Training/ Certification Reimbursement Policy

TLS-PO001 Ver 2.0

Sharda Centre, Off Karve Road, Erandwane,

Pune, Maharashtra, India 411004

www.techmahindra.com

Copyright © 2013, Tech Mahindra. All rights reserved.

Company-Confidential TRAINING/ CERTIFICATION REIMBURSEMENT POLICY

CONTENTS

1. PURPOSE ........................................................................................................................................... 3

2. SCOPE ................................................................................................................................................ 3

3. PROCESS DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................. 3

3.1. CONSIDERATIONS .......................................................................................................................... 3

3.2. TRAINING REIMBURSEMENT ........................................................................................................... 4
3.3. CERTIFICATION REIMBURSEMENT ................................................................................................... 4
3.4. POLICY OWNERSHIP AND REVIEW ................................................................................................... 6

4. DOCUMENT HISTORY .........................................................ERROR! BOOKMARK NOT DEFINED.

5. APPENDIX A ....................................................................................................................................... 7

5.1. APPENDIX A: ITIL AND PRINCE2 CERTIFICATION ............................................................................. 7

5.2. TECH MAHINDRA ACCREDITATION WITH APMG ................................................................................. 7
5.3. CERTIFICATION EXAM PROCEDURE .................................................................................................. 7

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Company-Confidential TRAINING/ CERTIFICATION REIMBURSEMENT POLICY

1. PURPOSE

This document outlines the Company’s policy relating to reimbursement of external training and
certification fees.

2. SCOPE

In some business scenarios, associates may be required to undertake external training/ certification.
In such cases, associates can apply for reimbursement of training/ certification fee as per process
defined in this document.

Every external training/ certification needs to go through reimbursement and bond policy.

This policy of reimbursement will be applicable to all the associates on regular company role
undertaking external training/ certification.

Associates on contract/ subcontract/ serving notice period are not entitled for the same.

In addition to the above clauses, the associate must have completed one year in the organization
and must have previous annual appraisal rating S,M or A (X,C or E going forward) to claim
reimbursement.

This policy is applicable for first time as well as renewal of certification. Maximum 20K INR can be
reimbursed in one financial year. Any additional expenses will be processed only with business
approval and justification. Partial reimbursements are not allowed.

This policy is not applicable for any Higher Education program.

3. PROCESS DESCRIPTION

3.1. CONSIDERATIONS

1. Word “IBU” may be read interchangeably with “CDU/CSU” or “Function” or “Department” as

applicable.
2. All the training and certification reimbursements have limited IBU budget and will be
processed only with business case justifying the need for external training/ certification and
approvals as below:

a. IBU head’s approval is required for all reimbursements. Maximum number of associates
who can claim reimbursement in a financial year is limited to 5% of IBU strength. IBU
head will ensure the same while providing approval. Learning Function Head’s approval
will be needed in addition to IBU Head’s approval for reimbursement up to INR 20,000.
b. COO’s approval is required in addition to above two for reimbursement of INR above
20,000.

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Company-Confidential TRAINING/ CERTIFICATION REIMBURSEMENT POLICY

3. An associate needs to claim reimbursement of the certification/ training fee in the same
financial year in which the certification/ training was completed. Finance will not process
reimbursements in next financial year.
4. In case if an associate receives all the approvals, but does not appear for internal/ external
training/ certification in that financial year then Fresh approvals are required in new financial
year.

3.2. TRAINING REIMBURSEMENT

1. An associate can claim training reimbursement ONLY if an associate has taken prior
approval from RM, Learning Consultant and IBU Head. (before enrolling for the external
training or taking the training)
2. Before undertaking any external training, associate should confirm if the same training can be
conducted internally by learning team by submitting Business Justification as per the template
available in Appendix A (Section 5.4 – Nomination Approval Form). If an associate undergoes
any external training that can be internally offered by learning team, the associate will not get
any reimbursement.
3. If an associate undergoes a training which cannot be conducted in-house, then the associate
can apply for reimbursement if following conditions are met:

a. The training request is raised with learning SPOC who in turn shall liaise with the vendor
and arrange for the trainings. Reimbursement will not be considered if associate/ project
directly liaison with the vendor for the training without informing the relevant training
group.
b. IBU Head has approved for reimbursement of training fee for Business/ project
requirement and it is also approved by learning Function Head.
c. Mail from HR SPOC, confirming completion of bond formality, wherever applicable (refer
bond policy).

