Foreign lender Standard Chartered Bank plans to hire around 2,000 employees in India in the current financial year, a top official said.
The bank currently has around 8,000 employees in the country.
The banking major has also plans to open an office of its knowledge process outsourcing network -- Scope International-- in Bangalore by October, StanChart's Chief Operating Officer, India and South Asia Sreeram Iyer told reporters here.
At present, Scope International has offices in Malaysia, China and Chennai.
It employs over 7,000 employees in its Chennai unit.
Agencies
Showing posts with label staff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label staff. Show all posts
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Has Siemens IT arm sacked over 500 as Union claims?
IT firm Siemens Information Systems, a unit of German conglomerate Siemens, today said it has laid off 128 employees as part of its cost cutting measures, debunking union's claim that 500 employees had lost jobs.
The IT-ITeS union UNITES India said the number of employees laid off by the company could be around 500. It added that Siemens is laying off its employees in Bangalore violating the Industrial Dispute Act.
When contacted SISL spokesperson said, "As a part of our cost-cutting initiatives, we have released only 128 employees from one of the business units."
UNITES Professionals India General Secretary Karthik Shekhar said, "The figures provided by the company does not include the number of employees who were on contract. In the last one month, the company has laid off more than 128 employees."
SISL has over 5,500 employees in the country. The union has also written to the headquarters of the firm in Germany.
About compensating the employees, the company said it has already compensated the affected employees higher than the contractual terms.
AGENCIES
Agencies
The IT-ITeS union UNITES India said the number of employees laid off by the company could be around 500. It added that Siemens is laying off its employees in Bangalore violating the Industrial Dispute Act.
When contacted SISL spokesperson said, "As a part of our cost-cutting initiatives, we have released only 128 employees from one of the business units."
UNITES Professionals India General Secretary Karthik Shekhar said, "The figures provided by the company does not include the number of employees who were on contract. In the last one month, the company has laid off more than 128 employees."
SISL has over 5,500 employees in the country. The union has also written to the headquarters of the firm in Germany.
About compensating the employees, the company said it has already compensated the affected employees higher than the contractual terms.
AGENCIES
Agencies
Monday, May 25, 2009
Will Satyam lay off 8,000 non-IT staff from June?
Satyam Computer is likely to sack most of its non-billable staff of up to 8,000 working in marketing, HR and administration wings,after Tech Mahindra takes charge of the company from June 1.
A Satyam official said there is no doubt that there will be large-scale sacking mostly of the support and non-billable staff (other than hardcore software engineers) once Tech Mahindra (the new owner of the company) directors come on board from June 1.
The surplus staff is about 10,000-12,000 and the 'least painful' ways of sacking is asking the bench, non-billable and support staff to go.
The company spokesperson, when contacted, said that at the moment these are mere speculations.
Sources also said the outsourcer may opt for "virtual pool" sacking method whereby the company would ask some of the staff to take 75 per cent of its salary and take one-year off and look for a job elsewhere with the fragile assurance that they would be recalled, if required.
Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayyar, who will also come on board of Satyam from June after it acquired fraud hit company last month, had said last week that Satyam has about 10,000 surplus staff and "we are looking at the least painful ways to tackle the problem."
Satyam has already called back most of its onsite staff to avoid further costs and most of them may be asked to quit, said the official.
About 3,000 people are on the bench and there is a surplus manpower even in the R&D and engineering units, sources said.
Dwindling revenues are the primary reasons for Tech Mahindra to opt for such a cost-cutting measure, Tech Mahindra official said.
Kiran Karnik, chairman of Government-appointed board of Satyam, said revenues are falling and cost-cutting measures have to be taken up. But he had ruled out lay-offs.
Agencies
A Satyam official said there is no doubt that there will be large-scale sacking mostly of the support and non-billable staff (other than hardcore software engineers) once Tech Mahindra (the new owner of the company) directors come on board from June 1.
