Fri, 25 May 2012 22:24:54 -0800WeeblyFri, 25 May 2012 22:13:25 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/do-the-math-it-holds-ticket-to-many-high-flying-jobs-the-times-of-india.htmlhttp://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Do-the-math-It-holds-ticket-to-many-high-flying-jobs/articleshow/13462165.cms

CHENNAI: Do you like mathematics? The question evokes the strongest of reactions, especially in class 12 students who have  just got their results. Either you love math or hate it-there is no middle path.

Math is an essential skill and among the crucial subjects when it  comes to getting into the most sought after courses, but a course in pure math  is not seen as a ticket to a lucrative and stable career. Students and parents  have their reasons, but soon that will be passe.

The employability of  math graduates has been undergoing a steady change. Academic  positions were the most preferred option
earlier, and they continue to be  strong options even today, but industry is also offering equally rewarding  careers. Much of the change is being driven by new-age businesses like analytics  and domains like computer science and financial services which require  candidates with deep mathematical skills. Students coming out of reputed  mathematics programmes can expect to be in high demand in the coming years. The  government has also realized the importance of reviving interest in mathematics  and has declared 2012 as 'National Mathematical Year'.

"One really  strong trend is the rise of analytics," says Ashok Reddy, head of Teamlease, a  leading staffing firm in the country.
"Analytics as a domain cuts across  industry verticals and is growing fast globally." Big names, ranging from Amazon  and eBay to Google and Microsoft have their own in-house analytics divisions. A  number of third party analytics service providers have come up in India who  service global names across industries and they need people with good math  skills. Bangalore-based Mu Sigma, one such large firm, has made it part of its  logo which goes: 'Do the math.' "My dream recruit would ideally be a mathematics  plus computer science graduate," says Dhiraj Rajaram, CEO of Mu Sigma.

"There's no better time to do math than now," said Atul Jalan, founder  and CEO of Manthan, an analytics firm in Bangalore. The firm has a core team of  56 mathematicians, including many PhDs. In many firms, including Manthan,  salaries for core analytics team is higher than those in other divisions.

Companies like Google, IBM, Facebook and Microsoft are known to hire  mathematicians and computer science scientists. As more of these technology  companies set up operations in India, the demand for people skilled in  mathematics is going up.

Financial services firms are another set of  recruiters. "They also need a large number of specialists to support the complex  financial products. Statistical modelling and financial domain knowledge can be  particularly useful," said Madan Padaki, CEO of MeritTrac, a testing and  assessment company.

Independent Knowledge Process Outsourcing companies  and those associated with large IT firms are growing fast and require graduates  with mathematical skills. 

"The critical thing to realise is that  industry is a lot more interested if you bring mathematics plus something to the  table. They are not just looking for number crunchers," says Reddy. Applied  mathematics is what industry looks. Good communication skills and industry  domain knowledge can enhance chances of a math graduate landing an industry job.

"Maths lets us be better decision makers and the future belongs to  people like that," says Rajaram. ]]>Fri, 25 May 2012 22:09:24 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/it-ites-and-retail-companies-hiring-more-temporary-employees.htmlhttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/news-by-industry/jobs/it-ites-and-retail-companies-hiring-more-temporary-employees/articleshow/13465053.cms

Companies across the information technology (IT), IT-enabled services and retail sectors are hiring more temporary staffers, shining a glimmer of light in a bleak economic scenario. At the same time, they are moving with caution, cutting  the number of permanent employees on their rolls and running multiple checks  before they hire.

"We are adding 7,000 temporary employees a month, but  are down by 35 per cent permanent staffers in the past few months
compared with  the same period last year," says Sangeeta Lala, senior VP and co-founder,  TeamLease Services. In the previous slowdown in 2008-2009, companies fired  20,000 temporary staffers in a 15-month period, before asking permanent  employees to go.

Companies can take in temporary hires withevery spurt  in business, but if things become difficult, they will not renew
contracts, adds  Lala.

