Fujitsu Siemens to cut 700 jobs

FRANKFURT: Fujitsu Siemens Computers plans to slash around 700 jobs in Germany -- 12 per cent of its workforce in the country -- due to continue
d competitive and economic challenges, it said.

Fujitsu Siemens Computers Holdings (FSC) is Europe's biggest maker of personal computers and employs about 10,500 worldwide, most of whom are in Germany.

It said the job cuts were not a result of its new ownership structure but rather a move to improve profitability and competitiveness.

Management began talks with union representatives about the plans on Thursday, Fujitsu Siemens said.

Earlier this month, Japanese electronics conglomerate Fujitsu Ltd said it will buy Siemens AG's 50 per cent stake in the business for 450 million euros ($580.5 million).

Fujitsu had said at the time it had no plans for any job cuts.

Profit margins are thin in the PC business, which is largely commoditised and fiercely competitive on price.

Wipro to recruits: Join BPO for now

BANGALORE: India’s third largest software exporter Wipro is asking its latest batch of recruits from engineering colleges if they want to join its business process outsourcing (BPO) division instead of the technology services unit for which they were originally hired.

Wipro said it is offering the option because it sees delays in the joining dates for some batches of recruits due to the ‘current business environment.’ According to sources, the students have been given the option of working in the BPO division for a year and later they could be shifted to the IT services vertical. The salary from the original offer remains unchanged.

“Every year campus joining is spread out over the four quarters. This is done for logistical reasons of training and seating. Staggered hiring programme and timelines are also closely linked to our business. Due to current business scenario, we estimate delays in joining dates of some batches of recruits. We are providing them an option of a role in our BPO division. The objective is to let engineering graduates commence work without delay,” Wipro Technologies’ vice president-Talent Acquisition, Pradeep Bahirwani, said.

He declined to comment on the number of recruits who have been given the option or when they were due to join.

The company has made offers to a total of 14,000 students for the 2008-09 fiscal. Wipro said last month that it expects revenue from its IT services business for the October-December third quarter to remain almost unchanged from the $1.1 billion in the previous three-month period because of the deteriorating global economic situation.

Reacting to the slowdown in the key US and European markets, software industry grouping Nasscom is due to revise lower its forecast of a 21-24 per cent increase in IT services exports during the 12 months to March 2009.

There has been a lot of apprehension among students that the difficult economic situation may result in tech companies not honouring the job offer that have been made. But the country’s top three IT services provider--TCS, Infosys and Wipro--have steadfastly maintained that they will keep their word.

At the end of September, Wipro employed nearly 62,000 staff in its IT services business and about 21,000 in the BPO division. It also makes strategic sense for Wipro to recruit the new engineering graduates in the BPO unit as this vertical regularly witnesses higher attrition rates than the IT services division.

Courtesy: Times of India

IT sector high in education fraud

BANGALORE: Education-related discrepancies among the employees in the Indian IT industry has increased during the second quarter of the current
calendar year when compared to the first quarter, according to report by First Advantage.

The IT industry has experienced the highest increase (almost 3.5 times) in education related discrepancies compared to Q1 of 2008, First Advantage said in its second quarterly report ‘Background screening trends-India.’

First Advantage managing director (West Asia) Ashish Dehade said, “Background screening acts as a first line of defence against potential fraud and security breaches. More sectors taking it up actively would employ fewer candidates misrepresenting information and thus, concurrently, fewer likely to engage in frauds or security breaches.”

However, this is not limited to just the IT sector alone as educational qualification-related discrepancies in the banking and financial services (BFSI) sector was the highest in the last quarters.

First Advantage said all the key industries tracked have shown an increase in education-related discrepancies. The report said that maximum discrepancies in educational qualifications were related to institutions in Northern India at 34 per cent, followed by Southern India at 30 per cent.

Almost half (48 per cent) of all fake university cases came from Northern India; followed closely by Western India (43 per cent). Pune topped the city list for education-related discrepancies, followed by Mumbai and Delhi.

Courtesy: Times of India

Wipro too denies layoffs

MUMBAI: Employees with IT firms are spooked by fear of layoffs as demand for IT services slows down.


At some of the top IT firms, talk of layoffs among employees and repeated management clarifications are becoming a regular feature. The latest layoff buzz is coming from Wipro, the country’s third largest IT exporter.

Some employees believe the firm may ask as many as 3,000 to leave because of performance related issues.

Wipro’s HR head-Pratik Kumar has categorically denied this. “This is not true. We have no such plans,” he told ET, in response to a query on whether 3,000 employees with 2 and 2+ years of experience were under review for performance-related issues and could be asked to leave by December.

Wipro is not an isolated case. Recently, there was talk of Satyam laying off around 4,000 people and following reports in the media to that effect, the chairman Ramalinga Raju had sent a mail to all employees re-assuring them that prospects for the firm were bright and urging them not to pay attention to speculation in blogs and the media.

“The mail was sent out to reassure employees because there have been reports in the media that Satyam was handing out pink slips,” a Satyam spokesperson told ET.

India’s biggest IT exporter, Tata Consultancy Services, which has historically had the lowest attrition in the industry at around 10 per cent, reported a spike in its attrition rates to 13 per cent in its second-quarter figures.

