HR Headlines: Oct-09 (Part-1)

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Cost Cutting Erodes Employee Morale Sharply: Study

According to a study by Watson Wyatt, cost cutting measures taken by companies to tackle economic crisis have led to a sharp decline in the morale and commitment of employees. The top performers have been the most affected. Employee engagement levels for all workers at surveyed firms have dropped 9 per cent since last year and as much as 25 per cent for top performers. 36 per cent of top performers said their employer's situation had worsened in the past 12 months. Also, top-performing employees are 26 per cent less likely to be satisfied with advancement opportunities at their company compared to last year and they are also 14 per cent less likely to want to remain with their company.

Source: 23-09-09 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Air India Cuts Incentives By 50%

Faced with an immense financial crunch, the Air India board has decided to cut the productivity-linked incentives for the airline's officers and executives by up to 50 per cent. The airline needs to save Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) in a year to qualify for a bailout package in the form of equity infusion and soft loan from the government. Since PLI itself amounts to around Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion) per year, reducing it by up to 50 per cent will save the company around Rs 750 crore (Rs 7.5 billion) a year.

Source: 23-09-09 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Pune Employees Have The Lowest Happiness Quotient: Survey

According to a latest survey ‘Stress at Workplace’ by Team Lease, workers in Pune are the least satisfied at the workplace. The survey was conducted among employees from various industries across several cities in the country and it took into account parameters like inter-personal relationship, conflict resolution, amount of work, salary and flexibility at the workplace. The survey reveals that 74 per cent of the employees surveyed in Pune believe they are over-worked. The majority (61 per cent) of the respondents of the survey across the cities found the workplace unhealthy. This went up to 65 per cent for employees from sales, marketing and operations. 77 per cent of the Mumbai respondents felt stress in relationship with colleagues. In Delhi, apart from the ‘amount of work’ (73 per cent), other major cause of stress was ‘lack of influence’ (71 per cent). Only 6 per cent respondents in Ahmedabad said they were looking out for another job.

Source: 21-09-09 www.expressindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Pay Hikes May Be Back At Infosys

Infosys Technologies is considering giving salary hikes to its over 1 lakh employees despite an earlier decision to freeze pay hikes. The IT major has informed its workforce through an e-mail statement that the company has decided to carry out the compensation review exercise and limited need-based promotion from October 1, 2009. The quantum of hike is not clear yet. Also, there is no word on whether the salary hikes will be awarded across board.

Source: 24-09-09 www.financialexpress.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Job Outlook Improving For Infrastructure, Construction, Engineering

There has been a steady revival of the job market in the new ICE- Infrastructure, Construction, Engineering- sectors in the past few months. Firms in these sectors are hiring for senior as well as other positions. For instance, L&T power is looking to ramp up manpower at Vadodara’s Knowledge City from 2,000 to 10,000. Also, jobseekers in these sectors are now looking at salary increases of almost 30% as against 15% a few months ago. Manufacturing and engineering industries are leading the recovery.

Source: 19-09-09 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Sibal Rules Out US-Style Salaries For IIT Faculty

Even as around 15,000 teachers at the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology resorted to a day-long hunger strike over the salary issue, HRD Minister Mr Kapil Sibal ruled out world-class salaries due to lack of resources. However, he was open to having dialogue with them to discuss their demands. He said that India had to work under 'some constraints' and it could not afford the same kind of freedom or salaries which other developed countries like the United States can afford. The IIT teachers across the country are demanding withdrawal of 40 per cent cap for the promotion of professors and abolition of contractual postings at entry stage.

Source: 24-09-09 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Ford India To Generate 1,000 Jobs

Ford India has signed a pact with Tamil Nadu state government to formalise an investment of $500 million to double the production capacity of the company’s plant at Maraimalai Nagar, about 40 km south of Chennai. With this, about 1,000 jobs would be generated as the automaker increases its annual capacity to two lakh cars. Currently, the plant employs about 2,100 persons.

Source: 25-09-09 www.thehindu.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Centre Takes Action Against Payment Delay To NREGA Workers

Ministry of rural development has asked chief secretaries of the states to ensure timely payment of wages to National Rural Employment Guarantee Act workers. The notice by Centre comes after reports from various quarters about delay in payment of wages to NREGA workers in various states. State governments have been asked to look into the issues and take measures to remove all bottlenecks. The limit of allocation on administrative expenditure has already been enhanced from four per cent to six per cent.

Source: 23-09-09 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

With Market Rally, Hiring Resumes At Brokerages

The broking industry in India is back to its hiring ways as Nifty and Sensex scale newer heights. Brokerages had cut jobs in large numbers during the market meltdown. Now, they are again hiring in large numbers with the vacancies mostly for research analysts and marketing and sales professionals. Large firms, which had cut down on franchises and branches, are now hiring swiftly.

