Accenture, the IT multinational, has announced that it will be cutting approximately 19,000 jobs, that is, about 2.5 per cent of its workforce. Julie Sweet, CEO, Accenture, has conveyed to the employees that the move is part of cost-cutting measures, which will also include “streamlining how we operate, consolidating office space, and moving forward with out next compressed transformation – transforming our corporate functions – as we seek to be the most tech, data and AI driven , efficient and agile enterprise in the world”. According to Sweet’s mail, the Company has realised it can “operate with fewer Accenture Leaders…
Author: HRK News Bureau
The merger of Air India and Vistara is expected to have a significant impact on the employees of both airlines, albeit in an uneven manner. Vistara’s CEO, Vinod Kannan, has recently confirmed that the merger will lead to the complete absorption of Vistara’s employees by Air India. This means that over 5000 Vistara employees, including pilots, flight attendants, and engineers, will need to seek new roles within Air India, which is owned by Tata. It is worth noting that approximately 80 per cent of Vistara’s workforce is in operational roles, which will require them to undergo a transition as Vistara’s…
According to reports from Insider, Amazon posted 24,988 job openings in its Web Services Department in 2022, despite having only received approval for 7,798 positions. This over-hiring situation led to the recent announcement of a second round of job cuts affecting 9,000 employees across various departments, including Amazon Web Services, Advertising, and Twitch. Amazon has admitted that its hiring processes are prone to inconsistency, error, and potential misuse. One former recruiting manager revealed that leaders would often “squeeze people in where they could” due to over-hiring. Amazon CEO, Andy Jassy, cited the need to streamline costs and headcount in the…
Starbucks employees and labour activists held protests outside the coffee giant’s Seattle headquarters on Wednesday, alleging that company executives were trying to undermine unionisation efforts. The organisers claimed that over 100 stores across 40 cities in the US were affected by walkouts, though Starbucks disputed the scale of the action, saying that almost every store remained open. The company did not disclose how many locations had closed, but some stores were still operational with employees who had taken on extra shifts to cover for those who were striking. The demonstrations, which took place ahead of Starbucks’ annual shareholders’ meeting, aimed…
On March 22, 2023, Amazon announced an increase in the minimum starting pay for its UK employees to a range of 11 pounds to 12 pounds per hour. This decision comes in response to a dispute over pay that led to several days of strikes earlier this year by employees at an Amazon warehouse located in Coventry, central England. Starting in April, Amazon.com Inc will be raising its minimum starting pay for employees in various locations, with the increased amount depending on the location. However, despite the company’s efforts, the move has been met with criticism from GMB, a union…
Air India, a Tata Group-owned airline, is reportedly offering a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to almost 2,000 employees and has assigned up to Rs 200 crore for severance payments, according to a recent report by Livemint. The non-flying staff members have been offered this opportunity to retire voluntarily. This is the second time that Air India has provided such a scheme since being acquired by Tata Group in January 2022. As per an earlier report by Business Today, the VRS is open to general cadre officers who are permanent employees aged 40 or above and have served continuously for at…
Workhuman Workhuman, an Irish software firm, has announced to let go 10 per cent of its workforce as a part of its restructuring process. The company has plans to restructure its investments in the US, Ireland, and the wider Europe, Middle East, and Africa region in response to the uncertain economic environment. Eric Mosley, CEO, WorkHuman, cited the need to realign investments with new strategic initiatives and exercise prudence given the volatile macro environment, reported Irish Times. The company plans to consult with staff regarding these initiatives. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade, and Employment will be informed as part of…
A leaked email from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has recently surfaced online, which asked an employee to resign due to inaccurate information about the development of a Facebook smartphone. The letter, dated September 22, 2010, expressed Zuckerberg’s disappointment and anger towards the employee who shared the information with TechCrunch. According to the email, Zuckerberg found the leak “destructive” and an “act of betrayal”. Ironically, the email began with the text “confidential, do not share,” which is now publicly available. The email also ended with Zuckerberg asking employees to maintain confidentiality about the company or leave if they cannot handle it.…