The surplus staff is about 10,000-12,000 and the 'least painful' ways of sacking is asking the bench, non-billable and support staff to go.
The company spokesperson, when contacted, said that at the moment these are mere speculations.
Sources also said the outsourcer may opt for "virtual pool" sacking method whereby the company would ask some of the staff to take 75 per cent of its salary and take one-year off and look for a job elsewhere with the fragile assurance that they would be recalled, if required.
Tech Mahindra CEO Vineet Nayyar, who will also come on board of Satyam from June after it acquired fraud hit company last month, had said last week that Satyam has about 10,000 surplus staff and "we are looking at the least painful ways to tackle the problem."
Satyam has already called back most of its onsite staff to avoid further costs and most of them may be asked to quit, said the official.
About 3,000 people are on the bench and there is a surplus manpower even in the R&D and engineering units, sources said.
Dwindling revenues are the primary reasons for Tech Mahindra to opt for such a cost-cutting measure, Tech Mahindra official said.
Kiran Karnik, chairman of Government-appointed board of Satyam, said revenues are falling and cost-cutting measures have to be taken up. But he had ruled out lay-offs.
Agencies
Monday, April 27, 2009
Will TCS move staff back to India?
As part of cost-cutting measures, India's largest outsourcing firm Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said that it will relocate staff abroad into India.
"The company follows an onsite-offshore model. We will focus to do more work in India because it helps in saving cost and efficiency," TCS Chief Operating Officer N Chandrasekaran said.
However, the company would continue to do work onshore and relocation did not mean that it was winding up its operations abroad.
The company, which tried out its relocation in January-March this year, gained significantly in the last quarter of 2008-09. In Q4, the company brought back its US staff to India resulting in a cost saving of Rs 121 crore. The company did not give any figures on how many people were brought back. The relocation of staff could be in thousands, he said.
At the same time, the company would be hiring more people numbering 24,855 in India. It would hire 250 freshers in the US and a few in China, Chandrasekaran said.
But there would be no lateral hiring and there is a freeze on increments to its staff. He made it clear that TCS would not lay off people as a result of relocation. "There would be no lay offs," he said.
Bringing back the staff to India would not be restricted only to the US market, but across geographies.
"We have thousands of staff working in the US, UK, Europe and other geographies," he said. The company had decided not to hire Satyam staff after the scam broke out, but now it is open to it.
"When we hire laterals, whoever applies, we will look at them," Chandrasekaran said. Twice every year, the company sacks non-performers. This year, too, non-performers would go, he said.
"Non-performers will go and there is no plan to move non-performing staff to other subsidiaries," he said.
Agencies
"The company follows an onsite-offshore model. We will focus to do more work in India because it helps in saving cost and efficiency," TCS Chief Operating Officer N Chandrasekaran said.
However, the company would continue to do work onshore and relocation did not mean that it was winding up its operations abroad.
The company, which tried out its relocation in January-March this year, gained significantly in the last quarter of 2008-09. In Q4, the company brought back its US staff to India resulting in a cost saving of Rs 121 crore. The company did not give any figures on how many people were brought back. The relocation of staff could be in thousands, he said.
At the same time, the company would be hiring more people numbering 24,855 in India. It would hire 250 freshers in the US and a few in China, Chandrasekaran said.
But there would be no lateral hiring and there is a freeze on increments to its staff. He made it clear that TCS would not lay off people as a result of relocation. "There would be no lay offs," he said.
Bringing back the staff to India would not be restricted only to the US market, but across geographies.
"We have thousands of staff working in the US, UK, Europe and other geographies," he said. The company had decided not to hire Satyam staff after the scam broke out, but now it is open to it.
"When we hire laterals, whoever applies, we will look at them," Chandrasekaran said. Twice every year, the company sacks non-performers. This year, too, non-performers would go, he said.
"Non-performers will go and there is no plan to move non-performing staff to other subsidiaries," he said.
