A new wave of firings is feared at financial institutions in Hong Kong after HSBC axed 100 staff from its private-banking division.
Changing market conditions were yesterday blamed for the decision to slash about 8 percent of 1,200 staff at the local unit. A Hong Kong-based HSBC spokeswoman said the cuts followed "a review of the business to ensure it remains competitive and well-placed to serve its clients."
Job losses were across-the-board, affecting both frontline and support staff. They were also broad-based in terms of seniority, ranging from administrative staff to management.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Layoffs in USA
T Rowe Price earnings drop, cuts 288 jobs
* T Rowe Price first-qtr earnings drop 68 percent
* Company cuts 5.5 percent of its workforce
* Layoffs to lower operating earnings by $2.5 mln in Q2
* Job cuts to save company $17 million
T Rowe Price Group reported a 68 percent drop in first-quarter profit on Wednesday
and announced its first sizable job cuts in eight years but also said it took in new money.
The company, which has been managing money in Baltimore for 72 years, reported $4.5 billion of inflows and distinguished itself from most rivals who are expected to report outflows.
* Company cuts 5.5 percent of its workforce
* Layoffs to lower operating earnings by $2.5 mln in Q2
* Job cuts to save company $17 million
T Rowe Price Group reported a 68 percent drop in first-quarter profit on Wednesday
and announced its first sizable job cuts in eight years but also said it took in new money.
The company, which has been managing money in Baltimore for 72 years, reported $4.5 billion of inflows and distinguished itself from most rivals who are expected to report outflows.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
TCS
TCS’ new mantra: Cost-cutting
Source: indiatimes.com
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT outsourcing firm, said on Tuesday that price competition will force it to focus on cost reductions in coming years.
Even though competition is intensifying as customers seek cost reductions, Tata's earnings in fiscal 2010 should be higher than the year earlier, Chief Executive S Ramadorai said.
"I would like to see a 10 per cent year-on-year improvement" in cost reduction, he said. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd posted a 4.6 per cent rise in quarterly profit, but it expects prices to fall by lower single digits in the coming year.
"Profits will continue to rise, but at a slow pace," he said. "That is what we hope.”
"The challenges are definitely cost rationalisation and offshore leveraging," Ramadorai added.
Despite the pressure on prices, he said the company would try to avoid being drawn into a price war with competitors. "Growth has come down dramatically from what we were used to...So automatically, the focus of the organisation has been on looking at our internal efficiencies," Ramadorai said.
Prices of IT outsourcing services will shrink 5 per cent to 20 per cent through 2010 due to the uncertain economic climate, IT budget constraints and competition between vendors, research company Gartner predicted last month.
TCS's headcount has more than doubled over the past three years to about 144,500, but in fiscal 2010 -- which began on April 1 -- the company expects to add only about 16,000-17,000 new net hires, about half the number in the previous year.
The pressure on Tata is heavy because 43 per cent of its business comes from the global financial industry, which has taken the brunt of the economic crisis.
India's $60 billion sector, which provides services from software coding to managing computer networks and call centres, faces weak demand, cut-rate prices and rising competition from global rivals such as IBM.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest IT outsourcing firm, said on Tuesday that price competition will force it to focus on cost reductions in coming years.
Even though competition is intensifying as customers seek cost reductions, Tata's earnings in fiscal 2010 should be higher than the year earlier, Chief Executive S Ramadorai said.
"I would like to see a 10 per cent year-on-year improvement" in cost reduction, he said. Tata Consultancy Services Ltd posted a 4.6 per cent rise in quarterly profit, but it expects prices to fall by lower single digits in the coming year.
"Profits will continue to rise, but at a slow pace," he said. "That is what we hope.”
"The challenges are definitely cost rationalisation and offshore leveraging," Ramadorai added.
Despite the pressure on prices, he said the company would try to avoid being drawn into a price war with competitors. "Growth has come down dramatically from what we were used to...So automatically, the focus of the organisation has been on looking at our internal efficiencies," Ramadorai said.
Prices of IT outsourcing services will shrink 5 per cent to 20 per cent through 2010 due to the uncertain economic climate, IT budget constraints and competition between vendors, research company Gartner predicted last month.
TCS's headcount has more than doubled over the past three years to about 144,500, but in fiscal 2010 -- which began on April 1 -- the company expects to add only about 16,000-17,000 new net hires, about half the number in the previous year.
The pressure on Tata is heavy because 43 per cent of its business comes from the global financial industry, which has taken the brunt of the economic crisis.
India's $60 billion sector, which provides services from software coding to managing computer networks and call centres, faces weak demand, cut-rate prices and rising competition from global rivals such as IBM.
Oracle-Sun deal may see job cuts
Oracle Corp, the software maker that has digested more than $34.5 billion in acquisitions since 2005, needs to cut thousands of jobs to achieve the profit projected from its Sun Microsystems Inc takeover, analysts say.
Oracle President Safra Catz said the purchase would yield more profit in its first year than those of PeopleSoft Inc, Siebel Systems Inc and BEA Systems Inc combined.
Oracle will have to trim at least 5,000 jobs, mainly in the declining hardware division, according to Mark Demos, a portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management.
More from TheEconomicTimes
Oracle President Safra Catz said the purchase would yield more profit in its first year than those of PeopleSoft Inc, Siebel Systems Inc and BEA Systems Inc combined.
Oracle will have to trim at least 5,000 jobs, mainly in the declining hardware division, according to Mark Demos, a portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management.
