Layoffs List of all Companies - Must Read !!!

[Kalyan]

US January job losses worst in 34 years

Last month's job reductions were largest since 602,000 in Dec 1974, while jobless rate reached its highest level in over 16 years. Job-cuts:

A blessing in disguise

US employers slashed 598,000 jobs in January, the deepest cut in payrolls in 34 years as the national unemployment rate shot up to 7.6 percent

Last month's job reductions were the largest since 602,000 in December 1974, while the jobless rate reached its highest level in more than 16 years.

source : economic times

[Kalyan]

Layoffs, cutbacks raise unemployment in North America

Worn down by a drawn-out recession, cost-cutting employers are laying off workers at an alarming clip and there's no end in sight.

Employers are slashing payrolls and turning to other ways to cut costs — including trimming workers' hours, freezing wages or cutting pay.

Check which companies have slashed how many jobs in North America.

source : economic times

[Kalyan]

Company: Macy's Inc


Sector: Retail

Numbers: 7,000

Date: Feb 02

Company: Eastman Kodak Co

Sector: Camera, printing

Numbers: 4,500

Date: Jan 29

Company: Jabil Circuit Inc

Sector: Electronics

Numbers: 3,000

Date: Jan 28

Corning Inc

Sector: Manufacturer

Numbers: 4,900

Date: Jan 27[/b]

olex Inc

Sector: Electronics

Numbers: 9,300

Date: Dec/Jan

Pfizer Inc

Sector: Pharma

Numbers: 19,500

Date: Jan 26

source : economic times

[Kalyan]

Company: Caterpillar Inc

Sector: Earth-Moving Equipment

Numbers: 21,610

Date: Jan 26/30

Company: General Motors Corp

Sector: Auto

Numbers: 2,000

Date: Jan 26

Company: Home Depot Inc

Sector: Home Improvement

Numbers: 7,000

Date: Jan 26

Company: Sprint Nextel Corp

Sector: Telecom

Numbers: 8,000

Date: Jan 26

Company: Texas Instruments

Sector: IT

Numbers: 3,400

Date: Jan 26

Company: Microsoft Corp

Sector: IT

Numbers: 5,000

Date: Jan 22

Company: Intel Corp

Sector: IT

Numbers: 6,000

Date: Jan 21

source : economic times

[Kalyan]

Company: Eaton Corp

Sector: Manufacturer

Numbers: 5,200

Date: Jan 20

Company: Hertz Global Hldgs Inc

Sector: Car rental

Numbers: 4,000

Date: Jan 16

Company: MeadWestvaco Corp

Sector: Packaging

Numbers: 2,000

Date: Jan 15

Company: Cessna Aircraft

Sector: Airlines

Numbers: 2,000

Date: Jan 12

Company: Boeing Co

Sector: Airlines

Numbers: 4,500

Date: Jan 9

Company: Dell

Sector: IT

Numbers: 1,900-3000

Date: Jan 8

EMC Corp

Sector: IT

Numbers: 2,400

Date: Jan 7

Company: Alcoa Inc

Sector: Aluminum prod

Numbers: 15,000

Date: Jan 6

Textron Inc

Sector: Airlines

Numbers: 2,200

Date: Dec 22

[Kalyan]

Company: Ryder System Inc

Sector: Truck Leasing

Numbers: 3,100

Date: Dec 17

Company: BorgWarner Inc

Sector: Auto

Numbers: 3,000

Date: Dec 11

Company: Office Depot Inc

Sector: Retail

Numbers: 2,200

Date: Dec 10

Company: 3M Co

Sector: Manufacturer

Numbers: 2,300

Date: Dec 8

Company: Wyndham Worldwide Corp

Sector: Hotel

Numbers: 4,000

Date: Dec 8

[Kalyan]

Company: Dow Chemical Co

Sector: Chemical

Numbers: 5,000

Date: Dec 8

Company: Avis Budget Group Inc

Sector: Car Rental

Numbers: 2,200

Date: Dec 4

Company: DuPont

Sector: Chemical

Numbers: 2,500

Date: Dec 4

Company: AT&T Inc

Sector: Telecoms

Numbers: 12,000

Date: Dec 4

Company: Pepsi Bottling Group Inc

Sector: Soft drink

Numbers: 3,150

Date: Nov 18

Company: Sun Microsystems

Sector: IT

Numbers: Up to 6,000

Date: Nov 14

[Kalyan]

Company: DHL Express BV

Sector: Transport

Numbers: 9,500

Date: Nov 10

Company: Ford Motor Co


Sector: Auto

Numbers: 2,260

Date: Nov 07

Company: Motorola

Sector: Mobile phones

Numbers: 7,000

Date: Oct/Jan

Company: YRC Worldwide Inc

Sector: Transport

Numbers: 3,750

Date: Oct 29


Company: Gannett Co Inc

Sector: Media

Numbers: 3,200

Date: Oct 28

[Kalyan]

Company: Whirlpool Corp

Sector: Consumer

Numbers: 5,000

Date: Oct 28

Company: Chrysler LLC

Sector: Auto

Numbers: 6,000

Date: Oct 24

Company: XEROX CORP

Sector: Technology

Numbers: 3,000

Date: Oct 23

Company: Merck & Co

Sector: Pharma

Numbers: 6,800

Date: Oct 22

Company: Micron Technology

Sector: IT

Numbers: 2,800

Date: Oct 09

Company: Federal Mogul

Sector: Auto, Engg

Numbers: 4,000

Date: Sept 17

Company: Hewlett-Packard

Sector: IT

Numbers: 24,600

Date: Sept 15

[nithyasubramanian]

Nissan to slash 20,000 jobs

Tokyo, Feb 09: Nissan says it sank into a net loss for the fiscal third quarter and will cut 20,000 jobs, or 8.5 percent of its global work force, over the next year to cope with the global downturn.

Battered by the slump in the worldwide auto market, Nissan also lowered its forecast Monday for the fiscal year through March, saying it now expects a net loss.

For the October-December quarter, Nissan Motor Co. reported a net loss of 83.2 billion yen (USD 914 million). The same quarter a year earlier, Japan's No. 3 automaker had a 132.2 billion yen profit.

courtesy : Zeenews.com

[nithyasubramanian]

GM to cut 10,000 jobs

New York, Feb 11: General Motors Corp is planning to slash another 10,000 salaried jobs this year, saying the cuts are unavoidable with a government restructuring deadline looming and industry-wide sales in one of the worst downturns in history.

The Detroit-based automaker said on Tuesday that it will reduce its total number of white-collar workers by 14 percent to 63,000. About 3,400, or 12 percent, of GM's 29,500 salaried US jobs will be eliminated.

Most of the company's remaining salaried employees will have their wages cut.

In its plan to Congress submitted late last year, GM said that it would have to reduce both salaried and hourly positions so that the company could become viable long-term. The company plans to reduce its total US work force from 96,537 people in 2008 to between 65,000 and 75,000 in 2012, but did not specify how many of the surviving jobs will be salaried or hourly.

GM chief executive Rick Wagoner, who was meeting with congressional leaders in Washington about global warming legislation, said Tuesday's announcement is "indicative of the kind of things we need to do to get this viability plan in shape and respond to these tough market conditions."

