HR Headlines: Jul-10 (Part-1)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc   Hiring Is Back And So Is Attrition Hiring is back with the economy giving positive signals. However, attrition is also back, with disgruntled employees demanding more or moving to greener pastures to make up for lost time and money. Information technology-business process outsourcing (IT-BPO) professionals were among the first ones to be hit by a sagging global economy because nearly 60 per cent of the sector's revenue came from the US, which reeled under the effects of recession. Many of them realised the tides were adverse and mentally adjusted to a regime of no pay hikes, while others quietly bore wage cuts. Neither had any option but to wait for the downturn to be over. After nearly two years, this seems to have happened. Figures reveal the story. Attrition in IT services had dipped to 8-10 per cent the last year. This year, the figures have started increasing and are at 15- 20 per cent. BPO firms, traditionally, have higher attrition, ranging between 25-60 per cent. As Indian IT firms see more business deals happening, analysts expect the attrition to rise further. Source : 19-06-10   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan 3 Lakh Jobs To Come Up In The Kerala IT Industry In an endeavor to emerge as a leading IT destination in tier-II and tier-III cities, the Kerala government is buoyant on investing in its IT sector. The state government is likely to come up with 250,000-300,000 jobs in the IT sector in the next five to six years. It also plans a total investment of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore for its IT parks in the same time span, according to Mr Ajay Kumar, IT secretary, Kerala. At present, the state has 35,000 IT employees in the three IT parks which comprise less than 2% of the total IT employees in the country. Though Kerala accounts for 7% of the total IT employees in the country, only 2% chose the option of staying back and working in the state. To encourage employability, it plans to invest Rs 8,000- 10,000 crore in the next 5 to 6 years. Source : 19-06-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Railways To Change Its Recruitment Process Stung by the revelation that senior railway officials sold recruitment exam question papers, Indian Railways is planning to revamp its recruitment procedure. All this has happened at a time when the national transporter has at least 150,000 vacancies—almost 10% of its current workforce. Railway board chairman, Mr Vivek Sahai said the national transporter would assess its recruitment procedure, and also conduct an audit to determine if the exam-paper racket existed in other centres as well. The results for the exams conducted in Mumbai this month are likely to be cancelled depending on the CBI report, Mr Sahai added. Source : 23-06-10   livemint.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan MphasiS Lowers Fixed Salary And Introduces Variable Pay MphasiS, the information technology and business process outsourcing services provider, has reduced its fixed salary costs by deducting 5-20 per cent from the salaries of all its employees and then returning it once every quarter as 'variable pay'. For lower and middle-level employees, the company has converted about five per cent of their fixed income to variable. For some senior executives, it is 20 per cent. The variable component is around five per cent for most employees working abroad. MphasiS has introduced this scheme in the first quarter of its financial year, from November 2009. It follows a November to October financial year pattern. Source : 21-06-10   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Telecom, Pharma, Electronics Cos See Increase In Staff Costs India Inc's hiring activity is back in action. The improvement is most prominent in telecommunications, electronics, pharmaceuticals and food processing companies. According to a study of the staff spend of 1,993 major companies with sales figures above Rs 1 crore, more than 75% of the companies increased their staff costs in 2009-10, compared to the same period in the previous year. The aggregate staff costs of the companies have increased during the period and the rate of increase is higher than that of their total sales and total expenditure. The total staff cost of these companies increased by 8.5% during 2009-10, compared to the same period last year, against 4.9% and 2.2% increase in aggregate sales and total expenditure, respectively. This has resulted in an increase in the share of staff costs in total sales and in the share of staff costs in total expenditures. The top five companies as per the staff costs during 2009-10 are Infosys Techno, Wipro, TCS, IOCL and SAIL. Source : 22-06-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan AI's New COO Pay Package Fixed At Rs 3.1 Cr A Year Mr Gustav Baldauf, the first Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Air India, would be one of the highest-paid public sector executives in the country with an annual pay package of about Rs 3.1 crore. He would be paid another 200,000 euros (Rs 1.13 crore) annually if he achieves the "deliverables assigned". Source : 23-06-10   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Young Employees To Dominate Federal Bank To strike a youth-experience balance and make itself more competitive in the Indian banking space, private sector lender, Federal Bank has gone for an HR makeover. The south-based bank is now taking initiatives to groom youngsters and, at the same time, retaining key top officials by extending their service period. Federal Bank, where employees have an average age 35 years, is going to see many retirements of its senior management belonging to 1971-72-73 cadres in the next three years. Other than that, around 350-400 employees at different levels will retire during this time. Source : 25-06-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Punjab To Bring Transparency In The Functioning Of Pvt Employment Agencies To check the growing of private employment agencies in the state, many of the fly-by-night operations that deceive the youth, the Punjab government has introduced a draft proposal to regulate such agencies. To bring about transparency in their functioning, the government of Punjab has decided that these units must register themselves with the department of employment generation and training. The department has come up with a detailed draft of guidelines to regulate the functioning of these agencies, many of which are started by amateur persons. Sources said that there are cases of various private job consultancies fleecing the unemployed youth. "Unemployment is a matter of concern, and these agencies are cashing in on the insecurity among the youth in the state. These agencies are supposed to be intermediaries between employers and job-seekers, but many of them have been working outside the boundaries of the legal system and duping the applicants," said an official. Source : 25-06-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Grey Names New Creative Director Ms Goral Ajmera has been named as senior creative director at Grey Mumbai. She started her career with Enterprise Nexus and has worked with Leo Burnett, O&M and JWT. Source : 25-06-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan BA To Recruit Low-paid Crew British Airways plans to hire over a thousand cabin crew on lower wages than many existing staff to reduce costs, as it faces the prospect of further strike action from existing crew in August. The airlines will recruit 1,250 new crew members this year and forecast that in ten years time. The staff recruited on the new terms will form 40 percent of the overall cabin crew. Source : 25-06-10   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan PE Fund CD&R Appoints Mr MS Banga Mr M S Banga has joined private equity fund Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R). He would be joining Mr AG Lafley, former chairman of Proctor and Gamble (P&G) and Mr Jack Welch, former GE chairman, both among others as special partners with CD&R. Source : 25-06-10   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan NLC's Workers To Go On Strike From July 7 About 13, 000 workers of Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) are planning to go on an indefinite strike from July 7, demanding implementation of a tripartite agreement signed by the management of the public sector, central labour commissioner and the AITUC, trade union wing of the CPI. According to AITUC national secretary, Mr Gurudas Dasgupta, the agreement on wage hike and service regularization for contract workers was signed on June 16, 2008, at New Delhi. Source : 22-06-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Mr Sunil Sanghai Joins HSBC As Head Of Global Banking British bank HSBC has named Mr Sunil Sanghai as head of global banking in India from Goldman Sachs. Currently, Mr Sanghai is the co-head of investment banking division at Goldman Sachs in India. In the new role, he will head the investment banking and capital market businesses of HSBC in India, effective September. Source : 22-06-10   DNA   Compiled by Amresh Anjan