Agencies
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Oracle may layoff 10,000 jobs after Sun deal
Global IT giant Oracle's $7.4 billion acquisition of Sun Microsystems could terminate 10000 jobs, predicted a financial analyst, as per a report in IDG News Service.
Excluding charges related to the restructuring, Oracle expects the Sun deal to contribute $1.5 billion toward its earnings next year and $2 billion in the second year of the acquisition, making it more profitable in per-share contribution in the first year than the company had planned for the acquisitions of BEA, PeopleSoft and Siebel combined, according to Oracle President Safra Catz. Meanwhile, Tony Sacconaghi, a well-respected technology analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co said, "That profitability will come via layoffs." Sacconaghi had been forecasting $800 million in operating profit for Sun's fiscal 2010, rather than the $1.5 billion predicted by Oracle.
"In order to deliver $1.5 billion in profit, Oracle would need to boost profits by $700 million assuming no material revenue erosion, which suggests incremental headcount reductions of 5,500 to 10,000 depending on timing," Sacconaghi wrote in a research note. But, Oracle declined to comment on any possible layoffs.
The acquisition was announced Monday, just two weeks after Sun's previous suitor, IBM, had walked away from the table after being unable to come to acquisition terms.
Analyst firm Technology Business Research (TBR) agreed that layoffs are coming, predicting that sales and marketing staff will be hit hardest. "Oracle will rapidly rationalize Sun's cost-base," the company said in a report on the deal. "This means general layoffs and a reshaping of cost centers such as services and support."
Sun is already in the process of slashing between 15 to 18 percent of its workforce, or as many as 6,000 employees.
Agencies
Excluding charges related to the restructuring, Oracle expects the Sun deal to contribute $1.5 billion toward its earnings next year and $2 billion in the second year of the acquisition, making it more profitable in per-share contribution in the first year than the company had planned for the acquisitions of BEA, PeopleSoft and Siebel combined, according to Oracle President Safra Catz. Meanwhile, Tony Sacconaghi, a well-respected technology analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co said, "That profitability will come via layoffs." Sacconaghi had been forecasting $800 million in operating profit for Sun's fiscal 2010, rather than the $1.5 billion predicted by Oracle.
"In order to deliver $1.5 billion in profit, Oracle would need to boost profits by $700 million assuming no material revenue erosion, which suggests incremental headcount reductions of 5,500 to 10,000 depending on timing," Sacconaghi wrote in a research note. But, Oracle declined to comment on any possible layoffs.
The acquisition was announced Monday, just two weeks after Sun's previous suitor, IBM, had walked away from the table after being unable to come to acquisition terms.
Analyst firm Technology Business Research (TBR) agreed that layoffs are coming, predicting that sales and marketing staff will be hit hardest. "Oracle will rapidly rationalize Sun's cost-base," the company said in a report on the deal. "This means general layoffs and a reshaping of cost centers such as services and support."
Sun is already in the process of slashing between 15 to 18 percent of its workforce, or as many as 6,000 employees.
Agencies
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Is UBS cutting 5,000 management jobs?
Switzerland's biggest bank UBS plans to cut up to 5,000 senior and management jobs in the next few weeks, a media report said on Sunday.
The report said that according to its own research up to 2,500 management positions could go in UBS's dominant and profitable wealth management division, which accounts for 50,000 of the bank's total 77,000 staff.
A UBS spokesman declined to comment on the report. UBS said last week that it was restructuring its Swiss business structure into four regions from eight, and trimming its top management. But it said the changes did not mean any more job cuts than the 600 to 800 positions it already planned to cut in Switzerland as part of the thousands of job losses globally it had already announced.
UBS said in February that after a record loss it would cut 2,000 jobs to take staff to about 75,000 by the middle of this year.
UBS is struggling to rebuild its once powerful brand and focus on its core Swiss business after massive investments in risky US assets forced it to make more writedowns than any other European bank and accept government backing.