Air India has made an announcement stating that it intends to modify its Privilege Leave (PL) policy for permanent and full-term contract employees starting in the upcoming fiscal year. The move aims to align the policy with the current market conditions. According to an internal communication, effective from April 1, the maximum accumulation limit for PLs for all employees will be 60 days per financial year. An employee can either accumulate up to 60 days of PLs at the end of a financial year or encash the same number of PLs. Suresh Dutt Tripathi, CHRO, Air India stated that the…
2022 was a volatile year for HR & workforce The year for many businesses did not look bright as had been envisaged in the previous year while we were coming out of the Covid pandemic. Global developments impacted economies moving into a period of uncertainty. It was caution and pessimism that drove some businesses to take drastic calls. 2023: Will it be a turmoil again or peace? There are global issues like high inflation, low growth, recession, disrupted supply chain and geo-political issues that will continue to cloud the business environment through 2023. Businesses could face issues like lower demand,…
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has allowed people of B-1 or B-2 status to apply for jobs and appear for interviews in the US. As per the tweets of USCIS, those on a business or tourist visa can seek employment in the country, but employers who engage them should ensure that they change their visa status from B-1 or B-2 to an employment-authorised one before they join work. In case their request for change of status is not approved, they will have to leave the US. They cannot begin working until they obtain an approved employment-authorised classification. The…
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is set to provide a creche service for children with special needs, in response to the concerns raised by its employees and staff. The Director, Prof M Srinivas, issued an office memorandum announcing that two C-1 houses will be allocated to develop the creche/day care facility for these children at the institute. The creche service will be led by Prof Shefali Gulati, from the child neurology division, department of paediatrics, who has been appointed to oversee the development of the service for children with special needs. Officials from AIIMS reported that a…
This placement season at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Indore saw the class of 2023 being offered average salary of Rs 30.21 lakh per annum. This is 20.8 per cent more than last year. The highest domestic package offered was Rs 1.14 crore per annum, a huge spike of 132.5 per cent compared to last year. The drive, which was clearly successful — with all the enrolled students being handed offer letters — saw more than 160 recruiters offering jobs to 568 students belonging to the postgraduate programme (PGP) and Integrated Programme in Management (IPM). It is reported that…
Bengaluru-based social investment platform is seeking to recruit a chief meme officer for a monthly salary of Rs 1 lakh. In a LinkedIn post, StockGro has mentioned the competencies required to do the job successfully along with the preferred location and flexibility options. The position allows for remote work, meaning the selected candidate is free to work from anywhere in the world. The primary responsibility of the chief meme officer will be to produce memes that resonate with Gen Z and millennial audiences. His/her primary will only look after finance and memes. According to a statement by the Bengaluru-based company,…
In an effort to attract iPhone assembly from China, regional governments in India have responded positively to Apple’s request for changes in the country’s labour laws to enhance local production. Apple is actively lobbying for these changes. The largest iPhone production facility in India is run by Foxconn Technology Group, which is Apple’s primary supplier. This factory is located in the state of Tamil Nadu where officials are apparently contemplating changes to labour regulations that would bring factory shifts in line with working hours in China. Discussions regarding these potential reforms have been ongoing between Apple, the Indian Cellular and…
Citing industry slowdown as the reason, Marvell Technology has announced a workforce reduction of approximately 4 per cent. The cut translates to around 320 jobs in various departments out of its current total of 7,448 employees, reported Bloomberg. No information has yet surfaced about the departments which will be facing the job cuts, however, the company has been evaluating the distribution of its teams across various locations and assessing their management to ensure they perform optimally. Additionally, after the news was reported, Marvell’s stock was minimally affected, dropping less than 0.1 per cent in after-hours trading, despite a 1.9 per…
The IT sector continues to witness layoffs as many leading players, including Meta, Credit Suisse, and Disney, cut jobs to reduce costs. In the second round of layoffs, Meta aims to reduce its workforce by 10,000. However, Apple has decided to tackle things differently. According to a well-known analyst with Apple, the company is attempting to avoid layoffs and has instead postponed bonuses to some employees in corporate teams. The affected employees will now receive their bonuses in October instead of the usual bi-annual payments. To save costs and retain employees, Apple has taken additional measures, such as delaying the…
