Wednesday, February 2, 2011

HR Articles: Feb-11 (Part-7)


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Top IT Firms Get On The Hiring Mode Indian Information and Technology (IT) sector seems to be getting back on track, with top player Infosys projecting up to 180,000 employees being hired by the five largest companies this year alone. "Growth is back and most companies are hiring in large numbers again. The top five companies are estimated to hire 160,000-180,000 new employees in the next 12 months," Infosys CEO Mr Kris Gopalakrishnan said. Such huge hiring activities were last seen by Indian IT companies in 2007, after which they had to cut back on hiring and even prune their existing employees to cope with the economic slowdown. "In 2008, the industry saw growth coming down to single digit. Most companies stopped hiring and expanding," Mr Gopalakrishnan said. More than 400,000 jobs were created by all the companies in 2007. However, it declined to 250,000 people in 2008 and further to 150,000 in 2009.

Source : 24-01-11   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

iGate CEO Rewarded With More Than Double CTC President and chief executive officer of iGate Corporation, Mr Phaneesh Murthy, who successfully led the company to acquire Mumbai-based IT and BPO services company Patni Computer Systems, has been rewarded with a more than two-fold growth in his annual compensation package. The company has announced hike in his annual basic salary from the present $530,000 million to $1 million, which along with the annual performance-based bonus opportunity of $500,000 million takes the total annual package to $1.5 million (about Rs 7 crore).

Source : 25-01-11   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Unemployment Level Falls Marginally In South Asia: ILO South Asian countries, led by India, registered a rapid economic growth in 2010 and their unemployment rates fell marginally from the last year, according to the latest annual Global Employment Trends (GET) report of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). However, globally, it was a bad year for jobs for the third successive year. The annual employment trends survey points to a highly differentiated recovery in labour markets, with persistently high levels of unemployment in developed countries and employment growth along with continuing high levels of vulnerable employment and working poverty in developing regions. These trends set a stark contrast, with the recovery witnessed in various key macroeconomic indicators: Global GDP, private consumption, investment, and global trade and equity markets all recovered in 2010, surpassing pre-crisis levels, ILO said in its statement on the report. The report has called for expansion of wage employment and social safety nets and cited India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme as a model for reducing the region's large work deficits, besides asking for less dependence on exports and reorientation of growth toward domestic consumption. Increasing social protection is significant for improving economic security and encouraging consumption, it said in its policy recommendations.

Source : 25-01-10   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Google To Give Outgoing CEO $100 Million Equity Award Google Inc's CEO Mr Eric Schmidt is set to get a $100 million equity award as he hands over the chief executive officer job to co-founder Mr Larry Page. The award, which will include stock units and options will vest over four years and is Mr Schmidt's first such award since joining the company in 2001, a spokesperson said. Google said Mr Schmidt will take on the role of executive chairman in April and will be replaced as CEO by Google co-founder Mr Larry Page.

Source : 24-01-11   reuters.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Europe Makes HR Clients Look At East The wage arbitrage advantage that India enjoys will take long to disappear, according to Mr Robert-Jan van de Kraats, CFO and Vice-Chairman of the Executive Board of Randstad Holding NV, a leading global provider of HR services. Not surprisingly, he felt that India offered an attractive opportunity for a company like Randstad. He said that the wage cost per hour in Europe is around euro 20, in Poland about euro 4 and in India as well as China even less than euro 2. According to him, the wage cost coupled with the fact that there was a huge shortage of skills in Europe made it imperative for clients to move towards the East.

Source : 27-01-11   The Hindu   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

BBC To Slash 650 Jobs After It Closes Five World Services The BBC World is to slash up to 650 jobs, after it announced the closure of its five international services - a move planned to save the corporation more than 46 million pounds a year. The five services to be axed are Albanian, Macedonian, Portuguese for Africa, and Serbian, as well as the English for the Caribbean regional service, according to a statement from the BBC World. BBC Global News director Mr Peter Horrocks said that the closures weren't a reflection on the performance of individual services, but were needed because of the scale of the cuts to its grant from the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. "It is simply that there is a need to make savings due to the scale of the cuts to the BBC World Service's Grant-in- Aid funding from the UK's Foreign & Commonwealth Office. We need to focus our efforts in the languages where there's the greatest need and where we've the strongest impact," he said.

