Software giant Microsoft announced its plans to cut 1% of its Indian staff as its net income declined 11% during the December quarter because of worldwide economic slowdown.
The declaration on this is part of the Redmond-based company's decision taken during January 2009 to slash around 5,000 jobs worldwide by June 2010 in order to save up to $700 million (Rs 3,500 crore).
The job cuts in India are part of the second round.
In India, the company's decision will impact around 55 people across Microsoft's six-business divisions spread across Bangalore, Delhi and Hyderabad.
In a major declaration, the company said, "Due to a global realignment of our business priorities, about one percent of the net rolls across India are likely to be impacted. These adjustments reflect the necessary changes to ensure that the right resources are focused on the right priorities."
When asked to give detailed information, the company's spokesperson declined to comment saying "We are currently working with the concerned employees to evaluate alternative positions internally and where applicable look at mutually favourable disengagement terms."
In a 10-Q filing to the Securities Exchange Commission on April 23, Microsoft said that it had reserved around Rs 1,200 crore for severance for 3,400 laid-off employees, "all of whom are expected to leave the company by June 30, 2010".
By: News
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Will Cisco Lay off 600 More
Another round of employees at Cisco Systems reportedly got pink slips Thursday, as the company laid off several hundred employees as part of its plan to cut costs and realign its business.
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that between 600 and 700 Cisco employees were laid off at the company’s headquarters in San Jose, Calif. The company also cut jobs at branch offices in other parts of the U.S. The Wall Street Journal cited sources close to the company.
A spokesman for the company told the Wall Street Journal that Cisco was “doing everything possible to minimize the impact on employees affected by the limited restructuring.”
Like all companies, Cisco, which makes networking equipment that runs the Internet and provides communications for large companies, has seen sales slump as a result of the global recession. The company said earlier this year that it would likely cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs as it realigned its business to focus on newer more profitable business segments. The cuts were expected to be completed at the end of the company’s fiscal year, which ends this month.
In February, Cisco said it cut about 250 jobs at its San Jose headquarters. Cisco had 66,558 employees at the end of April. Despite the cuts, Cisco’s CEO John Chambers has said publicly that he believes the worst of the recession is over. But he noted that it could take some time before spending returns to high levels. Wall Street will be watching the company’s next earnings call very carefully to see signs that the bottom has been reached. Cisco will report fiscal fourth quarter and end of year earnings on August 5 after the market closes.
Source : Cnet
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that between 600 and 700 Cisco employees were laid off at the company’s headquarters in San Jose, Calif. The company also cut jobs at branch offices in other parts of the U.S. The Wall Street Journal cited sources close to the company.
A spokesman for the company told the Wall Street Journal that Cisco was “doing everything possible to minimize the impact on employees affected by the limited restructuring.”
Like all companies, Cisco, which makes networking equipment that runs the Internet and provides communications for large companies, has seen sales slump as a result of the global recession. The company said earlier this year that it would likely cut between 1,500 and 2,000 jobs as it realigned its business to focus on newer more profitable business segments. The cuts were expected to be completed at the end of the company’s fiscal year, which ends this month.
In February, Cisco said it cut about 250 jobs at its San Jose headquarters. Cisco had 66,558 employees at the end of April. Despite the cuts, Cisco’s CEO John Chambers has said publicly that he believes the worst of the recession is over. But he noted that it could take some time before spending returns to high levels. Wall Street will be watching the company’s next earnings call very carefully to see signs that the bottom has been reached. Cisco will report fiscal fourth quarter and end of year earnings on August 5 after the market closes.
Source : Cnet
British Telecom to cut 2,750 call center jobs in India
British telecom giant BT will transfer more than 2,000 call centre jobs from India back to the UK, chief executive Ian Livingston revealed during the firm's annual general meeting at the Barbican Centre in London.
BT will transfer at least 2,000 jobs to Britain from India, where it employs 11,000 customer service staff. However, the eventual number of job cuts in call centres will be closer to 2,750, representing half the group's 5,500 call-centre staff in India, the Times reported on Thursday.
The firm, however, insisted that its move had nothing to do with the quality of service offered in India. "This is not about customer service, as the service in our operations around the globe is of very similar standards. It is about the effective deployment of our resources. We have opportunities to bring some activities, carried out by our partners, back from outside the UK to permanent BT employees in the UK who are skilled to do this work," a company spokesperson said.
