HR Headlines: Sep-09 (Part-4)

Naukri JobSpeak: Hiring Slows Down By 3.6% In August

According to Naukri JobSpeak, the monthly job index, August saw a positive movement in hiring in Banking and Insurance industries even as the overall Job Index saw a dip of 3.6 per cent in Aug `09 as against Jul `09. However, on the three month moving average, the index rose up by 1.7 per cent indicating overall positive hiring sentiment in the market. Job Index, at 701 in August, was 3.6% down as compared to 727 in July ’09. Banking & Financial Services and Insurance saw an increase in the index by 11% and 23% respectively. Bangalore saw a marginal increase in hiring activity, while Mumbai remained stable. Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune saw slackened hiring. IT Industry saw a marginal decline in hiring. Read the report in detail

Source: 15-09-09 Naukri.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

HCL Is The Best IT Employer: Survey

According to the "Best Employers Survey 2009" by Dataquest magazine and International Data Corp, HCL Infosystems is the best employer in the Indian information technology industry, followed by iGate, Rolta, RMSI and SAS Institute. HCL rose two positions from last year, while iGate slipped one notch to number two. The survey covered 200 IT companies in India. There were seven new entrants in the top 20. The survey also revealed that there was a 15 per cent drop in the attrition rates from 18 per cent last year. The average salary hikes also declined to a mere 1.4 per cent.

Source: 13-09-09 www.ibnlive.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Pay Enhanced For IIT, IIM Faculty At Entry Level

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has enhanced compensation of teachers at the entry level in IITs and IIMs. The revised notification from the ministry was issued after IIT teachers went on a mass casual leave last month to protest the Union government’s notification on their salary structure. As per the new structure, all the posts of lecturers-cum post-doctoral fellows have been re-designated as assistant professors to be filled up on contractual basis. The assistant professors in the IITs, Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will now move to a pay scale of Rs37,400-67,000 per month after completion of three years of service, with an academic grade pay of Rs9,000 per month, with designations remaining the same.

Source: 17-09-09 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Tech Mahindra Makes Pruned Salary Offers To Campus Hires

Tech Mahindra has made revised compensation offers to over 3,000 campus recruits waiting to join the erstwhile Satyam computer Services for more than a year. They have been offered the option of joining the company at pruned salary packages. The new salary package stands at Rs 1.7 lakh per annum, Rs 1.2 lakh less than what the campus recruits are supposed to get as per the company’s initial commitment.

Source: 16-09-09 www.moneycontrol.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Bonus Bonanza For Railway Employees

Government has announced productivity-linked bonus for around 13.05 lakh employees of the Railways. The bonus will be equivalent to 75 days of their wages for the financial year 2008-09. The decision will cost the ex-chequer around Rs 889 crore. The beneficiaries of the bonus would be non-gazetted employees of the railways and exclude the Railway Protection Force and R ailway Protection Special Force.

Source: 17-09-09 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

450 Vodafone Hutchison Jobs To Be Shifted To India, Tasmania

Vodafone Hutchison has decided to move a total of 450 call centre jobs from Melbourne to India and Tasmania. Three months ago, Vodafone Australia Ltd and Hutchison 3G Australia had formed a 50:50 joint venture. Vodafone Hutchison Australia had earlier flagged a total of 380 job cuts.

Source: 17-09-09 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

18.5% Bonus For Tata Steel Employees

Tata Steel has announced an 18.5 per cent annual bonus for the accounting year 2008-09 following negotiation between the company management and Tata workers’ union. An ex-gratia amount has also been announced for the arrears of wages/ salary (basic + DA) of wage revision during the period 01-01-2007 to 31-03-2008 at 8.33 per cent of arrears of wages/ salary (basic + DA ) paid/payable for the aforementioned period. This will bring the minimum and the maximum annual bonus payable to Rs21,486 and Rs1,00,845 respectively for employees in Jamshedpur.

Source: 16-09-09 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

TCS To Hire 250 At A New Centre In Argentina

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is opening a new global delivery centre in Buenos Aires, Argentina. TCS will employ 250 professionals at this centre initially. The centre will provide consulting, advanced IT solutions, business process outsourcing services and IT product implementations. In addition, the centre will house the company’s first regional SAP centre of excellence.

Source: 17-09-09 www.thehindu.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

StanChart To Recruit 2,000 People In India This Year

Standard Chartered Bank plans to recruit around 2,000 employees in India in the current financial year. Currently, it employs around 8,000 employees in the country. StanChart also plans to open an office of its KPO network -- Scope International-- in Bangalore by October.

