HR Headlines: Feb-09 (Part-1)

Indian IT Industry Feels The Recession Heat
The Indian IT industry, which saw a growth rate of 30 per cent a year for a decade, is now feeling the heat of the global economic crisis. Slower growth, fewer new jobs, single digit wage increases characterize the erstwhile booming industry now. In 2009/10 and the following year, India’s IT sector exports are expected to grow only by 15 per cent, down from the current year, when it is estimated to grow by 16 to 17 per cent to $47 billion from $40.4 billion last year.
Source: 04-02-09 www.hindustantimes.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

5 Lakh Indians Lost Jobs To Recession In Three Months
According to a survey conducted by the Labour Bureau of Ministry of Labour and Employment as part of a study on the effect of economic slowdown on employment in India, five lakh people lost jobs between October to December 2008. The survey was conducted over a sample size of 2581 units covering 20 centres across 11 states. The sample size was picked from eight major sectors like textile and garment industry, metals and metal products, Information Technology and BPO, automobiles, gems & jewellery, transportation, construction and mining industries. In all these sectors, total employment had come down from 16.2 million in September 2008 to 15.7 million by December 2008. Gems & jewellery export sector shed 8.43 per cent workers, followed by metals and textile sector (2.6 per cent and 1.29 per cent respectively). On the domestic side, gems & jewellery sector again witnessed 11.9 per cent decline of work force, followed by automobiles and transport sectors (4.79 per cent and 4.03 per cent respectively).
Source: 04-02-09 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

EPF Rate Not Revised As Of Now
Labour Minister Mr Oscar Fernandes has said that the interest rate on the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's (EPFO) flagship EPF scheme has not been revised as of now. EPFO, which offered 8.5 per cent interest to its 4 million subscribers at the end of the 2007/08 fiscal year, is yet to decide on the rate for this fiscal year.
Source: 04-02-09 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Stalled Construction Projects In The Gulf Cause Mass Layoffs
Shelving of mega construction projects in the Gulf is leading to large scale lay-offs and is creating panic among the Indian workforce. There have been reports of packed flights from the Gulf to the Indian sub continent bringing back thousands of sacked Indian workers. In recent months, the number of recruitment of Indian workers has also fallen drastically. In 2008, around 3,500 people were hired in January-February period as compared to only around 250-300 people this year. The banking and the construction sectors are axing jobs in a big way in Dubai. India’s consulate in Dubai is keeping a close watch on the situation.
Source: 05-02-09 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

L&T To Add 10,000 Staff In Three Years
In this time of recession-led layoffs, engineering and construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has announced plans to recruit nearly 10,000 people over the next three years for executing its various projects. The company also plans to invest Rs 4,500 crore in Hazira, where it has an engineering manufacturing unit and is likely to hire around 5,000 people there. Other than this, the newly added staff would also be deployed for projects like mono rail, power reactors and turbines.
Source: 06-02-09 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Two-Day E-Summit At Delhi College of Engineering
The entrepreneurship development cell of Delhi College of Engineering is organizing a two-day E-summit to be held on 20th and 21st Feb' 09. The event provides budding entrepreneurs with an opportunity to display their business acumen and compete against the sharpest brains by coming up with innovative technological solutions and business models. The ED Cell, DCE invites applications from firms to avail the opportunity to associate with DCE through event sponsorship.

For details, contact: Mr Sanjay Meena at sanjaym@dce.edu
Source: 01-02-09 DCE Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Kingfisher Reduces Salaries Of Pilots
Kingfisher Airlines has introduced pay cuts for its pilots as salaries of all its pilots have been reduced by Rs 80,000 per month. The salaries have been revised downwards to bring parity with the erstwhile Deccan pilots after the Kingfisher-Deccan merger. The airline is calling the salary revision a move towards a productivity-linked compensation structure, which is the international norm. The pay cuts have led to resentment among the pilots’ community at Kingfisher.
Source: 06-02-09 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Infosys Freezes New Hiring; May Enforce Pay Cuts
The global meltdown has forced India’s IT giant Infosys to freeze fresh recruitments. The company may also cut employees’ salaries and offer none or insignificant increment this year. Infosys' director for human resources Mr T.V. Mohandas Pai has said that since revenues of the company are down this year, salaries are bound to be trimmed. He insisted that the company will honour the 20,000 campus offers made last year but no new hiring would be done.
Source: 06-02-09 news.in.msn.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Wear Lipsticks, High Heels: Bank of England To Female Staff
The Bank of England has created a furor after it held a seminar to advise its female staff on what clothing, shoes and make-up to wear in the workplace. The bank hired a professional image consultancy firm for the ‘Dress for Success’ lecture for its female employees. Reportedly, the staff was given a word of caution against certain accessories that could make women workers resemble prostitutes. Also, they were advised to wear a heel of some sort – maximum two inches and always wear some sort of makeup, even if it’s just lipstick. Many other dress and make-up tips were imparted to the staff during the lecture. The event has led to uproar among many quarters with some even dubbing the session as ‘sexist’, and a reckless waste of money keeping in mind the recession.
Source: 02-02-09 Hindustan Times Business Compiled by Amresh Anjan