GM has dramatically downsized both its salaried and hourly work forces in recent years as the US auto market has shrunk from an annual sales rate of around 16 million vehicles to 13.2 million last year.

Since 2000, GM's salaried work force has shrunk by 33 percent from its 2000 high of 44,000 people. At the same time, the number of hourly workers has plunged by more than half — to about 63,700 people at the end of last year from 133,000 in 2000.

Most of the cuts announced on Tuesday are expected to take place by May 1. GM said that the cuts will vary by global regions depending on staffing levels and market conditions.

The company's statement said that there would be no buyout or early retirement packages as GM had offered in the past, but laid-off employees will get severance pay, benefit contributions and other assistance.

GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson would not say exactly where the US cuts would come from, but he said the automaker will continue to staff areas such as electric vehicle development that it expects to be important going forward.

"The goal is to put our people in the areas that are critical to our future success," Wilkinson said.

GM also said that it will cut the pay of most of its salaried US workers effective May 1. The pay cuts will be re-evaluated at the end of the year, GM said.

The wages of US executive employees will be cut by 10 percent, while other salaried workers will see cuts of three percent to seven percent, GM said.


courtesy : Zeenews.com

[nithyasubramanian]

ArcelorMittal reports huge loss, job cuts

Luxembourg, Feb 11: ArcelorMittal steel reported a huge loss in the last quarter of 2008, and announced on Wednesday that job cuts could exceed a planned total of 9,000.

The group reported a nine-percent net profit fall for the year to 9.4 billion dollars (6.4 billion euros).

The group said that it would continue to cut production in the first quarter of this year in response to the global economic crisis, and that job cuts could exceed 9,000, the figure signalled under a previous plan.

This was because the company was extending a voluntary departure scheme to production workers, finance director Aditya Mittal said.

For the last quarter of last year, the group reported a net loss of 2.6 billion dollars owing to an exceptional charge of 3.1 billion dollars in contrast to a profit of 2.4 billion dollars in the equivalent period of 2007.

The group, by far the biggest steel maker in the world, said that it would continue to reduce production in the first quarter of this year because of the effects of the economic crisis on demand for steel.

courtesy : Zeenews.com

[VelMurugan]

GM to cut 10,000 jobs, Nike another 1,400

Detroit: General Motors Corp will slash its global salaried work force by about 10,000, or 14 per cent, this year and impose pay cuts on most remaining white-collar US workers as it scrambles to reduce costs under a restructuring mandated by its US Government bailout.

GM, which was granted $13.4 billion of government loans in December, said on Tuesday it would cut its salaried work force to about 63,000 from 73,000 during 2009.

In the struggling automaker's home market, about 3,400 of 29,500 white-collar jobs will be cut. At the start of the decade, GM had 44,000 salaried employees in the United States, the majority of them in southeast Michigan.

Most jobs will be cut by May 1, and remaining US staff will see pay cuts of between 3 per cent and 10 per cent for the year, GM said.

The job and pay cuts are the latest step GM is taking to pare its operations ahead of a deadline to present a restructuring plan to the US government on Feb. 17.

This underscores the depth of a recession that has forced every major global automaker to slash salaried and hourly jobs, close plants and reduce production in a bid to save cash.
Chrysler LLC, which also received $4 billion in government loans and was seeking an additional $3 billion, is currently offering buyouts to its US hourly workforce after cutting more than 8,000 salaried jobs in 2008.

GM, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler have shed about 140,000 jobs since 2005 and almost half of their workforce since the start of the decade.

"These difficult actions are necessitated by a severe drop in vehicle sales worldwide and by the need to restructure GM for long-term viability," GM said in a statement.

GM spokesman Tom Wilkinson said the cuts would not be made across the board, but would be based on specific staffing needs for each department in response to changing consumer demand.

For example, GM may still need to hire more engineers for its next-generation battery business as the company pushes for the development of plug-in electric vehicles, Wilkinson said.

He added that some countries may take deeper workforce cuts depending on the growth rates of the markets.

GM's sales in January plunged 49 per cent and the automaker has said it expects industrywide US sales to be near 10.5 million vehicles in 2009, extending a four-year slump that has taken the market to the lowest levels since the early 1980s.

Source : IndianExpress

[VelMurugan]

Alcatel to cut 1,000 managerial jobs

PARIS: Franco-American telecoms gear maker Alcatel-Lucent said it plans to cut 1,000 managerial posts from its global workforce will see 198 positions in France eliminated.

Alcatel-Lucent managers in France told a works council meeting that 450 managerial posts would go in North America and 450 in Europe, of which 198 in France, the CFDT union said in a statement.

The company announced the decision to trim its executive ranks on December 12 as part of a strategic plan aimed at cutting cut costs by 750 million euros by the fourth quarter of 2009, but did not say where the cuts would fall. An Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman said, "I can confirm the figures for France, but we are not making a statement on the other numbers."

According to the CFDT, 1,602 posts are classed as managerial in France, and while France makes up 10 per cent of Alcatel-Lucent's workforce, it will bear 20 per cent of the job cuts. Alcatel-Lucent, the No. 3 player worldwide in terms of market share, behind Sweden's Ericsson and Finnish-German joint venture Nokia Siemens Networks, employs 77,000 worldwide and 11,000 in France.

The company, formed by the merger of Alcatel and Lucent in 2006, saw its share price fall 70 per cent in 2008 after a string of profit warnings and last week posted a 5.2 billion euro loss for the year amid a record 4.7 billion euros in depreciations. Since June, its share price has dropped more than 70 percent.

Source : IndiaTimes

[nithyasubramanian]

Japan's Pioneer to cut 10,000 jobs globally

Tokyo, Feb 12: Japanese electronics company Pioneer Corp said on Thursday it will cut 10,000 jobs globally to cope with sinking sales of car audio equipment and flat-screen TVs. It also said it will withdraw from its money-losing plasma display business.

The massive job cuts are the latest coming from Japan, where corporate giants like Sony Corp and Nissan Motor Co are slashing their payrolls, reducing production and forecasting annual losses.

Hit by the collapse in demand for car audio equipment and plasma TVs, Pioneer said its net loss in the current fiscal year to March will grow to 130 billion yen (USD 1.4 billion) from its previous estimate of a 78 billion yen net loss.

Pioneer said it will likely incur annual loss for the fifth consecutive year.

"Since the U.S. financial crisis and ensuing global downturn, our sales of car electronics products and flat-screen TVs plunged worldwide. We were severely hit by battered consumer sentiment," said Pioneer spokeswoman Michiko Kadoi.

The Tokyo-based company said it will slash 6,000 full-time salaried workers at home and abroad, accounting for 16 percent of the company's global work force of 36,900. It will also cut 4,000 contract workers at its Japanese and foreign plants.

The company did not give a regional breakdown.


courtesy : Zeenews.com

[nithyasubramanian]

Hexaware stops hiring, sees challenges in next 3-4 quarters

Mumbai (PTI): Global IT and BPO services provider Hexaware Technologies on Thursday said it has frozen hiring in the company and the coming 3-4 quarters are going to be tough for the firm in the backdrop of an economic slowdown.

