HR Headlines: Oct-08 (Part-6)

BPOs Bullish On Hiring Amid The Slowdown
Despite the meltdown in global economy and trauma in the banking, finance and insurance services (BFSI) sector, Indian business process outsourcing (BPO) firms appear bullish. These firms are increasing these employee strength in the country, attributing their optimism to business ramp-up over the last couple of months and an increased acceptability of offshore work. BPOs anticipate that more work will be offshored to locations like India. A Valuenotes Database study indicates that domestic BPO firms would employ nearly 540,000 people in the next four years against 140,000 staffers currently. Mr. Karthik Sarma, Chief People Officer, WNS Global Services said that the BPO industry differs from the IT industry. Any economic downturn leads to cuts in discretionary IT spending. But such cuts don't affect the BPO industry because most of the revenue comprises long-term contracts.
Source: 14-10-08 rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Air India To Reduce Staff Strength
With the meltdown affecting the aviation industry, Air India is proactively seeking ways to reduce its staff strength and whittle down its wage bill. The airline has decided to revive a six-year-old proposal to offer employees leave without pay for three to five years. The scheme would have to be implemented and could take up to six weeks. A spokesperson from Air India said, “All we are doing is reviving a scheme that we had in 2002 and 2003.” Around 15, 000 employees are eligible for the scheme from the total of around 34, 000 that were working for the carrier at the time of its merger with Indian.
Source: 15-10-08 The Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Barclays Plans To Axe 3, 000 Jobs Post Lehman Deal
UK Banking Major, Barclays Plc is planning to slash about 3, 000 jobs following its purchase of bankrupt Lehman Brothers’ North American Investment banking and capital markets businesses, said a media report. The layoffs would amount to over 10 per cent of combined investment banking and trading operations, as per a report by American Business Publication, Fortune. Barclays President, Mr. Bob Diamond confirmed the headcount reduction to the magazine and said that he hoped the operation would be complete by year end, including the elimination of the staff positions.
Source: 16-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Deutsche Bank’s CEO Forgoes 2008 Bonus
The highest-paid executive of Germany’s top 30 companies, Deutsche Bank AG Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Josef Ackermann will forgo his 2008 bonus as banks struggle with the financial crisis. Investment banking chiefs, Messrs Anshu Jain and Michael Cohrs will also go without their bonuses, along with members of the bank’s management and supervisory boards, Deutsche Bank spokesman, Mr. Christian Streckert said.
Source: 17-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

23 Indians Charged In One Of the Biggest Illegal Recruitment Cases
In one of the biggest illegal recruitment cases in the United Arab Emirates, 23 Indians are among 94 foreign workers who have been convicted along with their employer. The court has sentenced the manager for two months. The workers have been given jail terms ranging from three to six months.
Source: 17-10-08 The Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan

RBI Staff To Go On Strike on Oct 21
RBI’s employees meeting with the top management ended in a stalemate, with Governor, Mr. D Subbarao refusing to either press for an immediate withdrawal of the government’s notification to stop update of basic pension or to put it on hold for sometime instead of immediate implementation. Due to which, the employees’ association of the RBI, including officers and employees under the banner of the United Forum of Reserve Bank Officers and Employees have decided to strike work on October 21, 2008. The sources close to the development said that the governor, however, has assured taking up the matter with the government at a later stage for a suitable solution. Official sources explained that update of pension refers to revising the basic pension upwards after every revision of pay scales. The pension scheme is similar to the central government’s pension scheme in accordance with RBI circular dated March 1992. Employees have alleged that the withdrawal of the update of pension is a retrograde step since it is totally contrary to the decision of the central government to shower updation benefits both in salary and superannuation to millions of its own employees.
Source: 17-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Only 1,716 Candidates Have Got Jobs Through Employment Exchanges in 10 Years
Mr. Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chief Ministerial candidate for Delhi, said that the Shiela Dikshit Government has not been able to fulfill its promises pertaining to creation of new employment opportunities made in the manifestos in 1998 and 2003, as a result of which only 1, 716 people have been offered employment through employment exchanges in the past ten years. Stating that the Congress promised the youth before the elections that steps would be taken to secure their future, Prof. Mr. Malhotra said all these assurances had been proved to be empty and the promised schemes remained on paper alone. He added that only 1, 716 people had been offered jobs all these years through the nine District Employment Offices, two Special Employment Officer for Handicapped, one Special Employment Office foe ex-servicemen and three University Employment Information and Guidance Bureaus that are functioning at present.
Source: 14-10-08 The Hindu Compiled by Amresh Anjan

