HR Headlines: May-08 (Part-1)

How Young Employees Decide Where To Work
Career opportunities, location of workplace and work profile are the main factors that influence the decision of young employees (below 25 yrs of age) to choose their place of work, as revealed in a survey by global research firm Synovate for staffing services company TeamLease Services Pvt. Ltd. At least 90 per cent of young employees polled in seven of the eight cities voted for career opportunities as the most important factor, followed by job profile (80 per cent) and commuting convenience. Respondents picked high compensation as the main reason for staying with a company while stress and work-life imbalance are the main factors that influence them to quit jobs. The survey was conducted across Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.
Source: 22-05-08 www.livemint.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Infosys To Soon Cross 1,00,000 Employee Mark
Having made 18,000 job offers in 1,050 engineering colleges across India, Infosys will soon have over 1,00,000 employees on its rolls. Currently, it has 82,000 employees on board. Once the new hirings are done, it will join TCS in the 1,00,000-employee club. Taken together, TCS and Infosys are within the kissing distance of worldwide headcounts at IBM or Accenture. IBM has 3.68 lakh employees and Accenture has 1.72 lakh people on its rolls spread worldwide. Infosys is also looking to overhaul its manpower strategies to curb attrition.
Source: 22-05-08 Hindustan Times Business Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Fat & Unhealthy: Words That Describe Half Of India’s Workforce
Raising a serious cause for concern, a study conducted by the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organisation has revealed that 47 per cent of the workforce in Indian industries, especially in urban areas, is overweight, and 27 per cent suffer from hypertension while 10.1 per cent suffer from diabetes. The study that was part of the report 'Preventing communicable diseases in the workplace through diet and physical activity,' has recommended imparting health education to prevent cardiovascular diseases and assess the impact of health education on controlling these diseases.
Source: 21-05-08 The Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Aviation & Hospitality Set To Emerge As Top Job Creators
With rising investment in the aviation and hospitality sectors owing to increasing demand, these two sectors are set to emerge as the top job creators over the next two years. Experts believe that the two sectors could create as many, or more, jobs than did the information technology sector on the back of a boom in outsourcing. According to industry estimates, more than five lakh new jobs may be created over the next two years as airlines expand fleet and the country adds new airports, hotels and restaurants. The hospitality sector is expected to require a workforce of at least 95,000 trained personnel. The aviation sector, growing at about 25 per cent per annum, will add at least 2.5 lakh people in the next two years, according to industry estimates.
Source: 18-05-08 Hindustan Times Business Compiled by Amresh Anjan

South Korea Is The Hardest Working Nation
According to a 2008 ranking by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, South Koreans work the longest hours per year. In South Korea, the average employee works 2,357 hours per year--that's six-and-a-half hours for every single day of their life. Greece ranks second with 2,052 hours worked on average each year. The U.S. comes at No. 9, with 1,797 hours worked on average each year. While France has 35-hour week, the most leisurely workers are the Dutch, who work an average 1,391 hours per year, preceded by Norway and Germany. South Koreans believe that working long and hard is ingrained in the culture of the country.
Source: 22-05-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Reliance Industries Doubles Staff Base In Two years
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries’ head count rose to 25,487 at the end of 2007-08, up from 12,540 employees two years ago as on March 2006. Also, RIL has granted close to three crore stock options to over 14,000 employees, estimated to be worth about one billion dollar at the grant price and about $1.9 billion at the current share price. RIL’s employee cost rose to Rs 2,119 crore (Rs 21.19 billion) in FY'07-08, up from Rs 2,094 crore (Rs 20.94 billion). Company’s employee base includes more than 200 doctorates, 10,000 plus engineers, 3,000 plus management graduates, 1,000 plus accountants and over 1,000 other professionals.
Source: 22-05-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

