upGrad’s New TV & Digital Campaign is a Clarion Call to the 100M Indian Workforce to Grow with Specialisation & Not with Licking

upGrad, India’s largest online higher education company, unveils its latest mass media campaign, which can be considered as one of the most clutter-breaking & bold campaigns done by a brand in the recent past. The TV commercial, featuring a donkey, draws from the cultural insight that in the corporate world, everyone wants to climb the ladder and choose various ways to get ahead - one of the most common being the tendency to ‘lick ass’.

Shot in Estonia, the humorous yet charming film has been developed by the creative agency, The Womb & has been directed by Shashanka Chaturvedi, a.k.a Bob, co-founder & director, Good Morning Films, who has worked on close to 100 ads in India and won two Gold Lions at Cannes - the first by an Indian filmmaker and a Grand Prix at Spikes Asia, the upGrad's film marks the first in his career where he directed the shoot crew, including the endearing animal, remotely from Goa, where he has been shooting ads since a month now. 

“Our primary objective is to define the kind of education upGrad provides, that is not constricted by the mode of learning - which just happens to be online. The next ambition was to compellingly summarise all the types of courses we provide - post-graduate degrees, certifications and diplomas. We chose the word ‘degree’ because in India, the concept of a ‘degree’ holds emotional and practical heft across all socio-economic classes. While degrees are available a dime a dozen, the conflict occurs when they tend to be generic, outdated and from not so credible institutions, that are ultimately not valued by employers. Thus, the genesis of ‘Sirf naam ki nahin, kaam ki degree’ - upGrad’s promise to provide outcome-oriented specialisations that help learners to achieve the ROI on education – job/profile switch, increment or promotion, in other words, Employability” said Arjun Mohan, CEO - India, upGrad.

Talking about the campaign, Kawal Shoor, Co-Founder, The Womb said, “upGrad and The Womb got together a few months back to start working on building its brand and business in India. COVID-19 has hastened the need for edtech as a category. upGrad is a very substantive brand in the midst of many lightweight educational institutions that have mushroomed all over India. It has a great culture, knows how to teach, and has tie-ups with some of the best universities in India, and the world. It can fulfil the learning needs of working professionals and undergraduates. We had to bring its various offerings under one, clear positioning idea for the brand that stems from and can influence culture. This spot introduces that idea, along with a clear proposition for working professionals."

"upGrad's Data Science and Management programs for working professionals have great pedigree with tie-ups with institutions like IIIT Bangalore, IIT Madras, and Deakin Business School. To make this resonate culturally, we borrowed from culture - work/corporate culture to be specific. We uncovered a very rich insight - in organisations, those who're not good enough to find other means to rise. We built our proposition around this insight. What was even more challenging was to find a way to execute this in a lockdown - so what you'll see, are Indian-origin actors from the UK, performing in an office in Estonia, being remotely directed from a villa in Goa. The clients at upGrad have to be complimented for believing,” added Navin Talreja, Co-Founder, The Womb.

The performance-driven media planning on TV channels is being executed by the agency DCMN and on OTTs and Google platforms by Tatvic Analytics. The mass media campaign will also be complemented by narrative-driven influencer campaign on social media, which the company officials has not revealed yet. In partnership with HTTPool & Twitter India, upGrad also has rolled out an emoji campaign wherein one of the key brand attributes (KBA) - a red arrow moving upwards will be automatically added to upskilling related hashtags when tweeted by any user worldwide during the campaign period.

IndiaFirst Life Partners with InsureNearby to Offer Insurance Khata Plan to Low-Income Brackets

InsureNearby, the insurance arm of PayNearby, India’s largest hyperlocal fintech network, partners with IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Limited (IndiaFirst Life), promoted by Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India, to endorse a unique insurance product called “Insurance Khata Plan”. Specifically designed to serve the low-income bracket, the product not only secures the insured and their family's needs in case of an untimely demise, but also provides a flexible deposit plan that allows them to save and fulfil their dreams. The plan allows complete flexibility to the buyers in choosing the frequency and tenure besides allowing them to pay the premiums as per their convenience. It also functions as an excellent saving product as the beneficiary gets the entire money back at the maturity of the policy. 

With more than 82% of India's workforce engaged in the unorganised sector, over 39 crore workers and their families live under the constant threat of financial setbacks. Lack of a constant income source plays a huge hindrance in paying fixed annual or monthly premiums regularly. This results in an insufficient or non-existent insurance coverage, which often prods them into an inevitable poverty cycle. This set of economically weaker population has unique insurance needs and hence require a customised product that offers flexibility, ease of access and a frequency that adapts to their erratic earnings while providing the security of an insurance cover.

