HR Headlines: Jan-09 (Part-8)

FMCG Firms Hot Favorite Of B-School Students
The current financial turmoil has taken the sheen off the financial sector and shifted it to the FMCG sector. According to the recent Nielsen Campus Track –B School survey, fast moving consumer goods companies (FMCG) are the most preferred destination for the 2009 batch of management graduates. Of the 1,311 students covered in the survey, 38 per cent respondents voted for it. Management consulting (35%), software/information technology consulting (23%), foreign banks and retailing (both 22%) emerged as the other sectors in the top five preferred career destinations. In the 2007 survey, management consultancy (40%), investment banking (31%), foreign banks, and software/IT consultancy (both 24%), were the top choices.
Source: 15-12-08 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Amid All Financial Mayhem, At Least Your EPF Is Safe
Labour minister Mr Oscar Fernandes has assured that the state-run employees’ provident fund will continue to pay an 8.5 per cent interest rate to its four crore subscribers. A few months ago, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) had rejected the finance ministry’s suggestion to invest five per cent of its funds in the stock markets. Thus, people’s savings have remained untouched by the market crash. The minister said that the EPF money is being invested in bonds and schemes of central and state governments and public sector companies, keeping the rate steady. About 80 per cent of the EPFO’s Rs 2,40,000 crore corpus are in a special deposit scheme of the government, while the remaining 20 per cent is invested by the State Bank of India in the bonds of other government and state-run companies.
Source: 13-12-08 www.telegraphindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

How Companies Are Beating Economic Slowdown
In wake of current economic meltdown, most companies are resorting to cost cutting measures such as lay offs and salary cuts. However, some companies are looking at other ways to beat tough times. For instance, companies are restructuring their workforce, or assigning new roles to existing staff or collapsing different divisions into one business. At Cadbury, Mr Anand Kripalu, Managing Director of its Indian unit, has also been appointed as the president of the chocolate maker’s Asian operations, thus eliminating its regional operational structure. Suzuki Motor Chairman and Chief Executive, Mr Osamu Suzuki has taken on the additional post of president. Also, companies are adopting austerity measures.
Source: 15-12-08 www.sify.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Honda To Cut Salary Of Top Brass
Japanese automaker Honda will cut monthly remuneration of its directors, corporate auditors and operating officers by 10 per cent from January 2009. Honda will also reassess the bonuses for its top brass based on the business results of the current fiscal year. As the auto industry is reeling under severe financial pressure, all automakers are taking steps to overcome the situation. Honda has also lowered its forecast for consolidated financial results for the current fiscal to 10,400 billion Japanese yen, a fall of 13.4 per cent from the previous fiscal year.
Source: 17-12-08 www.business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Alcatel-Lucent To Add 1,000 People To Its India Headcount
Showing confidence in the Indian telecom market, Alcatel-Lucent plans to hire about 1,000 people in India by next year. The decision comes even as the firm has announced 1000 lay off s globally. The company will reduce the number of managers by about 1,000 and the number of contractors by another 5,000 as a part of its restructuring initiatives. Alcatel-Lucent employs about 70,000 people globally.
Source: 16-12-08 Showing confidence in the Indian telecom market, Alcatel-Lucent plans to hire about 1,000 people in Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Motorola Sacks 100 Employees In India
US mobile phones maker Motorola has issued pink slips to at least 100 of its 4,000 employees in India. The move is a part of the company's strategy to slash 3,000 jobs, or about 5 per cent of its global workforce. The job cuts have been across the board and several software engineers, Vice-Presidents and persons from the company's sales and marketing division will face the axe. This year, Motorola faced a third quarter net loss of $397 million (Rs 1,929 crore) and consequently announced plans to slash 3,000 jobs.
Source: 17-12-08 www.sify.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Fore School Of Management Announces MDP Calendar
FORE School of Management (FSM), New Delhi, has announced the following Management Development Programmes to be conducted at its campus during December 2008 & January 2009 :

1. Building Customer Relationships (Dec 15-16, 2008)
2. Effective Business Communication (Jan 12-13, 2008)
3. Team Building And Leadership (Jan 15-17, 2008)
4. Effective Purchasing (Jan 19-21, 2008)
5. Competency Mapping (Jan 28-30, 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.

For registration / additional information, please contact : MDP Office, Fore School of Management, B-18, Qutab Institutional Area, New Delhi – 110016, Phone (011) 26856301 (Direct), 41242424 (Extn. 498); Fax: (011) 26520509, 26964229; E-mail: mdp@fsm.ac.in (Website : www.fsm.ac.in).
Source: 14-12-08 FSM Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Jet Staff Feel The Pinch Of Cost Squeeze
As Jet Airways grapples to come to terms with the economic slowdown, its cost cutting measures are giving its employees a tough time. Jet employees have to accept salary cuts, lower allowances, overtime reduction and slashed overseas perks as the airline cuts costs. The airline has reduced the international travel allowances of its cabin crew by about 20 per cent. Allowances for domestic travel that amount to Rs 1,000 have already been cut. Staff members have also been asked to share hotel rooms at international destinations. The number of working hours for crew members has been reduced to 70 hours a month from 75 to 80 hours. The top management at Jet Airways has already agreed to a 25 per cent salary cut.
Source: 16-12-08 Hindustan Times Business Compiled by Amresh Anjan

