HR Headlines: Jul-10 (Part-4)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc     Alumni Hiring Is In With companies back in the growth track, employees who quit, voluntarily or involuntarily, may be seen on their old turf again. In the coming season, alumni hiring will be one of the pipelines that recruiters would look into to strengthen their pools. "I'm a big fan of alumni hiring," says Mr E Balaji, CEO and Director, Ma Foi, HR consulting firm. Boomerang hiring does have advantages such as ex-employees comprise a ready-to-use resource that requires very little training (and so a company saves on that cost) and on-boarding is easier. However, according to Mr Venkatshastri, Client Partner, Technology and Office, Managing Director, Korn/Ferry International, Bangalore, companies should watch out for the 'fatigue factor' that the employee carried when he or she quit the organisation. "A new role in the same company should re-energise the individual to perform," Mr Venkatshastri explains. Source : 15-07-10   The Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Infosys To Keep A Watch On Its Employees On Social Media Platforms If you are an employee of Infosys Technologies, better be careful. A casual banter about a colleague or a project on Facebook or Orkut might get you in trouble. August onwards, whatever you post on the social media network will be under the company's watch. The IT bellwether is planning to introduce a social media policy, a first in India, to make employees more responsible in their expressions. In the worst case, an Infoscion could lose his job if his post on the social media network breaches the company's code of conduct. "We are addressing our concerns on privacy of client data that could be leaked out in the social media circles (by employees). We also want our employees to understand that they are accountable and responsible for what they express (about the company) in that space," Ms Nandita Gurjar, senior vice-president and group head, human resources, Infosys, said. Many major global companies like Microsoft, Yahoo and Intel already have a similar regulation in place. Source : 14-07-10   DNA   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Employees Provident Fund Interest Rate May Be Fixed At 8.5% For 2010-11 The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) may retain the interest rate for its six crore account holders at 8.5% in 2010-11, with a formal announcement expected to be made in August. "I hope that the recommendation of 8.5% by the Finance and Investment Committee of the EPFO will be retained," Central Provident Fund commissioner Mr S Chatterjee said. "The EPF rate will hopefully be finalised in the next EPF Board meeting, which is expected in August," he added. Source : 11-07-10   DNA   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Attrition Rate Rises In Infosys The attrition rate in Infosys Technologies shot up to a whopping 16 percent during the first quarter (April-June) of this fiscal (2010-11), the company said. "With the market opening up, attrition has increased this quarter. We have taken several steps, including a compensation hike to reduce it," said Board Member Mr T V Mohandas Pai. The company's attrition increased to 15.8 percent from 11.1 percent a year ago and sequentially from 13.4 percent a quarter ago. Though the gross addition during the first quarter under review was 8,859 people, the net addition was 1,026 only, as 7,833 employees left for various reasons. Considering the attrition, the firm is on a hiring spree, aiming to boost its software army to cope with a rebound in industry demand. It plans to hire around 36,000 people in the current financial year, of which 14,000 will come in the July-September quarter alone. The hiring is important because Infosys, with 114,000 employees globally, hired only 18,000 between January and June. Source : 13-07-10   ibnlive.in.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Nokia Employees Strike Disgruntled employees of Nokia went on a strike last week, which affected production at its factory at Sriperumbudur, near Chennai. The union asked for better pay terms and reinstatement of workers who were suspended in January. "The wage settlement offered by company is quite low. We are not happy with that," Union sources revealed. On the other hand, the company said the wages offered were after due consideration, including benchmarking with the industry standards on similar skill sets and experience. Source : 14-07-10   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Courts In Village Mooted For Job Scheme Issues To complain against undue delays in getting work or non-payment of wages, among other things, beneficiaries of the government's flagship rural jobs scheme may soon be able to move village courts. The rural development ministry offers to set such gram nyayalayas, or village courts, to exclusively address grievances relating to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The Act assures a minimum 100 days of work every year to at least one member of every rural household. The scheme came up in 2006 and has since provided work to around 1.6 million rural households. But it has also faced charges of poor execution and corruption. Rural courts will provide an independent mechanism to address workers' grievances, according to a senior official at the rural development ministry, which looks after the scheme. Source : 15-07-10   livemint.