Agencies
The report said that according to its own research up to 2,500 management positions could go in UBS's dominant and profitable wealth management division, which accounts for 50,000 of the bank's total 77,000 staff.
A UBS spokesman declined to comment on the report. UBS said last week that it was restructuring its Swiss business structure into four regions from eight, and trimming its top management. But it said the changes did not mean any more job cuts than the 600 to 800 positions it already planned to cut in Switzerland as part of the thousands of job losses globally it had already announced.
UBS said in February that after a record loss it would cut 2,000 jobs to take staff to about 75,000 by the middle of this year.
UBS is struggling to rebuild its once powerful brand and focus on its core Swiss business after massive investments in risky US assets forced it to make more writedowns than any other European bank and accept government backing.
Agencies
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Will Microsoft layoff H-1B visa staff too?
Observing that the H-1B work visa programme helps hire the best available talent of the world, American software giant Microsoft has said H-1B visa holders has contributed significantly to its success. However, the company, which had recently announced to lay off some 5,000 jobs in the next 18 months, would be handing over pink slips to H-1B visa holders too.
Microsoft’s observation on H-1B visas and their significant contribution to its success was made by the company in a letter to senator Charles Grassley.
H1-B employees have always accounted for less than 15% of Microsoft’s US workforce, the level that is used in immigration law to determine whether a company is “H-1B dependent,” the letter said. The senator in a letter dated January 22 had sought information from Microsoft particularly about how its plan to fire 5,000 people would affect US workers and non-US citizens working for Microsoft. The Microsoft letter dated March 3 written by Bradford L Smith, its general counsel, has been posted on its website http://microsoftontheissues.com.
Agencies
Microsoft’s observation on H-1B visas and their significant contribution to its success was made by the company in a letter to senator Charles Grassley.
H1-B employees have always accounted for less than 15% of Microsoft’s US workforce, the level that is used in immigration law to determine whether a company is “H-1B dependent,” the letter said. The senator in a letter dated January 22 had sought information from Microsoft particularly about how its plan to fire 5,000 people would affect US workers and non-US citizens working for Microsoft. The Microsoft letter dated March 3 written by Bradford L Smith, its general counsel, has been posted on its website http://microsoftontheissues.com.
Agencies
Monday, January 26, 2009
TCS on a hiring spree; To hire 15,000 employees
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said on Friday that the company expects to add 15,000-18,000 people to its headcount over the next 12 months, compared with nearly 8,700 in the three months to December. TCS currently has about 144,500 staff.
However, CEO S Ramadorai said in an interview that the company expects to slow its rate of hiring new staff this year, as a broad economic downturn affects its global clientele.
Ramadorai said some contracts and projects were being delayed or cancelled, but the company expected to achieve some earnings growth in 2009 despite the worsening global economic outlook.
"We are confident of some growth, but what that amount is difficult to say," he said. "Yes, we are winning some contracts, but then there are delays in the decision making on a number of contracts," he said, adding there were hold-ups in implementing deals that had already been signed as well as several project cancellations.
"The slowdown is very obvious and very visible, and we think it will continue for the foreseeable future."
TCS, part of India's Tata Group, posted a lower-than-expected 1.6 per cent rise in October-December net profit on January 15.
Agencies
However, CEO S Ramadorai said in an interview that the company expects to slow its rate of hiring new staff this year, as a broad economic downturn affects its global clientele.
Ramadorai said some contracts and projects were being delayed or cancelled, but the company expected to achieve some earnings growth in 2009 despite the worsening global economic outlook.
"We are confident of some growth, but what that amount is difficult to say," he said. "Yes, we are winning some contracts, but then there are delays in the decision making on a number of contracts," he said, adding there were hold-ups in implementing deals that had already been signed as well as several project cancellations.
"The slowdown is very obvious and very visible, and we think it will continue for the foreseeable future."
TCS, part of India's Tata Group, posted a lower-than-expected 1.6 per cent rise in October-December net profit on January 15.