One Person Being Laid Off Every 10 Seconds
The severe impact of global economic meltdown on jobs can be gauged from the fact that companies are laying off at least one employee every 10 seconds to cut costs and fight the present crisis. So far in December, companies worldwide have announced at least 115,000 job cuts. This translates into an average of more than 8,200 people being sacked a day or about six every one minute (60 seconds). US is the most affected as more than one-third of the layoffs have happened here. All the firms that are laying off people have cited cost cutting amid the ongoing financial turmoil as the prime reason for layoffs.
Source: 15-12-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

TCS To Increase Work Hours By 30 Minutes
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is looking to increase its work hours by 30 minutes. Thus, IT professionals working with TCS will now have to work nine-and-a-half hours a day instead of the existing nine hours. TCS is the second IT firm to raise work hours after Accenture, which has asked its employees to work for an extra hour starting January 1. IT firms are increasing work hours to improve overall productivity, as there will be an increase in the average revenue that each employee generates. In the wake of current economic slowdown, Indian IT companies are going slow on their hiring plans and are trying to extract the most out of their existing employees.
Source: 13-12-08 www.sify.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

PSU Banks, LIC To Hire Around 45,000 People
State-owned banks and India’s largest insurer, Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), are on a hiring spree and have announced plans to hire around 45,000 people this fiscal. LIC will hire 10,000 people by March. Of these, around 5,000 will be hired in its marketing team, while the remaining will be placed in its administrative divisions. State Bank of India also plans to hire around 20,000 clerical staff and around 5,000 supervisory staff by the end of the fiscal. Other PSUs with huge hiring plans are Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and Bank of India. Bank of India will hire around 1,737 people this fiscal, out of which 500 will be in the officer rank, 500 clerical staff and 237 specialist officers. Bank of Baroda will recruit 1,950 people by March, including 1,000 clerical staff. Indian Overseas Bank plans to induct 1,000 clerical staff and 200 probationary officers by March.
Source: 14-12-08 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Surat Diamond Industry May See Job losses
In Surat diamond industry, Diwali vacation has been extended and all units, barring a few, which shut before Diwali will reopen by January 01. This has sparked the fear of retrenchments in the industry. Global recession has severely affected the sector and industry experts are looking at more than 30 per cent cut in production. This is bound to lead to retrenchment of workers and reduction in staff strength. Experts fear that about 20 per cent units, which are based on outsourcing work, may not reopen at all.
Source: 15-12-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Govt Declares 65,500 Export Jobs Lost Between Aug-Oct
According to labour minister Mr Oscar Fernandes, global economic recession claimed over 65,500 jobs in the export business between August and October this year. The figure was compiled on the basis of a sample study conducted for the same period by Department of Commerce for 121 export related companies. Export orders have also come down to the tune of Rs 1792 crore (Rs 17.92 billion). Mr Fernandes claimed that government has initiated several measures to instill confidence in the economy, spur growth and overcome crisis.
Source: 15-12-08 www.expressindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Now, Postal Department Freezes Hiring
Reeling under financial constraints, government has frozen recruitment in its postal department. As a policy decision, new post offices will be opened, wherever necessary, by redeployment of existing employees and within the available resources with the department. The postal department saw losses of Rs 120 crore (Rs 1.2 billion) in 2005-06 and Rs 124 crore (Rs 1.24 billion) in 2006-07, which led to such a measure. Now, the department is looking at a slew of extra activities like sale of gold coins, railway tickets, foreign exchange and UPSC forms to earn extra revenues.
Source: 15-12-08 www.hindu.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Retrenched ESIS Staff Eligible For Allowance
There is good news for those workers who have lost jobs in retrenchment process but are registered with the Employees' State Insurance Scheme (ESIS). Government has announced that they are eligible for an unemployment allowance for six months. The allowance in cash will be equal to half of their wages computed on the basis of average salary for their entire service. The allowance will be given under the Rajiv Gandhi Shramik Kalyan Yojana. In addition, the employee and his family members will also be entitled to medical care.
Source: 15-12-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Law Students Not Too keen On LPO Jobs
According to a survey conducted by ValueNotes, a provider of business information, law graduates are not too keen on taking up jobs in legal process outsourcing (LPO) firms. Students are not enthusiastic about LPO jobs as they feel that work at an LPO is repetitive and highly process-driven. Also, there is a feeling that LPO is no different from a BPO and they may be required to do a monotonous job which requires no skill. Other than this, the survey found that there is a lack of awareness among law students and faculty about LPO jobs.
Source: 15-12-08 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Kotak Securities To Trim Salaries
Kotak Securities, a subsidiary of Kotak Mahindra Bank, has asked employees of its institutional equities team to accept a salary cut of 10 per cent. At least 26 analysts from its 60 plus team have been asked to accept a cut in compensation. Another brokerage Motilal Securities cut salaries of some of its employees in the retail broking business by 10 to 20 per cent. Other retail broking houses that have either announced salary cuts or laid off people include Sharekhan, Edelweiss, Emkay and Prime Securities.
Source: 14-12-08 The Telegraph Compiled by Amresh Anjan

