DUBAI|THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Dubai debt crisis fuelled fears of job cuts and its adverse fallout on remittance-dependent economy in Kerala but India on Sunday said there was no need to panic confident it will blow over. Kerala finance minister T M Thomas Isaac said he is very “anxious” about the possible slowdown in construction activity in the Gulf following the crisis which could badly affect workers from the state. Over two million migrants from Kerala are working in the Gulf. “A majority of workers in the construction sector in the Gulf are from Kerala. We are really anxious about their future,” Isaac told PTI in Thiruvananthapuram.

The Indian government said it was closely tracking the fall-out of the crisis in Dubai and directed its missions in the region to provide all necessary help the vulnerable section of the Indian workforce in the Gulf who may be affected by the crisis.

Overseas Indian affairs minister Vayalar Ravi calmed the anxieties in India saying Government was not anticipating a surge of returnees to the country from the region as it was confident that the current crisis will blow over because it was much lesser in magnitude compared to the worst period of the global financial meltdown.

“There is no need for undue panic. We are closely monitoring the situation. The crisis had actually started one year back,” Ravi told PTI. The Gulf Emirate’s $60 billion debt woes have sent shock waves around the world.
Ravi’s sentiments were shared by his colleague and Minister of state for Railways E Ahamed.

“There was no room for any panic on the fallout of Dubai’s trouble on India either as the country’s economy was robust as it had proved during the global recession last year,” he said.

Lakhs of workers from India are employed in realty and other sectors in Dubai and other Middle East cities and their families are dependent on remittances. Indians form 42.3% of the population of Dubai. Allaying fears of an exodus of migrant workforce and large scale job losses, India’s consulate in Dubai said the debt crisis had no direct impact on the country and there was no need to panic. “We are confident the government of Dubai and the UAE are fully capable of handling the short-term crisis faced by Dubai World,” India’s Consul General Venu Rajamony told PTI in Dubai.

Indian businessmen and analysts on the ground also said the world was overreacting to the crisis. Local Indian businessmen said it is too early to judge the impact on remittances, redundancies and Read more…

Jobs Editor CMDN Hot Jobs, CMDNHotJobs.com, Career Career, career planning, CMDN Hot Jobs, cmdnhotjobs, Dubai, indian workers, IT firms, IT industry, job cuts

NEW YORK/NEW DELHI: AOL will cut some 2,500 jobs, or one-third or its workforce, under the plan to spin off the Internet firm from media giant Time Warner. Mobile handset maker Sony Ericsson on Thursday said that it will cut 2,000 jobs globally as it phases out activities at some of its locations.

The cuts are part of a plan to save $300 million at AOL, which is to regain its independence on December 9, executives said.

AOL spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said a voluntary departure program will begin December 4, seeking to reach the target of 2,500.

“We will need to do an involuntary layoff if we do not reach the target numbers through the voluntary option,” she said.

As of December 10, AOL will become a separate traded company, bringing to a close a controversial merger at the height of the tech boom.

An independent AOL would be free to focus on growing its Web brands and services and its advertising business, according to Time Warner.

AOL, formerly known as America Online, saw its heyday as a provider of dial-up service in the early days of the Internet but has been losing ground as consumers switch to high-speed or broadband services.

Time Warner merged with America Online in 2001 at the height of the dot-com boom, with AOL using its inflated stock as a currency for the transaction.

AOL was valued at more than 150 billion dollars when the ill-fated merger was announced but its worth collapsed dramatically as the dot-com bubble burst.

Time Warner was forced in 2002 to massively write down the value of the Internet unit and the AOL name was removed from the group’s corporate title in 2003.

In another development Sony Ericsson said the company will phase out activities at some of its locations worldwide, as part of a cost reduction programme.