"There has been a hiring freeze in the company and next three four quarters are going to be challenging in terms of revenue," Hexaware Technologies founder and executive chairman Atul Nishar told reporters on the sidelines of a Nasscom summit here.

Nishar said that revenues would be impacted because clients have been downsizing there budgets and the company would have to bear this because of global economic slowdown.

"Hiring is going to be very need-based and we are adopting strict performance review," Nishar added.

With 175 active clients, 60 of which are Fortune 500, Hexaware has achieved leadership in technology solutions for industries such as banking, financial, insurance, leasing, transportation and HR.

According to its website, Hexaware employs 7,000 workers globally. The company has six development centres, four in India and one each in Germany and Mexico. It also has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

courtesy : The Hindu.

[VelMurugan]

Apollo Tyres to layoff 1500 jobs

New Delhi: Apollo Tyres on Thursday said it plans to cut about 1,500 jobs, but added that it expects fiscal 2009 sales and profit will have improved.

"The process has already started and we will shed about 1,500 jobs out of a total employee strength of about 10,000 employees, Chairman Onkar Kanwar said.

We will be doing better than the industry average...19 per cent," Kanwar said referring to sales expectations for FY09.

The firm's profits for this fiscal will also be "better than before", he said on the sidelines of an industry conference.

Source : IndianExpress

[VelMurugan]

Siemens cuts working hrs for 3K staff

BERLIN: German industrial giant Siemens said that it was cutting the working hours of a further 2,800 workers as the Munich-based firm's difficulties show no sign of abating.

The company, which employs a total of 131,000 people in Germany, said 7,400 employees would be on shorter hours until April. Previously, only 4,600 workers had been affected.

Siemens said in a statement that the measures would safeguard jobs during what is expected to be Germany's worst recession in six decades.

The firm said in January that orders in the three months to December 2008 dropped eight percent, although it also reported a seven-percent increase in sales over the same period.

Source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

Sapient lays off 300 jobs in India

NEW DELHI: Software firm Sapient has laid off 300 employees at its offices in Bangalore, Noida and Gurgaon as a result of the global economic downturn, which has impacted several IT firms.

"In order to adjust to this changing demand environment, Sapient has exited about 8 per cent of its people. Sapient employs approximately 6,400 globally and as a result of this rationalisation, 300 people in India have been impacted," the company spokesperson said.

He said the exited employees have received severance packages and full outplacement services, and would be considered for rehiring on a fast track basis if the company finds that it again needs their skills and experience.

"These people were laid off to right size the company. They were at different levels of the management," he said, adding that Sapient has two-third of its workforce in India.

Businesses worldwide are feeling the impact of the economic downturn, and as a result, are reducing budgets and delaying projects. Despite the short-term softness in demand, Sapient remains well-positioned in two large markets -- IT services and interactive marketing.

The company would continue to make strategic investments and targeted hires in several areas that are expected to drive success in 2009, including trading and risk management, marketing and government services, he said.

Source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

Sun Micro lays off 150 in India

NEW DELHI: The global layoffs by tech MNCs have started spilling to their Indian operations. IT giant Sun Microsystems reportedly laid off over 150 employees in India around late in January.

According to a news report in a leading daily, most of the laid off employees were software developers working in the company's Bangalore office.

The news report adds that the company may go for another round of lay offs in the last week of February. This round is likely to impact support staff from departments like marketing, human resources and sales.

In November last year, Sun Microsystems announced that it plans to cut as many as 6,000 jobs as the company tries to cope with plunging sales of server computers to financial firms, market-share losses to bigger competitors, and a spiraling stock price.

The reduction, which will eliminate as much as 18 per cent of the staff, will save $700 million to $800 million from annual expenses, Sun said in an e-mailed statement.

Last week, a Goldman Sachs analyst put the server and software maker's stock on Goldman's `Americas Conviction Sell' list. Goldman analyst David C Bailey said in a client note that Sun's heavy concentration of financial services, telecom and manufacturing customers put it at a disadvantage to its more-diversified competitors. Bailey said that Goldman expects a low double-digit revenue drop at Sun in 2009 due to weakness in several of the company's key verticals and accelerating deterioration of its Unix server market.

Source : IndiaTimes

[nithyasubramanian]

GM, Chrysler plan to cut 50k jobs

Washington, Feb 18: US auto giants General Motors and Chrysler LLC have told the government they could need an additional USD 21.6 billion in federal loans between them because of worsening demands for cars and trucks. Presenting their updated turnaround plans by the government set Tuesday deadline, the two firms also detailed plans to cut 50,000 jobs worldwide by the end of the year.

America's largest automaker GM said it now may need as much as USD 30 billion by 2011, up from the USD 13.4 billion in federal loans it has already received. The company had originally asked for USD 18 billion in federal help last December.

GM said it needs USD 9.1 billion now and that it could need another USD 7 billion in the next two years if auto sales get even worse. Its smaller rival Chrysler said it now needs USD 9 billion, up from the USD 4 billion loan from the Treasury Department in December as well as its original request for a USD 7 billion from Congress earlier that month.

Chrysler said it will need that money by March 31. GM also accelerated its job cut plans, saying it is looking to eliminate 47,000 jobs worldwide over the course of 2009.

The company said it would cut about 20,000 jobs in the US, or about 22 per cent of its remaining US staff. Previously GM called for US job cuts of between 20,000 to 30,000 jobs, but it had stretched out those reductions through 2012. Chrysler said it plans to cut about 3,000 jobs, or 6 per cent of its workforce, and reduce capacity by another 100,000 vehicles this year as it tries to adjust to reduced demand.

It also said it has won the concessions from the United Auto Workers union and its creditors that were demanded under terms of the loan from the Treasury Department. A newly-appointed auto panel will review both plans and determine by March 31 if GM and Chrysler can be viable in the long run.

Specifically, the Treasury Department is looking for details about the progress of negotiations with creditors and the UAW. If the panel rules either company is not viable, it could recall the outstanding loans, a move that would likely force them into bankruptcy.

The other member of Detroit's so-called Big Three, Ford Motor, which had requested a credit line of USD 9 billion from Congress in December, said it would not to have to tap it unless conditions in the auto market and economy deteriorated more than expected.

courtesy : Zeenews.com

[VelMurugan]

Agilent to cut 600 jobs

Agilent Technologies Inc, the biggest maker of scientific-testing equipment, plans to cut 600 jobs after reporting profit and sales that trailed analysts' estimates. The shares fell 7.6 percent.

First-quarter net income fell 47 percent to $64 million, or 18 cents a share, from $120 million, or 31 cents, a year ago, Santa Clara, California-based Agilent said today in a statement. Excluding some costs, profit was 20 cents a share, missing the 31-cent estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Sales slowed more than expected across all geographies, customer segments and business units, the company said. The job cuts add to 500 positions eliminated in December as Agilent worked to trim spending to cope with the recession. The reductions announced today are designed to save $150 million a year, Agilent said.

"The biggest fallout was in electronics measurement used in electronics manufacturing," Chief Executive Officer William Sullivan said today in an interview. "This is a tough environment for companies that sell capital equipment."

