HR Headlines: Jan-09 (Part-6)

Employee Referrals – A Blessing In Disguise For Firms
Employee referrals is catching up fast as companies have finally spotted the silver lining. Of late, hiring through employee referrals has increased manifold for some IT companies, and this has not only reduced hiring costs, but has also ensured better quality of new hires. According to Mr. Rajan Kanagasabai, Head HR Sourcing, Satyam, employee referrals have brought down the advertisement costs and the overall cost of hiring considerably.
Source: 15-08-08 The Hindu Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Hit By US Slowdown, IT Firms Slow Campus Hires
As the US economy goes from bad to worse, India’s biggest outsourcing customer is getting stingy about placing new orders. The result is that now IT firms are hiring less and offering less as they pick talent from campuses. What is worse is that they have also refused to go through with offers they have already made. Many colleges in Bangalore have received hints of delays in recruitment from many companies. Some companies like Sapient and Schneider have even withdrawn offer letters given to BMS College of Engineering, said Mr. H.S. Jagadish of the Bangalore-based institute.
Source: 11-08-08 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Rajasthan Government Increases DA For Its Staff
The Rajasthan Government has hiked the dearness allowance for its employees by six percent. The hike in the DA will be payable in cash with retrospective effect from January 1, 2008.
Source: 15-08-08 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Government To Introduce Over 37 Lakh Jobs Under New Scheme
The Centre has announced a new employment generation scheme to create over 37 lakh jobs by amalgamating the existing Prime Minister's Rozgar Yojana and the Rural Employment Generation Programme. The new credit-linked subsidy programme, called Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), was approved at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh. According to the Finance Minister, Mr. P. Chidambaram, the financial implication of the new scheme, to be implemented over a four-year period, is estimated at Rs 4,485 crore (Rs 44.85 billion). "The expected employment generation under the new scheme would be 37,37,500," he added.
Source: 14-08-08 Rediff News Compiled by Amresh Anjan

B-School Students Cold-Shouldering HR As A Career Option
For students in the top B-schools across India, Human Resource (HR) doesn’t seem to be a very attractive career option. They are more attracted towards fields like finance and marketing. At IIM Lucknow’s Noida campus, only three students are specializing in HR among a batch strength of 277 students. At the Institute of Management and Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad, of 540 students, only 5.5 per cent or 30 have opted for the HR specialization this year as compared to 53 last year. Experts believe that HR continues to be ‘the not-so-preferred choice’ in comparison with finance and marketing because HR is often seen just as staffing. Although pay packets in HR have more than doubled over 10 years, students at B-schools are giving it a miss for now.
Source: 12-08-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

BPO Firms Worried Over Rising Salaries Eating Into Profits
Already crippling under by slowing the economy and a high attrition rate, major outsourcing firms such as WNS, ExlService and Genpact are now worried that rising employee salaries are a threat to their profit margins. The fattening pay packets in India could also pose a threat to the competitive advantage of India since wage costs have been lower in the country as compared to the US and Europe. These three companies expect rising salaries and other employee costs would slash their profit margins in the near term. Earlier this year, Indian IT majors Infosys Technologies and Wipro had also warned that soaring salaries in the country posed a profit risk for them. The BPO industry witnesses a salary hike in the range of 9-10 per cent on an average.
Source: 09-08-08 profit.ndtv.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Hiring To Drop At Infosys this Year
Software giant Infosys Technologies plans to hire about 10,000 less people this year. It has announced plans to hire 25,000 people in the current fiscal, nearly 29 per cent less than last year. Last year, the count was 35,000. Of the total recruitment this year, 18,000 would be through campus hiring. The company has given infrastructure and business strategies apart from economic slump as the reason for the reduced hiring this year. The attrition rate at Infosys this year is a little over 13 per cent. Also, Infosys has announced that it will offer promotions twice a year.
Source: 12-08-08 www.telegraphindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Naukri.com To Organize More Job Fairs
After immensely successful job fairs in the past, Naukri.com is set to organize job fairs in Bangalore (13th – 14th Sept 2008), Chennai (27th – 28th Sept 2008), Hyderabad (11th – 12th Oct 2008) and Ahmedabad (18th – 19th Oct 2008). Last year, there were over 30000 candidates shortlisted at the fairs. Through its job fairs, Naukri.com has mobilized over 2.5 lakh job seekers across eight cities in India.
Source: 14-08-08 Naukri.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Software Companies Invest In Training To Improve Human Efficiency
The country’s top five software companies are in discussions to jointly invest in improving infrastructure and training curriculum in colleges across the country. Infosys Technologies said that it is in talks with its peers to help make fresh graduates more ‘corporate ready’. Significantly, these companies are competing to attract the best engineering talent of the country. According to industry association Nasscom, the outsourcing industry is expected to face a shortage of over two lakh professionals by 2012. Infosys, for one, targeted a big chunk of the $ 170 million training expenses of the financial year 2007-08 at freshers. The company plans to hire 18,000 fresh graduates in 2008, about 70% of total employee additions. It is aiming to extend its four-year old Campus Connect and three-year old Genesis programmes to other companies.
Source: 13-08-08 The Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Bonanza For Babus
The Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh has announced a wage hike higher than those recommended by the Sixth Pay Commision. The new package for the 55 lakh Central government employees, proposes a 20 percent raise over the pay hands suggested by the Commission. This raise takes into consideration the Comission’s miscalculation of the dearness allowance – absorbed in the new basic pay – as 74 per cent whereas it should have been 83 percent. The proposed annual increment in the basic pay would also be a tad higher than the 2.5 percent suggested by the commission. The PM has also shot down Finance Mister, Mr. P. Chidambaram’s suggestion that the new wage be effective from January 2007 instead of January 2006 because of the heavy run on this year’s budget. But the Prime Mister is firm that the new pay would be effective from January 2006.
Source: 14-08-08 The Indian Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