“As part of its programme that started a year ago, Sony Ericsson will phase out activities at some of its locations worldwide and plans to reduce headcount globally by 2,000 people,” Sony Ericsson Read more…

Jobs Editor CMDN Hot Jobs, CMDNHotJobs.com, Career AOL, Career, career planning, cmdnhotjobs, job cuts, lay offs, layoffs, Sony Ericsson

NEW YORK: AOL will cuts some 2,500 jobs, or one-third or its workforce, under the plan to spin off the Internet firm from media giant Time Warner, company officials said Thursday.

The cuts are part of a plan to save 300 million dollars at AOL, which is to regain its independence on December 9, executives said.

AOL spokeswoman Tricia Primrose said a voluntary departure program will begin December 4, seeking to reach the target of 2,500.

“We will need to do an involuntary layoff if we do not reach the target numbers through the voluntary option,” she said.

“We believe the voluntary program gives people more choice and decision-making ability instead of waiting for the final cost recommendations and involuntary layoffs.”

As of December 10, AOL will become a separate traded company, bringing to a close a controversial merger at the height of the tech boom.

An independent AOL would be free to focus on growing its Web brands and services and its advertising business, according to Time Warner.

AOL, formerly known as America Online, saw its heyday as a provider of dial-up service in the early days of the Internet but has been losing ground as consumers switch to high-speed or broadband services.

Time Warner merged with America Online in 2001 at the height of the dot-com boom, with AOL using its inflated stock as a currency for the transaction.

But the marriage of old and new media behemoths baptized as AOL Time Warner quickly went sour as benefits promised Read more…

Jobs Editor CMDN Hot Jobs, CMDNHotJobs.com, Career AOL, Career, career planning, cmdnhotjobs, job cuts, lay offs, layoffs

PARIS: Although much of the world appears to be emerging from the economic crisis, joblessness is expected to remain high in the US and Europe at least until 2011, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said Thursday.

According to the OECD: “The Indian economy has weathered the global downturn relatively well.”
Although poor monsoon rainfall will “modestly hamper” India’s recovery, economic growth is projected to reach over 7 per cent in 2010 and 7.5 per cent in 2011.

“It is only some time down the line that the recovery will become sufficiently strong to reduce unemployment,” the OECD said in its semi-annual Economic Outlook, issued in Paris.

The organisation sees US joblessness dipping to just below 10 per cent in the third quarter of next year and to remain at 9 per cent or higher until the end of 2011.

Unemployment in the Euro area is forecast to rise to nearly 11 per cent next year and to stay at or near that level through 2011.

The OECD predicts that the jobless rate in Japan will fluctuate between 5.5 and 5.7 per cent until the second half of 2011, when it should improve slightly.

The organisation said that the economic upturn in non-OECD countries, “especially in Asia and particularly in China, is now a well-established source of strength” for the relatively weaker recovery among OECD member nations.

“Vigorous growth has resumed in China thanks to a very large monetary and fiscal stimulus,” the OECD said.
Chinese annual GDP growth is projected to exceed 8 per cent in 2009 and 10 per cent next year, before easing slightly in Read more…

Jobs Editor CMDN Hot Jobs, CMDNHotJobs.com, Career Career, career planning, cmdnhotjobs, Europe, IT firms, IT industry, job cuts, OECD, US

MUMBAI: In a bid to cut costs, 3i Infotech, plans to implement initiatives such as offshoring and a four-day work-week for its US employees, a top company official said.

3i Infotech is a leading information technology services firm.

“Apart from debt management, we plan to focus on cost reduction during the current fiscal. We plan to give a four-day work-week to at least 400 US employees,” 3i Infotech’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, V Srinivasan, told news agency here.

Presently, 3i Infotech has a staff strength of 13,500 with around 4,500 employees working overseas.

Increasing offshoring, which involves moving work from onsite to India and other low-cost destinations will help the company in reducing its costs, he said.

“Offshoring of work will help in cutting costs,” Srinivasan said.

He, however, did not disclose how much savings the company would effect by these initiatives.