IndiaFirst Life’s Insurance Khata Plan is a non-linked, non-participating, term assurance with return of premium plan. The product has been designed to offer financial protection in the form of a life cover to the family besides offering the provision of returning more than the premium paid in total when unclaimed at the end of the policy term. 

Comprising of 72% of total population of the country, rural India is largely uninsured and unprotected. Through InsureNearby’s 45,000 POS agents, the product will now be made easily available to the country’s masses. InsureNearby will embark on a journey to train their vast network of 8.5+ lakh retail agents, registered under its sister organization PayNearby, to upscale them as credible POS agents. The geographical reach of these last mile retail outlets will enable the company to provide insurance to marginalized customers in the most far flung towns and villages across the country. The unique offering thus creates a force multiplier, where people who have never sold insurance are trained to sell to people who have never before bought the product. The objective is to insure India and make protection available for all.

Commenting on the association, Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby said, “With around 3% insurance penetration, Indians have largely been left unprotected to life’s vagaries. Our motto has always been to make safe and secure financial solutions available to our masses and help them move ahead in life. In accordance with our motto, Zidd Surakshit Aage Badhne Ki, this partnership with IndiaFirst allows us to provide a unique life insurance policy to our customers, that not only protects their families in case of a demise, but also provides them the flexibility to gradually plan and build their savings to meet their evolving life goals. We are excited about this partnership and am confident that our distribution capability along with their product innovation will create a force multiplier that will help bridge the huge gap in protection coverage for our citizens. A unique life insurance policy that not only protects their families in case of demise, but also provides a flexible deposit platform for fulfilling their dreams.”

Commenting on the strategic alliance, Rushabh Gandhi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co Ltd said, “Our alliance, with a like-minded and dynamic institution as, InsureNearby is a strategic leap in line with IndiaFirst Life’s vision to provide life insurance cover at affordable rates to last mile customers in India. Technology and micro products have enabled IndiaFirst Life to reach out to the unorganized, underserved and the under penetrated regions in the country. We have 45,000 qualified retail agents of PayNearby who are certified as POS agents with InsureNearby to sell IndiaFirst Life’s Insurance Khata Plan. For us, this is just the beginning. Together, we are keen to offer more such embedded solutions, which will inculcate the ‘long-term savings and insurance’ culture in India.”

Commenting on this occasion, Murali Iyer, CEO and Principal Officer, InsureNearby remarked, “Our aim has always been to strive for complete inclusivity. We want to gather actionable insights to address the evolving needs of the various types of insurance buyers, especially those in the low income segment, thus offering them the opportunity to lead their lives with as little impact as possible in case of a sudden demise. With Insurance Khata, we aim to bridge the void of accessible life insurance at affordable rates. The product also addresses the savings needs of our target audience, who are looking for safe, flexible deposit plans.”

About Nearby Insurance Broking Services Pvt Ltd (InsureNearby):

Nearby Insurance Broking Services Pvt. Ltd., with an aim and aspiration to “Insure India,” serve the unserved bringing in an era of true financial inclusion through its brand, “InsureNearby”. The company provides simple insurance products pre-underwritten and delivered instantly through mobile app and web services. The cutting edge proprietary technology provides Assisted Insurance Sales and service to crores of Indians in a fast and reliable manner. A subsidiary of Nearby Technologies, a fintech company offering assisted financial/non-financial services to the underbanked and unbanked segment, Nearby Insurance Broking Services seeks to make insurance products accessible at the last mile. 

Previously known as We Care Insurance Broking, Murali Iyer is the CEO and Principal Officer of Nearby Insurance Broking Services, since July 2019. Having almost 30 years of insurance sales experience, Murali is a revered figure in the country’s insurance segment, having been one of the core group members of the team that set up Birla Sun Life Insurance.

About IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Ltd:

Headquartered in Mumbai, IndiaFirst Life Insurance, with a paid-up share capital of INR 663 crore, is one of the country's youngest life insurance companies. It is promoted by two of India's largest public-sector banks - Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of India, which hold 44% and 30% stakes in the company, respectively. Carmel Point Investments India Private Limited incorporated by Carmel Point Investment Ltd, a body corporate incorporated under the laws of Mauritius and owned by private equity funds managed by Warburg Pincus LLC, New York, United States also holds 26% stake in IndiaFirst Life. The company’s key differentiator is its simple, easy-to-understand products that are fairly-priced and efficiently serviced.