No Job Quota In Pvt Sector, Says FICCI
The industry body FICCI has opposed the reservation of jobs in the private sector saying it will put the clock back on economic reforms and not even political parties are ready for a legislation making employment of SCs and STs binding on India Inc. Mr Amit Mitra, the secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry has said that reservation will be incompatible to global competitive HR policy. Also, he believes that the reservation-based human resource polices were not in sync with the Indian industry going global.
Source: 23-05-08 www.rediff.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Fattest Pay Packet For India’s Richest Man
Reliance Industries’ chief and India’s richest person Mr Mukesh Ambani has drawn over $10 million in annual remuneration in 2007-08, making him presumably the top-paid executive. He got a total payout of Rs 44.02 crore, marking an increase of about Rs 13.5 crore from the previous fiscal. Last fiscal, his annual remuneration had increased to Rs 30.46 crore, from Rs 24.77 crore previously. According to the company's annual report, his salary break-up is as follows: A salary of Rs 60 lakh (Rs five lakh per month) and another Rs 48 lakh (Rs four lakh per month) in the name of "perquisites and allowances". In addition, he got Rs 18.75 lakh under the head of "retiral benfits" and Rs 4,275.44 lakh toward commission on net profit, taking his total to Rs 4,402.19 lakh for 2007-08.
Source: 19-05-08 www.ndtvprofit.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Infosys To Promote Employees On Basis Of Certification
Infosys Technologies has made it mandatory for all its employees across the board to pass certification programmes to get promoted. The certification programme, conducted every March, will test the employees' domain expertise, and grade them accordingly to be eligible for promotion. The IT major also has a bottom performance plan in which the poor performers are given a chance to improve their skills but laid off if there is no improvement despite all measures. Infosys invests about Rs 700 crore each year towards training its employees.
Source: 22-05-08 www.business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

ArcelorMittal India Leadership Team Announced
Announcing its senior leadership team for India, ArcelorMittal has appointed Mr Vijay Bhatnagar as the new country CEO. Prior to this, Mr Bhatnagar led the company’s operations in Mexico, Poland and Eastern Europe. Dr Sanak Mishra will continue as CEO for the company’s green field steel projects in Jharkhand and Orissa. Mr M.P. Singh will continue to lead the company’s mining projects in India as CEO Mining Projects (India), as Vice-President for the company’s mining initiatives globally,.
Source: 21-05-08 news.mmoneycontrol.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Staff Crunch At The Planning Commission
There is an acute shortage of staff at the Planning Commission, the body that plans for the entire country and is handling major programmes in every sector. It is operating with a vacancy rate of over 48 per cent. The commission is currently working with just 140 officials while 150 posts are lying vacant in the total 290 sanctioned posts. Due to this staff crunch, either it takes time to clear a project or it does shoddy work going through the files in a hurry. The manpower crunch is at the level of research officers (RO), senior research officers and director level. These officers are typically recruited from the Indian Economic Service (IES) cadre. Currently, some 40-50 graduates from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Delhi School of Economics are working as research officers and consultants hired on a contract basis.
Source: 21-05-08 The Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Bonus Bonanza For Chiefs Of PSBs And State Insurers
Bringing cheer to the chiefs and executive directors of state-owned banks and insurance companies, their annual packages have doubled thanks to the substantial annual performance bonuses for 2006-07. While chairman & managing director received a bonus package of Rs 6-8 lakh (almost equivalent to the annual salary), public sector bank executive directors bagged annual bonuses of Rs 5-7 lakh each. The salaries of CMDs at state-owned banks and insurance companies are at par with additional secretaries to the government, and are in the range of Rs 40,000-45,000 pm. The highest bonus is fixed at Rs 8 lakh. However, very few CMDs qualified for the amount and the average bonus was pegged at Rs 7 lakh.
Source: 20-04-08 The Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan

The Best And Worst-Paying Jobs In America
Being a medical professional is the most lucrative job position in the United States. Top nine places in the list of the 25 best- and worst-paying jobs in America are occupied by various sorts of medical specialists, with anesthesiologists topping the heap, followed by surgeons and orthodontists. While Chief executives come at No. 10, airline pilots grab the No. 11 position. The next five places are again occupied by doctors and dentists. Lawyers appear at No. 17. Cooks and those who prepare and serve in fast-food joints, are the lowest paid lot followed by dishwashers, busboys and the folks who shampoo hair. In all, the lowest-paying 25 occupations employ 15.6 million people in America; the best-paying jobs employ 3 million. All figures are based on the US government's National, State and Metropolitan Area Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates.
Source: 20-05-08 www.forbes.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Lehman To Slash About 1,300 Jobs
Amid difficult market conditions, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc is laying off roughly 1,300 positions globally, or nearly 5 percent of its work force, as reported by sources. The latest cuts are in addition to Lehman's layoffs of more than 5,000 people since mid-2007. Major Wall Street companies are trimming down staffing levels due to the increased impact of credit crunch into its businesses, including security underwriting and mergers advice.
Source: 20-05-08 news.yahoo.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