More from TheEconomicTimes
Layoffs in USA
Yahoo to cut 5% jobs; Q1 profit in line
Yahoo! on Tuesday reported that its net profit slumped nearly 80 percent in the first three months of the year and that it will trim its workforce by five percent to cut costs. Shares of the Internet company rose 1 percent in after-hours trading.
In the first full three-month period under the leadership of CEO Carol Bartz, Yahoo generated revenue of $1.58 billion, compared with $1.82 billion at this time last year. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, Yahoo's revenue was $1.16 billion compared with the average analyst expectation of $1.2 billion according to Reuters Estimates.
In the first full three-month period under the leadership of CEO Carol Bartz, Yahoo generated revenue of $1.58 billion, compared with $1.82 billion at this time last year. Excluding traffic acquisition costs, Yahoo's revenue was $1.16 billion compared with the average analyst expectation of $1.2 billion according to Reuters Estimates.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Infosys, Layoffs in India
Non-Bangalore employees duck Infy axe
Source: BusinessStandard
The lack of tolerance for non-performance at Infosys Technologies Ltd appears to be confined to Bangalore so far. The layoffs and outplacements of some 2,100 staff in mid-March by the Bangalore-based IT firm comprised 3.5 per cent of the 60,000 people who were put through the annual performance appraisal exercise. Of this, just about 0.4 per cent comprised employees based in non-Bangalore centres, according to information given by the company.
“Employees who have been consistently demonstrating poor performance were counselled out. Less than 1 per cent of our 11,250 employees in Chennai and 11,496 employees in Hyderabad have been impacted. As for the Thiruvananthapuram centre, less than 1 per cent of the 1,800 employees were impacted,” said Mohandas Pai, member of the board, director, human resources, Infosys Technologies, said.
Infosys has been following a performance management system wherein employees are categorised into various groups based on performance. People who have the potential or the attitude to improve performance are put on a personal development plan. Otherwise, they are ‘outplaced’ — provided with resources to find a job with another company. “This is a regular process that we have been following for many years,” Pai said.
He did not comment on how the company would be deploying the fresher intake of over 16,000 people planned for fiscal 2010, or how it would affect bench numbers at the company. “The bench strength is around 4,000, of which 1,300 are in internal projects. Our utilisation rate for the March quarter is 74.3 per cent (excluding trainees),” Pai said.
Infosys officials have stressed that all new staff joining the company would be “gainfully employed” on internal and ongoing projects after completion of their training period. Infosys has increased its trainee probation periods from four to seven months, partly to control variable costs and partly in anticipation of a sluggish project pipeline till September this year.
During the fourth quarter of 2009 ended March 31, 2009, Infosys lost four clients, while its top 10 clients slashed their IT budgets by at least 10 per cent. As things stand, the company is trying trying to mitigate the impact of the global economic slowdown by freezing employee increments, bonuses and slashing variable pay, which in the case of many employees at the executive level, constitutes 85 per cent of the salary.
Pai dismissed apprehensions of layoffs happening from among the freshers set to join the company in case the bench numbers increase disproportionately. “Our model does not envisage this (layoffs) at this point of time,” he said.
At an employee count of 105,000 people currently, Infosys has 45,000 trainees on its rolls, and is hiring 16,000 students passing out in July 2009 as part of honouring its employment commitments. Another 2,000 people are to be recruited laterally by the second quarter of 2009-10.
The lack of tolerance for non-performance at Infosys Technologies Ltd appears to be confined to Bangalore so far. The layoffs and outplacements of some 2,100 staff in mid-March by the Bangalore-based IT firm comprised 3.5 per cent of the 60,000 people who were put through the annual performance appraisal exercise. Of this, just about 0.4 per cent comprised employees based in non-Bangalore centres, according to information given by the company.
“Employees who have been consistently demonstrating poor performance were counselled out. Less than 1 per cent of our 11,250 employees in Chennai and 11,496 employees in Hyderabad have been impacted. As for the Thiruvananthapuram centre, less than 1 per cent of the 1,800 employees were impacted,” said Mohandas Pai, member of the board, director, human resources, Infosys Technologies, said.
Infosys has been following a performance management system wherein employees are categorised into various groups based on performance. People who have the potential or the attitude to improve performance are put on a personal development plan. Otherwise, they are ‘outplaced’ — provided with resources to find a job with another company. “This is a regular process that we have been following for many years,” Pai said.
He did not comment on how the company would be deploying the fresher intake of over 16,000 people planned for fiscal 2010, or how it would affect bench numbers at the company. “The bench strength is around 4,000, of which 1,300 are in internal projects. Our utilisation rate for the March quarter is 74.3 per cent (excluding trainees),” Pai said.
Infosys officials have stressed that all new staff joining the company would be “gainfully employed” on internal and ongoing projects after completion of their training period. Infosys has increased its trainee probation periods from four to seven months, partly to control variable costs and partly in anticipation of a sluggish project pipeline till September this year.
During the fourth quarter of 2009 ended March 31, 2009, Infosys lost four clients, while its top 10 clients slashed their IT budgets by at least 10 per cent. As things stand, the company is trying trying to mitigate the impact of the global economic slowdown by freezing employee increments, bonuses and slashing variable pay, which in the case of many employees at the executive level, constitutes 85 per cent of the salary.
Pai dismissed apprehensions of layoffs happening from among the freshers set to join the company in case the bench numbers increase disproportionately. “Our model does not envisage this (layoffs) at this point of time,” he said.
At an employee count of 105,000 people currently, Infosys has 45,000 trainees on its rolls, and is hiring 16,000 students passing out in July 2009 as part of honouring its employment commitments. Another 2,000 people are to be recruited laterally by the second quarter of 2009-10.
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