Sales for the period ended January 31 dropped 16 percent to $1.17 billion, missing projections for $1.27 billion. Agilent fell $1.35 to $16.30 in extended trading after closing at $17.65 on the New York Stock Exchange. The shares lost 57 percent last year.

For the current period, Agilent projected profit and sales will be "roughly in line" with the first quarter. Analysts estimated a 35-cent profit on revenue of $1.27 billion.

"Forecasting in the current environment is almost futile, as visibility is virtually nil," Sullivan said in the statement.

Source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

HCL Tech lays off 450

NEW DELHI: IT services company HCL Technologies has asked 450 employees at its Delhi and Bangalore offices to leave. A majority of those axed were on the bench.

An HCL Technologies official, on the condition of anonymity, said that the company had sacked 400 people in Delhi and another 50 in Bangalore in the last one-two months. The firm had earlier asked those on the bench, the buffer of employees kept on the rolls for new projects, to get assigned to projects or face the prospect of being asked to leave the firm, he said.

In an email reply, a company spokeswoman didn't comment on the number of people sacked by the company but indicated that the move was linked to the performance of employees.

"HCL follows a systematic process of performance review and development, and the expectation of the organisation is for employees to meet the stringent performance standards. This is a routine and ongoing process," she said.

As of December 31, 2008, HCL had about 52,957 employees. The global downturn has impacted the revenues of clients of Indian IT companies, thereby dampening demand for software services.

Source : IndiaTimes

[nithyasubramanian]

Layoffs in IBM can touch 4,600

New York, March 08: Technology giant IBM is resorting to "scattered layoffs" and the total could be nearly 4,600 employees in North America even though the company has reported surprisingly strong quarterly profits in January, a media report says.

"Big companies also routinely carry out scattered layoffs that are small enough to stay under the radar... and IBM is one such company," the New York Times said.

Interestingly, after reporting strong quarterly profits in January, its Chief Executive Samuel J. Palmisano in an email message to employees said that while other companies were reducing jobs, his company would not. "Most importantly, we will invest in our people," he wrote.

But the next day, the New York Times said "more than 1,400 employees in IBM's sales and distribution division in the United States and Canada were told their jobs would be eliminated in a month. More cuts followed, and overall, IBM has told about 4,600 North American employees in recent weeks that their jobs are vanishing."

Quoting J. Randall MacDonald, IBM's senior vice-president for human resources, the newspaper said "it was routine for the company to lay off some employees while hiring elsewhere".

courtesy : Zeenews.com

[VelMurugan]

National Semiconductor to cut 1,725 jobs

CALIFORNIA: Faced with a steep decline in sales, chip maker National Semiconductor Corp. said on Wednesday it will eliminate more than one-quarter of its work force, or 1,725 jobs.

The company said it will immediately begin trimming 850 positions worldwide in its product, marketing, manufacturing and support businesses. An additional 875 jobs will be lost with the shuttering of facilities in Suzhou, China, and Arlington, Texas, over the next few quarters. National Semiconductor has about 6,500 employees.

The Santa Clara-based company said the layoffs will cost $160 million to $180 million in severance and other charges, $130 million to $145 million of which will likely be recorded in this fiscal quarter.

The cuts came as National recorded a 71 percent decline in its third-quarter earnings, posting a profit of $21.1 million, or 9 cents per share, compared with $72.9 million, or 29 cents per share, a year earlier.

Sales fell more than one-third to $292 million from $453 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 5 cents per share on sales of nearly $296 million.

"The worldwide recession has impacted National's business as demand has fallen considerably," Chief Executive Brian L. Halla said in a statement.

National Semiconductor said it expects another 5 percent to 10 percent sequential decline in sales, which would put its fourth-quarter revenue between $263 million and $278 million. Analysts were expecting revenue of $293 million.

Shares of National Semiconductor fell 28 cents, or 2.4 per cent, to $11.42 in morning trading. The company also said its quarterly dividend would remain 8 cents per share and will be paid on April 14 to shareholders on record as of March 23.

Source : Economics Times

[VelMurugan]

McClatchy's Miami Herald to cut about 175 jobs

MIAMI: The publisher of The Miami Herald says about 175 employees will lose their jobs as the newspaper cuts costs.

In a memo on Wednesday, David Landsberg says remaining full-time staff will have their salaries reduced. Those employees also will get one-week unpaid furloughs, starting in April.

The Herald's executive editor, Anders Gyllenhaal, says in a separate e-mail that the layoffs include 33 full-time and eight part-time newsroom positions. He says some remaining staff will see their hours cut.

The newspaper is also eliminating 30 vacant positions and leasing one floor of the Herald's downtown Miami headquarters. All management bonuses have been cut this year, too.

source : Economic Times

[VelMurugan]

More layoffs coming at Dell

SAN FRANCISCO: Dell Inc, the world's No. 2 maker of personal computers, is cutting more jobs this week as it continues to retool operations.

Dell declined on Wednesday to disclose how many people it is laying off, saying only that they are taking place at its assembly facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and in Central Texas.

The company, which cut 11,000 jobs last fiscal year, is trying to overhaul its cost structure in the face of a punishing recession.

"I can confirm a global workforce reduction this week as part of our ongoing effort to streamline our business," said Dell spokesman David Frink.

Frink declined to say what other locations might also see job cuts. Dell's headcount stood at 78,900 as of January 30.

Dell's Winston-Salem plant makes desktop computers and employs around 1,100 people. The facility is not being closed.

Central Texas is home to some Dell manufacturing operations as well as the company's global headquarters.

The Austin American-Statesman newspaper reported that this week's layoffs number in the hundreds. Dell has said repeatedly it plans to wring expenses out of its business. It recently boosted its 2011 cost-reduction target to $4 billion from $3 billion.

In January, the company cut 1,900 jobs at its manufacturing plant in Limerick, Ireland. Revenue in its most recent quarter fell 16 per cent. The company plans to focus on profitability over growth.

Analysts say the company is overexposed to the PC market, which has seen a steep falloff in demand. PC sales make up around 60 per cent of Dell's revenue.

Source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

Creative Technology to cut 300 jobs

SINGAPORE: Struggling Singaporean digital entertainment products maker Creative Technology is to cut 300 jobs globally, mostly in Europe and the United States, the company said.

It said in a statement the company said that there would be a restructuring charge of 10 million dollars for severance payments and headcount cost reductions in the current third quarter ending March.

The Singapore-listed firm has struggled to make inroads against Apple's iconic iPod in the MP3 or digital music player market despite pumping in massive investments.

In the second quarter ended December 2008, Creative Technology racked up a net loss of 32.4 million dollars compared with a profit of 7.6 million dollars for the same period in the previous financial year.

Source : Indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

Nokia to cut 1,700 jobs globally

Nokia Oyj, the world's biggest maker of mobile phones, plans to cut 1,700 jobs globally by scaling back sales, marketing and some technology functions to adapt to falling consumer demand.