Source : 26-01-11   livemint.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Google Gets On A Hiring Spree Google Inc is all set to go on a hiring spree this year with the company planning to add over 6000 people around the world in one of the "biggest" workforce expansions in the history of the company. Senior Vice President of Engineering and Research Mr Alan Eustace said Google was "looking for top talent--across the board and around the globe." The company had added more than 4,500 workers in 2010 primarily in engineering and sales departments. The workforce expansion set for 2011 and said to the the "biggest hiring year in company history", will be more than the 6,100 workers Google had hired in 2007. Google plans to hire more than 1,000 workers in Europe alone this year. Google said it will recruit "as many smart, creative people as we can to tackle some of the toughest challenges in computer science: like building a web-based operating system from scratch, instantly searching an index of more than 100 million gigabytes and even developing cars that drive themselves."

Source : 26-01-11   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

L&T Mutual Fund Witnesses Top-Level Exits In just less than one-and-a half year of entering the asset management business, engineering and construction giant Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is feeling the heat of cut-throat competition in the domestic mutual fund (MF) industry. L&T MF, a unit of L&T Finance, has seen several senior-level exits in the past few months, as pressure mounts to collect assets in an industry with over 40 players. The latest to move out is Chief Marketing Officer Mr Mohit Sachdev, who has joined as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SREI Asset Management Company (AMC). In October last year, Mr Anish Shah, vice-president, finance and operations, had quit to join Deutsche Bank. In the past, Mr Deepak Mehta, national head, retail sales, put in his papers to join UTI AMC. In November last year, Mr Jude Abraham, who handled institutional sales for western and southern regions, joined Taurus MF as national head of institutional sales. Mr Rajesh Singh, also a part of the institutional sales team, left L&T MF, Mr Bajrang Bafna and Mr Dinesh Ahuja, who were managing equity and debt schemes, respectively, are also among those who have moved out of the AMC in the past few months. "The senior-level exits from L&T MF in the last few months could have been because of stiff sales targets and better job opportunities," said the CEO of a rival fund house.

Source : 28-01-11   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Indian Corporate Houses Looking To Hire Foreign Managers Top firms in the country increase the ratio of foreign employees in their staff as they look to address protectionist lobbies and position themselves as 'job creators' in the markets they serve. Mahindra Group is hiring managers from overseas stating, it wants to master the complex technologies in their businesses ranging from automobiles to the making of aerospace. IT firms like Wipro, TCS, Infosys has always been hiring foreign employees at lower level. Globalization of the Mahindra Group has opened routes for Indian executives who were sent to the markets of U.S. and China. Mr Alberto Strazzary, an engineer who has worked in companies like BMW and Ducati, is heading a project to bring cutting edge design to Mahindra's two-wheeler business, which is dominated by giant rivals Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto for several years. Mr Peter Schmidt and Mr Gabriel Periotti have also been brought on board to make the technology meet European standards. The group has a total workforce of 1.17 lakh, out of which 9600 are non-Indians. Of its total revenues worth $7 billion, almost 10 percent come from global markets. While TCS aims to double its foreign workforce from the current one over the next few years, Infosys and Wipro could see non-Indians account for 10-15 percent of their total employee base in three to five years time, from around 5 percent now.

Source : 24-01-11   siliconindia.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Companies Plan To Increase Hiring As Confidence Grows: PwC According to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers, companies worldwide plan to step up hiring in the next 12 months as confidence among chief executive officers rebounds to pre-crisis levels. Fifty-one percent of the CEOs plan to add jobs during the next year, compared with 39 percent a year ago, PwC said in its 14th Annual Global CEO Survey of 1,201 executives in 69 countries conducted in the final quarter of 2010. Sixteen percent of managers plan to axe their workforce, down from 25 percent last year. The rising confidence comes as the financial and economic elite gather this week in the Swiss ski resort of Davos for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum. In the PwC poll, 48 percent of CEOs said they were "very confident" about growth in the next 12 months, compared with 31 percent last year, and approaching the 50 percent level reached in 2008 before the outbreak of the global economic crisis. "CEOs have emerged from the bunker mentality of surviving the recession," said Mr Dennis M. Nally, chairman of PwC International.