Source: 14-09-09 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Patni Computer Allots ESOPs

Patni Computer Systems has allotted 101,900 equity shares of Rs 2 each to certain employees of the company. This includes 50,000 underlying equity shares of Rs 2 each with Bank of New York as a depository.

Source: 18-09-09 www.business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

British Unemployment Rate At 13-Year High

According to the Office for National Statistics, the rate of unemployment in Britain hit a near 13-year high in July. The jobless rate rose 0.7 percentage points to 7.9% in the three months to July. As per the statistics, 210,000 people lost their jobs during the period, taking the total to a 14-year high of 2.47 million. The number of 16- to 24-year-olds out of work rose to 947,000 during the period, the highest since records began.

Source: 16-09-09 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Japan Airlines To Trim 6,800 Jobs

Japan Airlines (JAL) has decided to cut 6,800 jobs and suspend a number of overseas routes in a bid to cut costs. The company is looking to get an equity injection of about 30 billion yen ($328 million) from a rival airline. It is currently in talks with US rivals Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. JAL would now focus more on its domestic services. In addition to the job cuts, the company also wants to reduce pay and pension costs.

Source: 16-09-09 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Aeroflot Plans To Eliminate 2,000 Jobs

Russian airline Aeroflot plans to cut 2,000 jobs in the next six months. As the airline reels under plunging profits, it has warned that more job cuts could follow. The staff cuts amount to about 13% of Aeroflot's total workforce.

Source: 17-09-09 news.bbc.co.uk Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Eli Lilly & Co To Axe 5,500 Jobs

The Indianapolis-based drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co plans to cut 5,500 jobs, or 13.5 percent of its workforce by 2011. The company is looking to cut annual costs by $1 billion by the end of 2011. It will shrink its workforce to 35,000, from its current strength of 40,500.

Source: 14-09-09 news.yahoo.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

1116 Jobs To Be Axed At BAE Systems In UK

Defence major BAE Systems is planning to axe over 1,100 jobs across plants in the UK and may shut down one of its facilities by the end of 2012. The Woodford site in Cheshire would be closed at the end of 2012 resulting in 630 job losses. 205 jobs would be lost at its Samlesbury facility in Lancashire, 170 jobs at Warton in Lancashire and 111 jobs would be slashed at Farnborough in Hampshire.

Source: 16-09-09 www.ptinews.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Rothin Bhattacharyya Appointed CEO Of HCL Security Arm

HCL Security has appointed Mr Rothin Bhattacharyya as its chief executive officer (CEO). Prior to this, Mr Bhattacharyya has worked with firms like Siemens and KPMG. He has also been a member of the National Steering Committee on Information Technology.

Source: 15-09-09 www.sify.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Ms Vinita Bajoria Appointed As VP, Commercial At Titagarh Wagons

Titagarh Wagons has appointed Ms Vinita Bajoria as vice-president (Commercial) and Mr Saket Kandoi as senior executive. Also, Mr N K Mittal and Mr Subrata Paul have been appointed as directors of the company.

Source: 15-09-09 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Nielsen India Appoints Mr Sandeep Ranade As Director, Consumer Research

Consultancy firm The Nielsen India has appointed Mr Sandeep Ranade as Director, Client Solutions, Consumer Research. In this role, he will report to Mr Prasun Basu, Executive Director, Consumer Research. Prior to this assignment, Mr Ranade was associated with Heinz India as Senior Manager, Market Research & Media Planning.

Source: 14-09-09 www.business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Apollo Sindhoori Capital Appoints New COO

Apollo Sindhoori Capital Investments has appointed Mr Ravishankar Gopalan as its new Chief Operating Officer. In his role as COO, Mr. Gopalan will lead and provide direction to key business functions such as finance, funds, administration, secretarial, legal and compliance and human resources.

Source: 17-09-09 www.thehindu.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Citigroup Hires Mr Rodney Tsang

Citigroup has hired Mr Rodney Tsang as co-head of China investment banking. Prior to this, he had spent three years as a China investment banker at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Source: 18-09-09 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

HR Headlines: Sep-09 (Part-3)

India Inc Most Optimistic About Hiring

According to the global Manpower Employment Outlook Survey (Fourth Quarter 2009), employers in India and Brazil are more optimistic about hiring in comparison to employers in more developed economies. The survey was conducted across over 72,000 public and private employers worldwide. Employers in 17 of 35 countries and territories surveyed expect some positive hiring activity in the quarter ahead. Fourth-quarter hiring plans are strongest in India, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, China, Australia, Singapore, Costa Rica, Canada, Taiwan and Poland and weakest in Romania, Spain, Ireland, Japan and Mexico. The job prospects remain weak in the United States and across Europe.

