MAM
Happyness.me launches employee voice 24/7 platform
KOLKATA: When employees may freely air their views, without fear of attracting the management’s ire, it would make for a happy organisation and inevitably progress for the company, especially in these COVID-19 pandemic times.
Based on this premise of taking positive worker engagement to the next level, House of Cheer, a company promoted by media veteran and former COO of Viacom18 Raj Nayak, announced it will offer its service, tech-enabled Employee Voice 24/7 platform, to small, medium and large companies, free of cost for an extended period of six months.
The initiative comes as a complementary service for corporate leaders and employees of firms, big and small across India, who continue in their resolute defiance of COVID-19 challenges, to not only stay afloat, but also prosper and grow during the ongoing pandemic.
Launched under the happyness.me brand, Employee Voice 24/7 will now be offered to every company (small, medium & large) in India for an extended period of six months.
Employee Voice 24/7 empowers C-Suite leaders to listen to their people to better understand, in real time, how they are feeling. Across all organizations, the service enables each employee to anonymously share her/his feelings at any given point of time, 24/7, even multiple times a day.
The platform will organize all individual employee feedback into a unique dashboard with actionable insights that can inform and empower leadership to improve communication finally aimed at employee well-being.
House Of Cheer managing partner Namrata Tata said: “The world is still in the throes of the worst global disaster in living human memory, and the pandemic has impacted lives in unimaginable ways. As companies and their employees struggle to overcome the challenges, it is an undisputable fact that at all times; the state of mind of employees has an important bearing on both – their own happiness (quotient), and the performance and fortunes of the company.”
“We have rolled out this free service to encourage organisations to connect with their people on a real-time basis,” said Tata, added, “We would therefore encourage leaders of every organization, regardless of size, to make Employee Voice 24/7 service a partner in their growth efforts. Communication is a two-way street, and you need to hear from your people, just as much as they need to hear from you.”
Brands
YES Bank hands the keys to SBI veteran Vinay Tonse as it bets on a new era
Former SBI managing director appointed as YES Bank’s new MD and CEO
MUMBAI: YES Bank is done rebuilding. Now it wants to grow. The private sector lender has appointed Vinay Muralidhar Tonse as managing director and chief executive officer-designate, with RBI approval secured and a start date of April 6, 2026 confirmed. The three-year term signals the bank’s intent to shift gears from crisis recovery to full-throttle expansion.
Tonse, 60, is no stranger to scale. Most recently managing director at State Bank of India, he oversaw a retail book of roughly $800bn in deposits and advances, one of the largest in the country. Before that, he ran SBI Mutual Fund from August 2020 to December 2022, a stint that saw assets under management surge from Rs 4.32 lakh crore to Rs 7.32 lakh crore across market cycles. Add stints in Singapore and four years leading SBI’s overseas operations in Osaka, and the incoming chief arrives with a genuinely global CV.
His academic grounding is equally solid: a commerce degree from St Joseph’s College of Commerce, Bengaluru, and a master’s in commerce from Bangalore University.
The appointment follows an extensive search and evaluation process by the bank’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. NRC chairperson Nandita Gurjar said the committee unanimously backed Tonse, citing his leadership track record, governance credentials and ability to drive the bank’s next phase of transformation.
Non-executive chairman Rama Subramaniam Gandhi was unequivocal. “I am certain that Vinay Tonse, with his vast experience as a senior banker, will propel YES Bank to its next phase of growth,” Gandhi said, adding that the bank remains focused on strengthening its retail and corporate banking franchises and expanding its branch network.
Rajeev Kannan, non-executive director and senior executive at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, the bank’s largest shareholder, said Tonse’s experience across retail, corporate banking, global markets and asset management positioned him well to lead the lender. SMBC said it looks forward to working with Tonse and the board as YES Bank pursues its ambition of becoming a top-tier private sector lender anchored in strong governance and sustainable growth.
Tonse succeeds Prashant Kumar, who took the helm in March 2020 when YES Bank was in freefall following a severe financial crisis, and spent six years painstakingly stabilising the institution, rebuilding governance and restoring operational scale. Gandhi was generous: “The bank remains indebted to Prashant Kumar, who is responsible for much of what a strong financial powerhouse YES Bank is today.”
Tonse, for his part, struck a purposeful note. “Together with the board and my colleagues, I remain deeply committed to creating long-term value for all our stakeholders,” he said, pledging to build on Kumar’s foundation guided by his personal motto: Make A Difference.
Beyond the balance sheet, Tonse played cricket at college and club level and represented Karnataka in archery at the national championships — sports he credits with teaching him teamwork, situational leadership, discipline and focus. In quieter moments, he reaches for retro Kannada music, classic Hindi songs, and the crooning of Engelbert Humperdinck, Mukesh and Kishore Kumar.
YES Bank has its steady-handed rebuilder in Kumar to thank for survival. Now it has a scale-obsessed growth banker at the wheel. The next chapter starts April 6.