Agencies
Thursday, January 22, 2009
No job cuts in India, says Microsoft
Starting with 1,400 job cuts, software giant Microsoft will slash 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months.The layoff, however, would not be impacting the Indian operations. "It's not going to impact us. No job cuts in India," a Microsoft India spokesperson said in New Delhi.
In light of further deterioration of global economic conditions, extra measures to manage costs are being taken, including the reduction of head-count-related expenses, vendors and contingent staff, facilities, capital expenditures and marketing, the company, which posted a 11 per cent decline in profit for the second quarter, added in the statement.
"Microsoft will eliminate up to 5,000 jobs in R&D, HR, marketing, sales, finance, legal, and IT over the next 18 months, including 1,400 jobs today," the company said in a statement.
In light of further deterioration of global economic conditions, extra measures to manage costs are being taken, including the reduction of head-count-related expenses, vendors and contingent staff, facilities, capital expenditures and marketing, the company, which posted a 11 per cent decline in profit for the second quarter, added in the statement.
"Microsoft will eliminate up to 5,000 jobs in R&D, HR, marketing, sales, finance, legal, and IT over the next 18 months, including 1,400 jobs today," the company said in a statement.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Google staff will not get bonus this year
Google Inc, owner of the world’s most-used search engine, is giving employees mobile phones instead of cash gifts this year as it reins in costs during the recession, according to a person familiar with the matter.
About 85 per cent of workers will get a handset powered by Google’s Android operating system as a holiday gift, said the person, who asked not to be identified. Google handed out $1,000 cash gifts to most employees last year.
Chief executive officer Eric Schmidt said last month that Google is seeking to control expenses and add fewer jobs as the global slump curbs online advertising growth. T-Mobile USA Inc began marketing the G1 Android phone in October, offering many of the same features as Apple Inc’s iPhone, including Web browsing.
The holiday gift is separate from the performance bonus handed out by the company, the person said.
“The current economic crisis requires us to be more conservative about how we spend our money,” Mountain View, California-based Google said in an internal memo that was posted on technology industry blog Valleywag.
The memo lists 17 countries where the phone won’t work, including Brazil, Russia, India and China. Employees in those countries will receive about $400, the cash value of the phone, Google said in the memo.
Krista Bessinger, a Google spokeswoman, didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Ad spending
Google, which offers employee benefits such as free gourmet lunches and massages, has clamped down on costs as the recession squeezes online ad revenue. Douglas Anmuth, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York, lowered his forecast for US Internet ad spending last week by 11 per cent to $25.1 billion in 2009.
Google added 519 workers in the third quarter, compared with 2,130 in the same period a year earlier. Google said last month it would reduce the use of contract workers. At the end of the quarter, the company had more than 20,000 regular employees, up from almost 11,000 at the end of 2006.
Technology companies throughout Silicon Valley and beyond are grappling with a slowing economy, forcing them to cut workers and roll back other expenses. Printer and computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. is freezing salaries to lower expenses, people with knowledge of that decision said. Technology services company Unisys Corp said yesterday it was cutting about 4.5 per cent of its workforce and halting some pay raises.
Half of chief information officers are looking to cut consulting-services costs, 35 per cent want to reduce computer and server expenses, and 23 per cent are seeking savings on software, according to a Goldman Sachs Group Inc survey.
Source: Agencies
About 85 per cent of workers will get a handset powered by Google’s Android operating system as a holiday gift, said the person, who asked not to be identified. Google handed out $1,000 cash gifts to most employees last year.
Chief executive officer Eric Schmidt said last month that Google is seeking to control expenses and add fewer jobs as the global slump curbs online advertising growth. T-Mobile USA Inc began marketing the G1 Android phone in October, offering many of the same features as Apple Inc’s iPhone, including Web browsing.
The holiday gift is separate from the performance bonus handed out by the company, the person said.