The company, based in Espoo, Finland, will start consultations with unions regarding the cutbacks, which are part of previously announced plans to adjust to a shrinking market, Nokia said in a statement today. Of the cuts, about 700 will be in Finland, spokeswoman Eija-Riitta Huovinen said by telephone.

"Nokia continues to seek savings in operational expenses, looking at all areas and activities across the company," Nokia said in the release.

In January, Nokia said that it would slash its dividend for the first time in seven years and forecast a 10 percent slide in industry sales as the global crisis saps consumer demand. Nokia sold 15 percent fewer phones in the fourth quarter than a year earlier and cut its industry sales forecast for a third time since November.

Source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

`Infosys BPO lays off 600'

NEW DELHI: The business process outsourcing (BPO) arm of Infosys Technologies, Infosys BPO, reportedly terminated the services of over 600 contract workers in a staff redeployment exercise in February.

According to the report -- which appeared in a business daily -- the workers, who were on multi-year contracts, included temporary workers, whose exact numbers are not clear.

Incidentally, Infosys BPO is also adding another 2,000 workers by the end of March, which will raise its headcount above the 20,000 mark from around 18,000 at present, according to the news story.

Though company spokesperson maintained that no employee on the direct rolls of Infosys BPO has been laid off. HR industry sources, however, confirmed the development. Infosys' staffing needs contractors include Adecco PeopleOne, Mafoi and TeamLease.

The country's second-largest software company recently said that it is looking at acquisitions in the BPO and KPO spaces. "We are looking at back office functions where the companies perform very unique services with their own platform or intellectual property," said Infosys MD S Gopalakrishnan. "There are opportunities in traditional BPOs as well and we are not restricted to KPOs."

Captives in banking and financial services, manufacturing, and telecom are still considered hot property. "Our acquisition guidelines have not changed in this environment. We will acquire the strategic fit first and then growth," said Gopalakrishnan, adding that the target company should typically have a revenue of about $300-500 million. Infosys is also looking at smaller acquisitions in the range of $100-200 million.

"There is always more risk attached to the integration of a larger entity. However, if something smaller or bigger comes along we will definitely look at it," said Gopalakrishnan.

As the company continues to focus on geographically non-English speaking countries such as France, Germany and Japan, it is not averse to acquisitions in other locations. "These are not mutually exclusive with the services offered by the company. If there is an opportunity to acquire a consulting company in the US, we will look at it," Gopalakrishnan said.

Source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

SAP lays off unspecified numbers

NEW DELHI: 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.

Source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

IBM to cut 5,000 jobs

NEW YORK: 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 Reuters.

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.

Source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

Agilent laying off 2,700

CALIFORNIA: Agilent Technologies Inc said it will lay off 2,700 workers and halt share buybacks as the scientific-instrument maker struggles with a huge drop in demand.

The company expects revenue in its electronic-measurement segment to drop 30 per cent in fiscal 2009 -- the lowest level in its 10-year history.

Revenue in its chip and board test segment is expected to fall 50 per cent from the 2008 level, and 65 per cent from its peak volume.

Agilent is cutting annual costs by $300 million in its electronic-measurement segment and by $10 million in its chip and board test segment.

The company will also suspend share buybacks for the rest of its fiscal year, which ends in October.

The 2,700 layoffs bring the number of employees who have been laid off since December 2008 to 3,800, spokeswoman Amy Flores said, marking a 20 per cent cut in workers since the end of last year.

The moves entail cash costs of about $160 million. "Business remains severely depressed, and there are no prospects for a meaningful recovery in the foreseeable future,'' Chief Executive Bill Sullivan, said in a statement released by the company.

source : IndiaTimes

[VelMurugan]

More layoffs at IBM

TORONTO: IBM Canada, which has 19,600 employees on its rolls, announced that it is axing a number of jobs to contain costs.

The US software giant, which is reportedly in the process of laying off 5,000 staff in America and transferring a lot of them to India, said the Canadian cuts will affect the staff from customer care positions to executives.

Without specifying how many jobs will be cut, an IBM Canada spokesman told the Canadian Press that "there is no specific area being targeted and no specific region -- it is across the country.''

He added, "From our perspective this is just the way we manage resources depending on the needs of clients and how that changes.''

With 400,000 employees worldwide, IBM is cutting costs by shifting many jobs to low-cost India and other countries to maintain profits.

Meanwhile, the US auto giant Chrysler, which has threatened to pull out of Canada if wages of workers are not reduced by about $20, was reportedly nearing a deal with the auto union.

Chrysler, which has three plants in Canada and employs about 8,000 Canadians, had threatened last week that it will close its Canadian operations if workers don't take wage cuts to help the struggling auto company.

The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union said that the two sides have reached agreements on a number of points to help Chrysler stay competitive in the current environment.

"We are making solid progress and are trying to get it done within the next 24 hours,'' CAW president Ken Lewenza said.
Chrysler, which is the second biggest auto seller in Canada after GM, is also seeking $2.9 billion in loans from the Canadian and provincial Ontario governments for its survival.

Source : indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

Google goes for largest-ever layoffs

SAN FRANCISCO: Google Inc is jettisoning nearly 200 workers in its largest round of layoffs yet, demonstrating that even highly profitable companies are feeling the recession's pinch.

The cuts will affect workers globally, Google said in a blog posting today. Employees will have a chance to find other positions within the company. There are no plans for further cuts, spokesman Matt Furman said.

Google is curbing costs as businesses reduce spending on online advertising, its main revenue source. The company announced plans in January to cut about 100 recruiting jobs, followed in February by the closure of its radio-programming business, eliminating as many as 40 jobs.

The latest cuts will help Google simplify decision making, after years of expansion created bureaucracy, spokesman Matt Furman said.

"It was getting hard to get things done quickly and efficiently," Furman said. "At the same time, we were over- invested in some areas. Those investments were based on assumptions about economic growth that made sense at the time, but don't anymore."

The company continues to hire at a reduced rate, targeting specific job roles, he said.

Finding religion
"Google's growing financial and operational discipline should be positive for revenue growth and margins," Youssef Squali, an analyst with Jefferies & Co in New York, said in a research note prior to the job-cut announcement. "We are encouraged by the company's newfound 'religion.'"

The latest round of cuts will affect about 1 per cent of the workforce. Google had more than 20,000 employees at the end of last year. The company had already slowed hiring in the fourth quarter -- adding about 100 people, compared with about 500 in the third quarter.

"Google has grown very quickly in a very short period of time," Omid Kordestani, senior vice president of global sales and business development, said in the blog posting. "When companies grow that quickly, it's almost impossible to get everything right -- and we certainly didn't."

Chief Financial officer Patrick Pichette said last month the company had trimmed spending by avoiding luxuries such as business-class flights. Still, Google will continue to offer some of its famous perks, such as free meals, because they foster good communication among employees, he said.

Source : indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

Hitachi to shut plant, lays off 800

TOKYO: Hitachi Ltd, a Japanese maker of nuclear reactors, household appliances and hard disk drives, said it will close its flat-panel television factory in the Czech Republic amid slumping demand.

The company, Japan's second-biggest plasma-television maker, will end operations at the plant this month, laying off all 800 employees, Hiroki Inoue, a Tokyo-based spokesman at Hitachi said. The factory has been in operation less than two years, he said.