Gen X and Boomers More Willing to Return to Work, While Gen Z and Millennials Prefer to Wait: LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, today announced the findings of the sixth edition of the LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index, a fortnightly pulse on the confidence of the Indian workforce. Based on survey responses of 1,351 professionals in India, findings from the fortnight of June 1-14 reveal how India’s workforce feels about returning to work, and how professionals from different generations exhibit varied confidence levels towards returning to the physical workplace.

This fortnight’s LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index shows that India’s overall confidence remains steady with a composite score of +48, as India gets ready to return work. The cautious optimism also reflects in the strong short-term and long-term employer confidence levels of professionals from sectors such as Corporate Services and Manufacturing. India’s workforce is also beginning to feel more confident about their personal finances as 1 in 4 professionals in India expect their earned incomes (25%) and personal spending (26%) to increase in the next 6 months. In fact, about 1 in 3 professionals also expect their personal savings (31%) and personal recurring debt payments (29%) to increase in the next 6 months. This financial confidence comes at a time when India’s economy is gradually restarting.

Commenting on this rise in financial confidence, Leadership Coach Harsh Johari says, “Professionals will continue to be prudent about money management, given the prevailing uncertainties. While some businesses in the digital space are seeing growth, the actual financial impact on India Inc will only become clear when listed companies unveil their results for the quarter ending June 30.”

Working remotely for the past three months has encouraged businesses to adapt innovative and digital measures for business continuity. However, as India ‘unlocks’ and workplaces reboot, findings of the sixth Workforce Confidence Index underscore a pronounced difference in how the older and younger professionals feel about returning to the physical workplace.

About 1 in 3 Gen Z and Millennials will continue working remotely until safer

As the business landscape resumes, older professionals appear keen on stepping out into the post-Covid-19 world while younger professionals are not rushing to embrace it. Findings reaffirm this difference in perception as 38% of Gen X and 29% of Baby Boomers said they will willingly return to the workplace as soon as they are allowed, whereas 1 in 3 Gen Z (29%) and Millennials (32%) said they will continue working remotely until they feel safer about being around others. One reason for this, as HR expert Abhijit Bhaduri states, “Younger workers are adept in using digital means of communication. Senior professionals may find it challenging to hire and manage performance of remote teams.” Hence, varied levels of digital prowess could be one of the reasons behind such contrasting outlooks from different generations.

Risk of exposure, commute to work, and close proximity worry Indian professionals

While the nationwide lockdown is gradually being lifted, the stigma around COVID-19 prevails due to uncertainty around safety measures. Findings reveal that more than half (55%) of Indian professionals think being exposed to people neglecting safety precautions is a key concern. 58% of Millennials and 56% of Gen X professionals are shown being concerned about the same problem. Probing further, findings highlight that 42% Millennials are concerned about commuting to work while nearly half (46%) are worried about eating and sharing resting/collaborative spaces. The report also shows that inadequate space between workstations is cited as another primary concern with returning to work, as it could make it tough for professionals to practice healthy measures of social distancing.

Corporate Services and Manufacturing professionals most confident about the future of their companies

This fortnight’s findings also gauge how Indian professionals feel about the short-term (6 months) and long-term (1 year) future of their companies. With regards to short-term employer confidence, survey findings show that 50% of Corporate Services professionals, 46% of Manufacturing professionals, and 41% of Education professionals think their companies will be better off six months from now. When it comes to long-term employer confidence, findings reveal that 64% of Manufacturing, 60% of Corporate Services, and 59% of Software & IT professionals believe their companies will be better off one year from now. Based on these findings, it is observed that professionals from Corporate Services and the Manufacturing sectors have the strongest short-term and long-term company outlook, respectively.

63% of Enterprise Professionals think their Employers will be Better off 1 Year from Now: LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, today announced the findings of the fifth edition of the LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index, a fortnightly pulse on the confidence of India’s workforce. Based on survey responses of 2,903 professionals in India, findings from the fortnight of May 4 - 31 reveal how executives with different professional backgrounds exhibit varied levels of confidence towards company outlook, personal finances, and remote working.

This fortnight’s LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index shows that while India’s overall confidence remains steady with a composite score of +49, the country’s confidence in jobs is beginning to trend downward. The report also states that professionals from healthcare, manufacturing and corporate service industries are more likely to anticipate a decrease in personal spending and personal investments in the next 6 months.

Findings of this fortnight also bisect India’s composite workforce confidence score into Individual Confidence Index (ICI) and Confidence in Employer Index (CIE). The Individual Confidence Index indicates how professionals feel about their ability to leverage economic opportunities available to them, and the Confidence In Employer Index points to how professionals feel about the future of their employers. This new addition comes at a time when India is beginning to ‘unlock’ and reboot its business landscape.

Here are this fortnight’s key findings:

* Enterprise professionals most confident about the future of their employers: 

With a CIE score of +24, employees at large enterprises - companies with 10,000+ workers - are more confident about the future of their employers when compared to their peers from mid-market (+15) and SMB (+16) companies. Reaffirming this optimism, findings further show that 41% of enterprise professionals think their companies will do better in the next 6 months, while 63% think their companies will be better off one year from now. However, this confidence of professionals from larger enterprises fades when it comes to individual confidence, as ICI scores show that enterprise professionals (+42) are least confident about the future of their jobs, finances and careers, when compared to their SMB (+51) and mid-market (+50) peers.

* Healthcare, Manufacturing & Corporate Service industries least optimistic about personal finances: With India’s continued focus on social distancing, people are expected to control their discretionary spending, despite improved access to resources. Findings reaffirm this trend as 2 in 5 employees in manufacturing (38%), corporate services (40%) and healthcare (45%) will decrease personal spending in the next 6 months. Findings also show that 52% of healthcare, 48% of corporate services, and 41% of manufacturing professionals anticipate a decrease in investments in the next 6 months. 

* 40% of the Indian workforce anticipates fewer jobs and interviews in the immediate future: As the Indian workforce navigates a shrinking job market, 2 in 5 (40%) professionals believe that the number of jobs and scheduled interviews will decrease in the next two weeks. The news comes as bittersweet for Indian professionals, as more than 1 in 3  Indian professionals state that they will now spend more time working on their resumes and preparing for interviews. Findings also show India’s consistent focus on upskilling as 67% of the Indian workforce state that they will continue to increase time spent online learning.

* Marketing, Project Management, and Engineering professionals confident about the effectiveness of remote working: Over the past three months, many organizations have shifted to a remote working model to circumvent the pandemic and ensure business continuity. This fortnight’s findings show that 3 in 5 (61%) Marketing professionals feel confident about being effective when working remotely. They are joined by more than half of Project Management (56%) and Engineering (54%) professionals, who are also confident about  the effectiveness of remote working. In contrast to this optimism, only 39% of HR, 36% of finance, and 31% of education professionals think they would be effective when working remotely.

Will Accenture layoff 336 executives in 2009?

Accenture, a business consulting and outsourcing company is likely to lay off around 336 senior-level managers as part of a broad-based restructuring effort. William Green, CEO, Accenture said, "We are taking this step to position Accenture better for both short-term and long-term economic improvement growth and profitability."

The company has about 177,000 employees globally, of which 4,800 are senior-executive employees. The lay off is likely to be completed by the end of November 2009. The company said that the reductions would cost about $247 million in the fourth quarter, which ends on August 31. Out of $247 million, about $128 million of the charge is for severance and related costs of workforce reductions at the senior executive level and $119 million linked to reduction of excess office space. The company said that the space reductions would be completed by the end of August, while the job cuts are expected to be completed in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.

According to a projection by Goldman Sachs Group, global technology spending will decline by eight percent this year. Accenture said that it continued to expect net revenues for the fourth quarter in the range of $5 billion to $5.2 billion with operating margins between 13.4 percent and 13.7 percent. But the company also added that the restructuring charges will likely reduce its earnings per share for both the fourth quarter and the full year by 24 cents.

The company had generated net revenue of $23.39 billion for the fiscal ended August 31, 2008. In the last one year, the stock of Accenture has climbed by 11 percent on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

Agencies

Will MySpace slash 30% of US staff?

US Internet social networking giant MySpace said Tuesday it would cut 500 jobs, nearly 30 per cent of its domestic staff, in a restructuring aimed at boosting efficiency.

MySpace, a unit of media magnate Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, said it was cutting payrolls "as part of a plan to restructure itself into a more innovative, efficient, and entrepreneurial business."

The restructuring plan affects all US divisions of the company and the round of job cuts will lower the domestic workforce to 1,000 employees, it said in a statement.

"Simply put, our staffing levels were bloated and hindered our ability to be an efficient and nimble team-oriented company," said Owen Van Natta, MySpace chief executive.

"I understand that these changes are painful for many. They are also necessary for the long-term health and culture of MySpace. Our intent is to return to an environment of innovation that is centered on our user and our product."

Van Natta, who was named MySpace CEO in April, was a chief revenue officer and vice president of operations for Facebook when he resigned from the rival company in early 2008.

Facebook's popularity has soared amid a surge in social networking in the United States.

Facebook was the top social networking site when ranked by total minutes for the month of April, showing a gain of 700 per cent from a year earlier, according to a recent study by Nielsen Online.

MySpace was in second place, with its total minutes declining from 7.3 billion in April 2008 to 5.0 billion in April 2009.

Agencies

Will Seagate layoff 1100 jobs?

Seagate Technology said that it plans to cut about 1,100 jobs from its workforce in a move the computer storage maker expects will reduce costs by about $125 million a year.

The job-cutting move, which affects about 2.5 percent of Seagate's workforce, is aimed at helping the company stay on track toward being cash-flow and earnings positive within its fiscal year 2010. It builds on a 10-percent reduction in jobs announced in January.

As a result of the new plan, Seagate, which competes with storage company Western Digital Corp, expects to take restructuring charges of about $72 million, primarily in the quarter ending in June.

Analysts said Seagate needs to make additional cost cuts like this, which may help it address debt obligations.

"The move will help the company avoid tripping its net leverage ratio debt covenant that was already renegotiated earlier this year," said JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz, in a note to clients. "Seagate shares still face hurdles that could test investors' resolve in the slower summer months."

Seagate has been no stranger to restructuring in recent months as it deals with slow sales in the personal computer industry, which most others has seen demand shrink during the global economic downturn.

Back in December it said it would halt some operations during the holiday season and cut some 5 percent of its workforce.
About one month ago, on the same day that it reported disappointing quarterly gross margins, it eliminated its dividend.

The elimination of the quarterly dividend is expected to trim costs by about $60 million annually, the company said.

In January it replaced Chief Executive Bill Watkins, and Chief Operating Officer David Wickersham resigned. Chairman Stephen Luczo, who relinquished the CEO role to Watkins in 2004, has returned to the position.

Agencies

Is Yahoo on a hiring spree in India?

Internet major Yahoo is hiring for hundreds of job openings including nearly 150 vacancies in India, even as the company is set to bring down its global workforce by about 675 employees. "We are currently hiring for key positions and will continue to invest in strategically important areas," a Yahoo spokesperson based in the U.S. said.

Last week, while announcing its first quarter results on April 21, Yahoo had said that it would slash five percent of its global workforce of 13,500 employees. While the spokesperson did not elaborate on country-specific hiring plans, the career section of the internet major's website shows that Yahoo is looking for about 150 positions in India alone.

The openings are for its operations in Bangalore, Mumbai and New Delhi, while most of them are for Bangalore. The India openings are for various departments including engineering, customer care, research and product management, among others. Further, the internet major has over 120 job vacancies for different offices in the US, the website shows.

The firm is resorting to job cuts in the wake of slackening advertisement revenues and a 78 percent drop in first quarter profit at $118 million. However, it is not clear whether India operations comprising of about 1,500 employees would be affected by the job cuts. The spokesperson noted that the majority of impacted employees are expected to be notified within the next two weeks.

Last October, Yahoo had announced that it would reduce its headcount by as much as 10 percent. "The goal is to reduce its current annualized cost run rate of approximately $3.9 billion by more than $400 million before the end of 2008," the Internet major had said in October.

Agencies

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

Will Cisco layoff 6,600 employees?

Is it pinkslips time at Cisco? Predicting a significant drop in revenue for the fourth quarter, a JP Morgan analyst has reported that Cisco Systems Inc "could" soon announce a workforce reduction of 10 percent (this could be equal to about 6,600 employees).

In his 49-page first-quarter 2009 preview of communications equipment and networking companies, analyst, Ehud Gelblum, of JP Morgan wrote, "We expect Cisco to guide fourth fiscal quarter revenue down 17-22%, year over year, as demand continues to deteriorate, in-line with our estimate for a 21 per cent year over year decline," "We believe Cisco could also announce a 10% headcount reduction, which we calculate could save $900M annually," he wrote.

The recent lowering of sales projections by two of Cisco's competitor's Juniper Network and F5 Network has led to a similar speculation about the company.

Cisco spokesman reportedly refused to comment on JP Morgan report directly. However, in a statement he said that on our fiscal second quarter 2009 earnings call in February we discussed a limited restructuring where we could in the near term see a total reduction of between 1500 and 2000 jobs company wide. This does not represent a broad-scale layoff in our workforce.

The spokesman added that this limited restructuring is part of our ongoing, targeted realignment of resources. While Cisco constantly manages its business priorities, resources and overall employee alignment as part of our overall business management process, we are sensitive to the impact these decisions have on employees during this challenging economic environment. We are doing everything possible to minimize the impact on employees affected by the limited restructuring.

Indiatimes

Is IBM set to layoff thousands of jobs?

International Business Machines Corp plans to cut “thousands” of staff in the UK, Germany and Ireland as it shifts jobs to eastern Europe, China, India and South America, the Observer reported.

Job reductions have already been carried out in western Europe and more will be made within months, the newspaper said, citing Lee Conrad of Alliance@IBM, a network for company employees.

Indian workers at the company earn about 10 per cent of the amount paid to US employees performing similar tasks, according to the newspaper.

An IBM official told the media that a number of US employees have been laid off, declining to comment on future job reductions.

London-based IBM spokesman Joe Hanley said IBM declined to comment on “speculation regarding resource actions.”

Agencies

BT likely to layoff another 10,000 jobs

British Telecom (BT) is preparing to axe another 10,000 jobs. The huge redundancy programme will be announced next month alongside a horrendous set of year-end figures that will include provisions of about £1.5 billion.

The results will mark one of the lowest points in BT’s history since it was privatized in 1984. The share price has crashed to 81 pence, valuing the telecom company at £6.3 billion. It will also seriously damage the legacy of Ben Verwaayen, BT’s former chief executive, who left eight months ago and has since become chief executive at Alcatel-Lucent .

The dividend is likely to be cut by up to 60%, while profits will be further dented by a big contribution to address a pension deficit that will exceed £8 billion. The redundancies, which result from an improvement in BT’s efficiency, are in addition to the 10,000 job cuts made last year and will be spread around BT’s 160,000 workforce. There is no guarantee that this will mark the end of job losses. Some analysts believe next month’s figure could be higher than 12,000.

Agencies

IBM to layoff 5,000 jobs in US; While expand in India, China

IBM will cut about 5,000 jobs in the United States, adding to similarly large cuts in the past few months, sources with knowledge of the matter told media.

The job cuts will account for over 4 per cent of IBM's US workforce, which totaled around 115,000 at the end of 2008. The sources, who were not authorised to speak publicly on the issue, said the cuts will mostly be in IBM's global services business, which includes outsourcing and consulting services.

An International Business Machines Corp spokesman declined to comment. The company, which had a total workforce of 398,455 as of end 2008, has not disclosed how many jobs it has cut so far this year, but has said it was making "structural changes" to reduce spending and improve productivity.

IBM, which now earns around two-thirds of its revenue from outside the United States, has been expanding its workforce in emerging markets like India and China.

At the end of 2008, employment in the BRIC countries -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- totaled around 113,000.

IBM has been hit by slower US technology spending, although it has fared better than many rivals thanks to its global footprint and a decreased emphasis on hardware sales.

A month ago, IBM affirmed its full-year forecast of $9.20 earnings per share, and said contract signings for its business services had grown so far this year.

IBM is in exclusive talks to buy Sun Microsystems Inc, according to sources familiar with the matter, a move that would create a clear leader in the high-end computer server market.

Agencies

Kronos Debuts Workforce Central 6.1 in India

Kronos India has announced the availability of version 6.1 of its Workforce Central suite in India.

Workforce Central 6.1 provides executives with greater visibility into their global workforce, enabling them to identify critical business issues. The new version includes hundreds of features and new enhancements.

Talking to CXOtoday, James Thomas, country manager, India, said, "At Kronos we've developed a unique perspective on what it takes for an organization to successfully deploy a workforce management solution. Our belief is that integrated workforce management in real time doesn't have to be so hard, and that organizations shouldn't have to trade functionality for simplicity. Workforce Central strikes an ideal balance of deep functionality combined with a range of ease-of-deployment, ease-of-use and cost-of-ownership enhancements."

Kronos helps organizations control labor costs, minimize compliance risk, and improve workforce productivity all at the same time centrally in real time, Thomas said. "These are important business issues in normal times, and even more during tough economic times."

Workforce Central 6.1 supports India's Factories Act and Shops and Establishment Act, whereby manufacturers and services organizations are required to maintain time-related registers and statutory reports for employees.