PepsiCo To Cut 3, 300 Jobs On Lower Profits
PepsiCo said it will axe 3, 300 jobs after posting a profit that fell more than analysts estimated. The job cuts are a part of the company’s plan to pare $2 billion in pre-tax expenses during the next three years. As many as six plants will be closed, the company said.
Source: 15-10-08 The Hindu Compiled by Amresh Anjan

CSC To Increase Its Headcount
Computer Science Corporation (CSC) said that it is planning to increase its employee strength in India over the next six months. The addition of 2, 000 employees would take the company’s total workforce ally to 21, 000. The company acquired Covansys in July 2007 and First Consulting Group (FCG) in January 2008, and has achieved full integration of both operations into the company. With the acquisitions, CSC has nearly doubled its headcount in India. As per company officials, the financial services and manufacturing sectors offer immense opportunity for growth. Mr. Michel W Laphen, Chairman and CEO, CSC said that the company has faced very little impact due to the economic turbulence in the US and other parts of the world. “We have been fortunate enough during this period and we’ve not laid of any employee during this turbulent time,” he added.
Source: 16-10-08 Busienss Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Aricent Plans To Expand Its Workforce By 10%
Technology and outsourcing company, Aricent is planning to expand its global workforce by up to 10% by year end with particular emphasis on Indian operations. The company aims to add around 800 people over the next three months in various centres around the world. Presently, it has 6,000 employees in India with offices in Gurgaon, Chennai and Bangalore.
Source: 16-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

DBS Indian JV To Lay Off Staff
Following the global financial turmoil, DBS Group Holdings said that its Indian joint venture, Cholamandalam DBS Finance Ltd is closing 75 branches in India. ”The business has to adapt to prevailing conditions in India,” a DBS spokesman said confirming an earlier report that said it will close 75 of its 260 branches and 200 people will lose their jobs.
Source: 15-10-08 Mint Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Britain to Axe 10, 000 Government Jobs
Britain is prepared to axe nearly 10, 000 jobs from its Ministry of Justice as part of a round of budget cuts to battle the tough economic climate. But a ministry spokesperson said although the division was making nearly 1 billion pounds ($ 1.75 billion) worth of cuts, no decision had been made on jobs and that only back office and support departments were likely to be affected.
Source: 16-10-08 The Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Max New York Life Appoints New CEO
Max New York Life Insurance, the joint venture between Max India and New York Life International, LLC, the international arm of New York Life Insurance Company, have named Mr. Rajesh Sud as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the joint venture operation. Prior to this, Mr. Sud was serving as the company’s Deputy Managing Director.
Source: 13-10-08 The Hindu Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Best Western Names Mr. Sudhir Sinha As CEO
Hotel Chain, Best Western India has appointed Mr. Sudhir Sinha as the President and Chief Operating Officer. He brings an experience spanning over 22 years in the hospitality and the service industry. Before this, he was Vice-President of development and franchise services at Choice Hotels for seven years.
Source: 13-10-08 The Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Ford Appoints Mr. Timothy Tucker
Mr. Timothy Tucker has been appointed as new Vice-President for sales by Ford India. Prior to his India appointment, Mr. Tucker served as Managing Director of Ford-Vietnam and Managing Director of Ford Malaysia in separate, consecutive postings.
Source: 14-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr. Rajshekhar Roy Joins Four Soft
Four Soft, an IT firm providing solutions to transportation and logistic industry, has appointed Mr. Rajshekhar Roy as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO). He will take over the role from Mr. Palem Srikanth Reddy, Chairman and founder of the company.
Source: 14-10-08 Business Standard


