[TheTeacher]

Originally Posted by noopster

I have even advised then to consider getting a driver for such trips but true to form these are Type A personalities who would not trust any other person with driving. Can't say I blame them.

I wouldn't trust a driver too; there are very few I know who drive properly on highways, with the right amount of distance in following, overtaking, or anticipation. One sees too many horror stories in the news of drivers falling asleep, overtaking on curves, ramming into parked lorries and what not.

Never mind that I'm a Type-A too...

[m.shekhar]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Who certifies the skills of the chauffeur who is supposed to drive the CEO around?

Originally Posted by akhilesh51

You'll be surprised how much chauffeurs at some MNCs are paid. Their salaries even dwarf that of a mid level engineer / doctor / MBA in some cases.

I've had a fair share of company chauffeurs in the 20 years that I've lived and what I've observed -

1. The chauffeurs assigned to the highest level executives are usually the best that the company has and this is determined through experience or what you can call an unofficial ladder - At first the driver is assigned to a lower level executive and then with time when he proves his worth he is assigned to the upper management.

In my dad's company the cars assigned to lower level executives are the 'contract' cars with temporary drivers. Out of these the best drivers (in terms of driving, behaviour and mannerisms) are then recommended for permanent posts as and when vacancies open and the cream of these 'permanent' drivers is then assigned to the top level executives.

From the drivers assigned to us in the past, we've had people with atleast 8-10 years of passenger vehicle driving experience and in most cases a 3-4 year commercial vehicle experience on their hands.

2. In terms of salaries these guys are paid at par or more than what some of the 'Mass recruiters' pay to engineering graduates and if one considers Cost-to-Company the salaries are on another level!
From what I've heard - for the company's projects in Jammu and Kashmir even the drivers are provided airfare tickets to travel to and fro for vacations!

Originally Posted by akhilesh51

Moreover, it is sometimes not just about driving etiquettes, rather the whole hoopla about corporate secrecy (driver's anywhere know more about company's state of affairs than the CEOs/MDs can afford to let out to public/media).

This is so true, more often than not the drivers are privy to a lot of sensitive information. In fact, as a child most of my questions about the companies working and other operations were answered by the chauffeur on my way to school. They seemed to be a prime source of info of whatever was happening inside the company!

P.S. Post in respect to drivers from one the leading Govt. PSU's in the country.

[siddarthbh]

Interesting thread. I heard of such policies a couple of years back from my cousin who works as an executive for a British company in Bangalore and it applied to everyone at that level (expat and Indian). To add a couple of points:

1. The company evaluated a few cars and shortlisted three of them. All sedans and needless to say ABS and air bags were mandatory. So the executives could pick one from these three and company would purchase the car.
2. It had to be chauffeur driven if you were getting the car to work. Could not figure out the logic behind this because he could drive on his own in the weekends
3. All drivers had to go through a course in safe driving
4. Car would not be allowed to enter office premises if driver or occupant was not wearing a seat belt
5. Executives could not take general transport (buses / vans) that the company hired to ferry rest of employees.

[nmo]

One of the rules mentioned earlier in this thread about senior executives taking separate flights was practised by one of the directors of my ex-employer so seriously that he and his wife would take separate flights both for domestic and international travel even when they travelled from same origin / destination city on same day. They have one son and they reckoned that at least one of them would survive even if one of the flight met with an accident.

I always wanted to ask him that the probability of an air accident is far lesser than a road accident or their occasional trips by sea from Colaba to Alibaug but fortunately I could keep this bottled up and never ever discussed this with him.

[Samurai]

I too have this rule about helmets in my company. Employees on bike can't enter the gate without helmet, they will have to go back for it. Visitors on bike without helmet are forced to park outside the gate. The only exception is for government officials on bike without helmet. They will start throwing tantrums if they are stopped at the gate.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by siddarthbh

2. It had to be chauffeur driven if you were getting the car to work. Could not figure out the logic behind this because he could drive on his own in the weekends

Based on the thought process that at work, the executive has to comply with the company's safety regulations. On his personal time (weekends) he can go skydiving if he is so inclined, never mind just driving - and the company has no say in the matter.

[Warwithwheels]

Very interesting thread!

