Wipro
Wipro said it has a staff utilization rate of 78% and the number of benched employees could increase as it plans 6,000 new hires this year
Software services firm Wipro Ltd is asking its employees to take a break.
As it struggles to manage rising human resources costs, India’s third largest software provider is offering sabbaticals and reduced work days to benched employees. Benched employees refer to staff not engaged in any specific project.
The company has recently introduced what it calls a skill augmentation and flex employment programme that has two components, called Project Enrich and Project Rejuvenate.
Project Enrich, targeted at benched employees, allows them to work 10 days a month at 50% of their cost to company (CTC). They will be absorbed back into projects once deployment opportunities come up.
Project Rejuvenate, though primarily aimed at benched staff, will also be open to some senior employees and allow them to take a sabbatical for one to one-and-a-half years. They will be offered 25% of their CTC.
“They are good resources and we don’t want to lose them,” said Pratik Kumar, head of human resources at Wipro. “We don’t want to do anything drastic as well.”
Wipro said it has a staff utilization rate of 78% and the number of benched employees could increase as it plans 6,000 new hires this year.
HCL
To save on the cost of training, one of the leading domestic software exporter HCL Technologies said it will hire people 'just in time' of requirement rather than maintaining a bench.
HCL has been following the policy of just in time hiring, which has paid off well for the organisation, HCL Technologies CEO Vineet Nayyar said.
Declining to give a hiring outlook for the year ahead, Nayyar said the firm is unlikely to make campus offers.
"We have hardly made any campus offers... we have moved to the lateral strategy," he added.
The overall global headcount of the company fell by 992, to 54,026, from December to March. However, the company clarified that it has not laid off any employee.
During the quarter the company has made a gross addition of 2,298 employees. In the BPO services segment, however, the headcount has came down to 11,426 from 12,750 in December.
Commenting on the BPO business, he said the company is trying to move away from voice-based services to platform-based services. So, it is unlikely that the company would make new recruitments for voice-based services.
Lloyds Banking Group, the part-nationalised financial services giant, has confirmed plans to cut almost 1,000 UK jobs at its motor finance division as it moves to save costs by combining sales forces.
The bank, formed out of the merger of Lloyds TSB and HBOS last year, will cut 985 full and part-time jobs over the next two years. The merged group is the biggest provider of car finance in the UK, both to individuals and dealers.
Layoffs in USA
Large-scale U.S. layoffs rose again in March, according to Labor Department data on Thursday, as the economy struggles with what many expect will be the country's worst post-World War II recession.
Last month witnessed 2,933 more mass layoffs, defined as affecting 50 or more workers, than February. This brought the total number of people who lost their jobs in this manner to 299,388, the highest on a record that dates back to 1995.
The U.S. job market has been under severe strain as a crisis first evident in housing spread to the rest of the economy, severely curtailing corporate profits and consumer spending.
Ongoing pain was evident across sectors, with the Labor Department also reporting another record for blanket layoffs within manufacturing.
Mass layoffs now total 31,414 since the start of the recession in December 2007, resulting in the loss of more than 3.2 million jobs. The monthly mass layoff numbers are compiled from establishments with at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance filed against them during a five-week period.
Separate data out on Thursday showed the number of continuing unemployment claims climbing to a new record of 6.14 million. Weekly initial jobless claims also rose again, to 640,000.
"Over the past year, the deterioration in initial claims, continuing claims, and the insured jobless rate has been just as bad as they were during the 1981-1982 recession, which has been the most severe in the post-World War II period," said Steven Wood, chief economist at Insight Economics. (Editing by Padraic Cassidy)
Satyam
The meeting between Tech Mahindra and the Satyam board is underway at Hyderabad. It is the first time that Tech Mahindra is meeting the Satyam management after the Company Law Board approved Satyam stake sale to Tech Mahindra.
However, durign the meeting Tech Mahindra indicated Satyam employees that there is no possibility of a merger between the company and Satyam anytime soon. CNBC-TV18's Kenan Machado reports.
Here is a verbatim transcript of Kenan Machado's comments on CNBC-TV18. Also watch the accompanying video.
Tech Mahindra has addressed a town hall Satyam employees and Vineet Nayyar of Tech Mahindra has indicated that there is no possibility of a merger between Tech Mahindra and Satyam anytime soon.
A crucial financial point is being discussed and one must remember that it is the first time the Tech Mahindra team is meeting the Satyam Management and it’s the crucial Rs 1,200 crore that the Raju family had lend to Satyam and its group companies. This we believe the Board had not put in as liabilities, outgoings, future outgoings or dues and that crucial point is to be discussed today.
The legal advisors of Satyam are a going to be a part of Satyam. That is something which Tech Mahindra would sort to clarify and get some more data as it is going to be the majority partner. The crucial point is that information which is being shared by Tech Mahindra could also be shared with the minority shareholders.
Another crucial point which is to be discussed today is that Satyam board member had indicated that Satyam was running a 10% excess work force and there would be a need to trim down. On the other hand, Anand Mahindra during his press conference had said that they would be not going in for largescale layoffs or at least that was the intention.
TCS
IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is betting big on the Indian market. The firm that has crossed $500 million in annual revenue in FY09 from the country expects to double its revenue figure in the next three to four years.
Natrajan Chandrasekaran, executive director and chief operating officer of TCS, said, “We are doing well in this market in sectors like BFSI, utilities, telecom, retail and e-governance. The growth rate is in double digits. Considering that, we are seeing IT spend increase in this market, we expect revenues of over $500 million to double in 3-4 years.’’
Chandrasekaran said that India along with other emerging markets like Asia-Pacific, West Asia, Africa and Latin America would be the key focus area for TCS. “We expect to grow at much higher growth rates in these geographies,’’ he added.
These four regions including India accounted for $1.1 billion, or 19 per cent, of the total revenue of $6 billion in the fiscal year 2008-09 — this is equal to the income TCS derives from just UK.
But with the economic downturn and its impact on IT spending in their main markets of the US and Europe, Indian IT companies are increasingly turning their focus to domestic clients and emerging markets.
However, Chandrasekaran did admit that the percentage of annuity revenues in these markets was lower than in mature markets. “There are more project-based transactions and hence we need to win more projects to sustain revenues,” he opined.
With respect to deals in the pipeline, he said, “The difference between deals now and one year ago is that earlier contracts were delayed or cancelled because market uncertainty was not foreseen by clients. It became difficult for these proposals to come to fruition. The scene has changed now with companies proposing deals keeping the conditions in mind.’’ He added that the deal flow this year would be normal.