Hitachi, which also assembles televisions in Japan and China, will continue to sell them in European and is considering alternative supply routes, Inoue said. He declined to disclose costs related to the closure.

The shuttering of the Czech plant is part of a cost-reduction plan, including the elimination of many as 7,000 jobs as the company forecasts a record 700 billion yen ($7.1 billion) loss this fiscal year amid the global recession. Hitachi projects shipments of plasma televisions will fall 24 percent in the year ending March 31.

Source : indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

EMC cuts CEO's and top execs' salary

NEW DELHI: The storage major EMC Corp has cut the salary of Chief Executive Joe Tucci, and four other top executives, by 10% each over what they learned in 2008.

According to EMC's proxy statement, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Tucci's 2009 salary will be cut by $100,000, to $900,000, and Chief Financial Officer David Goulden will have his pay reduced by $60,000, to $540,000.

Additionally, Tucci's total possible annual bonus will be lowered by 30% to a little more than $1 million. Goulden and other executives will have their bonus targets cut by 10%.

"Given the challenging global economic environment, as part of our ongoing cost reduction initiatives, we reduced our executive officers' cash compensation in 2009," EMC stated.

Source : indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

Infosys fires 2,100

BANGALORE: Infosys Technologies has fired 2,100 people across the country, after an annual performance appraisal exercise concluded mid-March.

TV Mohandas Pai, head of the company's HR, said that based on the performance, 2,100 employees had left Infosys. "The tolerance for non-performance has come down to zero," said Pai.

"The appraisal was conducted for 60,000 of our employees. At the bottom, some 3.5 per cent of the people were either outplaced or left the company. It's an annual scenario after every performance assessment. In fact, normally the bottom size is 5 per cent,'' he said. Trainees were not part of this exercise.

Outplacement is a new jargon used by enterprises, which means off-loading excess/unwanted staff to another employer. However, outplacing is not a viable option in the current scenario where few jobs are available in the market.

Infosys currently has an employee base of 1,05,000 which includes 45,000 trainees who were not part of this appraisal exercise. During quarter ending December 31, the company had a total headcount of 1,03,078.

A quarter ago Infosys had said it would hire 26,000 people during fiscal 2008-09, more than what it had projected in the beginning of the year. During the third quarter, the company made a gross addition of 5,997 with the net intake being 2,772.

Infosys has made offers to around 20,000 engineering graduates for the current year. The company has been vocal about honouring all the offers it made to freshers. Infosys' earnings for 2008-09 will be out on April 15.

Source : indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

More job cuts at IBM

LONDON: 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 Observer 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."

Source : indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

`Cisco could announce 10% layoffs'

NEW DELHI: 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.

Source : indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

Yahoo to lay off in hundreds

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo Inc is gearing up for its third round of mass layoffs in 14 months, signaling the long-slumping Internet company is still struggling to snap out of its financial malaise under a new leadership team.

The cuts will likely affect several hundred employees, a person familiar with the plan said, confirming a report first published on The New York Times' Web site.

The person asked to remain anonymous because Yahoo isn't publicly discussing anything that might affect its stock price until the April 21 release of the Sunnyvale, California-based company's first-quarter earnings report.

Most analysts expect those results to be lackluster, extending a pattern of disappointing profits that began in 2006.

Yahoo hired technology veteran Carol Bartz as its chief executive in January to steer a turnaround. The blunt-talking Bartz has spent much of her tenure trying to understand Yahoo's strengths and weaknesses while promising to throw out the dead wood. She already has reorganized Yahoo's management team.

Bartz's predecessor, Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang, also tried to shake things up by laying off about 1,000 workers in February 2008 only to expand the payroll again in the next few months. Just before Bartz's hiring, Yahoo eliminated more than 1,500 jobs to enter 2009 with 13,600 workers.

When they made the last cuts, Yahoo executives warned more layoffs could be coming if the recession worsened — an unwelcome turn that occurred during the first three months of the year.

The deepening downturn has caused more advertisers to trim their spending, a trend that has hurt all companies like Yahoo that depend on advertising for most of their revenue. The retrenchment has been a bigger problem for more traditional media, particularly newspapers, but it's also forcing Internet companies to tighten their belts.

Even Internet search leader Google Inc, which generates three times more revenue than Yahoo, decided to lay off about 340 workers and curb other expenses during the first quarter to bolster its profits during the tough times.

source : indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

Sony Ericsson to cut 2,000 more jobs

HELSINKI: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Ltd, the mobile-phone venture of Sony Corp and Ericsson AB, said it will cut an additional 2,000 jobs to revive profit amid falling demand.

The measure will reduce costs by 400 million euros ($524 million) annually by mid-2010 and cost 200 million euros to implement, Sony Ericsson said in a statement. It follows a plan announced in July to slash 2,000 positions to save 300 million euros, which has been completed, and another unveiled in January to reduce costs by 180 million euros by the end of 2009.

Sony Ericsson reported its third straight quarterly loss today after it slipped to fourth place in global handset shipments at the end of last year. The London-based company has suffered as consumers snapped up touchscreen models from competitors such as Apple Inc with its iPhone.

"As expected, the first quarter of this year has been extremely challenging for Sony Ericsson due to continued weak global demand" Chief Executive Officer Dick Komiyama said in the statement. "We are aligning our business to the new market reality with the aim of bringing the company back to profitability as quickly as possible."

Third loss
The first-quarter net loss was 293 million euros, compared with a profit of 133 million euros a year earlier, the company said. Sales fell 36 per cent to 1.74 billion euros.

Analysts in an SME Direkt survey predicted a 293 million- euro net loss on sales of 1.68 billion euros, based on 28 estimates.

Sony Ericsson's gross margin, or sales minus manufacturing costs, narrowed to 8.4 per cent in the quarter from 29.2 per cent a year earlier.

Restructuring charges for the first two cost-cutting programmes will stay within the 300 million-euro sum set aside in July to pay for the measures, the company said.

The venture shipped 14.5 million phones, a 35 per cent drop from a year earlier. The company estimated its market share fell two percentage points to 6 per cent from the fourth quarter. The average selling price of its handsets fell to 120 euros from 121 euros in the fourth quarter as well as the year-earlier period.

Sony Ericsson predicts global industry handset unit sales will shrink at least 10 per cent this year from the 1.19 billion sold in 2008. Nokia Oyj, the world's largest mobile-phone maker, yesterday reiterated its forecast of about a 10 per cent drop in the global handset market.

Nokia reiterated its margin targets for the year after announcing job cut programmes that will cover about 3,000 employees. The Espoo, Finland-based company's first-quarter net income declined 90 per cent to 122 million euros.

source : indiatimes

[nithyasubramanian]

India Inc hiring drops 8% in March: Survey   

New Delhi, April 17: Reeling under the impact of the global economic crisis, India Inc saw its hiring activity decline by 8 per cent in March this year, a report by job portal Naukri.com says.

Naukri JobSpeak index for March stood at 711, which indicates a fall by 8 per cent compared to 774 in February FY'09, the report citing data from its job index stated.