3.3. CERTIFICATION REIMBURSEMENT

1. An associate can claim certification reimbursement ONLY if an associate has taken prior
approval from RM, Learning Consultant and IBU Head (before enrolling for the certification,
taking the certification exam and payment of certification fee). If an associate takes
certification exam on his/her own or pays certification fee before taking IBU Head’s approval,
that associate will NOT be eligible for certification reimbursement.
2. If the certification is available in Company managed Prometric/ PearsonVUE centre,
Associate needs to follow following steps to undertake in-house certification:

a. Associate has to sign a bond if applicable (refer bond policy).

b. Learning team will issue certification voucher to the associate.

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Company-Confidential TRAINING/ CERTIFICATION REIMBURSEMENT POLICY

c. Associate MUST undertake the certification exam within three months of taking approval.
If an employee does not take certification exam within three months, he/ she will have to
take fresh approval from IBU head.
d. In case of company sponsored certifications, where the associate has already availed the
voucher from the learning team, if the associate does not clear the certification
examination, the associate needs to buy a fresh voucher as self sponsored and clear the
examination in one month’s time.

3. If the certification is not available in company managed Prometric/ PearsonVUE centre or

company managed Prometric / PearsonVUE centre is not operational at the associate’s
location, the associate needs to follow following steps to undertake certification and its
reimbursement:

a. Associate MUST reconfirm with Prometric/ PearsonVUE coordinator, that the exam is
not available in Prometric/ PearsonVUE centre (this is required because Prometric/
PearsonVUE keeps on changing the list of exams at short notice and hence associate
needs to cross check with Prometric/ PearsonVUE coordinator before proceeding further).
b. On email confirmation from Prometric/ Pearson VUE coordinator, the associate can
proceed to take the certification exam at external testing center.
c. On passing the examination, associate can apply for reimbursement of certification fee
(as approved by IBU Head) as per following process:
i. Reimbursement claim should be submitted through PS(Finance).
ii. After the claim is approved by IBU Head, the reimbursement voucher should be
printed and submitted to learning SPOC for signature by Learning Location Head.
iii. If the certification has a bond associated, the associate should complete the bond
formality.
iv. Associate should get the certification completion record added in iLearn via
Learning SPOC.
v. Associate should submit the following documents along with the claim i.e. signed
Expense Report after IBU Head’s approval in system to Learning SPOC:
- Mail from HR SPOC, confirming the completion of bond formality, wherever
applicable (refer bond policy)
- Certification copy
- Original receipt of the payment
- Prior approval mail from IBU Head for reimbursement of certification fee for
Business/ project requirement

4. If associate’s IBU changes after getting IBU Head's approval, following clauses will apply:

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Company-Confidential TRAINING/ CERTIFICATION REIMBURSEMENT POLICY

a. If the associate’s IBU has changed before receipt of voucher from the learning team, the
associate should take approval from current IBU Head again. If the current IBU Head
declines approval, certification voucher will not be issued.
b. If the associate’s IBU has changed before paying certification fee, the associate should
take approval from current IBU Head again. If the current IBU Head declines approval,
the certification fee will not be reimbursed.
c. If the associate’s IBU has changed after receipt of voucher, the associate can take
certification exam, after taking special approval from current IBU Head or Learning
Function Head.
d. If the associate’s IBU has changed after paying certification fee, the associate can take
certification exam and claim certification fee reimbursement after taking approval from
new IBU Head or Learning Function Head.
Note:

If any associate takes external training/ certification without following above procedure he/ she will
NOT be eligible to claim reimbursement.

Reimbursement is not applicable in cases where associate appears for examination before joining
the company and awaits certificate/ gets certificate after joining the company.