Source: 08-09-09 www.moneycontrol.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mahindra Satyam Reinstates Employee Benefits

Mahindra Satyam is in the process of reinstating all employee benefits including the variable portion of staff salaries, employee stock option plans (ESOPs), besides giving promotions and salary hikes across different bands. Based on performance parameters, all associates who handle the full lifecycle of a business are being issued ESOPs. The company has also announced that it would re-introduce a staggered cash bonus for a select set of junior associates, along with some reward and recognition programmes.

Source: 12-09-09 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Indian Retailers Bullish On Hiring

With rising discretionary spending and the ongoing festival season, retailers in India have resumed expansion plans. Raheja Group retailer Shoppers Stop will open 12 flagship stores in the next three years. It will also start 4-5 new Crossword book stores this year. Owing to this, Shoppers Stop will generate job opportunities for around 1,000 people in this fiscal. Aditya Birla Retail, which runs supermarket and hypermarket chains under the More brand, will launch 18 More Megastore (hypermarkets) in two years. It will hire about 200 people on front-end for each store. RPG Group that owns Spencer's Retail is also looking to expand over the next three years and will hire new staff for the stores. Other retailers like Pantaloon Retail India, Provogue and Titan Industries will also hire new staff as they expand their number of stores.

Source: 12-09-09 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Teleperformance To Ramp Up India Headcount

In a bid to make India one of its important operation centres, global BPO major Teleperformance will increase its Indian headcount to 8,000 by 2010. Currently, the company employs more than 4,500 people in India. Teleperformance has added a third Jaipur centre to its pre-existing two centres in the country in Gurgaon and Indore.

Source: 08-09-09 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Wipro To Increase Local Hiring In Australia

Wipro Ltd will hire more locals in Australia to expand its information technology outsourcing business. Currently, it has about 90 Australians on its rolls and intends to increase the number of local employees to 250 by the end of the current financial year. Overall, Wipro has about 450 people in Australia, including 300 people at the two development centres in Melbourne and Adelaide. In India, close to 350 employees are working for the company’s Australian clients. The company expects the number of employees working for Australian customers to go up to about 1,000 by the end of this financial year.

Source: 11-09-09 www.business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Domino's Pizza To Hire 1,800 New Employees

Domino's Pizza is planning to hire up to 1,800 new employees during this fiscal. The new hires will service its new restaurants. Domino’s also plans to introduce its small format store concept for walk-in crowds in the Indian market.

Source: 07-09-09 www.utvi.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Volkswagen To Hire 1,500 Workers In India

Volkswagen AG plans to hire 1,500 workers in India over the next two to three years as the company boosts production. The new hires will be for its factory in Chakan near Pune, where it expects to reach full production capacity by 2012. The group employs about 1,000 workers in India.

Source: 06-09-09 www.bloomberg.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

25 High-Level Additional Posts At IRDA

The administrative department of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) is expanding its staff base. The insurance watchdog will add 25 additional posts to its 102 existing ones. This is the first time in at least two years that IRDA has opened up fresh posts of this scale. IRDA is seeking five joint directors with actuarial, accountancy or insurance background. Five deputy directors are also being sought, while 10 assistant directors are needed to assist various deputy directors in the actuarial and other departments. IRDA is also looking for five people from the technology background for data management, data security etc.

Source: 09-09-09 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Pepsico Among Best Employers For Freshers

A magazine in the US has ranked Pepsico along with the US State Department and General Electric among the best employers for entry-level workers. The list is topped by accounting major Deloitte followed by three of its competitors, Ernst & Young (2nd), PriceWaterhouse Coopers (3) and KPMG (4). Pepsico is placed at the 53rd position, while the US State Department is at the fifth spot. These companies offer top pay and benefits in their industries, the best training programs, and the most significant opportunities for rapid advancement.

Source: 06-09-09 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

10,000 Seasonal Jobs At Asda In UK

UK supermarket chain Asda will create an extra 10,000 seasonal jobs for Christmas and the New Year. These jobs are in addition to 7,000 permanent positions that the company will create by the end of 2009. About 70% of the Asda seasonal hires are 18 to 24-year-olds. Another supermarket Tesco will create 6,000 temporary positions, in addition to offering permanent staff extra shifts.

