Today the 20th day of April, 2009, the Executive Committee member of Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) organization in its board meeting have the authority to deposit the securities or investment of the organization fund in the joint bank account in the name of Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) having jointly operated by Chairperson & Coordinating Member.

Further, the member of the Executive Committee shall invest such surplus funds of the organization that require investment from time to time in the mode specified under section 13(1) (d) read with section 11(5) of the income Tax Act 1961 or such modes as may be prescribe by any subsequent alternation, amendment or addition to the said Act dealing with investment of organization’s funds.

ARM has been following this policy since inception in order to bring a gender justice from grassroots to organizational level covering all the segments. Women constitute the major chunk of ARM staff personnel in different level of organizational cum field activities. They are provided with all facilities as stipulated in the personnel policy in addition to their maternity leave rules and ancillary benefits.

Promotion of Women and Children’s empowerment, livelihood & property with emphasis on rural background, backward & deprived status as well as socio economically oppressed cum exploited categories have, in principle, been adopted as the core mission of ARM project & programme intervention. Equitable extension of development opportunities to all, honest implementation, linkage with development departments and transparency of operation have eased the organization all-round support and cooperation.

Under the new financial policy ARM developed manual on different tools and techniques, registers, formats etc. Rules and regulations, modalities for use of those instruments has also been developed and adopted to streamline financial segments in a decentralized manner on financial management and monitoring, budgeting, staff welfare, leave and assist management etc.

This Employee Policy Note has been prepared to help you get familiar with the key policies, benefits, regulations and codes of conduct at Alternative for Rural Movement. This NOTE is intended for internal circulation only. The contents of this NOTE will be modified from time to time and amendments will be issued. Interpretation of the Handbook by the management is final. If you need any clarification or further information on any aspect of this NOTE, you can get in touch with the Coordinating Member. He will be happy to help you.

Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) is happy to have you as a part of the organization and with a hope to ease the unfamiliarity of the new work surroundings, presents this NOTE.

When an employee joins Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM), on the first day, she/he is also required to furnish the following documents:

All employees will be on probation for a period of at least one year. At the end of one year period there will be another performance review, based on which the employee will be regularised up to the end of the concerned project of Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM). In case, the performance of the employee is less than satisfactory, the same will be communicated to the employee and her/his probation may be extended by another one year . However, if the performance is unsatisfactory even after the extension of the probation period, her/his employment with Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) is liable to be terminated.

The office/field working hours at Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) are based on the project needs and demands. Thus a separate note will be circulated for each project. However the working days are six (normally from Monday to Saturday) except for Urban Health Centre where Monday is a holiday. All employees are required to sign in the register every morning upon arrival as a matter of discipline and employees must strictly adhere to the same. The office working hours at Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) are from 10:00 am to 05:00 pm with a lunch break of one hour (between 01:00 pm to 02:00 pm) from Monday to Friday. On Saturday the work timings are from 10:00 am to 02:00 pm).
Every employee should attend on time. Late coming will be seriously viewed and disciplinary action may be taken.
In case an employee is asked to come to office due to exigencies of work; s/he shall be accordingly avail leave on other day with written approval from the Coordinating Member.

The underlying philosophy of all aspects in this NOTE is discipline and integrity at all times. As it is not possible or feasible to list out every aspect simply the code of conduct should be valued. Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) has the right to take action that can include termination or suspension of the employee, as the situation warrants. This covers direct work performance, work-related conduct and general values of the society.

Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) believes in protecting the self-respect of our female employees. And therefore any person found harassing or misbehaving with a female employee would have to face serious consequences and have to leave the organization.

Where an employee is paid honorarium or fees for making a presentation or giving a lecture, taking a training session, etc., such honoraria are treated as income of the Organisation and are to be handover to the Coordinating Member.

Only authorized people should speak to the press. To that extent, if any individual press person contacts an employee, s/he must be directed to the spokesperson designated by the organization to speak to the press. The designated person is currently the Coordinating Member, Mr. Rajendra Kumar Rana

All employees are required to wear formal clothes suitable for Professional Business Office. Clothing should be neat, clean and in good taste. Incase of business meetings, visiting other organizations etc, employees are expected to be attired in appropriate formal clothing.

All employees are expected to keep their work area neat and clean in order to promote an organized workflow and to maintain an attractive office facility. Dustbins should be used for the materials treated as waste.

While leaving office, employees must ensure that their tables are clean, chairs are in proper place and unnecessary lights and fans are switched off. Incase one is the last person to leave office; s/he must lock the office.

Any defect/problem must be registered with Admin so that prompt resumption of work can take place.

Salaries are paid on the 5th of every month for the proceeding month, by direct transfer to the employees’ Bank accounts. Certain monthly reimbursements are usually made cash payment against the bills on 5th along with the salary. Tax is deducted at source as applicable.

All regular employees of the organisation are eligible for Provident Fund as per law. Other allowances and reimbursements apply as provided for in the appointment letters. Provident funds provisions is not admissible to contractual or consolidated appointments.

In case the employee has to go on an official tour; prior permission must be sought from the Coordinating Member. Normal eligibility for travel is sleeper class and / or actual bus fare. Travel advance will be given as per the need and after coming back from the Tour, the employee must submit a Tour Expense Statement and bills within 48 hours from return.

Actual lodge fare will be paid against bills and it should be within the limits as per the town and as per the instructions at the time of leaving for the tour.

The appraisal is considered necessary for the organisation’s overall performance against its vision, mission and commitment to its projects.

Goals are to be set at the beginning of the year (April 1 - March 31) on a yearly basis. For new employees, one month’s goals are to be set on the Date of Joining. After every 6 months, there will be a review with the superior (in October). • The first review for the new employees will happen after one month. After that, new goals and targets will be set and then the half yearly review pattern will follow. At the end of the year, the Annual Review would happen and increments / re-designations would be decided after that with effect from April 1.

The year for calculation of leave would be the same as the financial year - April 1st to March 31st. Pro rata adjustments will be made to bring the entitlements in line with this.

Employees are eligible for 20 days leave within a year (April to March).
Married women employees are eligible for Maternity Leave as per the state’s rules and regulations.

An employee seeking leave must take prior approval from the concerned head. It cannot be claimed as a matter of right and shall be at the discretion of the superior.

Leaves are normally calculated on the calendar days i.e. in case a leave is taken on Saturday/ Monday, it shall be considered as 1 day. But if a leave is taken on both Saturday and Monday, it becomes 3 days. This method of calculating leaves also applies on any other declared holidays, e.g., if a Friday is a declared holiday and an employee takes Saturday off, it will be counted as 3 days.

Using of leaves above the eligible leaves it will be treated as loss of pay. Prior written permission is required to go on leave without pay.

Nine days each year have been identified as Public Holidays. This will include, January 14, January 26, Holi, August 15, October 2, Durga Puja (3 days), Diwali, and Three days holidays will be given as per the choice of the employee’s based on their religion/sect. An employee may choose 1 of the following sets of sectional holidays-

In the event that the employee is constrained to leave the organization, s/he is required to 30 days notice in writing or one month’s salary, in lieu of such notice. When an employee plans to part with the organization, s/he must submit her/his resignation to the Coordinating Member. Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) is entitled to accept it with immediate effect or from any date before the expiry of the notice period.

If an employee is asked to leave the organization, Alternative for Rural Movement (ARM) will give 30 days’ notice or one month’s salary, in lieu of such notice. The employee will be entitled to accept such termination with immediate effect or from any date before the expiry of the notice period.