Starbucks plans to close around 250 underperforming stores across North America and cut corporate jobs as CEO Brian Niccol pushes ahead with a wider restructuring of the coffee chain. The company expects to incur around $300 million in charges related to the latest store closures, according to The Wall Street Journal. The closures are part of Niccol’s efforts to simplify operations, cut costs and improve returns from Starbucks’ store network. The latest round follows a much larger wave of closures last year, when Starbucks shut more than 600 stores across North America and Europe. Corporate operations have also been shrinking.…
Author: HRK News Bureau
Siddharth Sawant has joined Tata Consumer Products as director-human resources and head of HR for its Ready-to-Drink business, following more than seven years with AB InBev. Based in Gurugram, Sawant leads the people function for the Ready-to-Drink business. The move keeps him within the beverages industry, while taking him from a career largely built around beer into Tata Consumer Products’ wider consumer beverages portfolio. Sawant has been in the role since June 2026, according to his LinkedIn profile. He joined AB InBev in January 2019 as senior manager-people partner for its commercial operations in eastern India. He subsequently expanded his…
Infosys plans to move between 25 and 33 per cent of its workforce into specialist roles as the IT services company reshapes its talent base around artificial intelligence, advanced technologies and digital transformation, according to The Economic Times. The scale of the proposed transition is significant. Rather than specialist expertise sitting within relatively small pockets of the organisation, as much as one in every three Infosys employees could eventually work in such roles. Alongside the internal transition, Infosys is looking to build a pool of around 6,000 ‘frontier engineers’ with advanced technical capabilities. The company is expected to recruit this…
Axis Bank plans to increase campus hiring to between 12,000 and 12,500 employees in FY27, up from around 11,500 to 11,600 recruits in FY26, as it builds its early-career talent pipeline while reassessing roles affected by AI and automation. The increase comes despite a decline in the bank’s overall employee strength. Axis Bank ended FY26 with 101,337 employees, down from 104,453 a year earlier, a net reduction of 3,116. Yet the bank hired 31,665 employees during FY26. The combination of substantial hiring and lower year-end headcount points to considerable movement within the workforce rather than a simple hiring slowdown. According…
Radhika Arora has joined DCM Shriram Chemicals as chief human resources officer, moving from Isgec Heavy Engineering, where she had been CHRO since August 2024. The appointment continues a career that has increasingly centred on people leadership in industrial and engineering businesses. Over more than two decades, Arora has worked across manufacturing, infrastructure, heavy engineering and consumer electronics, with a large part of her early HR grounding coming from Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL). Before joining Isgec, Arora was group chief people officer at Jakson Group from April 2023 to August 2024. She had previously served as the group’s CHRO from…
Vedanta has introduced a new Employee Stock Option Scheme for 2026, replacing its decade-old ESOP Scheme 2016 with a programme in which option vesting is linked entirely to performance criteria. The Vedanta ESOS 2026 provides for a maximum pool of 16.62 crore equity shares, equivalent to about 4.25 per cent of the company’s paid-up share capital. The exercise price has been set at the face value of Rs 1 per share. Under the new scheme, all options will vest based on performance criteria determined by the company’s Nomination and Remuneration Committee. The vesting period can range from one to five…
Glasgow City Council is preparing to dismiss more than 23,000 non-teaching employees and offer them new contracts after talks with trade unions over a revised pay and grading structure broke down. According to BBC reporting, dismissal letters are expected to be issued next week, with replacement contracts due to take effect from January 1. The move follows failed negotiations with GMB, Unison and Unite over the proposed changes. The dispute centres on a new pay and grading system developed after the council’s existing structure was found to discriminate against predominantly female workers. The council approved the revised framework last month…
SBS India has appointed Koninika Mitra as head of human resources. She joins the organisation after more than six years at Amazon, where she served as HR vertical Leader. At SBS India, Mitra will lead the organisation’s HR function as it focuses on its people and workforce priorities. Her appointment marks the latest step in a career that has included HR leadership roles across technology, industrial, media and financial services organisations. Mitra brings more than 20 years of experience across human resources, spanning HR business partnering, talent management, career development, performance management, compensation, HR analytics and organisational development. Mitra spent…
Bank of America will hire 1,000 additional apprentices over the next two years and invest $150 million in workforce development organisations over five years, as part of an effort to expand access to skills-based career opportunities across the US. The additional apprenticeships will build on the more than 800 apprentices the bank currently hires each year across Consumer Banking, Technology, Operations and other business areas. The bank said the initiative will expand opportunities for workers entering the workforce through nontraditional pathways, including roles that do not require a bachelor’s degree. Currently, around 40 per cent of Bank of America’s hires…