The pullout of jobs from India would be phased with no specific timescale set for the transfer of jobs. "This is part of a long-term strategy to reduce costs and the dependency on third parties globally," the spokesperson added.
Industry watchers in Bengaluru said the move would keep the local population, struggling with a deep recession, happy. Unemployment in the UK is at its highest in the last one decade and salaries have dropped - so has India's cost advantage.
Managing partner of consulting firm Browne & Mohan Dr. T.R. Madan Mohan says that while Indian firms charge about $18 per resource, in the UK charges have dropped to $22-23 per resource from $33 in December last year. "However, technology work, which requires high skills, may continue to be outsourced. BT had axed 6000 jobs last year in the UK and much of this work came to Tech Mahindra and HCL," he says.
The firm, he adds, was looking at more high-end outsourcing and may consider players such as Patni, HCL, Infosys, and Subex.
The primary hit for Indian IT services vendors - mostly the top five players - will come when low-end work contracts are not renewed next year, says engagement manager with Zinnov Karthik Ananth. A spokesperson said that by next year, approximately 4,000 less people will be contracted in India than was the case in early 2008.
"The BT Global Business Services division, which mainly offshored to APAC countries, has been a loss making unit. The rationalisation of headcount would be to cut costs and scale down operations," he says.
In May, BT had announced that it will cut 15,000 more jobs this year after it reported a pre-tax loss of £1.34bn for the 12 months till March 31.The telecom giant had cut 15,000 jobs last year.
Last year, the majority of the job cuts were in the area of indirect labour, including agency, contractors, subcontractors and offshore workers, including those based in India. The telecom giant has a global workforce of 150,000 and employs 90,000 directly in the UK.
The firm has steered clear of compulsory layoffs in Britain and hoped to cut the jobs through natural wastage and voluntary redundancies.
Source: Asian Age
BT will transfer at least 2,000 jobs to Britain from India, where it employs 11,000 customer service staff. However, the eventual number of job cuts in call centres will be closer to 2,750, representing half the group's 5,500 call-centre staff in India, the Times reported on Thursday.
The firm, however, insisted that its move had nothing to do with the quality of service offered in India. "This is not about customer service, as the service in our operations around the globe is of very similar standards. It is about the effective deployment of our resources. We have opportunities to bring some activities, carried out by our partners, back from outside the UK to permanent BT employees in the UK who are skilled to do this work," a company spokesperson said.
The pullout of jobs from India would be phased with no specific timescale set for the transfer of jobs. "This is part of a long-term strategy to reduce costs and the dependency on third parties globally," the spokesperson added.
Industry watchers in Bengaluru said the move would keep the local population, struggling with a deep recession, happy. Unemployment in the UK is at its highest in the last one decade and salaries have dropped - so has India's cost advantage.
Managing partner of consulting firm Browne & Mohan Dr. T.R. Madan Mohan says that while Indian firms charge about $18 per resource, in the UK charges have dropped to $22-23 per resource from $33 in December last year. "However, technology work, which requires high skills, may continue to be outsourced. BT had axed 6000 jobs last year in the UK and much of this work came to Tech Mahindra and HCL," he says.
The firm, he adds, was looking at more high-end outsourcing and may consider players such as Patni, HCL, Infosys, and Subex.
The primary hit for Indian IT services vendors - mostly the top five players - will come when low-end work contracts are not renewed next year, says engagement manager with Zinnov Karthik Ananth. A spokesperson said that by next year, approximately 4,000 less people will be contracted in India than was the case in early 2008.
"The BT Global Business Services division, which mainly offshored to APAC countries, has been a loss making unit. The rationalisation of headcount would be to cut costs and scale down operations," he says.
In May, BT had announced that it will cut 15,000 more jobs this year after it reported a pre-tax loss of £1.34bn for the 12 months till March 31.The telecom giant had cut 15,000 jobs last year.
Last year, the majority of the job cuts were in the area of indirect labour, including agency, contractors, subcontractors and offshore workers, including those based in India. The telecom giant has a global workforce of 150,000 and employs 90,000 directly in the UK.
The firm has steered clear of compulsory layoffs in Britain and hoped to cut the jobs through natural wastage and voluntary redundancies.