2,000 Intel Jobs In China To Be Moved Out Of Shanghai
Intel Corp will reshuffle its operations in China thereby moving out about 2,000 jobs from Shanghai to other parts of the country. The company is planning to optimize its manufacturing resources in China by consolidating Assembly and Test operations (ATM) from Pudong to Chengdu over the next 12 months. Intel would give the affected employees an option to work at the Chengdu facility in the west, or Dalian in the north, both more than 1,000 kilometres from Shanghai.
Source: 05-02-09 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Reliance Retail Not To Pay Performance-Linked Incentive To Its Employees
In a bid to cut costs, the country’s largest retail venture, Reliance Retail will not pay performance-linked incentive to its employees. Performance-linked incentive works out to be 20% of the gross salary of the employees, on an average. Salaries of Reliance Retail employees are generally higher in the retail industry and also on an average higher than their counterparts in RIL. Such moves will bring their salaries at par with those at RIL. Retail sales across the globe are facing a slump due to the current economic downturn and employees are being fired from the retail chains.
Source: 04-02-09 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Job Losses Across The Globe
With the worsening global economic meltdown, pink slips are flying without any signs of an improvement in the situation any time soon. Morgan Stanley has announced 1,800 job cuts. Automobile giant Ford has announced plans to axe up to 850 jobs at its UK operations. Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline is set to announce around 6,000 job cuts in face of increasing competition from generic drug makers, according to media reports. Japanese electronics major NEC has announced that it will be slashing 20,000 jobs worldwide by March 2010. Panasonic Corp, the world’s largest consumer-electronics maker, will axe about 15,000 jobs. Morgan Stanley is contemplating laying off up to five per cent of its 47,000 employees while Goldman Sachs is also mulling further jobs cuts after sacking 10 per cent of its employees last year.
Source: 05-02-09 www.dnaindia.com, news.bbc.co.uk Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mastek Puts 425 Staff On Bench; 59 Resign
To cope with the current economic downturn, IT firm Mastek put 425 employees or ten percent of its staff on ‘virtual bench’ for the next 12 months. Of these, 59 have already decided to put in their papers. Mastek had experienced a demand slowdown last quarter, which in combination with reduced attrition level, has led to an excess bench build-up of around 425 professionals, with a majority of them being trainees. A monthly allowance would be given to these employees, which would be less than 20 per cent of their present salary.
Source: 02-02-09 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

5,22,000 US Jobs Lost In January
The worsening labour market situation in the US witnessed a stunning 5,22,000 job losses in January by private sector companies. As per the latest ADP (Automatic Data Processing Inc) report, non-farm private employment on a seasonally adjusted basis, declined 5,22,000 in January 2009. Non-farm private employment in the service-providing sector fell by 2,79,000. The goods-producing sector shed 2,43,000 jobs and the manufacturing industry saw the loss of 1,60,000 jobs in January. Large businesses with 500 or more workers, axed 92,000 jobs. Further, medium-size and small-size entities reduced their workforce by 2,55,000 and 1,75,000 employees, respectively. Also, the unemployment rate rose to 7.6 per cent in January, up from 7.2 per cent in December.
Source: 05-02-09 www.deccanchronicle.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Bailed Out US Companies May Have No H-1B Hiring Quota
Two US Senators have introduced amendments to the economic stimulus bill, which refrains US companies receiving the federal bailout money from hiring H-1B visa holders. If the bill gets passed by the Senate, it could pose a crisis for Indian software professionals, working on the H-1B visa. The amendment has been co-sponsored by the Republican Senator from Iowa, Mr Chuck Grassley and the Senator Mr Bernie Sanders from Vermont. Mr Sanders said that it was a moral obligation of the US companies to protect American workers by putting them first.
Source: 06-02-09 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

$500,000 Cap On Executive Pay At Bailed Out US Firms
The newly formed Obama administration is likely to enforce a cap of $500,000 on salaries of top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money, according to top-placed sources. Also, there would be no bonuses above the base pay for the executives, except for normal stock dividends. The new rules, if imposed, could force executives to accept deep reductions in their current pay. They come amid rising public anger about huge pay packages for executives at financial companies being propped up by federal tax dollars. Current executives at five of the biggest companies to get help — Citigroup, Bank of America and the American International Group, General Motors and Chrysler —made far more than $500,000 in recent years.
Source: 03-02-09 www.nytimes.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Irish Unemployment Claims Hit Record High
According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in Ireland, the number of jobless people claiming unemployment benefit in the Irish Republic in January rose to the highest monthly level since 1967. 326,100 people made unemployment claims in January, up from 293,100 in December. The unemployment rate rose to 9.2% in January 2009, the highest rate since January 1998.
Source: 04-02-09 news.bbc.co.uk Compiled by Amresh Anjan