Compiled by Amresh Anjan

HR Headlines: Oct-08 (Part-5)

Salary Raises Likely To Moderate
As the tremors of US economic crisis are being felt in India, the salaries and job markets are bound to get affected. But while companies will be forced to trim pay raises, the experts say a no-increment-no-recruitment situation may not come about. In 2008, the average rate of salary hike was 14.8% and the figure is likely to go down to 13.9% next year. According to the experts, the major difference will come about in the way salaries are packaged: the proportion of the variable pay component will increase. “The fixed pay component will be kept low and emphasis will be on performance-based pay, especially in service-intensive sectors like insurance and IT, where employees have a direct link with the company’s profitability,” says Mr. K. Sudarshan, Global Vice-President, marketing and communications, EMA Partners International. So, most likely, the fixed variable ratio could become 60:40 or even 50:50 in sectors like insurance.
Source: 06-10-08 DNA Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Bosses Have Changed From Evolutionary Bullies
A good boss will always try to save you from office politics even if you work independently, but a new study has shown that male managers have an evolutionary excuse for bullying non-team members. In fact, researchers in Australia have traced office politics back to cavemen days and found that the way male managers dress, posture and exercise power is due to humans’ evolutionary biology. As per the researchers, prehistoric behaviours, such as male domination, protecting what is perceived as their ‘turf’ and ostracizing those who don’t agree with the group is more commonplace in everyday work situations. Lead author, Mr. Jeffrey Braithwaite said, “This tribal culture is similar to what we would have seen in hunter gather bands on Savannah in Africa. Groups were territorial in the past because it helped them survive. If you weren’t in a tight band, you didn’t get to pass on your genes. Such tribalism is not necessary in the same way now, yet we still have those characteristics because they have evolved over two million years. It’s a surprise just how hard-wired this behaviour is. It’s predictable that a group will ostracise a whistle bowler for instance. It’s not good, but it’s understandable in the tribal framework. It explains all sorts of undesirable behaviours, including bullying. The findings of Mr. Braithwaite and colleagues are based on an analysis of hundreds of interviews of health workers over a 15-year period – by using an evolutionary psychology approach.
Source: 09-10-08 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Working Women Feel Insecure During Night Shifts
Nearly 53 percent of working women feel unsafe, especially during night shifts in all major hubs of economic activity across the country, particularly in the key sectors of BPO/ITeS, hospitality, civil aviation, nursing homes and garment. They call upon their establishments to change safety norms, according to the Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry Social Development Foundation (ASDF). The assessment, based on feedback from the stakeholders reveals that 48 percent of the women working with small-scale firms are extremely worried about their external movements. Nearly 26 percent of such workforce in the medium sector is apprehensive of safety and security, particularly after dark. And about 23 percent of women feel the same fear in large-scale establishments. Releasing the assessment, the Assocham said women in BPOs and ITeS were the most sensitive and prone to physical and non-physical attacks. In nursing homes including hospitals, 53 percent of women employees continue to feel insecure. This percentage in leather and garment industries is 45 and 34.
Source: 10-10-08 The Hindu Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Textile Sector Pays Less to Women Employees
Female workers in the textile industry are paid less than males, except in Uttar Pradesh. Men, who account for 40.74% of total work force of the industry, get Rs 151.10 as daily income and women, who comprise 59.26%, earn Rs 113.63 a day. In contrast to the trend across the country, in Uttar Pradesh, men get Rs 140.85 even as women earn Rs 152.77 a day. The highest difference in the earnings of men and women is in Maharashtra at Rs 177.08 and Rs 128.1 respectively, followed by Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, the Occupational Wage Survey 2008 has shown. The survey, carried out by Labour Bureau based on 2007 data included 128 units.
Source: 09-10-08 The Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Capita Plans To Hire 1, 000 Employees
Capita India, a subsidiary of UK’s largest BPO firm Capita, plans to add 1, 000 employees in the next 12 months, in contrast to job cuts and deferring of hiring plans by the Indian IT and ITeS firms. This is a part of ongoing initiative taken by the company to move work offshore. “Capita has over 30,000 people working for it and we have almost 55-60 percent of the UK insurance market. We have included an offer of a blended model for outsourcing with UK and offshore component to it. As a result, of the pound 3 billion new work that Capita is bidding, a substantial amount of this will be offshored to India, said Mr. Paul Pindar, Chief Executive, Capita Group.
Source: 04-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Time For More Govt Officials To Travel For Work
Now, more government officials can travel on official work, or end up not having to pay for some quantum of official travel, all thanks to a Finance Ministry memorandum that was issued last week. The memorandum requires that all mileage points earned by government employees on tickets purchased for official travel be pooled in for utilization by the concerned department for other official travel. Till now, most officials had been purchasing tickets for official travel and adding the mileage points to personal ‘frequent flyer accounts’. As per the new rule by Department of Expenditure, all the collective mileage points pooled together would benefit the department.