Asked whether the company planned to up its headcount, Read more…

Jobs Editor CMDN Hot Jobs, CMDNHotJobs.com, Career, workplace 3i infotech, Career, CMDN Hot Jobs, cmdnhotjobs, cost cuts, Increased hiring, IT firms, job cuts, job hiring

MUMBAI/DELHI: Companies that sowed the wind with harsh measures such as layoffs and pay cuts during the economic slowdown should be prepared to reap the whirlwind in the form of major difficulties in hiring and retaining staff as growth gets back on track.

Employee churn has picked up significantly in the past three months in several businesses and HR experts said how companies treated staff during the tough times would be a key determinant of attrition levels and the fabric of employer-employee relationships.

Among those left sadder, wiser and bitter because of the experience with an employer during the downturn is a senior official who left a top FMCG company to join a leading retailer on a 50% higher salary. Within nine months, the retail firm scaled down expansion plans and transferred him to a remote location without any warning. Pushed to a corner, he quit and rejoined his former employer.

“I will be a lifer at this company now. It stood true to its values and ethics. As for my other employer, I have been warning my friends and colleagues against joining even a group company at that place,” he said, requesting anonymity.

Anup Kumar is also among the thousands who has been left feeling cheated. Hired by a top IT firm from the campus of a Mumbai institute, he received a terse email some months ago saying his recruitment had been put on hold. He has found a new job, but Read more…

Jobs Editor CMDN Hot Jobs, CMDNHotJobs.com, Career Career, career planning, CMDN Hot Jobs, cmdnhotjobs, job cuts, lay offs, layoffs, salary cuts

WASHINGTON: US computer software giant Microsoft said Wednesday that it is cutting 800 more jobs in addition to the 5,000 layoffs announced previously.

“Earlier this year, we announced that in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency and prioritize our focus areas, we would eliminate approximately 5,000 positions by June 2010,” a Read more…

Jobs Editor CMDN Hot Jobs, CMDNHotJobs.com, Career Career, career planning, cmdnhotjobs, IT firms, job cuts, lay offs, Microsoft

BERLIN: German industrial conglomerate Siemens AG is planning job cuts “in some business areas or at some locations,” its CEO was quoted as telling weekly Welt an Sonntag today.

Siemens CEO Peter Loescher said that because of the financial crisis, “some parts of our business areas have had a decline of orders by up to 70 per cent.”

“In this case, one can’t just stand on the sidelines and watch,” Loescher said, adding that the Munich-based company had to take the necessary steps to react to the crisis.

He did not elaborate where or when the company would lay off employees or how many people would be affected.

“It will take a long time until there will be an expansion of our capacities again, like the one during the boom years of 2007 and 2008,” Loescher was quoted as telling the paper.

Jobs Editor CMDN Hot Jobs, CMDNHotJobs.com, Career Career, career planning, CMDN Hot Jobs, cmdnhotjobs, job cuts

: Pfizer Inc, the world’s biggest drugmaker, said third-quarter profit rose 26%, beating analysts’ estimates, as it fired workers to cut costs.

Net income increased to $2.88 billion, or 43 cents a share from $2.28 billion, or 34 cents, a year earlier, the New York- based company said today in a statement. Profit excluding certain items was 51 cents a share, beating the 48- cent average estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Revenue declined 3% to $11.6 billion, topping the $11.4 billion estimate of 12 analysts, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Pfizer completed its $68 billion purchase of Wyeth this month adding the pneumonia vaccine Prevnar and expanding its business into over-the-counter medicines. Pfizer is counting on products gained from Wyeth to help offset losses in two years when generic copies of its top- selling Lipitor cholesterol pill enter the market.

“The Wyeth acquisition has investors focused on the future,” said Catherine Arnold, an analyst with Credit Suisse Group AG in New York, in a research report before the release of earnings. “Pfizer brands are under pressure as expected, illuminating the strategic importance of the Wyeth deal. Cost saving efforts will be Read more…

Jobs Editor CMDN Hot Jobs, CMDNHotJobs.com, Career career planning, cmdnhotjobs, cost cuts, global recession, Increased hiring, job cuts, Pfizer, recession