Muthoot Microfin Ltd hires over 2,300 employees during a pandemic

Muthoot Microfin Limited, which is one of India’s fastest growing microfinance companies, has expanded its employee strength by 37% during a period when retaining employees and maintaining salaries came across as a major challenge for businesses worldwide. During the pandemic-hit period, the company hired more than 2,300 employees as it opened as many as 64 new offices across different parts of the country. In a benchmark move, most of the new employees were roped in as part of recruitment drives conducted for candidates who had lost their job due to the pandemic.

To ensure the health and wellbeing of staff members, the microfinance firm allowed all employees to work from home during the period, apart from providing Covid insurance for all, covering hospitalization cost as well as expenses on medicine. Besides, Muthoot Microfin Limited ensured no pay cut and complete job security for all employees. It was on the basis of these aforementioned initiatives that the company was ranked among ‘Best Place to Work’ by GPTW Institute. 

Mr Sadaf Sayeed, CEO, Muthoot Microfin Limited, says, “We have always kept employee wellbeing on the top of the pedestal, as they are the backbone of our institution. As the pandemic struck, we proactively issued alerts and opened a full-fledged control room to address the panic and concerns among our employees. Also, we actively engaged with them through skill development programmes, eventually leading to a sense of motivation among our employees and lower attrition rate.”

Echoing the sentiments, company's HR Head Mr Subhransu Pattnayak said, “Our communication strategy was primarily to keep in constant touch with all employees throughout the lockdown period and keep a tab on their safety and wellbeing. Further, we rolled out a slew of employee engagement activities, associated with online learning platforms and activated internal LMS for skill training of employees. We invested a lot on providing training to our staff over the past year.”

The company has also been active in providing loans to women entrepreneurs across India during these trying times to keep the wheels of economy moving. Over Rs 2,700 crore worth of loans were disbursed by the company in FY2021. Currently the 6th largest NBFC-MFI in the country, the company already has over 1.9mn women entrepreneurs as active customers. Also, despite the pandemic the company's AUM has registered a growth of 6% in the year that went by.