The company’s global head-HR, Ajoyendra Mukherjee, was at pains to explain that the spike was not caused by any layoffs but because of certain BPO staffers it took on for a specific project.

“Normally, these staffers are taken on a temporary basis but because of the labour laws in South America we had to take them on our payroll. Th
ey were recruited for the duration of the project. Since attrition is calculated for the last 12 months, you will see a higher percentage even in the third,” he said.

At Wipro, the layoff ‘news’, which has been spreading through the informal grapevine, coincides with the performance-rating exercise the company does twice a year.

“These are not freshers but employees who have been given a ‘below expectations’ rating in more than a couple of appraisals. This is different from what was reported in the media in September--those people are still under review and the actual number is not 3,000 but closer to 1,000,” said one employee. A project manager with one of teams also had similar views.

Involuntary attrition rose to 2.5 per cent in the September quarter for Wipro. In the preceding six quarters, this figure was less than 1 per cent.

“Involuntary attrition of 2.5 per cent is due to performance and other aspects. Our process is very transparent, and employees are aware of where they stand. This is an exercise we do every year,” Kumar said.

To date, there have been fewer layoff rumours about Infosys but the company hasn’t been entirely insulated. Shortly after its Q2 results, there were rumours that it had asked 250-300 people to resign following the discontinuation or scaling down of a BPO project.

However, the top management denied the reports.

Courtesy: Times of India

Infy, TCS still upbeat on hiring

BANGALORE: Though the Indian IT services industry has been cautious in its forecast for growth, two of the country’s top three software exporter
s are not taking the foot off the pedal when it comes to hiring fresh engineering graduates for 2009-10.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country’s largest software company, has made 24,789 technical campus offers for 2009-10, a 13 per cent increase over its intake of 22,000 for the current fiscal. Its closest rival, Infosys Technologies, will be making around 20,000 offers, an 18 per cent increase. However, No 3 Wipro is lowering the number of campus hires to 8,000 from 14,000.

Typically, IT firms offer jobs to engineering students a year in advance, when they have completed the third year of their course.

Though there has been apprehension that a number of IT companies would not honour their hiring commitments to students, there has been no evidence yet of companies going back on their offers. But there have been reports of some firms postponing joining dates.

“Last year, we made over 22,000 technical campus offers for FY09 employees. There is no delay in joining dates and employee additions are on course with our plans to add 30,000-35, 000 people in FY09,” TCS VP and head (global HR) Ajoy Mukherjee said. Infosys has said it will hire 25,000 staff on a gross basis this fiscal.

Adecco India CEO Sudhakar Balakrishnan says it is too early to comment on how campus hiring by the IT industry will be affected because there is no clarity on the impact of the current economic slowdown.

Courtesy: Times of India

Meltdown: Temping firms rejoice

NEW DELHI: Global financial crisis and the consequent knee-jerk reaction in India--retrenchment and layoffs have given temping firms a reason to
smile.

Amidst layoffs and cautious hiring as means of cost cutting, temporary and contract staffing is fast emerging as a lucrative option. The demand for temporary staff across sectors has been steadily growing at 25-30 per cent over the last six months.

India Inc is increasingly realising that contract or temporary staffing can help reduce cost of hiring, absorption, managing people and compliance. Currently, the top five employers in India account for nearly 1.20 lakh temporary employees in the organised sector.

“With the global crisis affecting almost all sectors in India, companies are now more keen on hiring temporary and sub-contracted staff,” says Kelly Services India country general manager Rajiv Mehrotra.

According to the industry estimates, organisations are saving anywhere between 20-40 per cent in their total wage bills by opting for temp staffing. It is also helping companies to identify requisite talent with specific skills as per their own requirements.

Most of the temp hiring is done by sectors which engage in numerous short-duration projects. Sectors like IT, ITeS, BFSI, aviation, hospitality, manufacturing and infrastructure are reported to have increased their contract staff considerably.

These include companies like Microsoft, GE Money and Big Bazaar, among others. Contract staff is being hired across levels in various sectors as it helps companies take on more time based assignments while reducing costs of permanent hiring.

“When it comes to conditions of working for temporary or sub-contracted staff, they differ across sectors, but primarily, legal obligations remain similar for contracted and permanent staff,” says e2e Business Solutions (a HR consultancy firm) director Yeshasvini Ramaswamy. “However, it helps the organisation because they are able to procure requisite and trained people.”

According to the fourth annual temp salaries primer report, compiled by staffing solutions company TeamLease Services, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolko
ta and Delhi pay the best salaries in temping, with Bangalore paying the most in IT and HR, Mumbai in engineering and Delhi in sales.

Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi offer the best wage hikes.

However, the positive aspect of the slowdown is that many organisations in the country have been able to control high attrition rates, which prevailed across sectors like IT/ITes, banking, financial services and retail.

Analysts say less productive employees seem to be getting removed, while those with proven capabilities would be valuable to the employers. Firms will find it easy to narrow down on requisite talent.

“History shows that in turbulent times demand for temporary workforce grows steadily. This is quite contrary to the perm business where only critical positions are hired irrespective of the economic barriers. As the global economy gains traction, we will see employers regain confidence and become more willing to add permanently to their payrolls,” says a Manpower India spokesperson.

Courtesy: Times of India

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