Yasmin Taj, TNN
Amajority of companies in India are trying to be selective while planning their workforce, compensation and benefit cuts for this year, even as they anticipate a decline in their company’s business performance, next year, reveals a new Mercer survey, ‘Leading Through Unprecedented Times’ .
The survey states that Indian companies are likely to curtail overall hiring, while continuing to hire talent to fill shortages in key skill-sets . Another interesting fact that the survey reveals is that most companies in India still hope to avoid significant workforce reductions. However, it also states that a deep or prolonged economic downturn could force more drastic action.
“Clearly, what the survey indicates is that while workforce reductions will occur in India, there will be hiring which will be selective and skill based, and most companies believe they can avoid significant workforce cuts,” expresses Padma Ravichandar, Country Leader, Mercer Consulting (India).
S Y Siddiqui, Managing Executive Officer (Admn), Maruti Suzuki India Limited
“Our expansion plans and recruitment intentions continue to remain unaltered. We are specifically looking at strengthening the R&D capability of our company. And in this quest, we have already planned to scale up our manpower requirements for our R&D functions to almost 1,000 employees, by 2010-11 .
The number of engineers hired has shot up from a little less than 300 that were recruited in the beginning of last year, to around 600 now. Recently, the company has recruited a batch of 250 Graduate Engineers Trainees (GETs) too. We have undertaken many initiatives to bring down costs, across operations but neither are we holding back our recruitment activities nor are we handing over pink slips to our employees to cut costs.
The current situation does raise a lot of concern but we view it as a short-term phenomenon and are confident that India will emerge as a strong economy, in the near future.”
Prashant Bhatnagar - Director, Hiring- Sapient India
“Hiring the right talent is the greatest challenge in today’s business environment and a prerequisite for succeeding in today’s ever-changing global scenario. According to me, lateral hires integrate faster and hence, are able to adapt themselves to the changing corporate scenario and mould themselves as per the specialised demands of their job roles.
Since we have a diversified model of business, recruitment is a major necessity and hence, we are continuing looking for talent that can add value and contribute towards the organisation’s growth, especially in the fields of trading risk and management and interactive marketing . We plan to hire around 200 people, quarter on quarter.
Due to the US financial crisis, we foresee a slower rate of employment . But one of the positive outcomes of the same is the reduced levels of attrition as employees, today, are more stable and job hopping, certainly , is not on their priority list anymore.”
R R Nair, Director and Chief Executive, LIC Housing Finance
“As far as our organisation is concerned, we continue to record a healthy growth in the current year and do not foresee any slowdown, in the near future . The recruitment activities will be in tune with our expansion plans and we will continue to hire for various positions, across different specialisations.
We believe that investment in human capital pays dividends in the long run, as it is this resource that forms the backbone of any organisation.”
Senthil Kumar P, Director - HR and Administration, Cairn India
“Cairn India, along with its partner ONGC is undertaking an important project in Rajasthan. We have embarked upon an intensive recruitment campaign, to staff up its Rajasthan operations with more than 300 key positions, for various roles filled through this drive. The first phase of recruitment campaign received 6,000 applications for the 300 advertised positions.”
These organisations are going against the tide and proving that there’s still a pool of opportunities waiting to be explored. All you need to do is follow the right path and grab them!
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/quickiearticleshow/4072963.cms
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