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Singapore Goes On A Hiring Spree Singapore said it must hire more workers from abroad to help keep inflation low. The government plans to allow over 100,000 foreign workers into the city-state this year, Prime Minister Mr Lee Hsien Loong said. Some part of Singapore's decades-long boom, which has made it one of the world's wealthiest countries, has been fuelled by foreign labourers who are ready to do jobs in areas such as construction and hospitality for lower wages than locals. The country also tries to entice what is known locally as "foreign talent" — educated professionals from abroad to work in the finance industry and other high-paying sectors. Source : 15-07-10   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Retail Sector Faces Talent Crisis As retailers map expansion plans to grab a slice of the estimated Rs-20 lakh crore retail sector, they are going to find at least one irritant — trained manpower. The severity can be understood from the fact that retailers continue to employ from other sectors like fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), hospitality, telecom, IT, and the sector is witnessing an attrition rate of 40 per cent. "The number of people required in the organised retail sector will double over the next five years," said Mr Ramesh Srinivas, executive director, KPMG. Currently, organised retailers employ around 6 lakh people. Bharti Retail, for instance, plans to hire 60,000 people by 2015. On the other hand, RPG Retail, which owns and operates the Spencer's brand of retail stores, aims to add 2,500 people by 2010-end. Retailers confirmed lack of trained manpower. "Each function and each level requires a unique skill set. While these skills may not be available in the context of the retail sector, due to an abundance of talent in India, people with the required skills set can easily be found across other sectors and industries. We face a staff shortage at senior and middle levels in our back-end operations," said Mr Thomas Varghese, CEO, Aditya Birla Retail. Source : 15-07-10   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan AIG Names Mr Robert Miller As Chairman American International Group Inc named director Mr Robert "Steve" Miller as its new chairman. He has replaced Mr Harvey Golub who resigned after clashing with Chief Executive Mr Robert Benmosche over the botched sale of the insurer's Asian life unit. "Mr Robert Benmosche has informed the board that he believes our working relationship as Chairman and CEO to be ineffective and unsustainable," Mr Golub, 71, wrote in a July 14 letter to Mr George Miles, an AIG director. Source : 15-07-10   DNA   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Mr Avtar Sangha Joins Patni Patni Computer Systems, a major global IT and BPO services provider, has named Mr Avtar Sangha as its new head of delivery for the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. He will be based in Patni's EMEA headquarters at Heathrow and will be responsible for the delivery of services to all clients in the region. Source : 16-07-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Mr Vir S Advani Promoted As ED At Blue Blue Star has promoted Mr Vir S Advani as executive director. He has been in the Blue Star Group for a decade, after a two-year stint in New York. In 2000, he joined Blue Star Infotech and then founded Blue Star Design & Engineering in 2003, designated as its CEO. Source : 16-07-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Honeywell Appoints New President Mr Pritam Bhavani has been appointed as president of Honeywell Aerospace in India. Mr Bhavani relocates from Honeywell Aerospace, Phoenix, Arizona, US. Source : 16-07-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan CSDL Names Two Directors Central Depository Services (India) Ltd has named Mr N Rangachary and Mr TS Narayanasami as independent directors on its board with effect from July 7, 2010. Source : 16-07-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Facebook Announces Appointment Of Two Directors Facebook has announced the appointment of Ms Kirthiga Reddy as director of online operations and Mr Manoj Varghese as director of user operations in the company's operations office in India. Source : 16-07-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Uninor MD Quits Norwegian telecom major, Telenor said Uninor managing director, Mr Stein-Erik Vellan, who was instrumental in launching the group's India operations, has resigned. Uninor is a joint venture between Telenor and Indian group Unitech, in which the Norwegian firm has a majority stake. Source : 10-07-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Mr Shalabh Jain Is Firstsource COO Business process outsourcing firm, Firstsource Solutions, has appointed Mr Shalabh Jain as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Asia Business Unit. Before this, he was Head, India Business at Mphasis. Source : 15-07-10   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan EIL Gets Two More Independent Directors The government has announced the appointment of two more independent directors on board of consultancy firm Engineers India Ltd (EIL) to pave way for a public offering in the last week of July. Orders for appointment of Mr K D P Nigam, Professor of Chemical Engineering in IIT Delhi, and Mr Adit Jain, the Chairman of IMA, were issued on July 9, the company said. Source : 14-07-10   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Lowe Gets New SE Asia President Lowe + Partners has said that Mr Rupen Desai, currently the network's operating director for Unilever's worldwide business, has been elevated to a newly created role of president, SE Asia. His role will extend to include leadership of the Lowe Singapore agency. In this role, Mr Desai will focus on all SE Asia-Pacific territories, including Australia and New Zealand but excluding China and India. Source : 16-07-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan Nissan India Appoints New Deputy CFO Nissan Motor India named Mr Sunil Rekhi as Deputy Chief Financial Officer. Prior to this, Mr. Rekhi was the CFO at General Motors based in Gurgaon, as per a release. He will now report to Mr Richard Ito, Chief Financial Officer for Nissan Motor India and Renault Nissan Automotive India. Source : 13-07-10   The Hindu Business Line   Compiled by Amresh Anjan