Kerala is expanding an initiative to help 10,000 women who have taken career breaks return to the workforce, bringing together the government, employers and voluntary organisations to create employment and returnship opportunities. State Labour Minister Bindu Krishna said the state would adopt a multi-pronged approach to support women restarting their careers and help them progress in the employment sector. The initiative, 10,000 Women Back to Career, began as a pilot in 2024 under the leadership of Women Inclusive in Technology (WIIT) and is now being scaled up. It will identify women who have taken career breaks, help them upgrade their…
The Ministry of Railways has notified the rules for implementing the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) for railway employees covered under the National Pension System (NPS), setting out provisions on eligibility, contributions, assured pension, voluntary retirement and switching back to the NPS. Under the notified framework, eligible railway employees will be entitled to a minimum assured pension of Rs 10,000 a month after completing 10 years of qualifying service. Employees completing 25 years of qualifying service will be eligible for the full assured pension, which will be equivalent to 50 per cent of their average basic pay during the final 12…
Lumilens, a Bengaluru-based company developing photonic connectivity technologies for AI infrastructure, has named Deepa Subbaiah as its new global head-HR. In her new role, Subbaiah will focus on building the talent, leadership and culture needed to support Lumilens’ next phase of growth. Announcing her move on LinkedIn, Subbaiah said she was joining Lumilens at a time when the company is developing next-generation photonic connectivity solutions for future AI infrastructure. She also highlighted the opportunity to work again with leaders and colleagues from her earlier tenure at Cisco. Subbaiah joins Lumilens with more than 25 years of HR leadership experience across…
Pavitra Singh, chief human resources officer and vice president, PepsiCo India & South Asia, has joined the board of Burma Burma Restaurant & Tea Room, bringing more than two decades of people leadership experience to the growing restaurant business. Operated by Hunger Pangs, Burma Burma currently has 13 restaurants and delivery kitchens across India. Founded by Chirag Chhajer and Ankit Gupta, the specialty restaurant and tea-room concept is built around Burmese cuisine, drawing on street food, regional recipes and Gupta’s Burmese family roots. The company has not disclosed the date of Singh’s appointment or specific responsibilities associated with her board…
Amazon is reaching back into its former workforce for talent in artificial intelligence, machine learning and cloud computing, including approaching some employees who had previously been laid off. Recruiters have contacted eligible former employees about open positions in AI and cloud businesses, according to emails obtained by Business Insider and comments from an Amazon spokesperson. The report did not disclose how many former employees had been contacted or how many had subsequently returned to the company. In August, a recruiter from Amazon’s AI agent organisation approached former employees with AI and machine-learning experience about new opportunities. The organisation is led…
Legal & General (L&G) plans to eliminate around 1,000 roles, equivalent to about 10 per cent of its workforce, by the middle of 2027 as the UK financial services group seeks to simplify its operations and reduce costs. CEO António Simões informed employees of the planned reduction on 23 September. The company will initially seek voluntary redundancies in the UK, but has not ruled out compulsory cuts depending on the response to the programme. The cuts form part of a wider restructuring under Simões, who took over as CEO in January 2024. Since then, the 190-year-old group has reduced its…
Jindal Stainless has partnered with Nasscom’s FutureSkills Prime (FSP) to give employees access to courses and certification programmes in emerging technologies and digital skills. The initiative comes as the steelmaker expands the use of digital technologies across its manufacturing and business operations, including through its Smart Factory 4.0 programme at its Hisar and Jajpur facilities. Through FutureSkills Prime, employees will be able to take courses covering artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, cybersecurity, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and digital leadership. Eligible programmes will also offer assessments and certifications validated by SSC Nasscom. The platform offers learning at different levels,…
For much of her career, Nupur Shrivastava has managed people and talent inside some of the world’s established technology companies. Her latest assignment puts her on the other side of that equation: helping build an organisation that is still finding its scale. Shrivastava has joined MiPhi Semiconductors as chief human resources officer (CHRO). MiPhi is a joint venture between Micromax Informatics and Taiwan-based Phison Electronics, focused on memory and storage technologies in India. The move follows seven years at Intel, where Shrivastava’s responsibilities expanded considerably over time. She joined the company in 2019 as director, business HR, before moving into…