While cutting jobs is standard practice during a downturn,  staffing firms have started to feel the heat this year. Team-Lease
Services,  Randstad India, Kelly Services, Adecco India and Manpower India notice that  business heads are playing extra safe while adding to the permanent head count.

The temporary staffing business in India is pegged at around Rs. 3,000  crore while the permanent staffing business is at nearly Rs. 17,200 crore. The  global temporary staffing industry is at around $140 billion. "Temporary growth  takes place where there is a need for maintenance and sustainability, but when  there is growth in industries and greenfield projects, the demand is for  permanent employees," says a senior Randstad  India executive who does not wish to be named.

The firm has seen  temporary hiring go up by 20 per cent compared with the same period last year,  while permanent hiring has slowed down by 25 per cent in the past six months.  "While last time, all hiring had stopped, this time recruiting is taking a  while. There is a squeeze in the middle and junior-levels and clients are not  looking at volumes," says the executive.
 
Even for temporary  hires, companies are opting for multiple rounds of interviews, psychometric and  other assessments tests. Manpower  Services has seen temporary staffing grow by 15 per cent in the March-May  period compared with the same time last year, while fixed hiring has dropped.  But since around 85 per cent of its business is from workforce on lease, the  staffing firm is not too perturbed, says a senior executive of the firm who does  not wish to be named.

On the other hand, Kelly Services has seen a 15 per cent dip in  permanent hires, mainly in the IT industry. The staffing firm has also seen some  permanent positions in the sector going to the temporary workforce, says Kamal  Karanth, MD.

In 2008-2009, all costs were curtailed and therefore the  temporary workforce was flagged down as well. "Organisations are conservative as  permanent hiring is at least two to five times more expensive than a temporary  one," says NS Rajan, partner & global leader - people & organisation,  Ernst & Young. 

The dip in permanent hires will impact staffing  firms, but only just. Despite being a high-margin business, only 10-15 per cent  of staffing firms revenues come from permanent positions. In comparison, the  temporary staffing business a large volume, cut-throat-margin game.

But  not all staffing firms are willing to see current trends as a no-win situation  for permanent
hiring. The changes are after all, cyclical, economy-related,  impacted by the outsourcing of services and dependent on hires the firms have  made last year, when the going was good. ]]>Mon, 21 May 2012 00:20:14 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/turbulence-in-aviation-sector-hits-demand-for-pilots-cabin-crew-financial-express.htmlhttp://www.financialexpress.com/news/turbulence-in-aviation-sector-hits-demand-for-pilots-cabin-crew/951073/0

New Delhi: The crisis in the domestic aviation industry has hit the job market for pilots and cabin crew. Placements through training
institutes, such as Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy and Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi (IGRUA), have fallen by around 50%. Recruitment consultants feel the demand for aviation jobs has been flat, or even negative, in the past six months compared to early 2011, when the airlines were increasing their headcount at 15%.
 
“The slowdown has impacted the placements. There are smaller airlines like Spirit Air, Turbo Air who do come for placements and take a few students. However, that is limited,” said Capt SN Reddy, CEO, Andhra Pradesh Aviation Academy. The academy, on an average, trains about 11-12 commercial pilots every year. Two years back, it claimed a 100% placement record. Now, the institute is able to place just 4-5 pilots.

Reddy's concerns are shared by HR experts who believe that there would be scarcity of aviation jobs, for both technical and non-technical personnel. “Six months ago, the job market  was growing by 15%. But in the last half-a -year, the growth has been flat and might hit negative in the future,” said E Balaji, MD & CEO, Randstad India.

IGRUA — an autonomous body under the civil aviation ministry — too is finding it difficult to place students. The institute trains about 100 pilots per year, and had a 100% placement record till a year back. These have now come down to 60-62 pilots. “There has been a worldwide impact. There are thousands of commercial pilot licence (CPL) holders who are waiting to get a job. We are now looking at new areas of employment like coast guard, flying instructors, corporate jets, etc, to ensure that out placements remain good,” said wing commander SK Kumar of IGRUA. Salary packages have been hit too. “The average salary of pilots have gone down from R5 lakh a month around eight months ago to R3 lakh now. Even for air-hostess and cabin crew, the salaries have remained flat at R6-15 lakh per annum,” said Jyorden T Misra, MD, Spearhead InterSearch.Just a couple of years ago, trained pilots were reaping the benefits of the aviation boom.

It was earlier estimated that the worldwide aviation sector will require over 1 million pilots and technicians by 2030. However, according to industry experts, around 5,000 CPL holders are now waiting to be employed. Also, in contrast to two years ago, when airlines were increasing their hiring at 20-25%, there are hardly any airlines, barring IndiGo, which are hiring.

For cabin crew, however, the situation seems a bit better. “There has been no major change in the placement opportunities for our students. A number of them get placed in airlines like Singapore, Qatar and Emirates. Even domestic carriers like IndiGo, GoAir come for placements,” Samir Walia , vice-president marketing and infrastructure corporation, Frankfiin, said.

The travel sector has been the slowest-growing occupation on a year-on-year basis. According to Monster.com, the jobs in this segment have declined by 6% between April 2012 and April 2011. “The major reason is that aviation is the biggest employer in the travel segment. Air hostesses and cabin crew are now moving to the hospitality sector,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, vice president,
TeamLease Services.
]]>Mon, 21 May 2012 00:08:19 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/happy-staff-healthy-firms-financial-chronicle.htmlhttp://www.mydigitalfc.com/companies/happy-staff-healthy-firms-124

The adage — prevention is better than cure — not only applies to the health of human beings, but also to that of organisations. Happy employees keep companies in good shape; they quit when their well-being is compromised or they assume it has been neglected.

Attrition is one issue that never stops bothering HR managers. Getting concerned and conducting half-hearted exit interviews is not
the solution, say industry experts. In a fast-changing work environment, employing people belonging to at least three different generations, companies will have to keep track of employees’ needs. And in that, small things can help a great deal in ensuring retention, they add.

According to R Kannan, chief executive officer of AssessPeople, increasingly employees want to be treated like customers, in the sense that their requirements have to be met at the right time to retain them. Companies often misunderstand the needs of their staff and channel their energies into irrelevant measures in the name of employee retention.

“Earlier, results of exit interviews were the main inputs to gauge attrition. But now companies have realised the need to keep
track of employee satisfaction right from day one. Small things such as ensuring whether a fresher was given the appointment letter on the first day, was assigned a desk and shown the cafeteria, go a long way in retaining the employee. These measures maybe irrelevant, but they create the initial impressions on the staff. Several research studies have shown that a majority of exits happen within the first month of joining,” he adds.

Employees’ expectations and aspirations are changing fast. Enterprises now employ different age groups with varied work experiences and have to grapple with a wide spectrum of issues. Capturing satisfaction levels right from “on-boarding”, pre-joining and every three to six months is the only way to ensure a harmonious environment.

“However, the general attitude among HR managers is that we did a survey this year and let’s do one next year. This does not work. What is the point in doing half-hearted exit interviews when employees have decided to leave anyway?” Kannan said.

Peers, managers and exiting employees themselves go through behavioural change once the resignation letter is submitted, says Surabhi Mathur Gandhi, senior vice-president for IT sourcing at TeamLease Services. All parties become disinterested in each other and the whole process of exit interview loses its purpose. According to company’s  “impactful exits” survey, a majority of Indians still prefer the manual exit interview process. Most employees bluff during these sessions, says Kannan.

“Around 92 per cent of Indians across all industries and cities believe exit policies should be taken seriously and given importance,” says the TeamLease survey. Over 76 per cent of the companies still conduct exit interviews manually. Fixed factors related to job profile, compensation, work environment, company policies are captured by a higher percentage of companies during the exit interviews as compared to variable factors, which are more dependent on people, such as support and guidance provided by the managers, training, timely feedback and clarity of communication.]]>Fri, 18 May 2012 01:57:43 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/indian-corporate-employees-have-higher-aspirations-than-chinese-says-study-hindustan-times.htmlhttp://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Indian-corporate-employees-have-higher-aspirations-than-Chinese-says-study/Article1-857022.aspx

Indian employees at multinational organisations have higher aspirations to reach top management positions compared to the Chinese counterparts, states a new report released on Wednesday. The survey, conducted by non-profit group Catalyst, surveyed a total of 1,834 “high potential employees” (44% women, 56% men) designated as future leaders and working for US or European multinational organisations across Asia.
 
Of the 226 Indian respondents, 78% said they aspired to reach senior executive or chief executive officer positions, compared to 52% of the 275 Chinese respondents, according to the study titled “Expanding Work-Life Perspectives: Talent Management in Asia”. Further, in the next five years a larger percentage of Indians aspire to move to a higher level (98%) compared to Chinese respondents (91%).


“The democratic system has a major role to play in increasing aspirations and that culture filters into the workplace. China has more restrictions and fewer freedoms,” said Rekha Sethi, director general, All India Management Association,  which has 4,000 corporates across the country as its members.

Indian respondents also reported better flexibility in the company, with 72% saying there was enough flexibility compared to 57% of Chinese respondents.

“This study shows that, despite similarities… important country-level differences exist when it comes to work-life experiences within different Asian countries,” said the concluding segment of the report.  

A separate report also looked at men’s and women’s impressions of the workplace in India. While 61% of the 165 men surveyed said it was easy managing work and personal life, 48% of 61 women surveyed said it was not so easy. Women also found companies less flexible to their needs (67%) compared to men (75%). 

However, men and women had the same aspirations, with 98% of the women saying they wanted to get to a higher level in the next five years compared to 97% men. “It is obviously difficult for women to manage their work-life balance because  of family needs,” said Neeti Sharma, vice-president of TeamLease, a staffing  solutions company.

]]>Tue, 15 May 2012 23:51:56 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/jobs-good-news-bad-news-business-world.htmlhttp://www.businessworld.in/businessworld/businessworld/content/Jobs-Good-News-Bad-News.html

A Businessworld-Naukri.com survey on what the job market looks like this year

Amitabh Singh (name changed), 27, lazily reads the horoscope section in a newspaper. He smirks and says, “Even the astrologers
are giving only marital and romance forecasts. No one wants to talk about jobs.” Singh, who worked with Infosys for four years, had to wait for more than six months to get a job at IBM Bangalore. He got a 30 per cent hike in salary, while there was no increment at Infosys.

Earlier in April, the second-largest IT firm froze wage hikes across the board after missing its revenue targets for the fourth quarter as well as the whole of FY12 and giving a cautious, below-industry growth estimate for FY13. Infosys, which added 10,500 people in the last quarter of FY12, said it will hire 35,000 people in 2013.

“The job market will be sluggish till economic growth heads north. The past 4-5 quarters have seen a continuous softening in the Indian economy,” says Sanjeev Bikhchandani, founder and executive vice-chairman of InfoEdge India.

Information technology is facing low demand due to the slowdown in Europe and the US; BPO and export industries have remained muted for the same reasons; insurance continues to reel under the regulatory changes of the past two years; and retail, though better off, continues to be fettered by policy paralysis.

But don’t despair. Demand-driven sectors such as FMCG, healthcare, hospitality and travel and tourism continue to show double-digit growth, which augurs well for hiring in 2012. The e-commerce sector, too, shows  growth potential, even though it creates fewer jobs.

Businessworld and India’s largest job portal Naukri.com analyse data from job postings on Naukri’s website to capture the broad sectoral, geographical and skill-set trends. Here is a snapshot of sectors that are hot in 2012 and those that are not.