900 People Laid Off At M&M In Current Fiscal
The present economic slowdown claimed 900 jobs in the current fiscal from Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd global workforce. Of these, 600 jobs are based outside India. The total number of employees at M&M is around 75,000. While the retrenchments have happened in the units that have not been doing well, the company continues to hire people for certain sectors that are still witnessing growth. Earlier this month, the company had warned that it could cut down production and temporarily shut plants due to weakening domestic as well as overseas sales.
Source: 16-12-08 www.financialexpress.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Patni Appoints Mr Jeya Kumar As New CEO
Patni Computer Systems has appointed Mr Jeya Kumar as chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. He will join Patni in February 2009. Prior to this, Mr Kumar was the CEO of Mphasis. He possesses over 25 years of professional experience.
Source: 18-12-08 www.business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

New COO At SK C&C India
Mr Sanjay Gupta has been appointed as the Country Manager and COO of SK C&C India, a subsidiary of SK C&C Korea. In his new capacity, Mr Gupta would be responsible for SK C&C’s Global Delivery Center set up in India in addition to providing strategic and operational direction to the responsibilities in India. Earlier, Mr Gupta was Accenture's Senior Director and Asia Pacific Lead for Infrastructure Outsourcing (Sales and Mobilization).
Source: 16-12-08 www.business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Laird To Cut 5,000 Jobs
Reeling under a slump in sales, electronics group Laird has decided to cut 5,000 jobs and close factories around the world. Around 4,500 employees will leave the company in the final quarter of this year, amounting to 40% of Laird's direct labour. Also, the group is cutting down capacity by 14%, resulting in a further 500 job cuts. It is feared that more jobs will be lost in the first half of next year as Laird is shutting its factory in Hungary, and three of its manufacturing facilities in the US. All the jobs will be lost outside UK.
Source: 16-12-08 www.guardian.co.uk Compiled by Amresh Anjan

UK Jobless Figures Cross 1 Million
The number of jobless Britons claiming benefit rose to 1.072 million in November. The rise was for a tenth consecutive month and by the largest amount since March 1991. Firms in UK have been shedding workers in the face of tumbling demand. The broader ILO rate of unemployment rose to 6 per cent in the three months to October from 5.8 per cent the previous month.
Source: 17-12-08 www.sify.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Geodesic Hires Mr Amit Duggal As Head Of Online Marketing
Mr Amit Duggal has joined Geodesic, which operates Mundu IM service, as head of online marketing. Prior to this, Mr Duggal was head of online media and internet sales at Travelguru.com. He has also worked as online marketing manager at Yatra.com, marketing manager at Indiatimes.com (Times Internet Limited) and senior account executive at Rediffusion DY&R.
Source: 16-12-08 www.alootechie.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Electrolux To Slash Over 3,000 Jobs Worldwide
Electrolux has announced plans to reduce its global workforce by more than 3,000 in the wake of weakening demand for home appliances in Europe and North America. The company may cut more jobs as it continues to move production capacity to low-cost countries. Currently, the firm has about 57,000 employees worldwide.
Source: 15-12-08 www.business-standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Tata Steel- Corus Merger Puts Jobs At Risk
As India's biggest steelmaker Tata Steel prepares to merge its British unit Corus with itself by next year to save cost of up to 350 million pounds, there is fear that thousands will lose their jobs in the UK. This could jeopardize the negotiations in which unions are discussing accepting pay cuts of up to ten per cent for the workforce of 25,000, including the 1,000 workers at the threatened Llanwern steel works in South Wales.
Source: 13-12-08 www.hindustantimes.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Playboy Slashes Headcount
Adult entertainment magazine publisher Playboy Enterprises has slashed its headcount by 14 per cent. The retrenchments are part of measures to cut costs in corporate and other overhead. In addition, finance, HR and IT staffing have also been reduced. Compensation and discretionary expenses have also been brought down. With all these measures, Playboy is eyeing annual savings to the tune of $5 million. Playboy has identified India, China and Latin America to expand its presence.
Source: 15-12-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Santander To Lay Off 1,900 Banking Jobs In Britain
Spanish banking giant Santander plans to trim 1,900 jobs in its three British subsidiaries next year. This will amount to around eight per cent of the group's British workforce. The decision will affect lenders Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, and Bradford and Bingley. The latter two banks were bought by Santander earlier this year.
Source: 13-12-08 www.sify.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

New York Times To Freeze Increments
Due to weak advertising revenues at both the paper and the website, publishing firm New York Times Company has decided to freeze salary hikes for its non-union employees in the print and web sections. Similar steps have been taken by other media entities like Tribune and the UK's Financial Times, and book publisher Macmillan USA.
Source: 13-12-08 www.dnaindia.com


Compiled by Amresh Anjan