Source : 25-01-11   bloomberg.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Hyderabad Likely To See Dip In Hiring In Jan-March A significant fall in hiring is likely to happen in Hyderabad during the January- March quarter as the net employment outlook (NEO) and net business outlook (NBO) are down by six and one percentage points respectively. NEO is the difference between the number of respondents reporting an increase in hiring and those reporting a decline. Similarly, NBO is the difference between the companies expecting better business and those that see it shrinking. Staffing services company Teamlease Services general manager Mr Sudeep Kumar Sen said Hyderabad was well below employment outlook index averages for five sectors. There was also no huge difference in hiring as employers were still cautious despite the improvement in the business outlook. Only IT and ITeS sectors were looking better. The NEO for the January-March quarter for Hyderabad dipped from 64 per cent to 58 per cent while the NBO was down to 79 per cent from 80 per cent in the previous quarter, according to a TeamLease report.

Source : 28-01-11   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

80% Recruiters Anticipate New Jobs To Be Created In The First Half Of 2011 A survey conducted on 1000+ recruiters across India by Naukri.com revealed a buoyant hiring scenario in the first half of 2011. 80% recruiters predict addition of new jobs, 36% expect replacement hiring and only 2% of them anticipated layoffs. The overall sentiment has witnessed a change over the last two years. A similar survey in Jul-09 saw only 45% recruiters anticipating new jobs to be created. In Jul-10 the number grew to 73% indicating change in the outlook. 2011 has further brightened the employment picture in the country.

Source : 30-01-11   Naukri.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Vinod Dasari Appointed As Ashok Leyland's New MD In a move described as "planned transition", Ashok Leyland announced the appointment fo Mr Vinod Dasari as the company's Managing Director in the place of Mr R. Seshasayee, who has been promoted the company's Executive Vice-Chairman. Mr Seshasayee, who has been the face of Ashok Leyland for decades having served the company for the better part of his working life, will from April focus on "strategic initiatives towards globalisation of the company's operations," according to a press release from the company. He was made Managing Director of Ashok Leyland in 1998 and his present term expires on March 31. Mr Dasari joined Ashok Leyland in 2005, before which he was Joint Managing Director of Cummins India. He will take charge from April 1.

Source : 24-01-11   The Hindu   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Ranbaxy CFO Mr Omesh Sethi Steps Down Drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories said its president and chief financial officer Mr Omesh Sethi has resigned from the services of the company. "Omesh Sethi, president and chief financial officer has resigned from the services of the company, with effect from January 25, 2011," the drug maker said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). However, Ranbaxy Laboratories did not cite any reason for his exit, in the BSE filing.

Source : 27-01-11   Hindustan Times   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

DDB India Names Mr Anurag Tandon As VP - Account Management Mr Anurag Tandon has been named as the VP – Account Management of DDB India. He will take over the responsibility of handling DDB India's two major clients, Volkswagen and Hindustan Unilever's Lipton (Hot & Ice Tea). He joins DDB India from Rediffusion Y&R, where he worked for over 2 years, as Business Head. With over 12 years of experience in this field, working with some of the best organizations such as TBWA, Ogilvy and Leo Burnett, Mr Tandon has worked on brands such as Fiat, Bajaj Auto, Indian Oil, Colgate Palmolive, Marico, P&G, Nivea, Bajaj Allianz, Samsonite and Platinum Guild among others.

Source : 24-01-11   Business Standard   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

TME Mumbai Gets New General Manager TME has named Mr Chetan Ahuja as General Manager for its Mumbai operations. Previously, he was associated with Media Direction as its Media Director. Mr Ahuja has a total experience of around thirteen years in the media industry and has worked on brands like LIC, Nomura, Rasna, Siemens, Bajaj Auto, DSP Merrill Lynch, Parle, Pidilite and Mahindra Tractors, among others. He started his career with M: Ideas as a media planner and went on to work with JWT – Mediavision, Triton Communications, Interface Communications, India Today and the Bhaskar Group respectively. He was responsible for planning Marcomm activities, Tie-ups with media properties for his clients. In media houses like India Today Group and Bhaskar Group, he was responsible for the account planning for the entire group.

Source : 28-01-11   bestmediainfo.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Lufthansa Announces The Appointment Of Mr Steffan Harbarth As VP - APAC German aviation major Lufthansa said it has named Mr Steffan Harbarth as its new Vice- President for the Asia-Pacific market which includes India. His appointment would be effective April 1 this year, according to a press release. In his new role, Mr Harbarth will manage and direct the sales, marketing and airport operations for Lufthansa Asia-Pacific, it said. He will report to Mr Jens Bischof, who will become a member of the Lufthansa German Airlines Board, Sales and Revenue Management, also effective April 1, 2011, the release said.

Source : 29-01-11   news.in.msn.com   Compiled by Amresh Anjan