“The current economic crisis requires us to be more conservative about how we spend our money,” Mountain View, California-based Google said in an internal memo that was posted on technology industry blog Valleywag.
The memo lists 17 countries where the phone won’t work, including Brazil, Russia, India and China. Employees in those countries will receive about $400, the cash value of the phone, Google said in the memo.
Krista Bessinger, a Google spokeswoman, didn’t return a call seeking comment.
Ad spending
Google, which offers employee benefits such as free gourmet lunches and massages, has clamped down on costs as the recession squeezes online ad revenue. Douglas Anmuth, an analyst at Barclays Capital in New York, lowered his forecast for US Internet ad spending last week by 11 per cent to $25.1 billion in 2009.
Google added 519 workers in the third quarter, compared with 2,130 in the same period a year earlier. Google said last month it would reduce the use of contract workers. At the end of the quarter, the company had more than 20,000 regular employees, up from almost 11,000 at the end of 2006.
Technology companies throughout Silicon Valley and beyond are grappling with a slowing economy, forcing them to cut workers and roll back other expenses. Printer and computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. is freezing salaries to lower expenses, people with knowledge of that decision said. Technology services company Unisys Corp said yesterday it was cutting about 4.5 per cent of its workforce and halting some pay raises.
Half of chief information officers are looking to cut consulting-services costs, 35 per cent want to reduce computer and server expenses, and 23 per cent are seeking savings on software, according to a Goldman Sachs Group Inc survey.
Source: Agencies
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Motorola bosses take 25% pay cut
Motorola Inc, the second-biggest US seller of mobile phones, will freeze US pension plans and reduce executive salaries to help cope with the economic slump.
Co-Chief Executive Officers Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha are taking a 25 per cent cut in base salary in 2009, Motorola said in a statement. Employees in many markets won’t get a raise, and the company will temporarily stop making matching contributions to US workers’ retirement investment accounts.
Jha, hired in August to lead the wireless device division, seeks to turn around a unit that has posted operating losses of $2.8 billion since the start of 2007. He tapped Google Inc to supply software for phones after losing market share to Samsung Electronics Inc and Apple Inc, whose iPhone 3G topped Motorola’s Razr in the third quarter as the most popular US phone.
“Turnarounds are always hard to execute on, and a bad economy makes them tougher,” said Tavis McCourt, an analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co in Nashville. “I’d be shocked if this is all they do in 2009.”
The pay cuts and pension freeze will help Motorola add to the $800 million in annual costs savings it announced in October, including 3,000 job cuts, the company said.
Worldwide mobile-phone sales will drop 13 per cent next year, the first decline since 2001, as economic growth slows, analysts at Citigroup Inc said in a research note.
Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, rose 5 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $4.46 at 12:07 pm in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares had dropped 73 per cent this year before today.
Source: Agencies
Co-Chief Executive Officers Greg Brown and Sanjay Jha are taking a 25 per cent cut in base salary in 2009, Motorola said in a statement. Employees in many markets won’t get a raise, and the company will temporarily stop making matching contributions to US workers’ retirement investment accounts.
Jha, hired in August to lead the wireless device division, seeks to turn around a unit that has posted operating losses of $2.8 billion since the start of 2007. He tapped Google Inc to supply software for phones after losing market share to Samsung Electronics Inc and Apple Inc, whose iPhone 3G topped Motorola’s Razr in the third quarter as the most popular US phone.
“Turnarounds are always hard to execute on, and a bad economy makes them tougher,” said Tavis McCourt, an analyst at Morgan Keegan & Co in Nashville. “I’d be shocked if this is all they do in 2009.”
The pay cuts and pension freeze will help Motorola add to the $800 million in annual costs savings it announced in October, including 3,000 job cuts, the company said.
Worldwide mobile-phone sales will drop 13 per cent next year, the first decline since 2001, as economic growth slows, analysts at Citigroup Inc said in a research note.
