HR Headlines: Aug-10 (Part-2)

For more article, Visit at : www.amreshanjan.co.cc       Upbeat Job Market, Wage Hikes Lead To Higher Apparel Sales More and more young people taking up jobs and the ones already employed moving jobs is having an impact on the apparel sales of Central, Pantaloon Retail's chain of 'seamless' malls. In the last 12-15 weeks, the retail chain has witnessed buoyancy in the market, with apparel sales growing at about 40-50 per cent and the average stock cycle getting shorter by a few weeks, said Mr Rajesh Seth, Vice-President, Marketing, Central and Brand Factory. Attributing this to increasing activity in the job market and wage hikes in April, he hopes the confidence to spill over to the festive season in October-November. Source : 23-07-10   The Hindu Business Line    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Wipro Issues Restricted Stock Options To Retain Its Staff With the attrition rate going northwards, Wipro has issued restricted stock options to senior staff effective from July 1. About 8,000-9,000 employees are eligible for these options. The quantum will be decided based on the grade, seniority and performance of the employee concerned. The stock options will be given at face value. Besides this, the company has also effected wage corrections for its overseas employees in some specific countries. Source : 24-07-10   Business Standard    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Hiring Sentiment Is Quite Positive, Says A Survey As per the latest Employment Outlook Report for the period July - September 2010 released by TeamLease Services, the hiring sentiment is at an 18-month high for the present quarter beginning July and ending September 2010. Bangalore, whose job market is characterised by high attrition and also an optimistic hiring sentiment, has seen its employment outlook rise significantly to become double that of the other cities. Tier-II cities experienced a significant increase (3 per cent) in hiring intent to 19 per cent — an all time high, indicative of the talent supply potential of the areas. Hiring at the junior and entry levels of organisational hierarchy is set to make a strong comeback with 17 per cent and 11 per cent increases in hiring intent — the biggest rise after more than 24 months of stagnant or negative growth in index value. Source : 26-07-10   Business Standard    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Air India May Axe 7,000 Jobs As Workers Retire National Aviation Co. of India Ltd., the state-owned parent of Air India, is likely to cut as many as 7,000 jobs through retirements over the next three years as it seeks its first profit, according to the company's biggest union. About 9,000 workers will probably retire in the period of whom only 2,000 may be replaced, Mr George Abraham, the Aviation Industry Employees' Guild's general secretary, said. Source : 23-07-10   bloomberg.com    Compiled by Amresh Anjan India Likely To Add 110 Million To Global Work Force: Says A Study According to a recent study, India is expected to provide the biggest increase to the global labour force over the next decade, adding an additional 110 million workers by 2020. This huge rise in workers is equivalent to the current combined population of Britain and South Korea. The projection for India contrasts with forecasts by the International Labour Organisation that China's labour force will increase by just 15 million over the next decade while Japan's will decline by three million. The changing demographics could add four percentage points GDP growth to India's economy which is already expanding by more than eight percent, the Goldman Sachs report said. It also said that manufacturing could create the jobs needed to absorb the rise in the workforce, but the country will need a "massive overhaul of its archaic labour laws and (make) a heavy investment in education and skills training." Other than that, it revealed that firms employing over 100 workers cannot make layoffs without government permission, which reduces incentives to invest in skill development, discourages economies of scale and inhibits competitiveness. Source : 29-07-10   google.com    Compiled by Amresh Anjan IT Companies Look Beyond Salary Hike Option To Retain Staff To rein in high attrition levels, India's top information technology (IT) firms are offering mid-term hikes and promotions to keep employees from switching the jobs. Infosys Technologies Ltd has given two salary raises —8% and 13-17%—since October. In June, the IT firm gave at least five shares to each employee to commemorate the beginning of its 30th year. Wipro Ltd gave promotions to 20,000 employees earlier in July—more than double its usual number in a year. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd's (TCS) attrition at 13.1% was the lowest among the big three. It gave promotions and average wage hikes of 10% in April, after a gap of one year. The company's focus is now on non-monetary components: rotating jobs more often, not just within projects but across technologies, verticals and locations; and encouraging more first-time managers to take up people management courses. Source : 28-07-10   livemint.com    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Bangalore University Plans Job Cell For Science Students Students pursuing post-graduate courses in Science at Bangalore University will have less to bother about jobs after graduation from this academic year. The varsity has decided to tie up with the Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) to set up a placement cell for such students at its Janana Bharathi campus. "The initiative will help attract students to Science subjects, mainly basic Science courses," Mr RM Ranganath, registrar (administration), Bangalore University, said. "We have had a preliminary meeting with FKCCI and we will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with them in this