How Should We Clearly Communicate Our No-Salary Training Period to New Hires?

Hello all, we are a start-up company. We hire employees with the right attitude and train them for skills. We have plans not to pay a salary for three months. We also plan to take the training fees from the candidates for three months.

Clarifying Employment Terms

Should we mention the terms clearly in the offer? We will only offer a stipend for six months after client confirmation; regular salary starts thereafter.

Please provide your suggestions on how to clarify this.

Venkatesh.Bab: You can do that, but you will only get people who are desperate to take up jobs and then quit when they have another offer in hand.

This is in addition to what talentsorcerer has said. I do not know the strength of your company; however, call it salary or stipend or any other name, PF and ESI are applicable. Statutory provisions are applicable provided you have registered for them. Secondly, from the first day onwards, the employer-employee relationship starts. Thirdly, you need to concentrate on the quality of the candidates as well. Will you be able to grow your business with low-quality manpower?

The trouble with start-up companies is that they may not attract quality candidates. This is because everybody wants to join branded companies. It is the brand of the company that adds value to the CV of the candidate. This is going to be a perennial challenge until you establish yourself.

Thanks,
Dinesh Divekar

I would suggest that you are wasting your time and energy. If you are not going to pay your staff, then why are you bothering to start a business? No one works for nothing. Last time I looked, the people of India have the same needs as people in other countries. They need to earn money to pay for food and a roof over their head. How do they support their families and make a contribution to society if they work—sorry, I think the right word is "slave"—for you?

It would appear that you do not have the capital in hand to start this business and to cover all its costs. Labor is one of the biggest costs of any business, and you need to work out how you are going to manage that. I would suggest that you and your partners run the business yourselves until you are in a position to employ and pay additional staff.

Additionally, if you have no capital, how are you going to establish this business, e.g., rent and furnish an office, IT expenses, telephone, and most importantly, marketing and advertising to get your name known and bring in paying business?

Have you considered any of this? I despair sometimes at the things I read here on CiteHR about the way employers treat their staff.

Dear Venkatesh.Bab,

Here, I disagree with the view of our learned member Talentsorcerer. You are not an institution to hire people and charge a fee from them. You are an entrepreneur. You cannot hire people for no compensation and additionally collect money from them for providing a job or training. Keep in mind, they are not slaves. Also, be aware that if you do so, you are legally liable. I apologize for the slightly harsh wording.

Regards

This practice is prevalent in the market and works well in areas where there is a desperation for a job. However, as some members have already suggested, this often results in a less qualified team, and attrition will be a significant issue. Don't forget that you can only keep people satisfied until someone better comes along. If you build a team instead, they will support you through thick and thin. Trust me on that; I speak from personal experience.

Sir, I believe you should create a new thread and post your question there.

I endorse the opinion furnished by KORGAONKAR K A. On the pretext of giving employment, extorting from employees is outright perverse both legally and ethically.

We have no plans to pay a salary for the first three months. Should we clearly mention it in the offer and also specify the training expenses amount in the offer, explaining the below terms as well?

Training Expenses and Stipend Details

We have planned to cover the training expenses for industrial experts for the candidates in the first three months, and no stipend will be provided during that period. We will only offer a stipend for six months after client confirmation, following which a regular salary starts.

Regards,

Dear Venkatesh Bab, I want to reiterate that you are not an institute authorized to provide training. You are bound by labor laws such as the Minimum Wage Act and the Payment of Wages Act. It is not permissible for you to assign work to trainees.

Thank you.

Please tell me if I understand this correctly:

1. You want people to come and work for you for at least 3 months in an UNSPECIFIED job, and NOT PAY them.
2. You are going to train these people in some UNSPECIFIED skills, and then MAKE THEM PAY FOR THAT TRAINING, even though they will be earning NO MONEY.
3. This UNSPECIFIED job will only last 6 months, so they will work for nothing for 3 months, and get some UNSPECIFIED salary for 3 months.

Is this correct? Who would be willing to take up an offer such as this?

While you take money from the business, keep a roof over your head, feed and clothe your family, enjoy holidays and leisure activities, and drive around in your BMW car, your UNPAID workers do the work for you. How does this work?

I thought that in 2015, the world had moved on from this 19th-century thinking. The whole idea is incomprehensible, and as others have pointed out, bordering on immoral and illegal.

Dear Friends, The initiator of this thread, after receiving many replies, initiated another thread on the same subject. His other thread on the same subject is provided in the link below: https://www.citehr.com/516080-sugges...w-process.html

I think we have provided appropriate solutions to the initiator of these threads. We should conclude both threads by refraining from further contributions.

Thank you.

Hi Venketesh, actually it is not clear what your company or setup wants to do. You may start an organization to supply trained manpower to companies and train candidates in a particular area for a specified period to develop their skills in that field. You may charge candidates for their training. At the same time, develop relations with companies that need skilled hands, which your organization will provide to candidates. You supply trained manpower and may charge companies for this service. This will not be easy. Always remember to follow transparent policies with candidates and companies.

I would like to have comments on this suggestion.

Conclusion of Threads on Offer Roll-Out Process

Dear Friends, the initiator of this thread, after receiving many replies, initiated another thread on the same subject. His other thread on the same subject is provided in the link below: https://www.citehr.com/516080-sugges...w-process.html

I think we have given appropriate solutions to the initiator of these threads. We should conclude both threads by not contributing further to them.

I have deleted the second thread on the same topic.

Regards,
korgaonkar k a

Consider Legal Implications of Non-Compliance

Firstly, think of the penal provisions and expected prosecutions that may be launched against you for non-compliance with labor laws! ⚖️

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Hi Venkatesh,

Please implement your idea instead of taking anyone's advice. You can gain valuable experience from this approach.

Hope you will find your first employee soon, and your venture will flourish beyond imagination!

Best of luck!

What more can I say...

"Should we mention the terms clearly in the offer? We will only offer a stipend for 6 months after client confirmation; regular salary starts."

The proposal is an eye-opener and shows the desperate job position in the country. No statistics are necessary. The fact is that job seekers are there who will fall for such 'sweet' offers. The immorality and illegality of such offers amazes me, not to mention the confidence of such people to make such offers.

As such, in my opinion, a stipend needs to be given to the newly recruited employee. All terms and conditions must be mentioned in the offer/appointment letter. Appointing without a salary is not justifiable.

This discussion is now over 1 year old, and there has been no update from the OP regarding the outcome of his proposal.

Furthermore, the thread is now being spammed with messages that are not relevant to the original topic.

Based on these reasons, I am going to close this discussion.