$3.3 Million In Compensation For WNS Top Brass
According to the annual filing of the BPO major WNS to the US market regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), its directors and executive officers received an aggregate compensation of $3.3 million during the fiscal ended March 2008. Company’s Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mr Neeraj Bhargava, alone received a gross pay of close to $0.9 million. However, as many of the senior level roles relocated to India from the UK, the total compensation paid to executive directors and executive officers for FY08 is lower in comparison to fiscal 2007 ($4.6 million). The Chairman of WNS, Mr Ramesh N Shah, received a gross compensation of $0.63 million for the fiscal ended March 2008.
Source: 12-08-08 www.sify.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Deepak Ghaisas Quits i-Flex
Mr Deepak Ghaisas has resigned as the whole time director and company secretary of i-Flex Solutions. He plans to start a new venture in the knowledge industry. Joining i-Flex in 1993 as the Chief Financial Officer, he went on to become Chief Executive Officer (India operations), in addition to being the CFO.
Source: 11-08-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Microsoft India Gets A New MD
Microsoft India has appointed Mr Rajan Anandan as its new Managing Director. The post was left vacant after the exit of Ms Neelam Dhawan, who quit Microsoft India to join Hewlett Packard (India). Mr Anandan is former Dell India head (Dell India VP and Country GM). At Microsoft India, he will be responsible for the company’s sales, marketing and services business in India. Microsoft India has also announced Mr Jaspreet Bindra as the head of its entertainment and devices division in India.
Source: 09-08-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

New Managing Director At Volvo
Mr Mriyunjaya Singh has been appointed as the new Managing Director of Volvo AB in its local unit. At Volvo, he replaces Mr Eric Leblanc. Till now, Mr Singh was heading the construction equipment business. He joined the company in 2003.
Source: 11-08-08 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Fore School Of Management Announces New Mgt Programmes

FORE School of Management (FSM),

New Delhi,

FORE School of Management (FSM) New Delhi, a top-ranking business school in the country has announced following Management Development Programmes to be conducted at its beautiful learning-oriented Campus during September 2008:

1. Essential Computing & Tele-communication Skills for Managers (September 8-9, 2008)
2. Psychometric Tests and HRD Instruments – Application & Training (September 10-12, 2008)
3. Making Supply Chain Profitable (September 18-20, 2008)
4. Communication and Presentation Skills (September 22-24, 2008)
5. Effective Customer Services (September 25-27, 2008)

For complete details of individual programmes click at the relevant programme title.
For complete MDP Calendar (2008-2009) click here
For Response Sheet for MDP Calendar 2008-2009 click here.
For nomination form click here.

Source: 15-08-08 Fore School of Management Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Caterpillar Books Launches Three Useful Career Counseling Books
Caterpillar Books has published noted career counsellor Alan Jones’s three landmark books, 1. How to Write a Winning CV, 2. How to Win at Interview, and 3. How to Build a Successful Career. The three titles are Special Indian Editions for Indian readers/job-career seekers/aspirants. These books aim to change the job-aspirant/reader’s career for good.
Source: 15-08-08 Caterpillar Books Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Bad News For Pilots Association
The Bombay High Court dismissed a petition filed by the Pilots Association against the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) decision to implement old (1992) rules instead of the newly-formed ones regarding the hours limitations. The new rules, which are called Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR), limit the pilots duty hours. These will be replaced by the old ones, which were framed 15 years ago in 1992. According to DGCA, it has a right to amend the rules or keep them in abeyance, and 1992 rules were in operation for 15 years, so they can not be said to be causing much hardship to pilots now.
Source: 15-08-08 The Financial Express


Compiled by Amresh Anjan