JLR May Cut Salaries To Save Jobs
In an attempt to avoid further lay-offs, Jaguar Land Rover has initiated talks with unions over company-wide pay cuts. So far, JLR has cut several hundred temporary and white-collar staff at its three main UK sites and is mulling 1,500 more job cuts if sales do not revive quickly. JLR management enjoys a good rapport with the unions as is evident by the fact that the unions had been campaigning hard to secure cash for the firm from the Government. The JLR management has offered a variety of possible changes to compensation agreements in return for an assurance by the company to keep staff at work.
Source: 01-02-09 Hindustan Times Business Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Vauxhall Staff Accepts A Cut In Pay & Working Hours
To cope with falling sales, General Motors has entered into an agreement with the staff at Vauxhall's car plants in Ellesmere Port and Luton to take a cut in salaries after agreement was reached to reduce their working hours. As per the agreement company bosses and unions, workers at Ellesmere Port would now work for 30 hours instead of 38. In Luton, workers will now have a 34-hour work week instead of 38.
Source: 04-02-09 news.bbc.co.uk Compiled by Amresh Anjan

IBM’s Laid Off Employees Packed Off To India
According to media reports, IBM is relocating its laid off employees to 'growth markets' like India and Russia under a new programme named ‘Project Match’ that will help with moving costs as well as providing visa assistance. IBM is asking its outgoing workers in the US and Canada to take an IBM job in India, Nigeria and Russia. The software giant is also offering jobs in China, Brazil, the Czech Republic, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates.
Source: 06-02-09 news.in.msn.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Vodafone-Essar MD Steps Down
Vodafone-Essar managing director Mr Asim Ghosh is set to step down as his term ends on March 31, 2009. Mr Marten Pieters, former CEO of Celtel International in south Africa will succeed Mr Ghosh. Mr Ghosh will continue to be a director on the company’s board.
Source: 06-02-09 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr A S Murty Appointed New Satyam CEO
Mr A S Murty has been named the CEO of Satyam by the government-appointed Board of the company. The Board has also announced tying up Rs 600 crore loans to meet working capital needs. Mr Murty is a Satyam veteran for 15 years and was currently heading the company's global delivery unit. Other that Mr Murty, the Board has roped in Mr Homi Khusrokhan, a Tata group veteran, and chartered accountant Mr Partho Datta, as special advisers to help the company in management and finance areas. The government has also appointed former Nasscom president Mr Kiran Karnik as chairman of the company’s six-member board.
Source: 06-02-09 expressindia.com, businessworld.in Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Watson Wyatt Appoints New MD For India
Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a leading global consulting firm, has appointed Mr Dhritiman Chakrabarti as managing director for company’s India operations. Mr Dhritiman will be responsible for overseeing the management of Watson Wyatt's three practices in India - Human Capital Group, Benefits and Insurance & Financial Services Consulting. Prior to joining Watson Wyatt in January of this year, his past experience was with Hewitt Associates and Aon Consulting.
Source: 06-02-09 www.moneycontrol.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Tata Tea Relocates MD To London
Tata Tea board has decided to shift Mr P T Siganporia, managing director of the company to London, keeping in view the company's global operations. Mr Siganporia will continue to be the MD with the added responsibility for global manufacturing operations as well as buying and blending, supply chain and related activities for some regions. Apart from this, he will also monitor the operations in India.
Source: 31-01-09 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Fortis Investments Appoints Mr R Sivakumar As COO
Fortis Investments, India, has appointed Mr. R. Sivakumar as its chief operating officer (COO) responsible for leading the Operations, IT and Finance functions. Mr. Sivakumar has been with Fortis Investments for almost 5 years and has worked across several functions including fixed income investments, structured products, product development and change management. Prior to joining Fortis Investments, he has worked with some of the leading asset management companies in the country.
Source: 02-02-09 www.moneycontrol.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Mohit Mirchandani Appointed Taurus MF Equity Head
Taurus Mutual Fund has appointed Mr Mohit Mirchandani as head of equity. He possesses more than 12 years of experience in the industry. Before joining Taurus MF, he has worked with ING Investment Management and the Coca Cola Company (USA).
Source: 03-02-09 profit.ndtv.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Sudhir Vasudeva Is New ONGC Director
Mr Sudhir Vasudeva has taken over as the Director (Offshore) of the Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC). His appointment comes at a time when the company is planning to spend billions of dollars on deepwater exploration and development and increasing output from aging fields. Mr Vasudeva succeeds Mr Niladri Kumar Mitra, who superannuated on January 31.
Source: 02-02-09 www.zeenews.com


Compiled by Amresh Anjan