HR Headlines: April,08 (Part-2)

Highlights of Sixth Pay Commission Report Recommendations
* An average 40 per cent hike in the salaries of government employees and doubling most allowances
* The effective increase will be at 28 per cent on account of merger of 50 per cent DA in basic pay way back in 2004
* The hike would cost the exchequer Rs 12,561 crore in 2008-09
* Introduction of flexible working hours for working women to help them manage families
* 36 per cent increase in the minimum entry level pay; working out to Rs 7,681 per month for a trained employee, previous scale was Rs 5,623
* Experts To be brought in on contract employment for posts requiring higher skills
* A performance related incentive scheme to be introduced to replace the ad-hoc bonus scheme immediately
* A fixed revised salary of Rs 90,000 a month for the Cabinet Secretary followed by Rs 80,000 for Secretary
* Defense personnel pay to be brought on par with civilian staff, besides making them eligible for special allowance up to Rs 6,000 per month.
* Recommended full pension benefit to government employees after 20 years of service, as against the existing 33 years
* The hike in gratuity limit to Rs 10 lakh
* Higher pension to octogenarians

However, government employees are still unhappy as the difference between private and govt employees’ salaries is still big. Over 1.6 million employees of central public sector companies demanding a salary increase of over 100 per cent. Also, defence sector is unhappy as the Military Service Pay (MSP) will only begin from the date of acceptance of the award, possibly three months from now, even as their civilian counterparts will get salary arrears from January 2006 onwards.
Source: 26-03-08 www.rediff.com, Business Standard, www.indiapost.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Experience level of 50% Staff At Top IT Firms: Less Than 3 yrs
In what seems an attempt to drive down costs, the four top Indian IT firms are hiring more employees with 0-3 years of experience. About 50% employees of TCS, Wipro, Infosys and Satyam have work experience of less than three years. However, companies describe it as a normal practice. For instance, Infosys hired 31,000 people during December-March, of which most are freshers. The company has a policy of having one senior manager and two middle-level managers for every five freshers. At TCS, campus recruitment comprised 50-60% of the company's staff addition every year since last five years. At Wipro Technologies, about 45% of the workforce has less than 1 year work experience. Although hiring freshers pulls down costs but it leads to additional challenges such as increased bench strength, increased training time and slower deployment of workforce on projects.
Source: 25-03-08 DNA Money Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Emerging Trend: Medical Professionals Entering Corporate World
A major boom in career options and fatter pay packages are luring a lot of doctors in the corporate world. Experienced doctors are lining up to take up courses in B-schools such as Indian School of Business and IIMs. In fact, of the 425 graduates from ISB this year, there are ten doctors, five of whom are post-graduates with seven-eight years of practice. The career options open for them range from joining pharmaceutical companies to becoming a medical consultant in leading multinationals.
Source: 27-03-08 DNA Compiled by Amresh Anjan

ISB Grads Keen To Don Entrepreneurs’ Garb
For some graduates at the Indian School of Business (ISB), the idea of starting new business ventures of their own seems more alluring than taking up lucrative job offers by global majors. This time, around 20 students opted out of placements to team up in different groups to start new businesses. The nature of businesses that these students are taking up is quite diversified. It ranges from finance and consultancy firms to nano technology firms to knowledge process outsourcing firms. To satiate the enterprising instincts of its students, ISB is offering a two-year placement holiday for those who want to set up their own business. Going by the trend, the ISB authorities believe that in the coming years, more and more students will don the entrepreneur’s hat.
Source: 28-03-08 www.sify.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

B-Schools Not Delivering Promises On Executive Part-Time MBA
The part-time management programmes for executives offered by prominent private business schools are not living up to the expectations of serious executives who have joined them. There is a growing trend among B-schools to fill these courses with lots of fresh graduates. This leads to a big gap between the profile of the class that B-schools promise in the prospectus and what it actually turns out to be. Generally, working executives who seek admissions to these courses have expectations that the peer group would consist of other students holding responsible positions in companies which leads to a high maturity level of class discussions. This helps in the learning process besides normal networking. But with lots of freshers in the class, the nature of learning gets skewed. This leaves real part-timers very discontent. Also, for faculty, it becomes difficult to teach a class with such a varied profile.
Source: 24-03-08 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