Source: 06-10-08 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Laid-Off Staff Being Employed At Delhi/Mumbai Airports
Developers of the Delhi and Mumbai airports are witnessing a rush of applications from laid-off airline employees for recruitment to various airport services. Both Mumbai International Airport Limited and Delhi International Airport Limited are likely to recruit more staff by May 2009 since more than 2,000 posts are expected to be vacant as employees opt for retirement.
Source: 06-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Why Should Ad-Hoc Workers Be Denied Of Benefits?
The policy of some employers to deprive their ad-hoc employees of financial, medical and vocational benefits, which is available to regular staff, has received criticism from Delhi court which termed the practice as "violative of fundamental rights and exploitative". Allowing the plea of an ad-hoc doctor, who worked for Delhi Jal Board, to get a salary on par with his regular collegues, the court said that such employees were entitled to all the benefits. "Employers making ad-hoc appointments and resorting to fictional break, subject the employees to arbitrary hiring and firing policy and deprive them of various benefits -- which are available to all other government servants -- and therefore, this pernicious system of appointment is exploitative and violative of Article of 14 and 16 of the Constitution," the court said.
Source: 06-10-08 DNA Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Hard Times Are Good Times For Your Health
Contradicting popular belief, US study revealed that people are healthier during strife. The data on how economic downturn influences an individual’s health are surprisingly mixed. Economic studies suggest that people tend not to take care of themselves in boom times- drinking too much (especially before driving), dining on fat-laden restaurant meals and skipping exercise and doctor’s appointments because of work-related time commitments. Mr. Gran Miller, an assistant professor of medicine at Stanford, who is studying the effects of fluctuating coffee prices on health in Columbia, says that even though falling prices are bad for the economy, they seem to improve health and mortality rates. When prices are low, labourers have more time to care for their children.
Source: 08-10-08 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Infosys Exceeds One-Lakh Employee Mark
Despite the pressure on the IT job market from fears of an economic slowdown, IT major Infosys has become the second technology firm in the country to exceed the one-lakh employee mark after industry leader TCS. Infosys and its ancillaries added 10,117 employees in the second quarter of this fiscal that ended on September 30, 2008, taking the total head-count to 1,00,306 employees, company announced in its quarterly results. This puts the company in the league of another Indian IT giant TCS, which had over 1,16,308 employees on its payrolls at the end of the previous quarter.
Source: 10-10-08 livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Merrill Lynch’s CEO Gets A New Job From Bank Of America
Merrill Lynch's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. John Thain will take over as the President of global banking, securities and wealth management after its merger with Bank of America (BofA), a top bank official said. His new responsibilities include the combined entity's Global corporate and investment banking operations as well as most of the Global wealth and investment management operations. BofA also said that Mr. Brian Moynihan, the current president of BofA's global corporate and investment banking, will take over as the president of private equity and global operations of the combined entity post merger. Mr. Moynihan will continue as President of global corporate and investment banking (GCIB) at BofA until the merger occurs after which he will take charge of the new responsibilty, the statement said.
Source: 04-10-08 DNA Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Two Of MphasiS Directors Resign
Mr. Michael Koehler and Mr. Thomas J Erhardt, Directors in IT solutions and BPO providers MphasiS, have resigned from the board of the company. This is the second instance of resignations from the company in less than two weeks. EDS Asia Pacific Advisory Board chairman and MphasiS founder Mr. Jaithirth (Jerry) Rao had resigned from the company last month.
Source: 11-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Company Staff To Study In IIT – Bangalore
Not only students but several professionals with several years of experience will be seen in the IT-Bangalore campus. To develop their talent pool, Pune-based Bharat Forge Limited (BFL) – a multinational forging company – has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with IIT-B to start an MTech programme for its employees. The course will be designed as per BFL requirements to further employees’ research and development capabilities. Starting June, BFL employees will attend classroom lectures during the first year on a full-time basis. The second year will require them to work on a project at BFL and IIT-B. However, it is not for the first time that the company has partnered with an educational institure. It has tied up with Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, for Bachelor of Science in Manufacturing Engineering and with UK-based Warwick University for MSc in Engineering Business Management.
Source: 05-10-08 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan

R-Globalcom Appoints Mr. Bhatia
Anil Dhirubhai Ambani (ADA) group promoted Reliance Globalcom has announced the appointment of Mr. Mandeep Bhatia as the Business Head of its National Long Distance (NLD) business. Mr. Bhatia joins the company from Bharti Airtel where he was leading the consumer mobile business as Chief Operating Officer (COO) – Mumbai, Maharashtra and Goa.
Source: 09-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Wipro Names Country Head of France Operations
Mr. Christophe Martinoli joins Wipro Technologies as the Country Head of France operations. In his new role, he will concentrate on defining a unified strategy for the France market, help build Wipro as a brand of choice and further enhance Wipro’s image.
Source: 09-10-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr. Wasim Basir Joins Rediffusion
Rediffusion DYR has hired Mr. Wasim Basir as a group executive Vice President. Mr. Basir comes onboard from Red Lounge – A Coca venture in China where he was Managing Director. He has also worked with Chaitra Leo Burnett and McCann Erickson.
Source: 07-10-08 DNA Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Aricent Announces New CEO
Aricent, an outsourcing company, has announced the appointment of ex-Wipro veteran, Mr. Sudip Nandy, as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. He was earlier the President of the Technology Media and Telecom Business unit at Wipro, overseeing more than 18,000 people and a revenue run rate of $1.3 billion a year.
Source: 10-10-08 The Hindu Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Entrepreneurship Cell, Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi presents International Entrepreneurship Challenge 2008
International Entrepreneurship Challenge (IEC) 2008 (visit: www.ecell-fms.org) is the golden opportunity to get seed funding with the support of eminent VCs. The participation is open to all - undergraduates, postgraduates, corporate and startups across the world. Send in your executive summaries to: ecell@fms.edu.
Source: 10-10-08 naukri.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

3500 Candidates Shortlisted At The Naukri.com Job Fair
Over 300 jobseekers received a job offer at the Naukri.com Job Fair held at HITEX Exhibition Centre, Hyderabad (11th – 12th Oct 2008). Over 3500 candidates were shortlisted for further interviews. The Hyderabad Job fair was a multi industry job fair, with more than 30 companies participating from diverse sectors including including IT, ITeS, Engineering, Media, Banking and Insurance, Biotech, Gaming and many more. Companies hired for freshers, middle and senior professionals like Business Development Executives, Research Analysts, Business Advisors, SAP Consultants, Quality Analysts, Java Engineers, Graphic Engineers, Game Programmers, and Sales Managers. Besides hiring for current openings, it also helped recruiters build their candidates database for future requirements. The fair witnessed job seekers from the twin cities as well as other parts of South India. Of the total number of registrations, 50% of the jobseekers that walked in had experience between 0-2 years, 35% had 2-5 years and 15% had more than 5 years. Naukri.com will hold its next job fair in Ahmedabad on 18th-19th October, 2008.
Source: 30-11-99 naukri.com


Compiled by Amresh Anjan