A group of state government employees in West Bengal plans to take a stand on the issue of pending dearness allowance (DA) arrears by staging a mass leave on March 30. A mega protest march will also be organised in Kolkata on the same day by the joint forum of state government employees which is heading the movement. In addition, they will launch a mass email campaign from March 26 and stage a two-day sit-in demonstration at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on April 10 and 11. The employees have been observing a “digital non-cooperation” movement against the state government…
2022 was a volatile year for HR & workforce 2023 will continue to be eventful and uncertain. At the same time, the opportunity will rise and those who can navigate through it will emerge stronger for the journey ahead. The next few years will continue to be quite challenging for HR professionals as organisations will face multiple challenges like competitive talent landscape, growth pressures and the necessity to control costs. Newer dynamics at the workplace will require multiple areas to focus on, some of them are known, some of them will be more pronounced than it was in the past…
To ensure more transparency in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) in the states and Union Terrirotires (UTs), it has been decided that henceforth attendance at the worksites will be captured via the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) App only. The app allows geo-tagged time-stamped photographs of the workers to be uploaded twice a day. This not only assists in supervision but also allows faster payment processing. If the workers fail to upload the photos and mark attendance, they will end up not being paid for the day. The NMMS app is…
With at least 10 months’ salary to be granted as bonus for good performance, combined with a 50-month bonus that was announced in December last year, it is a windfall for the staff of Evergreen Marine. That means, the 3,100 employees of the Taiwanese shipping company will receive five years’ salary in the form of bonus alone. However, this bonus will be given basis the performance of each individual. The Company managed to earn profits of $10.9 billion for FY 2022, which is a 39.82 per cent hike in profit, as per media reports. According to its financial report, the…
Arjun Singh has been appointed as the chief human resource officer (CHRO) of Dixon Technologies, a leading electronics manufacturer in India. Singh brings with him a wealth of experience spanning 23 years in the field of human resources. Singh began his career in 2000 as an assistant manager-HR at Sona Koyo Steering Systems and subsequently joined Tata Communications in 2001 as an assistant manager-HR. He rose through the ranks and was eventually promoted to the position of senior manager-HR at Tata Communications, where he spent over two years. Singh then moved to Tata Group as senior manager-talent management and leadership…
On 20 March, 2023, a California appeals court upheld a state law that permits companies like Uber and Lyft to classify their drivers as independent contractors rather than employees. The decision is a significant win for app-based, on-demand companies and was praised by Uber’s chief legal officer as a victory that “preserves independence for drivers.” The ruling is based on a measure called Proposition 22, which was passed in the state in 2020 with significant support from ride-share firms and food-delivery app platforms. However, this victory came after a judge ruled in August 2021 that the referendum was unconstitutional, raising…
Amazon has revealed plans for a second phase of job cuts with approximately 9,000 positions to be eliminated across various departments. Andy Jassy, CEO, Amazon sent a memo to staff, acknowledging that the decision was a tough one, but crucial for the company’s future prosperity. The new round job cuts will impact departments including AWS, People, Experience, and Technology (PXT), Advertising, and Twitch. This comes after a previous round of layoffs that occurred between November and January, during which over 18,000 employees were let go. The previous round mainly impacted workers in the retail, devices, recruitment, and human resources departments.…
Following a meeting with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and senior government officials, Maharashtra employees called off their open-ended strike. Approximately 1.7 million workers employed by the government of Maharashtra have been protesting since March 14, advocating for the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Now that they were guaranteed that OPS benefits would be incorporated into the new scheme, they ended their demonstration on Monday evening. In writing, it was confirmed that pension benefits under the new plan would be equivalent to those under the old scheme. The Old Pension Scheme (OPS) is a structured benefit scheme, while the New Pension Scheme…
AU Small Finance Bank has recently announced the appointment of Vivek Tripathi as the head of HR and sustainability. Tripathi has been with AU Small Finance Bank since 2020 when he joined as the head of human resources. Over the course of his career, he has gained extensive experience in the field of HR from various organisations, including Bajaj Finance, SBFC, and more. He started his career in 2008 as a corporate HR in Bajaj Capital before joining AU Financiers India as head HR. Tripathi’s experience also includes six years as zonal head of HR at Mahindra Finance and a…