JPMorgan To Lay Off Over 7,600 Bear Stearns Employees
As JPMorgan Chase & Co absorbs the troubled investment bank Bear Stearns, it will lay off more than 7,600 Bear employees, about 55 percent of its staff. According to JPMorgan Chief Executive Mr James Dimon, JP Morgan will retain 45 percent of Bear Stearns staff. Based on Mr Dimon's figures, a total of about 6,300 offers will be extended to Bear employees when the review and integration process is completed.
Source: 21-05-08 www.news.yahoo.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

String Of Resignations At Jet Airways
Jet Airways has announced the resignation of its Senior Vice-President Mr N Hariharan and Vice-President (flight operations) Mr Ritzerwan Bin Rashid. Having joined in 2006, Mr Hariharan was part of the senior management team. His resignation came into effect on April 29 and he has joined GVK-led Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL). Mr Rashid's resignation came into effect on May 15 2008. He has been replaced by Mr Declan Connolly. Over the last year, many high level executives have quit Jet, many of them joining rival full service carrier Kingfisher. Mr Peter Luethi (who was chief operating officer), Mr V Raja (vice-president - Asia Pacific), Mr Rajesh Verma (vice-president of customer and in-flight services), and Ms Nandini Verma (vice-president corporate affairs), Mr Murali Ramachandran (senior general manager - airport services) and Mr Raja Parthasarathy (executive vice-president - finance) are prominent among those who left the company.
Source: 21-05-08 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan

New COO At Perot Systems
Perot Systems Corp has appointed Mr Gopinathan Padmanabhan as Chief Operating Officer and Vice-President (Global delivery) for its consulting and applications solutions (CAS) global business unit. He joins Perot Systems from Hewlett Packard Globalsoft Ltd where he was the Director - Technology, process and engineering services, global delivery application services (GDAS) organisation. Also, Mr Pallab Bandyopadhyay has been appointed as head of human resources for the Asia Pacific Region. Prior to joining Perot, Mr Bandyopadhyay headed the global HR function of Cambridge Solutions, a multinational IT and ITES organisations, as its Chief People Officer.
Source: 22-05-08 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan

MakeMyTrip Gets A New Marketing Chief
Mr Mohit Gupta has been appointed as the Chief Marketing Officer of online travel company MakeMyTrip.com. Previously, he was vice president, marketing (flavours) at PepsiCo International - India Beverages. At MakeMyTrip.com, he replaces Mr Sachin Bhatia, co-founder and former CMO, who will now concentrate on strategic issues and focus on the company’s new line of businesses including bus ticketing, retail and franchisee.
Source: 23-05-08 www.alootechie.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

Mr Sanjay Chitale Is Sahara One COO
Sahara One Media & Entertainment has appointed Mr Sanjay Chitale as Chief Operating Officer of the company. The board of directors has also appointed Mr R S Rathore as Chairman of the Audit Committee of the company replacing Mr Mahesh Prasad.
Source: 23-05-08 www.business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

New Consumer Finance President At Religare
In a bid to boost consumer lending, Religare Finvest Limited, the non-banking financial arm of Religare has appointed Mr Kavi Arora as President - Consumer Finance. The appointment is expected to strengthen the position of the company in consumer finance. Mr Arora possesses over 14 years of experience in the financial services industry across various functions. Prior to this, he was working as the Vice President, Business Head-Secured Assets & Cross-Sell at GE Money Financial Services. He has also worked with ABN Amro Bank, Citicorp Financial Services, 20th Century Finance and ATS Services in different business roles.
Source: 23-05-08 www.business-standard.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan

New Director At Barclays Wealth
The U.K.-based wealth management firm Barclays Wealth has hired Mr Deepak Rattan as its Director (Private Clients), India. Previously, Mr Rattan was working with ABN where he had been since the inception of the private banking business in India in July 2002.
Source: 22-05-08 www.thehindu.com



Compiled by Amresh Anjan