Hiring, attrition come to a halt

MUMBAI: It’s confirmed now. At the annual national human resources (HR) conference organised by SIES college of management studies (SIESCOMS), H
R managers across industries told ET that recruitment has come to a virtual halt.

Larsen & Toubro’s HR manager Karthik Narendra said, “We are only recruiting in our power business since it is an emerging sector. Recruitment for all other businesses has stopped. We are engaged in more internal reshuffling, to try and promote talent in-house.”

Voltas has also stopped recruitment as a result of the recent global financial meltdown. “The services sector has been hit badly by the recent meltdown. We have stopped recruitment but are engaged in training the talent that we have,” said a senior official at Voltas.

High attrition rates, a problem that was prevalent across sectors is no longer a serious issue for HR managers. With many companies laying off people to cut costs, those who haven’t been giving the pink slip are holding on to their jobs.

Ispat Industries, which was hit badly in the recent crisis, is fine-tuning its operations and is trying to cut costs. Ispat Industries human resources director B R Singh said, “We used to hire trainees every year from campuses which we have stopped. We are instead focusing on driving and motivating our workforce. Earlier, with many new plants starting, retention was an issue, but not any more.”

Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest global healthcare company, hasn’t been hit as much, according to Asia-Pacific regional head for labour and employee relations Vikas Shirodkar. He said that attrition will continue because people still want better salaries.

“We are trying to cut discretionary expenditure like travel and conferences. Unlike others, who won’t be hiring this year, we will continue to hire 20-25 students.

T V Rao, a management consultant said, “Instead of halting recruitment and firing people, companies can look at this as a time to indulge in more corporate social responsibility initiatives. Also, if they lay out the problems to the employees and ask for suggestions it will generate goodwill and loyalty. Employees might also be willing to take a temporary pay cut rather than face losing their job.”

Courtesy: Times of India