Myntra is creating more than 26,000 seasonal employment opportunities ahead of its Big Fashion Festival, more than twice the seasonal workforce it engaged last year. The hiring will support the fashion retailer’s fulfilment, delivery and customer-service operations during the festive shopping period. Seasonal workers will be deployed across five fulfilment centres in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bilaspur and Binola, with roles spanning sorting, grading, packing, last-mile delivery and customer service. Around 8,000 of the opportunities are for delivery partners, while another 2,700 are in customer service. Women are expected to account for 30 per cent of the seasonal workforce at Myntra’s…
Bhavna Kumar is moving from Deutsche Bank to BNP Paribas India as managing director, centre of excellence (CoE), after more than a decade with the German lender. It is not simply a move between two global banks. Much of Kumar’s recent career has been spent handling the people side of businesses that cut across functions, countries and large technology workforces. In her most recent role at Deutsche Bank, she was global HR lead for Investment Banking, Sustainability, Risk, Finance and Treasury Technology. The remit covered around 8,000 employees across the US, UK, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa,…
Nearly 40 years after beginning his career at Tata Steel, Biswarup Goswami is taking on another full-time HR leadership assignment. Goswami has joined ECE Industries, a BK Birla group company, as chief human resources officer (CHRO). The move is interesting partly because of what came immediately before it. His last assignment was as fractional CHRO at Intech Organics, following several years in senior HR leadership at Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Limited (GHCL). The shift from a fractional mandate back to the CHRO chair adds another turn to a career that has moved repeatedly across sectors. Goswami has worked in steel, bearings,…
Swan Defence and Heavy Industries (SDHI) has more than doubled its workforce over the past 18 months and plans to hire more than 550 employees by March 2027, as it expands its shipbuilding and heavy fabrication operations. The planned hiring will span both white- and blue-collar roles across newbuild, repair and refit operations, including project management, design, supply chain, heavy fabrication and civil works. The company is also hiring for specialised trades such as precision welding, fitting and pipework. The expansion is being supported by SWAVALAMBAN, a classroom-to-shopfloor training programme launched last year to build a skilled workforce for the…
Microsoft is cutting another 268 jobs across its Xbox business as it pushes ahead with a restructuring that is also changing how some of its best-known gaming studios and franchises are organised. The jobs are being eliminated across Halo Studios, other first-party studios, and Xbox Game Studios management and central functions. The latest cuts follow a much larger round announced in July, when Xbox began a plan to eliminate 3,200 roles, or about 20 per cent of its workforce. Microsoft says the restructuring carried out since July, including studio divestitures, is now roughly three-quarters complete. The job cuts come with…
BUSY, an accounting and GST compliance software provider for MSMEs in India, has announced the appointment of Gyanendra Acharya as vice president, people and culture. The appointment strengthens BUSY’s HR leadership as the company enters an aggressive scaling phase, deepens its AI-first strategy and builds readiness for growth through acquisitions. Acharya will lead HR strategy with a mandate to build scalable, playbook-driven people systems that grow with the business. His brief includes strengthening leadership bandwidth across functions, moving HR to a data-first model with clear performance metrics, aligning workflows to an AI-first SaaS organisation, and leading people-side integration and cultural…
Chartered Speed, the passenger mobility company, has appointed Savio D’souza as chief people officer. The appointment brings more than 23 years of experience in human resources and people management, with expertise spanning HR leadership, human capital management and administration across mobility, automotive, real estate, manufacturing and consumer sectors. In his new role at Chartered Speed, effective September 2026, D’souza will drive human capital management and global HR strategy from Ahmedabad in a hybrid model. Prior to joining Chartered Speed, D’souza served as head of human resources at Cargo Motors from December 2016 to July 2026, leading HR for the automotive…
The Maharashtra government has announced the Global Workforce Mobility Policy 2026, aimed at preparing the state’s skilled workforce for employment opportunities in international markets through country-specific training, language courses, certification and a more secure recruitment process. A key feature of the policy is the proposed development of country-wise Skill Passports, which will map the manpower requirements and skill needs of different countries. Training institutions will use these requirements to align their curricula with overseas employment opportunities. The state government has also directed industrial training institutes (ITIs) and other training institutions to update their courses in line with changing international job…
Tesla is facing a lawsuit brought by the state of California over allegations that Black employees at its Fremont factory were subjected to racial harassment, unequal pay and promotion opportunities, and discriminatory treatment. The bench trial began in California on 21 September, with the California Civil Rights Department alleging that Tesla failed to adequately address repeated complaints of racial discrimination at the facility. The state presented evidence of racist graffiti allegedly found across the factory, including racial slurs, references to the Ku Klux Klan, swastikas, Confederate symbols and other racist messages. Prosecutors also presented accounts from Black workers who alleged…