Who Is Hiring
Job experts are bullish on sectors such as pharma, FMCG, consumer durables, etc., which tend to be immune to slowdowns, inflationary pressures or global headwinds. The FMCG sector, which attracts maximum discretionary consumer spending, is expected to lead in hiring — it grew 15 per cent in the last quarter of FY12. “This is a recession-proof sector and hence people who moved to sunrise sectors like banking, finance, etc., three years ago are now looking to come back,” says V. Krishnan, executive vice-president, HR, Dabur India. The sector is likely to give 14-15 per cent increments this year. Dabur, for instance, has been growing 29 per cent year on year (it grew 17 per cent in the fourth quarter). It is expected to hire for its research and development and sales and marketing divisions as it gets into newer categories within the skincare and haircare domains as well as for its other
growth verticals such as health supplements and food business, which have been growing at 30 per cent.

The pharma sector, too, is bullish about hiring. For example, Lupin, which hired over 2,500 people last year, expects to add 25 per cent more this year. Divakar Kaza, president of HR at Lupin, expects hiring to go up mainly in R&D and sales and marketing. “We are expecting a patent cliff in 2016-17, which will impact a host of global pharma companies. As a result, these firms are exploring the generics space in emerging economies, such as India, where the consumption levels are high,” says Kaza. ]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 23:43:01 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/exit-with-grace-times-ascent.htmlhttp://www.itsmyascent.com/web/itsmyascent/career-advice/-/asset_publisher/W3x7/content/exit-with-grace

Here's how the exit process can be made easy 

The handing over of the resignation, going through the notice period and transferring of responsibilities is quite an uncomfortable and hectic job for most employees. However, the manner in which one exits a company speaks a lot about the person's professionalism and the importance she/he attaches to the work. It is highly essential that an employee goes through the proper rituals of exit without making things messy or neglected. Let us delve into the established code of conduct in such situations.

How important is the relieving letter of the previous company for the employee being considered for recruitment? Margaret Rodriques, associate manager-corporate HR, Directi answers, "It is very
mportant for the employee to take his/her relieving letter while leaving It doubles up as a proof of employment as well as an experience letter. The organisation in a way certifies that the individual has worked for a specific tenure and left on a positive note. It assures us that the candidate hired is stable and has a good track record with the previous company. There are times when employees resign without giving any notice or leave without any intimation due to various reasons, have loans/recoverable due to the company, etc. Any company would like to safeguard themselves from such candidates."

Zarir Baltiwala, senior HR expert, TeamLease tells us the procedures/policies that employees are generally expected to
follow, "All employees are encouraged to have a face to face discussion with their manager before formally putting in their resignation. This allows the manager to have a chance to speak to the employee and give the employee a chance to re-think his/her decision. Once an employee has finally decided to resign, then she/he is required to send a formal resignation letter and serve the full contractual notice period. In exceptional cases, the manager may waive the notice period in full or part. Employees are required to complete a web-based exit interview prior to leaving. In exceptional cases, the exit interview is done face to face by the HR representative."

It is often noticed that employee productivity and efforts largely decrease in the notice period. Chaitali Mukherjee, country manager, India Right Management explains why, "Employee notice period is primarily aimed at ensuring seamless transition of the employee's responsibilities to other employees. Employee productivity does get impacted; however it also depends on the ownership of the employee and reflects a lot on the experience they have had with the current employer. There are employees who serve till the last working day to ensure that things are in order and the employee who takes up the
responsibility doesn't face any challenges. At the same time, there are employees who zoom out from their responsibilities the moment they put in their papers. In case his/her experience has been good, they will do a good job, else they will just tick the box."

Hence, the exit strategy of an employee does speak a lot about him/her. Thus, it is better to walk out gracefully and not carry any grudges along with us.]]>Thu, 10 May 2012 23:37:15 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/information-technology-sectors-worst-nightmare-over-india-today.htmlhttp://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/information-technology-sector-worst-nightmare-over/1/187697.html

Attrition, the worst nightmare of the information technology sector, has dipped considerably in FY12 helped by an improvement in macroeconomic conditions and employee retention programmes.

At Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), 12.2 per cent of the workforce quit in FY12, lower from 14.4 per cent a year earlier. While at IT major Wipro, attrition dipped to 17.6 per cent in FY12 (22.3 per cent in FY11).

Attrition at second-rung Infosys Ltd fell to 14.7 per cent (17 per cent in the previous year) and at HCL Technologies to 15 per cent from 17 per cent. Hexaware Technologies, which follows a calendar year, saw 11 per cent of its employees putting in papers compared to 16.4 per cent a year ago.

"Hiring picked in the year 2010-11 after the slowdown as the pent-up contracts had to be executed. Most IT firms resorted to lateral hiring (recruiting of experienced personnel) during the year to execute these orders resulting in an increase in attrition," Ankita Somani, IT and telecom analyst with Angel Broking, said. "However, the lateral hiring in FY12 was not as high as that a year ago while generous salary hikes of an average 12 per cent also helped in retention of employees across the industry," Somani added.

The IT industry witnessed an average attrition of 17-25 per cent in FY12 while the average attrition across sectors-manufacturing, banking and others-was at about eight per cent. The software industry clocked one of its highest attrition rates in FY11.

Attrition, which is defined as employees resigning or retiring and does not include people who were fired, has a direct relation to the growth of the sector and India's GDP. When the industry is expanding, new firms set up shop and hire employees on a higher salary, which leads to resignations.

"Apart from economic reasons, the fall in attrition in 2011-12 was also due to the rise in retention and employee satisfaction programmes undertaken by IT firms. Retention techniques, including job rotation, internal reshuffling of jobs, giving additional responsibilities, and, of course, wage hikes were other reasons," Surabhi Mathur Gandhi, senior vice-president (IT sourcing) at staffing firm TeamLease Services said.

 Ajoy Mukherjee, executive vice-president and head, global human resources, TCS, said, "Our efforts to increase retention by engaging with our employees and offering them a progressive career path is paying dividends with attrition rates falling further to 12.2 per cent."

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm WNS also recorded a much lower fall in resignations in FY12 despite its presence in the high-attrition segment as the company was "continuously working" towards addressing the issue. "The fourth quarter attrition rate was 39 per cent. On a yearover-year basis, attrition is down from the 45 per cent we reported in the fourth quarter of last year," WNS Group chief executive officer Keshav R. Murugesh said adding, that it is a challenge for the Indian technology and the BPO industry.]]>Tue, 08 May 2012 02:46:45 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/attrition-dips-in-it-sector-in-fy12-following-employee-retention-programmes-business-today.htmlhttp://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/attrition-dips-in-it-sector-in-fy12/1/24624.html

Attrition, the worst nightmare of the information technology sector , has dipped considerably in FY12 helped by an improvement in macroeconomic conditions  and employee retention programmes.

SPECIAL: Indian IT firms to create 2,00,000 jobs in FY13

At Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), 12.2 per cent of the workforce quit in FY12, lower from 14.4 per cent a year earlier. While at IT major Wipro, attrition dipped to 17.6 per cent in FY12 (22.3 per cent in FY11). Attrition at second-rung Infosys Ltd fell to 14.7 per cent (17 per cent in the previous year) and at HCL Technologies to 15 per cent from 17 per cent. Hexaware Technologies, which follows a calendar year, saw 11 per cent of its employees putting in papers compared to 16.4 per cent a year ago.

"Hiring picked in the year 2010-11 after the slowdown as the pent-up contracts had to be executed. Most IT firms resorted to lateral hiring (recruiting of experienced personnel) during the year to execute these orders resulting in an increase in attrition," Ankita Somani, IT and telecom analyst with Angel Broking, said. "However, the lateral hiring in FY12 was not as high as that a year ago while generous salary hikes of an average 12 per cent also helped in retention of employees across the industry," Somani added.

The IT industry witnessed an average attrition of 17-25 per cent in FY12 while the average attrition across sectors-manufacturing, banking and others-was at about eight per cent. The software industry clocked one of its highest attrition rates in FY11.