Just can't help remember this well known gentleman. Why can't somebody impose some rule on him??

At 75+ he's got one of the most exotic garages in the world and drives them too! And it just doesn't stop here, he flew a super sonic jet not so long ago!

[Eddy]

He's retired remember from active management remember

[Warwithwheels]

That's only on paper. He's still the man behind all key decisions of the TATA empire.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Warwithwheels

That's only on paper. He's still the man behind all key decisions of the TATA empire.

That way Richard Branson has done even more crazier stuff. But, they would have done their risk management exercise before embarking on such adventures.

[Mpower]

Some are OTT but most of these make sense and I can agree.

Say an American expat driving a car is hit from behind by an auto & a crowd gathers. Is he/she going to get down and fight/argue with goons on the street or the rouge auto drivers?

If my company sent me to Somalia, I would follow their guidelines at least for the first 6 months/year till I get a feel for things personally.

Originally Posted by Sutripta

Hi,
Wondered about this for a long time. I mean not the restrictions, but the uncanny similarity across companies. Points to a common source. As others are saying, most probably the insurance companies.

Probably a recommendation/guideline from their foreign embassies that are being used and passed on.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

[*]Replacement of spark plugs every 10,000 km (even if not so required by the manufacturer)[*]Replacing engine oil every 5000 km (even if not so required by the manufacturer)[*]Replacing tyres every 3-4 years (even if they haven't run 10,000 km)

Not only is it silly and not-cost-conscious', its wasteful & hurting the environment to throw away good oil and good tires which end up in the landfills anyway.

Wonder what their corporate environment policy is lol

[JediKnight]

I regularly see the Indian head ( American expat ) of a very famous US multinational driving around in a Bajaj Super on weekends.

I used to see (circa 2010-2011) another expat driving to work in a open top yellow padmini. I wonder if anybody else also noticed him. I saw him quite regularly around 9 am in the morning enroute to ITPL via whitefield.

The Desi director of my company is chauffeured around in BMW 520d.

Generally our desi sahibs seem to be more self important then the firangs (expats)

[lapis_lazuli]

Is this somehow restricted to certain class of MNCs? I mean, does it apply to, say, the semiconductor industry or the software industry as well? Pardon my ignorance, but, I could not search the entire thread.

I work for an USD 10 billion company, one of the top semiconductor makers in the world. It follows the Hay grade to classify employees. Its a fairly well known system. For example, a skilled workman would be Hay 6, a secretary, Hay 8-9, a fresh graduate engineer a Hay 11. A technology director would be Hay 18-19, CEO, Hay 24. Now starting Hay 18, the employee is entitled to a car with a driver, but none of these restrictions apply. The equivalent cost of the car is in the range of 30-35L. We have Indians as well as ex pats in Hay 18 and above, but, more than half of them, drive their own cars. One of them, is a TBHP member and drives a fairly small car. Fairly small, and he eats out of dhabas as well.

{The site director drives his own too, an E250 I think. He has a driver also.}

Expats would be: Italians, French, British, Germans, Americans, Far easterners...(Koweans mostly)

Sorry for the longish post, but I am curious to know.

EDIT : How could I forget? One of our top exec turned CEO, died in his microlite crash IN the US! This was in 2012.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8121L820120204

Rules in a lawless country...!!

[PapaBravo]

I was once traveling in a taxi (not the city taxi, but a taxi used for inter-city travel) and I saw a small Unilever certificate hanging from the inside rear view mirror. On asking the driver, he told me that this is a HUL certified car. And to become one there are certain rules you have to follow. e.g.

1. Speed never exceeds 80 kmph
2. No more than one employee is allowed in a single car
3. No travel after 7 pm.

There were many such rules but don't remember them now. This incident happened about 3 years back.

[ashtorque]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

[*]Cannot listen to music in the car, even if not driving, because it might distract the driver.[/list]From the point of view of safety, some of these rules are definitely justified, but then others are plain ridiculous.

This reminds me of a funny incidence. I was travelling in a cab from Mumbai airport to Pune. While on the expressway I got really annoyed by the poor-quality FM radio that was being played in the cab ever since we started. When I asked the cabbie to switch it off, he very candidly replied that he might doze off if music if turned off