Source: 22-09-09 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Young Foreigners Flock To China For Jobs

With jobs drying up across the globe due to the economic meltdown, one country where jobs are still easy to find is China. Young job-seeking foreigners are moving to China to look for work in its unfamiliar but less bleak economy, driven by depressing job markets in the United States, Europe and some Asian countries. Most land up with basic jobs such as teaching English, a service much in demand. A growing number of jobseekers are arriving with skills and experience in computers, finance and other fields too. China's job market has been propped up by Beijing's 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus, which helped boost growth to 7.9 per cent from a year earlier in the quarter that ended June 30.

Source: 21-09-09 www.hindustantimes.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Dell Likely To Cut Perot Headcount

According to industry insiders, Dell may cut jobs while integrating Perot Systems post their merger. Dell has purchased Perot for $3.9 billion. Texas-based Perot has 23,000 people or about 65% of its workforce in the US. Its largest offshore facility with around 8,000 people is in India. With Dell’s takeover, its headcount and percentage of workers in the US are likely to change dramatically.

Source: 22-09-09 www.dnaindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

GM To Restore 3,000 Jobs In US

General Motors Co is looking at restoring about 3,000 jobs at U.S. assembly plants and related facilities as it plans to raise North American production by up to 45 percent next year. Shifts would be added at three assembly plants thereby restoring 2,400 jobs, while 600 jobs would be restored at related facilities across the United States that produce engines, transmissions, stampings and castings. GM will draw from its pool of laid off workers first to fill the positions.

Source: 22-09-09 news.yahoo.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Lufthansa To Lay Off About 270 Staff

Deutsche Lufthansa AG will cut about 270 administrative jobs over the next three years. The company is looking to save money at its headquarters’ administration.

Source: 22-09-09 Hindustan Times Business Compiled by Amresh Anjan

PepsiCo CEO To Retire Later This Year

Pepsico Inc vice chairman and international chief executive Mr Michael White would retire later this year after nearly 20 years with the company. Mr White joined PepsiCo in 1990 and has held several senior positions, including CFO of Frito-Lay North America. After his retirement, the component businesses of PepsiCo International will be managed by Mr Zein Abdalla, who becomes CEO of PepsiCo Europe, and Mr Saad Abdul-Latif, who becomes CEO of PepsiCo Asia, Middle East, Africa.

Source: 20-09-09 news.yahoo.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Tom King Quitting Citigroup After 20 Years Of Service

Citigroup's top Europe executive Mr Tom King is leaving the company after 20 years of service. He is likely to take a senior position at Barclays Plc, as per a media report. Currently, Mr King is Citigroup's London-based head of corporate and investment banking and capital markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Source: 21-09-09 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Russia’s Largest Carmaker To Cut 27,600 Jobs

Reeling under global slump in demand, Avtovaz, Russia's largest carmaker, has decided to cut up to 27,600 jobs. The job cuts amount to more than a quarter of the 102,000-strong workforce at Avtovaz, which makes Lada cars. Currently, 102,000 people work at Avtovaz. Of the workers being laid off, 13,000 employees would retire with pensions while another 5,500 would be forced to take early retirement. The remaining 9,100 employees would leave the firm.

Source: 24-09-09 news.bbc.co.uk Compiled by Amresh Anjan

115,000 Jobs Axed By US Tech Industry In H1

According to a study by TechAmerica Foundation, the U.S. technology industry eliminated about 115,000 jobs in the first half of 2009, compared to the 72,900 tech jobs added in the same period in 2008. This amounts to 1.9 per cent of the workforce in the sector. From June 2008 through June 2009, tech lost 224,100 jobs, a 3.7 per cent decline; the U.S. private sector shed jobs at a higher pace – 5.1 per cent. Engineering and tech services lost 21,500 jobs, while communications services shed 13,600 jobs. The job loss in software services was 10,400.

Source: 24-09-09 www.ciol.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

US Initial Jobless Claims Slide

According to Labor Department data, the number of Americans filing first-time claims for jobless benefits dropped by 21,000 to 530,000 in the week ended Sept. 19, from a revised 551,000 the week before. The total number of people collecting unemployment insurance fell in the prior week to 6.14 million. The unemployment rate among people eligible for benefits, which tends to track the jobless rate, fell to 4.6 percent in the week ended Sept. 12, from 4.7 percent the prior week.

Source: 24-09-09 www.bloomberg.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

SKF India Gets A New Managing Director

SKF India has appointed Mr Shishir Joshipura as additional director and managing director of the company, effective from December 1, 2009. He replaces Mr Rakesh Makhija, who has been appointed President, Asia of the SKF group.

Source: 23-09-09 www.thehindu.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan