Top IT companies are easing exit policies

Source: The Economic Times

According to sources in executive search firms, top IT companies companies are easing exit norms and imposing zero-tolerance regime to reduce their headcount without resorting to large-scale layoffs. IT majors like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Polaris and Cognizant, to name a few, are easing stringent exit policies and waiving bonus tie-ins, they say.

Some are also increasing the working hours to squeeze out maximum productivity without doling out extra salaries. This is in sharp contrast to the last year when IT/ ITeS companies were doing everything possible—from doling out huge salary hikes and counter-offers—to keep their flock together in the face of a talent crunch across industries. Click here for complete story.

Chip sales forecast: down this year, and getting worse

Reflecting plummeting worldwide sales of computers and other tech gadgets, global chip sales will be down this year — and even worse next year — a research group said Tuesday, representing the industry's first back-to-back decline in annual revenue since the firm began tracking the market in 1980. Click here for complete story.

6 reasons why Indian BPOs will keep booming

Source: Rediff.com

In recent months articles in The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.com have postulated that outsourcing information technology work to India was losing appeal.

To the contrary, the Indian outsourcing industry has entered a new era of growth. Infosys [Get Quote], Satyam [Get Quote], HCL [Get Quote], and other IT outsourcing majors that once specialized in lower-value tasks such as application maintenance and business process outsourcing are seeing increasing success in providing outsourced high-value tasks such as total IT outsourcing, R&D, and business transformation services.

1. Faced with high turnover, rising salaries, and a weak public education system, top Indian companies started investing heavily in workforce education and development.

2. Attrition rates have been remarkably low and are dropping.

3. Rising salaries in Indian IT shops are no longer a problem.

4. Faced with brutal cost-control pressures caused by the global economic downturn, many companies are more desperate to outsource than ever before.

5. There has always been a trickle of highly skilled workers returning from the U.S. and Europe to their home countries for family reasons and because they felt homesick.

6. India has been dramatically increasing the output of its engineering colleges, and now quality is improving.

Layoffs in USA - Dec 18th: Update

Boeing Co. continuing with layoff plan

Layoff notices for about 60 Boeing Wichita workers are going to be issued Friday the company says. “This is just the next round of our planned reduction for 2009,” he says.

Barclays Capital to make layoffs in new year: report

(Reuters) - Barclays Capital, the investment banking arm of Britain's Barclays Plc (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research), will inform employees about layoffs only after the new year, the New York Post said, citing sources.

Gillett Evernham Announce Layoffs

Gillett Evernham Motorsports officials say they will reduce their 2009 Nationwide Series program to a partial schedule and eliminate about 65 jobs in the process. Sponsorship played a key role in the decision.

Caterpillar has announced an undisclosed number of temporary layoffs at its facilities in Clayton and Sanford.

FedEx plans salary cuts

FedEx Corp. said Thursday its fiscal second-quarter earnings rose 3 percent, narrowly topping Wall Street's expectations, but it announced further cost cuts as demand continues to slump.

Genworth Financial Announces 1,000 Job Cuts

Genworth Financial, Inc. (NYSE: GNW) announced actions being taken to advance the company's strategic goals in response to the current economic downturn. These actions include the elimination of approximately 1,000 jobs globally.

ASML Holding cuts 1,000 jobs

ASML Holding NV, a key supplier to Intel Corp. and other computer chip makers, said that it is slashing 1,000 jobs - more than 10 percent of its global work force - following a plunge in orders.

Pentair cuts 1,600 jobs

Water treatment and storage systems maker Pentair Inc. said that it will cut more than 10 percent of its work force, or about 1,600 jobs, due to a faster-than-expected dropoff in demand and consumer spending.

American Apparel cuts hundreds of jobs

Los Angeles retailer American Apparel Inc. said that it had laid off several hundred employees companywide.

Motorola freezes pension plans

Motorola would permanently freeze its US pension plans from March 1, 2009, preserving vested benefits accrued by employees and retirees but eliminating future benefit accruals. "Employees would not receive a salary increase in 2009," a company statement said.

Plug Power lays off 90

Plug Power Inc. laid off 90 employees—one-third of its total work force—effective Thursday.

Omnicom Lays Of 3,500; More Layoffs on the Way?

Omnicom is to lay off 5 percent of its workforce, or about 3,500 of its 70,000 employees worldwide.

Targanta to cut 75 pct of workforce

Targanta Therapeutics Corp said it would cut about 75 percent of its workforce

Economy starting to impact Oracle

Source:SiliconValley

Oracle on Thursday reported a slight drop in profit and modest growth in revenue for the fall quarter, as earnings fell short of analysts' expectations amid signs that the Redwood City software giant is feeling the effects of a global economic slowdown.

IBM, Sun and SAP may suffer in 2009

Source: Bloomberg 

International Business Machines Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and SAP AG may be among the hardest hit technology companies in 2009 as spending on computers, software and services drops for the first time in six years. Click here for complete story.