Will Cisco layoff another 600+ jobs?

Another round of employees at Cisco Systems reportedly got pink slips Thursday, as the company laid off several hundred employees as part of its plan to cut costs and realign its business.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that between 600 and 700 Cisco employees were laid off at the company's headquarters in San Jose, Calif. The company also cut jobs at branch offices in other parts of the U.S. The Wall Street Journal cited sources close to the company.

A spokesman for the company told the Wall Street Journal that Cisco was "doing everything possible to minimize the impact on employees affected by the limited restructuring."

Like all companies, Cisco, which makes networking equipment that runs the Internet and provides communications for large companies, has seen sales slump as a result of the global recession. The company said earlier this year that it would likely cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs as it realigned its business to focus on newer more profitable business segments. The cuts were expected to be completed at the end of the company's fiscal year, which ends this month.

In February, Cisco said it cut about 250 jobs at its San Jose headquarters. Cisco had 66,558 employees at the end of April. Despite the cuts, Cisco's CEO John Chambers has said publicly that he believes the worst of the recession is over. But he noted that it could take some time before spending returns to high levels. Wall Street will be watching the company's next earnings call very carefully to see signs that the bottom has been reached. Cisco will report fiscal fourth quarter and end of year earnings on August 5 after the market closes.

CNet.com

Will Capgemini layoff 100 in Chennai?

Consulting and outsourcing firm Capgemini has laid off nearly 100 employees at its Chennai centre.

The pink slips were issued for employees mostly in the middle management positions. This comes on the back of reports that said Capgemini sacked 600 employees in Hyderabad and Pune. The company has nearly 20,000 people working in India.

An employee said the layoff across centers was because of the overall economic slowdown, which was impacting the company’s project flow and clients.

“While some clients have ramped down on the size of contracts, other projects, like the Lehman Brothers account closed after the company’s collapse. Apart from the middle management, some employees on probation were also asked to leave,” said the employee at one of the company’s locations, who did not wish to be named.

When contacted, Capgemini India’s chief people officer Cyprian D’Souza said through an email, “India is central to our global delivery model and we are in the process of mapping our existing skills with the business in hand and the business outlook. The economic condition is tough and no company is immune to its effects.”

D’Souza added that the industry was seeing an overhaul within all the affected verticals. “The process though tough, has to be undertaken to align our business with global economic realities, optimise operational efficiency, ensure financial health and enable future growth.”

For the first quarter of 2009, Capgemini group posted consolidated revenues of Euro 2,205 million, up 0.9 per cent compared with the year-ago period.

Agencies

Has Wipro axed 33 employees across centres?

IT companies HR teams too have not been left untouched by pink slips. According to a web report, Wipro has given marching orders to a as many as 33 of its employees who formed the part of the company's candidate relationship management team.

The team was specifically responsible for talent acquisition. However, with a hiring freeze across centres, these recruiters had little to do.

The report quotes an employee who on the condition of anonymity said that they were told on March 17 that they have only thirteen days left in the organisation. By March 30, all the team members were relieved from service and the team was dissolved. According to him, none of them were given notice.

Earlier in February, the company said it would honour the job offers it made to 8,000 freshers, though there is a possibility of this spilling over to next year.

Agencies

Is TCS likely to lay off 1,300 staffers?

India’s biggest software exporter by sales, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), will lay off less than a percent of its global workforce over the next few months, as these employees failed to meet performance standards, a company spokesperson said.

This roughly works out to 1,300. The company has a total employee count of around 1.3 lakh.

IT companies are adopting stringent appraisal, cost-trimming and productivity-boosting measures as they grapple with the global economic slow down.

TCS employees said on condition of anonymity that lay-offs have started at the company’s development centres in Chennai, where over 200 employees have been asked to leave in the last fortnight .

When contacted, a member of the TCS corporate communication team confirmed the development but did not put a number or place to it.

Agencies