Motorola, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, rose 5 cents, or 1.1 per cent, to $4.46 at 12:07 pm in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares had dropped 73 per cent this year before today.
Source: Agencies
Indians to experience low salary hikes likely in 2009
Anticipating a decline in its business performance in 2009, India Inc is likely to cut back on the planned salary increase in the coming year, while most firms want to avoid huge job cuts, a latest survey says.
Majority of companies in the country are trying to be selective in planning the workforce, compensation and benefit cuts for 2009, while they anticipate a decline in their company's business performance next year, according to global HR consultancy Mercer.
The survey revealed that as much as 83 per cent of companies expect salary increases in the coming year to be lower than originally planned by them. The responses indicate that the companies are planning to look closely at holding down the level of compensation increases in 2009.
However, only 19 per cent of survey respondents are considering the more drastic step of freezing 2009 salaries at 2008 figures.
The results for companies in India generally match survey findings from other parts of the world. In China, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States as well between 20 and 30 per cent respondents believe that the 2009 bonus payout would be reduced from those originally planned.
"India grew on the back of her knowledge and people -centric industries such as financial services, information technology and retail, among others. However, primarily due to employee costs having risen in India at double-digit rates since 2003, cost structures have been coming under severe strain," Mercer Consulting (India) country leader Padma Ravichandar said.
Most companies in India plan to avoid significant workforce reductions, but they do not plan significant hiring either, the survey revealed.
Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of companies surveyed revealed that a significant reduction in workforce was unlikely even as only one in four firms expect to continue their hiring activities at or above replacement levels.
This current situation should be perceived as a cooling-down period in terms of talent costs. This is a levelling act which may help India remain cost competitive in the long run. In the near term, the adverse impact of business sentiment seems all pervasive, Ravichandar added.
Over 80 per cent of respondents expect their company's business performance to decline in 2009, the Mercer survey noticed.
Further, corporate India expects mergers and acquisitions to be severely affected in the next year, with fewer than seven per cent of survey respondents expecting increased M&A activity.
Mercer's survey, conducted in early November, collected responses from over 100 human resource and finance professionals in India, as part of more than 1,000 responses from around the world.
Source: Agencies
Majority of companies in the country are trying to be selective in planning the workforce, compensation and benefit cuts for 2009, while they anticipate a decline in their company's business performance next year, according to global HR consultancy Mercer.
The survey revealed that as much as 83 per cent of companies expect salary increases in the coming year to be lower than originally planned by them. The responses indicate that the companies are planning to look closely at holding down the level of compensation increases in 2009.
However, only 19 per cent of survey respondents are considering the more drastic step of freezing 2009 salaries at 2008 figures.
The results for companies in India generally match survey findings from other parts of the world. In China, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States as well between 20 and 30 per cent respondents believe that the 2009 bonus payout would be reduced from those originally planned.
"India grew on the back of her knowledge and people -centric industries such as financial services, information technology and retail, among others. However, primarily due to employee costs having risen in India at double-digit rates since 2003, cost structures have been coming under severe strain," Mercer Consulting (India) country leader Padma Ravichandar said.
Most companies in India plan to avoid significant workforce reductions, but they do not plan significant hiring either, the survey revealed.
Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of companies surveyed revealed that a significant reduction in workforce was unlikely even as only one in four firms expect to continue their hiring activities at or above replacement levels.
This current situation should be perceived as a cooling-down period in terms of talent costs. This is a levelling act which may help India remain cost competitive in the long run. In the near term, the adverse impact of business sentiment seems all pervasive, Ravichandar added.
Over 80 per cent of respondents expect their company's business performance to decline in 2009, the Mercer survey noticed.
Further, corporate India expects mergers and acquisitions to be severely affected in the next year, with fewer than seven per cent of survey respondents expecting increased M&A activity.
Mercer's survey, conducted in early November, collected responses from over 100 human resource and finance professionals in India, as part of more than 1,000 responses from around the world.
Source: Agencies
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