20,000 Posts To Be Filled Up In PSU Banks By 2009
With an increase in business opportunities in retail banking, marketing and expansion in rural banking, 2008-09 will see a surge in the hiring of public sector banks (PSBs). The recruitment projects lined up indicate that a minimum of 20,000 posts will be filled up. In the last fiscal year, PSBs hired over 15,000 staff. This figure will see a 30 per cent upsurge with expansion plans of many a bank. Union Bank of India alone will be hiring over 4,000. The hiring will be broad-based bringing in specialists along with generalists.
Source: 26-03-08 The Hindu Compiled by Amresh Anjan

400 Scientists To Be Hired At Ranbaxy
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd is planning to hire around 400 scientists over the next two years as it is working on research and development collaborations in India and abroad. The ramping up of headcount is primarily being done to support greater discovery research in the proposed R&D arm. Currently, there are 300 scientists working with the pharma major. The company is looking to hire bright M Sc students, PhDs and post-doctoral researchers.
Source: 26-03-08 www.thehindubusinessline.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

DuPont To Ramp Up India Operations; Double Manpower
The $29.4-billion turnover agro-chemical giant DuPont plans to double its manpower in India in the next two to three years. Currently, it has 800 employees at its six manufacturing units, located at Vadodara, Madurai and Hyderabad. DuPont will also launch its fully operational DuPont Knowledge Centre (DKC) with an investment of Rs 150 crore in Hyderabad in June-July 2008. It would be a 24x7 R&D facility housing 300 scientists and engineers by end 2008.
Source: 26-03-08 www.sify.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Etihad Etisalat Co To Ramp Up India Operations
In a bid to expand operations in India, Saudi Arabia’s second largest mobile telephone operator Etihad Etisalat Co plans to invest Rs 70 crore here. It has a wholly owned subsidiary in India named Mobily InfoTech India Pvt Ltd, which would hire 200 professionals in 2008. Currently, its employee strength is 70 people.
Source: 26-03-08 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Maruti To Hire About 700 Engineers
With the objective of bringing Maruti’s engineering skills at par with that of Suzuki, Maruti Suzuki Ltd will add around 700 engineers to take the number to 1,000 by 2010. The company expects to put together a team with the capability of designing and developing cars for the Indian market.
Source: 27-03-08 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan

PepsiCo Chief Indira Nooyi’s Compensation In 2007: $14.7 mn
In her first full year, Ms Indira Nooyi, the Chief Executive of PepsiCo Inc, took home $14.74 million in compensation in 2007. This is more than double the $6.3 million she was paid in 2006, when she served as Chief Financial Officer for most part of the year. Her package makes her the highest paid executive in the company. Her $14.74 million package includes $1.3 million in salary, $3.2 million of non-equity incentive plan compensation and $404,071 in various other executive perks. She was also granted stock and option awards worth $9.83 million as of the grant date in February 2007.
Source: 25-03-08 www.domain-b.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Barclays’ Boss Took Home $ 42 mn As Pay In 2007
Mr Bob Diamond, the boss of Barclays' investment banking division, received more than £21m ($42m) in pay and bonuses in 2007, a year when Barclays' annual profits fell 1% to £7.08bn due to the global financial turmoil. However, Mr Diamond's division, Barclays Capital, contributed a substantial part of Barclays' overall profits. Mr Diamond’s compensation includes his basic salary of £250,000, plus shares worth up to £14.4m and a £6.5m cash bonus.
Source: 27-03-08 www.news.bbc.co.uk Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Major Job Cuts Ahead For US Finance Sector
With recession in the US economy, jobs in finance sector will be the worst hit. Moody’s economy.com predicts 25,000 job cuts for the New York area. Nearly 14,000 employees in Bear Stearns are likely to lose jobs when a takeover by JP Morgan is completed. Also, Citigroup has cut down 10 per cent of its investment bank workforce amounting to 6,000 jobs. Lehman Brothers plans to lay off 1,400 workers. Investment bank Goldman Sachs will reduce workforce by up to 20 per cent.
Source: 24-03-08 Hindustan Times Business Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Tata-JLR Deal Cheered By JLR Employees
The Tata-Jaguar Land Rover deal has been cheered by thousands of employees working for these two car marquees in the UK. Tata has given written guarantees to all five UK plants on staffing levels, employee terms and conditions, including pensions, and sourcing agreements. The sale will, in no way, hamper employees’ futures and they are looking forward to working with Tata.
Source: 26-03-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mphasis Hires Mr Gudalur As Prez Of BPO Operations
Mr Ramesh Gudalur has joined Mphasis as president of its BPO operations. Also, he will be a member of the executive leadership of the company. In his new role, he will lead Mphasis BPO globally and will be responsible to develop aggressive strategy to boost growth. He holds over 20 years of experience in BPO and KPO services, financial services and credit card banking. Prior to joining Mphasis, he was the head of Cognizant’s BPO. Before Cognizant, he has held key roles at GE, SRF Group, Genpact, TCS BPO and ICICI Onesource.
Source: 28-03-08 Business India Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Munindra Kumar Bhartee Joins Serena Software
Serena Software has hired Mr Munindra Kumar Bhartee as Managing Director for its India operations. As MD, his responsibilities will include working closely with the Asia Pacific business leaders in driving the growth, channels and the expansion of the company’s market share in India. Prior to joining Serena, he was the country manager of India for Rational Software. He holds 27 years of experience spanning areas of software engineering, business expansion and operational leadership.
Source: 28-03-08 Business India Compiled by Amresh Anjan

IDG Ventures Gets Mr Kiran Karnik On Board
Mr Kiran Karnik, former Nasscom president and a Padma Shri awardee, has joined IDG Ventures India on their global advisory board. The board already has prestigious names like Mr N Balasubramanian, Mr K B Chandrashekar, Mr Arjun Malhotra, Mr Sridhar Mittal, Mr Jagdish Sheth and Mr V Sumantran.
Source: 27-03-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Raghu Menon Is New Air India CMD
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has appointed Mr Raghu Menon as the Chairman and Managing Director of Air India. He is special secretary and financial advisor in the civil aviation ministry. Mr Menon is a 1974 batch IAS officer of the Assam-Nagaland cadre. He has also served in the information and broadcasting ministry. He replaces Mr V Thulasidas, a Tripura cadre IAS officer who retires on March 31.
Source: 26-03-08 www.financialexpress.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Rajesh Bhardwaj Is Back At McCann
Mr Rajesh Bhardwaj has rejoined McCann as Creative Director. He left last year to join Rediff in the same capacity. Starting his career with O&M as a creative consultant in 1998, he holds an experience of almost 10 years in the advertising business. He joined McCann in 2003. Having many awards under his belt, he has worked on brands such as Electrolux Kelvinator, GSK, Essar, LG , Dabur, Perfetti, Mastercard, Nestle, Odomos and Dainik Jagran.
Source: 26-03-08 www.agencyfaqs.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Rai Choudhuri Joins Tribal DDB As Executive Creative Director
Mr Shoumitra Rai Choudhuri has joined Tribal DDB India, the digital arm of The Mudra Group, as Executive Creative Director. Before joining Tribal, he was with JWT (Delhi) as Associate Vice President. He has over 12 years of experience in advertising. He has worked on various brands such as Levi’s, Nestle, Philips, VIP Luggage, Coca-Cola, Debeers and others.
Source: 28-03-08 Hindustan Times Business Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Parsvnath Developers’ CFO Quits Following Differences
Mr Ravi S Pani has quit Parsvnath Developers as Chief Financial Officer citing differences with the management as the reason for his departure. He has alleged that he was not involved in a number of policy decisions of the company while being made answerable to many of those.
Source: 28-03-08 Business Standard



Compiled by Amresh Anjan