Edition), China has the largest number of cases of diabetes (109.6 million) followed by India (69.1 million) and the US (29.3 million) in 2015.

Nadda said the government is implementing National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS) for interventions up to district level under the national health mission.

NPCDCS has focused on awareness generation for behaviour and lifestyle changes, screening and early diagnosis of persons with high level of risk factors and their treatment and referral to higher facilities for appropriate management for non-communicable diseases, including diabetes.

“As per budget, there is a proposal to increase excise duty on aerated waters from 18 % to 21%,” he said.

 

Source: ETHealthworld

Date: 27^th April, 2016.

Five performance management tactics to boost employee engagement

Isn’t performance management about driving results while engagement strives to humanise that and keep employees motivated?

It is true that engagement and performance can be seen as standalone programs, but if we take a moment to look at them together we can see how naturally good performance management can create engagement.

This whitepaper by award-winning talent management vendor Halogen Software and industry expert David Creelman, CEO of Creelman Research, takes a closer look at performance management and describes five ways organisations can implement a best-practice process that can drive higher employee engagement.

Creelman identifies five elements that are usually found in engagement measures and goes on to explore the relationship between these elements and the performance management process.

1. CLARITY: Are you clear about goals?
2. SUPPORT: Do you have the support you need to reach your objectives?
3. FIT: Does your job match your skill set?
4. FEEDBACK: Do you regularly get useful feedback?
5. DEVELOPMENT: Are you given opportunities to develop?

The paper also highlights how two organisations, Howard Regional Health System and Campus Management Corporation, are using Halogen Software’s talent management solutions to improve their employee appraisal processes and build engagement.

 

Source: HR Daily

Date: 26/04/2016

10 warning signs a great employee’s about to quit

Think you know the signs when someone’s about to quit — having lots of doctor appointments, showing up in a suit, etc.? Well, according to new research, the cues that someone is about to jump ship are much subtler.

Tim Gardner, an associate professor at Utah State University’s Jon M. Huntsman School of Business, conducted a study on voluntary turnover and found employees often showed the same behavioral changes in the months leading up to their departures.

But here’s the kicker: They’re not necessarily the kind of behavior changes you’d tend to associate with someone who’s thinking of walking out the door.

What to watch for:

Gardner’s research highlighted 10 warning signs an employee’s about to quit — as well as some warming signs employers commonly associate with job-hoppers but aren’t necessarily indicative that someone’s thinking of leaving.

First, let’s tackle the warning signs someone’s about to hand in their notice. Here’s a list worth passing along to managers so they can help you save checked-out employees before it’s too late:

• Employees become more reserved and quiet.
• Workers seem to “tune out” in meetings and stop offering constructive contributions.
• Employees show an increased reluctance to commit to long-term projects.
• Workers become less interested in opportunities to advance.
• Staffers become less interested in pleasing their bosses and don’t seem to care about how their performance will impact their next review.
• Workers avoid social interactions with their superiors and other members of management.
• Employees stop making suggestions for new processes.
• Workers only do the bare minimum and no longer go beyond the call of duty.
• Employees become less interested in participating in training and development programs (for themselves and/or others).
• Staffers’ productivity goes down, and they seem aware but don’t care about the problem.

Of course, it’s possible for one or two of these to apply to an employee who isn’t looking to leave — but even then, it’s still something worth addressing.

And, as you can imagine, the more that apply to a single individual, the more you can bet he or she is thinking of jumping ship.

More myth than reality?

Something Gardner and his research team — which included Huntsman professor Steve Hanks and Chad H. Van Iddekinge of Florida State University — did think was unexpected were the behaviors that didn’t make the above list.

Examples:

• Workers having lots of doctor appointments.
• Employees showing up in a suit.
• Staffers who start showing up late.
• Employees failing to return phone calls and emails.
• Workers taking lots of sick days.
• Staffers punching out early.
• Employees taking more vacation time.

Gardner and his team found that these behaviors weren’t unique to perspective job-hoppers, therefore they weren’t rated as highly. But, certainly, they’re still concerning.

 

Source: HR Morning

Date: 20^th April, 2016.

Indo-UK Institute of Health to come up in Hyderabad

Indo-UK Institute of Healthcare (IUIH) has come forward to set up 1,000-bed multi-speciality hospital here, it was announced on Monday.

A delegation from IUIH led by its chairman Mike Parker called on Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who assured all help from the government to set up the hospital, according to a statement from the chief minister’s office.

This will be one of the 11 institutes of health planned by IUIH, a consortium of Indian and British promoters.

Rao assured of allocating land near Outer Ring Road (ORR) for the facility. An MoU for the project will be signed after identifying the land.

The hospital will be set up with foreign direct investment and it will have the world-class infrastructure.

The delegation included UIH CEO Ajay Ranjan and British Deputy High Commissioner in India, Mike Nithavriankais.

Last year, Healthcare UK, a joint initiative of the Department of Health (DH), UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) and NHS England, had announced supporting Indo-UK Healthcare, a consortium of UK and India-based promoters to develop a chain of 11 Indo-UK Institutes of Health across India.

This was announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Britain in November last year. An agreement was also signed on the occasion to set up first institute in New Chandigarh.

These institutes are expected to bring 1 billion pounds investment into India’s healthcare system, accompanied by strategic clinical and training partnerships with Britain’s finest NHS organisation, universities and private sector companies.

 

Source: ETHealthworld

Date: 26^th April, 2016.

 

HDFC Standard Life Signs Up Indiabulls Hsg Fin as Corp Agency

HDFC Standard Life Insurance, the country’s second-largest private insurer by new business, has tied up with Indiabulls Housing Finance for a corporate agency agreement. As part of the tie up, Indiabulls Housing Finance will distribute HDFC Life retail insurance products to its customers.

Corporate agents are entities that solicit insurance policies for insurers. Agents are individuals doing the same job. Last year, the insurance regulator Irda hadpaved the way for an open architecture, allowing corporate agents like banks and non-banking finance companies to offer insurance policies of more than one company. “Having already partnered with HDFC Life to provide customers the facility to protect their home loan, we feel it is a natural extension to provide the ease and convenience to explore further options in insurance from HDFC Life for our customers,“ Gagan Banga, managing director at Indiabulls Housing Finance, said in a statement. With the new tie up, Indiabulls Housing will be able to distribute retail life, health and pension products of HDFC Life to its customers. This tie up is expected to boost HDFC Life’s reach by getting access to new customers.

“This partnership with Indiabulls provides an ideal solution where we are providing the consumers with finance as well as a suitable cover,“ said AmitabhChaudhry , managing director at HDFC Life.

Source : Economic Times

Date  : 25-04-2016