Source: Asian Age
Lower Salaries for Laid of Techies
Bangalore: Till a few months ago, IT professional T.V. George was earning Rs.70,000 per month, plus perks. But after losing his high-paying job, and being unemployed for three months, George, 31, has started giving tuitions in mathematics and physics to aspiring engineering students in his neighbourhood.
"Now, I am earning Rs.15,000 per month. It's been hard. I got married only a few months before losing my job. So, when I lost my job, I was in a difficult position. Thankfully, I had some savings. With the savings, I am paying my rent and for a few other necessities," George, who was employed with a top U.S. IT company, told IANS.
"After losing my job, I tried my best to get a new job. But I remained unlucky. So to help run my home, I decided to give coaching classes to aspiring engineering students."
George is not alone. Recession has hit the IT sector in Bangalore, with scores of techies losing their jobs. Some have been forced to take up low-paying jobs as they wait to bounce back when the recession ends.
Dipankar Dutta, 27, working with an Indian IT company as software engineer, lost his job almost eight months ago.
Today he has a job, but as a content writer in a tech firm.
"Thankfully, writing has been my forte. So, I landed this job of a content writer. Otherwise I would have been in a soup. Since I cannot afford to stay in Bangalore without a job, I compromised and settled for the new job with a much lower pay package," said Dutta.
Scores of IT and ITES professionals in Bangalore have lost their jobs in recent times, an effect of the global economic meltdown. But there is no precise count of the numbers.
According to the latest employment and business outlook report by Bangalore-based staffing firm Teamlease, at 23 percent the attrition rate in this city is higher than in any other city in India.
The report was based on interviews with HR heads, CEOs and senior executives of 495 companies in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.
"The city accounted for the highest attrition rate. IT accounts for over 80 percent of the city's total labour pool. The attrition rate was 23 percent in the last quarter, against the previous quarter's 16 percent. Much of the attrition could be involuntary attrition (or layoffs)," Teamlease General Manager Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi said.
India's Silicon Valley has seen thousands of people getting pink slips in recent months. And many more are under the threat of losing their jobs.
"It's painful to lose your job, in today's expensive world. Those who have lost their jobs are desperate now, thus they are settling for low paying jobs," Karthik Shekhar, General Secretary of UNITES-Professionals, an unrecognised union of IT/Call Centre/BPO employees, told IANS.
"Every day we meet young men and women who have lost their IT jobs recently. All they want is a job. But getting a job in the IT sector is very difficult. So, they have no option but to settle for jobs outside their fields and that too with low paying packages," Shekhar added.
It's encouraging that today's youths are ready to move ahead in their lives. Instead of waiting for the economy to revive, IT professionals have started exploring other fields and this is a positive sign," said B.N. Gangadhar, professor of psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans), Bangalore.
Mohammed Khan, a trained software engineer, told IANS: "Initially it was difficult, but I am happy with my choice. After losing my job with an IT firm, now I am working as a sales executive. I am hoping the economy will recover soon and all the techies who have lost their jobs will get new jobs in their field."
Source: IANS
"Now, I am earning Rs.15,000 per month. It's been hard. I got married only a few months before losing my job. So, when I lost my job, I was in a difficult position. Thankfully, I had some savings. With the savings, I am paying my rent and for a few other necessities," George, who was employed with a top U.S. IT company, told IANS.
"After losing my job, I tried my best to get a new job. But I remained unlucky. So to help run my home, I decided to give coaching classes to aspiring engineering students."
George is not alone. Recession has hit the IT sector in Bangalore, with scores of techies losing their jobs. Some have been forced to take up low-paying jobs as they wait to bounce back when the recession ends.
Dipankar Dutta, 27, working with an Indian IT company as software engineer, lost his job almost eight months ago.
Today he has a job, but as a content writer in a tech firm.
"Thankfully, writing has been my forte. So, I landed this job of a content writer. Otherwise I would have been in a soup. Since I cannot afford to stay in Bangalore without a job, I compromised and settled for the new job with a much lower pay package," said Dutta.
Scores of IT and ITES professionals in Bangalore have lost their jobs in recent times, an effect of the global economic meltdown. But there is no precise count of the numbers.
According to the latest employment and business outlook report by Bangalore-based staffing firm Teamlease, at 23 percent the attrition rate in this city is higher than in any other city in India.
The report was based on interviews with HR heads, CEOs and senior executives of 495 companies in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Pune.
"The city accounted for the highest attrition rate. IT accounts for over 80 percent of the city's total labour pool. The attrition rate was 23 percent in the last quarter, against the previous quarter's 16 percent. Much of the attrition could be involuntary attrition (or layoffs)," Teamlease General Manager Surabhi Mathur-Gandhi said.
India's Silicon Valley has seen thousands of people getting pink slips in recent months. And many more are under the threat of losing their jobs.
"It's painful to lose your job, in today's expensive world. Those who have lost their jobs are desperate now, thus they are settling for low paying jobs," Karthik Shekhar, General Secretary of UNITES-Professionals, an unrecognised union of IT/Call Centre/BPO employees, told IANS.
"Every day we meet young men and women who have lost their IT jobs recently. All they want is a job. But getting a job in the IT sector is very difficult. So, they have no option but to settle for jobs outside their fields and that too with low paying packages," Shekhar added.
It's encouraging that today's youths are ready to move ahead in their lives. Instead of waiting for the economy to revive, IT professionals have started exploring other fields and this is a positive sign," said B.N. Gangadhar, professor of psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans), Bangalore.
Mohammed Khan, a trained software engineer, told IANS: "Initially it was difficult, but I am happy with my choice. After losing my job with an IT firm, now I am working as a sales executive. I am hoping the economy will recover soon and all the techies who have lost their jobs will get new jobs in their field."
Source: IANS
Saturday, June 6, 2009
HP To Lays Off 6420
On Tuesday, H.P., the world’s largest technology company, reported double-digit declines in sales across its major businesses in its second quarter. H.P. also said that it would cut about 2 percent of its 321,000-person work force, or close to 6,420 people, as it tries to reduce costs.
The layoffs are on top of the tens of thousands of people already being let go as part of H.P.’s acquisition of Electronic Data Systems, a large services company.
The computer and printer maker also issued a more pessimistic full-year revenue forecast. It now expects revenue to fall from 4 percent to 5 percent from the $118.4 billion reported last year, while it had previously predicted that sales would fall from 2 percent to 5 percent.
Mark V Hurd the chief executive at H.P., pointed to better sales in China and among consumers in the United States as the only two bright spots of note. Over all, however, he remained somber about the broad economic trends that affect the technology sector.
“I just think we are going to need another quarter of data to really make a meaningful statement about any upturn or anything like that,” Mr. Hurd said in a conference call with analysts to discuss the second-quarter results. “Our guidance is meant to be a sort of ‘steady as she goes.’ ”
H.P., with a broad range of businesses spread across the globe, serves as a bellwether of the technology sector. The forecast from H.P., the world’s largest PC maker, comes in contrast to the most recent forecast from intel, the world’s largest chip maker. Intel executives have maintained that the personal computer market appears to have reached bottom weeks ago and that market conditions are better than expected midway through the second quarter.
Catherine A. Lesjak, the chief financial officer at H.P., declined to issue any similar, upbeat remarks about PC sales, saying only that “demand looks a lot like it did last quarter.”
Investors appeared rattled at least in part by H.P.’s revenue forecast that reinforced sentiment that the economy is not yet improving. Following the release of the results, H.P.’s shares dropped close to 5 percent, during after-hours trading, to $34.81. Shares of H.P. had closed in regular trading Tuesday, up more than 2 percent at $36.58.
H.P. said net income in the second quarter ended April 30 fell 17 percent to $1.7 billion, or 70 cents a share, down from a profit of $2.1 billion, or 80 cents a share, in the same period last year. Excluding charges, H.P., based in Palo Alto, Calif., earned 88 cents a share for the period ended April 30.
H.P. surpassed the earnings expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters by 2 cents, while its revenue matched expectations.
Like other hardware makers, H.P. has had big declines in its major businesses. Notebook PC sales fell 13 percent; computer server and storage sales tumbled 28 percent; software sales fell 15 percent and sales of printers and related technology fell 23 percent.
Given such circumstances, Mr. Hurd focused on H.P.’s continued efforts to cut costs, allowing it to stay on pace with earnings expectations even while revenue was harder to find. The company reported record cash flow from operations of $5 billion in the quarter.