Attrition, which is defined as employees resigning or retiring and does not include people who were fired, has a direct relation to the growth of the sector and India's GDP. When the industry is expanding, new firms set up shop and hire employees on a higher salary, which leads to resignations.

"Apart from economic reasons, the fall in attrition in 2011-12 was also due to the rise in retention and employee satisfaction programmes undertaken by IT firms. Retention techniques, including job rotation, internal reshuffling of jobs, giving additional responsibilities, and, of course, wage hikes were other reasons," Surabhi Mathur Gandhi, senior vice-president (IT sourcing) at staffing firm TeamLease Services said.

Ajoy Mukherjee, executive vice-president and head, global human resources, TCS, said, "Our efforts to increase retention by engaging with our employees and offering them a progressive career path is paying dividends with attrition rates falling further to 12.2 per cent."

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm WNS also recorded a much lower fall in resignations in FY12 despite its presence in the high-attrition segment as the company was "continuously working" towards addressing the issue.

"The fourth quarter attrition rate was 39 per cent. On a yearover-year basis, attrition is down from the 45 per cent we reported in the fourth quarter of last year," WNS Group chief executive officer Keshav R. Murugesh said adding, that it is a challenge for the Indian technology and the BPO industry.]]>Tue, 08 May 2012 02:41:28 -0800http://www.teamleaseiijt.com/1/post/2012/05/jobs-and-pay-in-troubled-waters-hindustan-times.htmlhttp://www.hindustantimes.com/business-news/WorldEconomy/Jobs-and-pay-in-troubled-waters/Article1-850814.aspx

Sanjeev Sharma, a 35-year-old software engineer, was prepared for bad news two months before April when rumours began to circulate that there would be no pay hikes this year. He was a little lucky, though.

"The grapevine suggested that the financial health of organisation was not well. We were obviously disappointed
but  finally, there was a marginal salary hike to boost us, though it was a single  digit hike," he says ruefully.
 
Across corporate India, the mood this year is dull in the annual appraisal season. Concerns on weakened business sentiment, global uncertainties and tighter fiscal and monetary policies in India have created a mood of walking on thin ice for employers — and therefore, employees.

A persisting industrial slowdown means thinner salary hikes, slower hiring to fill slots, and in the worst cases, layoffs and job losses.

It has been a tough appraisal season this April.

"There is disappointment over salary increments across sectors. The appraisal rate varied between eight and 14.50% across segments and geographies, leaving a majority of employees insecure about the financial viability of their current employer," said Sangeeta Lala, senior vice-president at staffing firm TeamLease.  The trend does not, however, suggest that companies are reluctant to spend on  their employees. 

"There is no doubt that companies are spending carefully. But they also want to retain talent by giving double-digit increments to high performers and single  digits to average performers," said Sanjay Modi, managing director at job search  portal Monster.com.

But employees may not agree employers.

 "I am known for my hardwork but my take home salary underestimates me. I think it's a time for a job shift," said Sanjay Arora, a 38-year-old marketing professional. So, is the grass really greener on the other side? Headhunters suggest that shifting jobs can be quite unsettling, so the crux lies in understanding the best time to take the plunge.. "Learners should stick to the same job as companies may not spend much to enhance their skills (in the current  atmosphere), " said Vishal Chibber, director of human resources at consulting  firm Kelly Services.

“And to those who know the nitty-gritty of their professions: switch only if you have reasons other than salary appreciation,” he added. His advice for employees is to watch their employer organisation's overall health and leadership before vital decisions.

“The economy is behaving badly and it may not be correct to stand by a sinking ship,” Chibber said. 

Indian employees are restless and more ambitious as they look for either more money or a new challenge, say experts.

“This has led to a substantial decline in satisfaction with their standard of living which partly reflects in higher consumer prices and stubborn inflation,” said Yamini Tandon, senior consultant at Gallup.]]>