The JobSpeak index suggests closing of the financial year witnessed a drop in hiring activity across most sectors, with core industries like Banking and Insurance, IT- Software, Oil and Gas seeing a decline in the index, it added.

The job index has been calculated based on new jobs added to the site month on month, jobs in July have been taken on a base of 1,000 and the subsequent monthly index is compared with data for July.

"March was a month of caution for India Inc. Sectors like healthcare, pharma, and telecom were slightly better positioned than other sectors. But virtually everyone is lower than what they were," InfoEdge (India) National Head – Marketing and Corp Comm Sumeet Singh said.

Further, most cities witnessed a decline in the job hiring index. Mumbai was the most impacted city followed by Ahmedabad and Baroda.

Mumbai saw a steep fall in hiring activity and the index moved to 604, it's lowest since July.

courtesy : Zeenews.com

[nithyasubramanian]

Jobless Rate Climbs in 46 States, With California at 11.2%

California and North Carolina in March posted their highest jobless rates in at least three decades, as unemployment increased in all but a handful of states during the month, the Labor Department said Friday.

California's unemployment rate jumped to 11.2% in March, while North Carolina rose to 10.8%, the highest for both since the U.S. government began a comprehensive tally of state joblessness in 1976.

The state-by-state employment figures showed only a few states avoiding the deterioration seen nationwide. Unemployment rose in 46 states during the month, and 12 states plus the District of Columbia posted unemployment rates in March that were significantly higher than the 8.5% nationwide figure the government released earlier this month.

The chief economist for California's finance department, Howard Roth, said the state's unemployment rate hasn't been this high since reaching 11.7% in January 1941. The highest level on record in California is 14.7% in October 1940, he said.

California lost 62,100 jobs in March, with Florida next at 51,900 jobs lost, Texas at 47,100 and North Carolina at 41,300, according to the federal figures.

California, the nation's most-populous state, has been hit particularly hard by the housing-market crash. That led to major job losses in the construction and financial industries. "We did it bigger in terms of the housing bubble," Mr. Roth said. "You pay for that by falling farther."

Still, the latest figures offered a "glimmer of hope," he said. March losses were about half the 114,000 jobs shed in February, a sign that the pace of decline in California's job market may be slowing.

Most economists expect job losses across all U.S. nonfarm employers to continue in April at or near the rapid pace seen in March, when 663,000 jobs disappeared.

California exemplifies the troubles across America. Teresa Nelson, a 54-year-old public-interest lawyer, has sought work at government or nonprofit agencies since last summer. She has applied for 20 jobs and landed five interviews. "I have a lot of qualifications, lots of experience, but people assume I need a higher salary," said Ms. Nelson, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area. "It's been frustrating."

The federal report showed 48 states and the District of Columbia posted payroll declines in March. Only Mississippi and North Dakota had slight gains of about 300 jobs.

Among states, North Carolina experienced the largest month-over-month percentage drop in payroll employment, about 1%. It was followed closely by Idaho, Minnesota and Washington state, each losing about 0.9%.

Eight states have already seen double-digit unemployment rates, which are calculated on a different survey than payroll numbers. As the economy deteriorates, and job hunters face difficulty finding new work, economists expect joblessness to top 10% nationwide by late 2009 or early 2010.

Michigan, battered by turmoil in the auto industry, reported the highest unemployment at 12.6%. Oregon followed at 12.1%, then South Carolina at 11.4%.

Only North Dakota and the District of Columbia saw unemployment rates decline for the month. Rates remained flat in Georgia, New York and Rhode Island.

courtesy : Zeenews.com

[dwarakesh]

India's second largest information technology (IT) services provider, Infosys, has urged its 3,500-odd employees currently 'on the bench' (without any project to work on) to move to its business process outsourcing (BPO) arm, while remaining on the parent company's rolls.

The action is primarily targeted at BSc graduates in its IT services and is "purely voluntary". The company says there will be no change in salaries and remuneration of these employees. It believes this will give its employees an opportunity to be productive, rather than do nothing.

Incidentally, Infosys had made job offers to 20,000 students for the 2010 fiscal. Of these, 16,000 will join once their seven-month training is over.

Infosys has also launched an intranet portal — winify.com — for its employees. The portal will have all job openings within the company and all those benched can directly apply through this portal. "We are asking employees to get onto projects and look for opportunities, rather than sit idle," said a senior official.

Analysts say this is a fair move. "Considering you are already paying salaries to these people, it makes sense for the company to make use of its internal resources rather than hire afresh," said an analyst from a brokerage firm.

In December last year, Wipro had made a similar move. It had offered jobs in the BPO business to around 2,000 campus recruits from various engineering colleges in Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, till they could be absorbed in the company's IT business. However, the experiment of putting engineering graduates into BPO work appears to have met with limited success; the company found many of them unsuitable.

Analysts said Wipro's experiment of putting engineering graduates into BPO work was driven by the company's aggressive quest to make manpower multi-skilled, as the company signs more integrated deals.

Of about 1,000 people, who had accepted the offers to join BPO jobs, Wipro found only about 300 suitable, after initial screening. Close to 450 of those who failed to qualify the initial screening are undergoing training now and will be asked to take the test again, according to Wipro's Head of HR, Pratik Kumar, in an earlier interview to Business Standard.

Source: Business Standard

[Kalyan]

HSBC lays off 100 private bankers

Global banking giant HSBC said on Tuesday it had laid off 100 private bankers in Hong Kong as demand for their services has shrunk amid the economic downturn.

"Changing market conditions have affected business volumes and have led private banking to review its business to ensure it remains competitive and well-placed to serve its clients," a spokesman for the bank told media.

The spokesman said the layoffs represented eight percent of their 1,200 private banking staff in Hong Kong.

Asked if there would be more layoffs, he said: "No employer can give a cast-iron guarantee in the current economic climate."

The London-based bank said it had completed its 17-billion-US dollars rights issues earlier this month after posting a 70 percent plunge in its 2008 profits in March.

The cuts were the latest in a wave of layoffs in the finance sector.

Last week, embattled Swiss banking giant UBS AG (UBS) said it would cut 240 jobs, about eight percent of the workforce, at its wealth management group in the Asia Pacific, as part of efforts to save costs, according to Dow Jones Newswires.

In February, Deutsche Bank AG (DB) cut about 70 of its wealth management staff in Hong Kong and Singapore, sources told Dow Jones.

source : economic times

[dhilipkumar]

Infosys fires 2,100 for poor performance

BANGALORE: Infosys Technologies has fired 2,100 people across the country, after an annual performance appraisal exercise concluded mid-March.

TV Mohandas Pai, head of the company's HR, told TOI that based on the performance, 2,100 employees had left Infosys. "The tolerance for non-performance has come down to zero," said Pai.

"The appraisal was conducted for 60,000 of our employees. At the bottom, some 3.5% of the people were either outplaced or left the company. It's an annual scenario after every performance assessment. In fact, normally the bottom size is 5%,'' he said. Trainees were not part of this exercise.

Outplacement is a new jargon used by enterprises, which means off-loading excess/unwanted staff to another employer. However, outplacing is not a viable option in the current scenario where few jobs are available in the market.