“The results do point to the stability of the H.P. model,” said Shannon Cross, the managing director of Cross Research, an equities research firm.
Mr. Hurd often emphasizes H.P.’s ability to alter its costs from quarter-to-quarter by making tweaks to the company’s vast supply chain. In addition, H.P.’s $13.9 billion purchase of E.D.S. last year has given it a new source revenue from services that has aided recent results.
H.P.’s services revenue increased 99 percent with the addition of E.D.S., to $8.5 billion. Since services deals often cover a number of years, the revenue tied to the agreements tends to remain steadier than hardware sales. Mr. Hurd’s focus on running such a lean organization does come with certain costs. The latest round of layoffs adds to the massive E.D.S.-related cuts and salary reductions across the company. “It all has to impact morale,” Ms. Cross said. “But I think people also understand that tough decisions need to be made.”
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Infy: 1500 Resumes in Job Market
Bangalore: The slowdown has proved to be a hard ground for the survival of the employees in Infosys, who have resorted to consultancies to seek new jobs. More than 1500 employees of Infosys have filed their resumes on various placement firms, in the last two months.
"Around 1300 resumes have been posted by Infosys employees, of which many of them are in the level of project managers," said Kris Lakshmikanth, Founder CEO and Managing Director, Head Hunters. HRM Consultants, a consultancy firm have received around 60 resumes. "During the last few years, resumes from Infosys were very rare, but this year we have received quite a few," said G.S.Lakshmiprasad of HRM Consultants.
There are other placement centers like HROne, Magnum Consultants and CR Executive Search, which saw many Infosys employees posting their resumes. Adding on to the insecurity, Infosys has laid off around 2100 people owing to non-performance.
Commenting on the sudden layoff, Ruchi Gopal of Magnum Consultants said, "Companies will see their balance sheet, so, handing pink slips to the employees is fair, if they were given proper notice period prior to the layoff."
However, the layoff happened without any prior notice to the employees. According to an employee who has been fired, they were called for a meeting with HR managers, and were immediately given two options either to resign voluntarily or get terminated. "
The company is especially, getting rid of the project managers. If a project manager had been handling 25 people, now he will have to manage 50 people as they are reducing the bulk," said Lakshmikanth.
US Trade Unions: NO to Offshoring
Bangalore: As MNCs cut jobs in big numbers to rein in costs, IT workers and their unions in the U.S. are now up in arms against offshoring work to cheaper locations like India, reports The Economic Times.
Microsoft, which announced first job cuts in its history, and IBM are among those facing a backlash from tech worker unions and policymakers. Washington Alliance of Technology Workers and Alliance IBM are two organizations of IT workers at the Big Blue running a campaign against the proposed 2,800 job cuts announced recently.
Lee Conrad, national coordinator of the Alliance, said, "The Alliance is strongly urging IBM not to go forward with a new round of job cuts and to stop the off-shoring of US workers' jobs."Consulting group Challenger, Gray and Christmas said last month that electronics, computer and telecommunications companies in the U.S. have cut their workforce by around 186, 955 professionals in 2008, up almost 75 percent from 2007.
According to the US Department of Labor, the unemployment rate during December last year rose from around 6.8 to 7.2 percent with almost 2 million workers losing their job between September to December.On the other side, IBM employs over 70,000 professionals in India and has plans to increasingly serve its global customers from the country.
"There is a growing concern among employees that IBM will accelerate the off-shoring of our jobs. To offshore U.S. jobs in the middle of an economic crisis and rising unemployment is simply unacceptable," said Tom Midgley, Alliance president in a January statement."We will work with our elected representatives to push for legislation that protects U.S. jobs and calls for the full disclosure of IBM's offshoring and outsourcing of American jobs."At the same time, policymakers in the U.S. are already proposing new regulations to curb offshoring.
In his letter to Microsoft's chief executive Steve Ballmer last month, Senator Chuck Grassley asked the company to give priority to American workers. "My point is that during a layoff, companies should not be retaining H-1B or other work visa program employees over qualified American workers," he said in his January 22 letter. "Our immigration policy is not intended to harm the American workforce." Microsoft plans to cut around 5,000 jobs in the U.S.However, experts such as Partha Iyengar, vice president at Gartner say that unavailability of required IT skills remains a key driver for offshoring.
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