To help organizations comply with these regulations and minimize compliance risk, Workforce Central 6.1 provides legislated working time reports, as well as new features to monitor overtime and time-based pay codes on a daily and hourly basis.

The new enhancements in Workforce Central 6.1 includes: Enhanced ERP integration; Low total cost of ownership (TCO); Complete automation; Global ready; Machine resource tracking and Advanced scheduling.

CXOtoday

Has SAP lays off unspecified numbers in India?

The German software giant SAP AG reportedly laid off an unspecified number of employees recently as part of its previously announced plan to trim 3,000 jobs.

The lay offs were confirmed by a company spokesman according to the report. The spokesman said that the cuts were not directed at any one particular discipline or area of our business and were spread across the board.

SAP, which implemented cost savings in October after sales dropped sharply, said it would continue to slash costs and announced that it intended to reduce its workforce to 48,500 by the end of this year from 51,800 now.

The world's biggest maker of business management software gave no target for its key software and software-related sales this year but based its margin forecasts on the assumption that core sales would be flat or 1 percent lower than 2008 sales of 8.62 billion euros.

Co-chief executive Leo Apotheker told Bloomberg television in January that SAP was still seeing demand for software despite the global economic slump and that it intended to avoid forced layoffs. However, seems that approach is not working.

SAP said it expects the staff reductions to result in 300 million to 350 million euros in annual cost savings beginning in 2010 but also in restructuring charges this year in a range of 200-300 million euros.

That would weigh on its 2009 operating margin by 2 percentage points to 3 percentage points, the company said. It forecast an operating margin of 24.5 percent to 25.5 percent versus 28.2 percent last year.

SAP said 2008 operating profit rose 4 percent to 2.84 billion euros ($3.75 billion) and total software and software-related sales gained 14 percent to 8.46 billion euros.

Agencies

Has Accenture sacked half Manila workforce?

US-based outsourcing firm Accenture is laying off almost half its workforce in the Philippine capital due to the effects of the global financial crisis, the Labour Department said.

Accenture Philippines has filed a notice of retrenchment for about 500 workers at its facilities in Manila, said Labour Undersecretary Rosalinda Baldoz.

Accenture, which engages in business process outsourcing, including call centres, had about a thousand workers in Manila and in March 2008 it opened an office in the central city of Cebu which employs about 500 people.

Call centres and other outsourced business processes have become a major industry in the Philippines. Industry leaders had previously predicted that the sector would not be affected by the global financial turmoil as companies in developed countries would outsource more of their functions abroad to save money during the crisis.

Agencies

Will General Motors layoff 10,000 salaried jobs?

General Motors Corp. said on Tuesday it will cut 10,000 salaried jobs, citing the need to restructure itself with a government deadline looming and amid some of the worst sales in the auto industry's history.

The Detroit-based automaker said it will reduce its total number of salaried workers to 63,000 from 73,000 this year. About 3,400 of GM's 29,500 salaried U.S. jobs are expected to be eliminated.

The company's statement said that the separations would be done through GM's severance plan, so there would be no buyout or early retirement packages as GM had offered in the past.

In its plan to Congress submitted late last year, GM said work force reductions would be necessary in order for it to be viable for the long term. Most of the cuts are expected to take place by May 1.

GM said the cuts will vary by global regions depending on staffing levels and market conditions.

In addition, GM said it will cut the pay of most of its salaried U.S. workers beginning May 1 and continuing at least through the end of the year at which time the pay cuts will be evaluated.

The pay of U.S. executive employees will be cut by 10 percent, while other salaried workers will see cuts of 3 percent to 7 percent, GM said.

GM faces a Feb. 17 deadline to present to the government a plan showing it can become viable. The plan is required by the terms of $9.4 billion in low-interest government loans to the wounded automaker, which is seeking another $4 billion from the Treasury Department.

The automaker is negotiating with bondholders and the United Auto Workers union for concessions and it is planning to close several factories. To prove its viability, it must show an ability to repay the loans and prove "positive net present value."

Agencies

'Bloody Monday' sees over 50,000 job cuts

Tens of thousands of job losses were announced in the US on Monday. American economists say they expect the recession to worsen this year.

US heavy vehicles maker Caterpillar said it would cut over 20,000 jobs to deal with the challenging global business environment.

The company had earlier announced axing 15,000 workers in 2008. The people who will lose their jobs amount to about 18 per cent of the company's total workforce. Caterpillar currently employs about 1,13,000 workers.