Source: 10-09-09 news.bbc.co.uk Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Bausch & Lomb To Eliminate 500 Jobs

Bausch & Lomb will slash around 500 jobs as it moves production from West Lothian in the UK. A 90-day consultation period with staff at its Livingston factory has already begun. The company plans to move the work to existing sites in Ireland and the US.

Source: 05-09-09 news.bbc.co.uk Compiled by Amresh Anjan

New CEO At Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley chief executive Mr John Mack, who is stepping down, will be replaced by retail brokerage head Mr James Gorman. Mr Mack will continue to be the chairman of Morgan Stanley. Mr Gorman will take over the CEO’s job and join the board of the bank wef January 1, next year.

Source: 12-09-09 www.telegraphindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Chiefs Appointed For Pvt Equity Team Of ICICI-V

ICICI Venture has appointed Mr Prashant Purker and Mr Parth Gandhi as presidents in its private equity team. These appointments take the total number of presidents to five. Mr Purker was earlier a managing director with Nomura India. Other than Mr Purker and Mr Gandhi, other presidents in the team are ICICI group veterans Mr Jayanta Banerjee, Mr Sumit Chandwani and Mr KS Jangbahadur.

Source: 05-09-09 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

New CEO At Essar Steel

Mr Malay Mukherjee has been appointed the chief executive officer for the steel business of the diversified Essar Group. Mr Mukherjee would succeed Mr J Mehra, who would take up a new role in the Essar Group as Director. Until recently, Mr Mukherjee was a member of the Board of Directors of L N Mittal-owned Arcelor Mittal.

Source: 05-09-09 www.samaylive.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Kingfisher’s Sales Chief Quits

Kingfisher Airlines Ltd’s vice-president for global sales Mr Siva Ramachandran has resigned, just a few days before the carrier starts flights to new destinations in South-East Asia. His departure marks the company’s fourth top-management exit this year. As of now, Mr Vijay K. Arora, a long-time executive of the parent UB Group, is managing domestic sales. Earlier, Mr Vikram Malhotra quit as vice-president of marketing. In mid-June, vice-president Mr Ramki Sundaram left, followed by Mr D.D. Gandhi, vice-president of domestic and international operations.

Source: 07-09-09 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

New Director Joins Advent India PE Advisors

Ms Shweta Jalan has joined Advent International, the global private equity firm, as a director at Advent India PE Advisors to support the development of company’s business in India.

Source: 11-09-09 www.thehindu.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Tata Elxsi Appoints Mr Ramadorai Chairman

Mr S. Ramadorai has been appointed chairman of Tata Elxsi, replacing Mr Syamal Gupta, who retired recently. Also, Mr Sujit Gupta has stepped down as a director of the company, due to ill-health.

Source: 08-09-09 www.thehindu.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Man Jit Singh Appointed CEO At Multi Screen Media

Sony Pictures Television networks business in India, Multi Screen Media Private Limited (Multi Screen), has appointed Mr Man Jit Singh as chief executive officer. As CEO, his responsibilities include overseeing SPT’s channels portfolio in India, which includes Sony Entertainment Television (SET), SET MAX, SAB and SET PIX. He was serving as Multi Screen’s interim CEO since February 2009 following the exit of Mr Kunal Dasgupta.

Source: 08-09-09 www.exchange4media.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Raj Kambhoj Appointed Director, Rural Activation At Big FM

Big FM, the radio initiative from Adlabs Films Ltd, has appointed Mr Raj Kambhoj as Director, Rural Activation. In this role, he will be spearheading the rural activation wing at Big FM. His primary area of focus will be to create rural activation properties and conceptualise events which will be amplified on radio. Mr Kambhoj has previously worked with Ogilvy Action (Outreach), Starcom XPanse Asia and Showtime Events Pvt Ltd.

Source: 08-09-09 www.exchange4media.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Wasim Basir Quits Rediffusion Y&R

Mr Wasim Basir, group executive vice-president, Rediffusion Y&R, has resigned from the company. He will exit the agency at the end of September. Mr Basir had joined Rediffusion Y&R in July 2008 in Mumbai and was responsible for its key businesses, new initiatives and other various verticals of the agency.

Source: 11-09-09 www.exchange4media.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan