Mahindra 'walks the talk' with free Covid jabs for dealers' employees

Others including Tata Motors and Ford India are also doing their bit to support channel partners

Mahindra & Mahindra is extending Covid relief measures to its dealers’ employees. In a communiqué to its channel partners on Friday, the maker of Scorpio and XUV 3OO, said it will be bearing the cost of inoculating permanent staff at its dealerships. Mahindra joins firms including Tata Motors, Ford India, among others that are extending support to the channel partners by offering monetary support and insurance to their employees.

It has also offered to pay a lump-sum of Rs250,000 to the family of the deceased should there be an untoward event due to the pandemic. An equal amount will also be paid by the dealer to the family. This will be applicable from February 1, 2021 to August 31, 2021.

“Mahindra Auto walks the talk!! Offers to cover cost of vaccination and hospitalization of employees of channel partners!! That is so thoughtful!! Thank you so much!!” Nikunj Sanghi, MD, JS Fourwheel Motors, a Mahindra dealer, wrote on micro blogging site Twitter.

In order to encourage vaccination of each and every employee, the organization will reimburse the vaccination expenses of all dealer manpower subject to a maximum of Rs1500 per person, for both the doses. This will be applicable till 31st March 2022.

Mahindra will also provide one year of medical Insurance of Rs 1,00,000 for Covid-19 treatment for the dealer employees. This would include home quarantine assistance up to Rs 10,000. This will be a one-time expense for the next one year.

To avail of aforementioned facilities, dealers need to submit a consolidated expenses statement to the respective areas sales managers of Mahindra. After due validation by the regional sales managers, it will be sent to head office accounts for consolidation and subsequent approvals, Mahindra said in the letter.  For Medical Insurance: Insurance cover will be undertaken through Mahindra Insurance Brokers Limited (MIBL).

“Through the above-mentioned support, we stand firmly united to protect the wellbeing of all our employees across our country’s dealerships. While we can never compensate for the loss suffered by families, this is our way of helping them re-build their lives,” said the letter undersigned by Satinder Bajwa, head—sales and customer support and Amit Sagar, vice president sales, automotive division at Mahindra.

Other auto firms too have been doing their bit support the dealerships.  Tata Motors for instance in a circular issued to its channel partners earlier this month, said that through Tata Motors Insurance Broking,  it would explore possibility of issuance of an insurance policy “Corona Kavach Policy” for customer advisors, team leads and workshop employees at the dealership.

The policy that is being proposed would be helpful for these employees and in case of hospitalisation, this will be able to take care of the medical expenses. It also has provisions for reimbursement in case of home quarantine etc. The premium for this would be borne by Tata Motors. The maximum coverage being looked at is Rs 100,000 lakh, it said.

Ford has also got health insurance with support of up to Rs 50,000 cover for all the permanent staff of the dealership, the additional cover cost is to be borne by the dealership, the company said in a communication to the channel partners.