Last week, Microsoft said it would cut 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months.

Research-based biomedical and pharmaceutical company Pfizer/Wyeth has announced a layoff of 20,000 workers while Texas Instruments will axe 3,400 employees.

In Europe too, more than 10,000 job cuts have been announced.

Financial firm ING has announced that 7,000 employees will be sacked.

Other companies that have recently announced job cuts include electronic giant Philips which will axe 6,000 workers and UK's steel manufacturer Corus which will layoff 3,500 among others.

Hoping to deal with the financial crisis soon, US President Barack Obama is lobbying for a quick Congressional passage of his $825 billion stimulus package.

Is Motorola planning more layoffs?

Motorola Inc is expected to make steep cost cuts, including more layoffs, at its mobile devices division as a broad slump in demand for cell phones exacerbates its own market share declines.

With even market leader Nokia warning about weakening phone demand, analysts say Motorola could miss Wall Street's already low expectations for phone sales in the fourth quarter and the current quarter. As a result, they expect Motorola to cut the size of its handset unit -- beyond the 3,000 layoffs the company announced in October, which were mostly in its handset unit and equivalent to 4.5 per cent of its workforce.

"Resizing is necessary beyond the 3,000," said Avian Securities analyst Matthew Thornton, who estimated that Motorola's phone unit could have roughly 28,000 employees after the previously announced layoffs.

Motorola declined to comment. The Schaumburg, Illinois-based company fell to fourth place in the global phone market in the third quarter of 2008, and said key new devices would be ready in the second half of 2009, which could mean deeper market share losses until then.

This was before Nokia said in December that it expected the phone market to shrink 5 per cent or more in 2009. Some analysts now expect sales to fall as much as 15 per cent from 2008. As a result of the deteriorating market, Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Modoff estimated that Motorola needed to cut costs by roughly another $650 million, on top of the $800 million reductions already announced.

"Their cost structure is too high for where they need to be in this environment given their market share," said Modoff, who sees Motorola reporting 22 million phone sales for the fourth quarter just ended, and 17 million for this quarter. He estimated that with its current cost structure Motorola could break even if it sold about 28 million phones per quarter, but said that this figure was too high for comfort in the weak economy.

"I think they need to be profitable below 20 million units," said Modoff. Analysts on average expect Nokia to report 121.5 million phone sales for the fourth quarter, with estimates ranging from 110 million to 135 million.

They expect Sony Ericsson, which overtook Motorola in the third quarter, to sell about 26.6 million phones. Phonescoop.com, a blog about the latest phones, said Motorola could lay off as many as 50 per cent of its mobile phone workers, but analysts said this would be a "drastic" move.

Charter Equity Research analyst Ed Snyder said such a cut would mean giving up workers in research and development, and "dramatically" reducing the number of phones launched. But he said that such a move was not implausible.

"They're hemorrhaging cash. They have to cut the division," he said. But Deutsche Bank's Modoff said Motorola needs to be careful about where it makes cuts because it needs to be able to compete with popular devices such as Apple Inc's iPhone and phones based on Android, the operating system designed by Google Inc.

These phones have made the focus of industry competition more about innovative software and user interfaces than about phone hardware."They should keep (jobs) in software and chop them in hardware. The emphasis needs to be placed on low cost designs and operating systems," said Modoff. In the third quarter, Motorola's mobile unit revenue fell 31 per cent to $3.1 billion, and the unit's operating loss widened to $840 million from $248 million.

Agencies

ING cuts 750 jobs due to economic slowdown

Dutch financial services group ING Groep NV will cut 750 jobs, or 7 percent of its US workforce, as part of a global programme to cope with the economic slowdown, ING spokesmen said on Tuesday.

"As many companies in the United States we need to align operations with market conditions," ING spokesman Dana Ripley said. US companies such as Bank of America Corp have announced job cuts in the past few months to deal with slowing business activity and the U.S. Labor Department said last week that employers cut payrolls by 524,000 in December.

ING will cut the jobs during the first quarter across all its U.S. banking and insurance operations and it will also not fill 170 vacancies in the United States, Ripley said. ING currently has about 11,000 US employees people and a total global workforce of 130,000.

The US job cuts are part of a global initiative to bring costs and operations in line with market conditions as ING said in November, ING spokesman Raymond Vermeulen said. He declined to say if there could be job cuts outside the United States. ING posted a third quarter loss of 478 million euros ($635.6 million) due to 1.5 billion euros of impairments, making it ING's first quarterly loss ever.

Agencies