Infosys currently has an employee base of 1,05,000 which includes 45,000 trainees who were not part of this appraisal exercise. During quarter ending December 31, the company had a total headcount of 1,03,078.

A quarter ago Infosys had said it would hire 26,000 people during fiscal 2008-09, more than what it had projected in the beginning of the year. During the third quarter, the company made a gross addition of 5,997 with the net intake being 2,772.

Infosys has made offers to around 20,000 engineering graduates for the current year. The company has been vocal about honouring all the offers it made to freshers. Infosys' earnings for 2008-09 will be out on April 15.

indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

Yahoo to cut 700 more jobs

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo Inc said it would cut 5 per cent of its global workforce (nearly 700 jobs) and reported quarterly results that showed progress towards controlling costs, sending shares higher in an after-hours relief rally.

The Internet company said economic conditions remained challenging, as revenue on Yahoo Websites from both display ads and search ads fell during the first quarter.

But the decline in revenue was offset by better cost controls, as new Chief Executive Carol Bartz seeks to revive Yahoo's fortunes. "People were really looking at the profit structure of the business and for things not to be falling apart," said Kaufman Brothers analyst Jason Avilio.

Yahoo said last October it would cut about one-tenth of its workforce, or about 1,600 jobs. The company finished 2008 with roughly 13,600 employees and said it would take severance charges from the new round of layoffs during the second quarter.

The company also announced in an internal memo to employees on Tuesday that it planned to implement a mandatory shutdown of operations during the holiday week of December 25, 2009 through January 1, 2010.

Yahoo said its operating cash flow, excluding certain items, was $409 million in the first quarter, at the high end of the $365 million to $415 million range it forecast in January.

Yahoo shares were up 54 cents at $14.92 in after-hours trading on Tuesday. The company's stock is up roughly 9 per cent from its Monday close of $13.66.

Yahoo's financial report comes as speculation has mounted that the firm has restarted discussions with software giant Microsoft Corp about an Internet search partnership, following last year's failed merger negotiations.

Bartz, who replaced Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang in the top job in January, declined to comment on anything related to Microsoft during the conference call on Tuesday.

But she reiterated her belief that search is a very valuable part of Yahoo's business.

"I'm well-versed enough in the search business at Yahoo to say it's absolutely critical to Yahoo," Bartz said in response to a question regarding whether she is now familiar enough with the business to respond to an offer for search.

In the first full quarter under Bartz's leadership, Yahoo generated revenue of $1.58 billion, down 13 per cent from the year-ago period. Excluding traffic acquisition costs (TAC), Yahoo's revenue was $1.16 billion, compared with the average analyst expectation of $1.2 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company reported a net profit in the first quarter of $118 million, or 8 cents a share -- down from $537 million, or 37 cents a share, a year earlier. Wall Street analysts, on average, had forecast earnings at 8 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

While revenues were "a bit light," Jefferies & Co analyst Youssef Squali said in an email that Yahoo's overall results, particularly on the bottom line, were not bad given the environment.

Yahoo said that revenue from display ads on its owned and operated websites slid 13 per cent year-over-year in the first quarter, with revenue from automotive advertisers down "substantially" and spending by retail advertisers "softened" compared to the year ago period.

Revenue from search-based ads on Yahoo sites were down 3 per cent. And Yahoo said that advertisers were spending less money to bid for the individual keywords that their ads appear alongside, echoing a theme present in results last week from Google Inc, the No.1 US Internet search company.

Yahoo, like Google, stressed the importance of keeping costs in line amid the difficult economy. The new round of job cuts come about two months after Bartz announced a reorganization of Yahoo's internal management structure.

The layoffs, said Bartz, are a "natural outgrowth" of the reorganization, which will allow Yahoo to streamline its operations and eliminate duplication of efforts.

The Internet company said it would also continue to implement unspecified "non-headcount cost reductions," so it can increase its ability to make strategic investments and target hiring in its core operations

"It's crucial that management adjusts the cost structure to the new growth (or lack thereof) realities; so margin protection is paramount to Yahoo right now," said Jefferies analyst Squali. "We think there is potential outperformance on margins."

Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen told Reuters there were "still very dark clouds on the horizon" for the economy.

"I'll try to resist calling the bottom in any way," he said in a telephone interview.

Yahoo projected that sales in the current quarter would range between $1.425 billion and $1.625 billion.


Source : indiatimes

[VelMurugan]

Wipro says bye to advance campus recruitments

BANGALORE, INDIA: Wipro Technologies' financial results for the financial year ended on March 31 has reported a positive note in comparison with its competitors Infosys and TCS.

Suresh Senapathy, CFO, Wipro Technologies said, "Though our results are not as good as the previous years, we have been able to manage better than our other peers."

However, in spite of recording overall growth, the company is keeping its outlook and guidance low, even for its recruitment process.

So far, Wipro has not planned to make any campus recruitments and also did not reveal any specific numbers for this year.

The usual process of making campus offers a year in advance would be not followed by the company anymore. The next phase of campus recruitments would commence only by January next year.

"The hiring for this this year would be in line with the business shipping up," said Pratik Kumar, executive vice president HR, Wipro Technologies. He added that they would continue to invest in work force as per their requirements and specific niche skills.

The company would honor all the seven thousand campus offers that were made last year. The ones who were left out among those who got offers last year, may join Wipro by next month, he said.

Meanwhile, Wipro would not increase the salary of its employees.

Globally, the company is looking forward in recruiting people for its Atlanta center and ramping up their centers in China.

The IT major reported a dip in voluntary attrition from 11.9 per cent in Q3 to 7.9 per cent in this quarter. Overall, the voluntary attrition for FY 08-09 came down to 11.3 per cent from 16.3 per cent for FY 07-08.

However, the involuntary attrition rate has gone up from 2.0 per cent in Q3 to 2.6 per cent this quarter. Overall too, the involuntary attrition level has gone from 0.5 per cent in FY 07-08 to 1.9 per cent in FY 08-09.

Wipro had recently introduced a program where the employees' working period was shortened. Commenting about the program Kumar said, " This program is basically for the people who are as trainees. The intention was to not take any drastic step and lose good resource."

He further added that in this program the trainees are asked to work for only ten days a month and are paid 50 per cent of their total salary. He said less than one thousand people are put in this program.

Source : ciol

[rajoe]

HCL cuts back on recruitment and campus offers

HCL Technologies has revealed that it will not be indulging in any campus placements this time in order to cut costs that go into training the newly recruited.

The leading software exporter said it will only hire people 'just in time' of requirement and not maintain a bench. The CEO of the company, Vineet Nayyar has said that HCL has been following the 'just in time' recruitments for some time now and it has paid off well.

"We have hardly made any campus offers...we have moved to the lateral strategy," he added.

Overall headcount of the company saw a decline of 992, to 54,026, from Dec to Mar. In the BPO services segment the headcount has came down to 11,426 from 12,750 in Dec. However, the company maintained that it has not laid off any employees.

It has also been learnt that the in the BPO sector, the company is planning to move away from voice-based service to platform-based services. Therefore it is unlikely that the company will recruit for voice-based services.

source:thatstamil