3.4. POLICY OWNERSHIP AND REVIEW

This policy will be owned by learning department who will be responsible for making suitable
amendments, if any, from time to time.

This policy will continue to be in force unless superseded by a revised policy. The Company reserves
the right to amend, abrogate, modify, rescind/ reinstate the entire policy or any part of it at any time.

4. DOCUMENT HISTORY

Version Date Author Reviewed by Approved by Nature of changes

(function)
Issue 16-Oct- Sandhya Sunaina Vaishali First Integrated Issue
1.0 2013 Bordia Srivastava Phatak
Teja Diwan,
Nimish Gupta

Issue 9-Oct-2015 Sandhya Teja Diwan, Vaishali Changes in approval slabs and
2.0 Bordia Anil Bahl Phatak authority, Inclusion of
certification renewal

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Company-Confidential TRAINING/ CERTIFICATION REIMBURSEMENT POLICY

5. APPENDIX A

5.1. APPENDIX A: ITIL AND PRINCE2 CERTIFICATION

The section outlines the procedure relating to execution of ITIL & PRINCE2 foundation and
intermediate/practitioner external certifications.

The procedure will be applicable to all associates undertaking external certification.

5.2. TECH MAHINDRA ACCREDITATION WITH APMG

Tech Mahindra has a partnership with Quint Wellington Redwood (http://www.quintgroup.com )- an

organization specializing in the field of IT Service Management and IT governance. Through this
association we are an accredited affiliate of APMG (http://www.apmg-international.com/) and would
be able to provide TechM associates and external clients the benefits of accredited training from
APMG which includes:

• ITIL ®
• Prince2 ©
• Sourcing Governance
• Agile Project Management
• ISO 20000

Tech Mahindra will now:

• Have its own accredited trainers and proctors to conduct trainings and examinations across
the globe for ITIL ® and Prince2 © amongst other best practices at special rates.
• Enable access to ITIL eLearning courseware, sample exams, online portal, online payments,
receipts & immediate results.

5.3. CERTIFICATION EXAM PROCEDURE

How to Book/Register the exam:

• Technical Learning team will periodically announce the ITIL Foundation & Intermediate
external exams schedule across locations.
• Once the date is announced, associates need to visit the APMG site (https://www.student-
registration.com/) to register for the exam. Associates need “order number” and “access
code” for registration. This can be obtained from ITIL proctor/invigilator. (please note that
“order number” will be different for self sponsored and IBU sponsored cases).
• For Self Sponsored candidates, the fees need to be paid through credit card at the time of
registration.

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Company-Confidential TRAINING/ CERTIFICATION REIMBURSEMENT POLICY

• For IBU sponsored, candidate should not pay the fees at the time of registration. Fee will be
paid by Tech Mahindra at a later date to APMG/Quint on the receipt of Invoice.
• Booked exams cannot be cancelled. However if required the exam can be rescheduled
(candidate need to inform at least 2 days before the schedule of the exam). Cancellation of
IBU sponsored examinations will incur penalty.

Candidate can check the tentative price from the proctor/invigilator. However the actual price will
depend upon the exact conversion rate on the date of making payment.

The results of the exams will be declared on the spot. Candidate can also visit APMG web site for
the soft copy of their exam score sheets and certificates. However the certificate will arrive within 45
days.

In case of IBU sponsored candidates a bond will be applicable. The bond formalities need to be
completed with the help of HR and Learning SPOC.

In case of self sponsored candidate, bond will be applicable if they attend training conducted by
TechM Trainer.

On the day of Exam Associates should:

• Come half an hour in advance.

• Carry order number along with the registration confirmation mail received from APMG.
• Carry one valid proof of identity with photo and signature (Driving license, passport etc).
• NOT carry any electronic devices, such as PDAs, mobile phones, scientific calculators etc.
• NOT carry any writing materials, papers, scratch pads into the test room. Rough papers will
be provided for usage, which should be returned to the proctor after the exam.

After exam submission, the proctor will print the score-sheet with due attestation.

5.4. NOMINATION APPROVAL FORM

Nomination Approval
Form.doc

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