regard," he added. FKCCI president, Mr S Srinivasa Murthy said, "The vice-chancellor reacted positively to our proposal and the placement cell for Science post-graduates will help both students and companies. We will start the cell as soon as the MoU is signed." Source : 28-07-10   DNA    Compiled by Amresh Anjan UBS Plans To Hire 2,200 New Employees In Asia: Region Chief Swiss bank UBS plans to recruit 2,200 new staff in the region, the head of UBS in Asia Pacific said. The bank believes that this move would return it to its pre-crisis splendour. Mr Chi-Won Yoon, said, "The defensive phase, in which we tried to maintain our standing and contain any loss of position, is behind us. We are now back on the offensive." Source : 25-07-10   DNA    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Mr Barack Obama Signs Bill To Extend Jobless Benefits President Obama signed legislation extending unemployment benefits for more than 2.5 million Americans by an election year fight over whether the cost should be added to the federal deficit. The president acted a few hours after the House gave final approval to the $34 billion plan on a 272-152 vote. Ten Democrats opposed the bill; 31 Republicans supported it. The Senate passed the legislation yesterday 59-39. "Americans who are fighting to find a good job and support their families will finally get the support they need to get back on their feet during these tough economic times," Mr Obama said. Source : 24-07-10   Business Standard    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Tata Global Beverages' Executive Director Ms Sangeeta Talwar Steps Down Ms Sangeeta Talwar, whole-time executive director of Tata Global Beverages, and one of the company's senior most representatives in India, has resigned after a six-year stint with the company. The company said the board had accepted the resignation and she was expected to be relieved of her duties effective August 1. According to industry sources, Ms Talwar might join the National Dairy Development Board. Source : 24-07-10   Business Standard    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Labour Strike Threat At Jaguar A labour strike looms large on the Tata-owned English marque Jaguar after two-thirds of the company's employees rejected its proposal to limit the terms of the voluntary redundancy scheme. The vote by 350 workers at the carmaker's Browns Lane base in Conventry, where the laminate and wood-lined internal trimmings for the Jaguars are produced, comes after the decision by Tata Motors to sell the facility for about 15 million pounds to Lawrence Automotive Interiors, the British division of the Chinese group Ningbo Huaxiang, which will do the job for Jaguar. Source : 29-07-10   Business Standard    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Mr Noel Tata Appointed As Tata Intl MD Mr Noel Tata has been appointed as Managing Director of Tata International. He will step down from the role of Managing Director of Trent on August 12. "Mr Tata will continue to remain on the board of directors as non-executive Vice- Chairman," Trent said. Source : 30-07-10   The Hindu Business Line    Compiled by Amresh Anjan BP Names Its First Non-British CEO Beleaguered British oil giant BP has finally broken the tradition by hiring its first non-British chief executive. The firm announced that 54-year-old New York born Mr Robert Dudley will be taking over as Chief Executive from Mr Tony Hayward. Though, till now, BP's chief executives have come from different backgrounds, they have all been quintessentially British. Source : 27-07-10   The Hindu Business Line    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Cholamandalam Fin Names New Chairman, MD The board of directors of Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Ltd (CIFCL) has named Mr M B N Rao and Mr Vellayan Subbiah to the board. Mr M B N Rao, former chairman and managing director of Canara Bank and India Bank, has been appointed as additional director. He also succeeds Mr M A Alagappan as chairman of CIFCL. On the other hand, Mr Subbiah has been appointed managing director of the company and is slated to join in the third week of August. Source : 30-07-10   The Financial Express    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Grey Delhi Gets A New Branch Head Mr Ketan Desai is now the associate VP and branch head of Grey Delhi. He started his career with the then Trikaya Grey in Kolkata 11 years back. He has worked in several Grey offices in the region and across many verticals like automobiles, media FMCG, hospitality and tobacco. He will report directly to Mr Jishnu Sen, COO of Grey India. Source : 30-07-10   The Financial Express    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Magma Design Board Appoints A New Director Magma Design Automation, a provider of chip design software, has appointed Mr Dave Sugishta, a veteran in the semiconductor and electronics design automation industries, to its board of directors. Previously, he was in various senior financial management positions in various companies, including as Chief Financial Officer at EDA supplier Synopsys. Source : 30-07-10   The Financial Express    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Mr George Mitra Appointed As Avendus Capital ED Mumbai-based investment bank AvendusCapital has named Mr George Mitra as executive director for its wealth management business. He was earlier with Deutsche Bank's wealth management unit, and was also heading the Delhi office. Source : 30-06-10   The Financial Express    Compiled by Amresh Anjan Daiwa Capital Hires Former Nomura ED Mr Ajay Marwaha has been appointed as head of fixed income at Daiwa Capital Markets India. Earlier, Mr Marwaha was responsible for Ficci product trading at Nomura and was involved in the launch of primary dealer business lines at Lehman Brothers and Citi Group. Source : 30-07-10   The Financial Express   Compiled by Amresh Anjan