Saturday, March 01, 2014
Infosys may ask non-performers to leave: Narayana Murthy
Software services giant Infosys, which employs 1.5 lakh
people, may hand over pink slips to those who "did not add value"
despite "high salaries" as it looks to cut costs and increase
operational efficiency.
Infosys executive chairman NR Narayana Murthy, who returned
last June from retirement to head the firm and put it back on high growth
trajectory, said that employees hired at huge salaries, but not performing, be
asked to leave.
"One of my tasks was to ensure that the identified
people who were receiving very high salaries but were not contributing as much
as we wanted, were either given opportunities where they can add value to the
company or they could seek opportunities elsewhere," he told analysts
today.
Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch India Investor
Conference, the Infosys co-founder said he was working on bringing a
"certain level of cost optimisation" in the company.
"Our costs have ballooned very rapidly in the last 2-3
years. For example, on-site compensation was 36 per cent of the overall revenue
in 2010-11 and it went up to 46.3 per cent in 2012-13... A part of it was
because we hired people at high salaries outside India and these people did not
add value to the company," he said.
Murthy assured analysts that the company is undertaking
various initiatives to increase employee productivity and would continue to
focus on reducing on-site costs by shifting more work offshore.
"Our desire is that Infosys should get back to industry
leading growth rates. What that growth rate will be
is something that we will tell you as we move forward,"
he said.
Once the sectoral bellwether, Infosys' revenue growth rate
dropped significantly in the last few years, raising concerns among investors
and analysts.
On return, Murthy initiated a major organisational
restructuring which saw eight top-level exits including that of Americas head
Ashok Vemuri and BPO head V Balakrishnan in the past six months.
Murthy told analysts that Infosys would have a new chief
executive by March 2015 when co-founder and present CEO SD Shibulal retires.
"The new CEO will be in place by the time Mr Shibulal
is ready to leave, sometime in March 2015, and I will be available for him to
ensure that there is a proper transition," he said.
Source: http://profit.ndtv.com/
IBM to cut 15,000 jobs globally, lay-offs start from Bangalore
Technology giant IBM has started
a restructuring process, which would see as many as 15,000 jobs being cut
globally, including India, Brazil and the European region.
"The estimate of jobs cut
globally is 15,000," international coordinator at the Alliance@IBM
(official IBM employees union) Lee Conrad told PTI.
Though the exact number of job
cuts in each of the geographies is not clear, the impact could be huge in India
as IBM has over one lakh employees in the country.
According to sources, over 50
employees at IBM's Systems Technology Group (STG) in Bangalore were handed pink
slips on February 12 as part of its global 'Resource Action' or restructuring
programme.
Last month, the US-based firm had
said its top executives will forego their bonuses and the company will initiate
a $1-billion restructuring programme in the first quarter of 2014 as it
grapples with declining sales of servers and storage systems.
IBM employs over 4 lakh people
worldwide.
"(There are) no number yet
on India job cuts. We do not have a clear number of employees by location
because IBM does not disclose that data," Mr Conrad said, adding that the
IBM Global Union Alliance will be meeting soon to discuss its respsonse.
When contacted, an IBM India
spokesperson said, "As reported in our recent earnings briefing, IBM continues
to rebalance its workforce to meet the changing requirements of its clients and
to pioneer new, high value segments of the IT industry."
"To that end, IBM is
positioning itself to lead in areas such as Cloud, Analytics and Cognitive
Computing and investing in these priority areas. For example, we have recently
committed $1 billion to our new Watson unit and $1.2 billion to expand our
Cloud footprint around the world," the spokesperson further said.
Source: HR.com
7 ways salaried individuals can save taxes
At the end of every
financial year, many tax payers frantically make investments to minimize taxes,
without adequate knowledge of the various available options. The Income Tax Act
offers many more incentives and allowances, apart from the popular 80C, which
could reduce tax liability substantially for the salaried individuals. Here are
seven smart tips to help you save more and reduce taxes.
1. Salary Restructuring
Restructuring your salary may not always be possible. But if
your company permits, or if you are on good terms with your HR department,
restructuring a few components could reduce your tax liability.
Opt for food coupons instead of lunch allowances, as they
are exempt from tax up to Rs. 50 per meal
Include medical allowance, transport allowance, education
allowance, uniform expenses (if any), and telephone expenses as part of salary.
Produce bills of actual expenses incurred for these allowances to reduce tax
Opt for the company car instead of using your own car, to
reduce high prerequisite taxation.
2. Utilizing Section 80C
Section 80C offers a maximum deduction of up to Rs.
1,00,000. Utilize this section to the fullest by investing in any of the
available investment options. A few of the options are as follows:
Public Provident
Fund
Life Insurance
Premium
National Savings
Certificate
Equity Linked
Savings Scheme
5 year fixed
deposits with banks and post office
Tuition fees paid
for children's education, up to a maximum of 2 children
3. Options beyond 80C
If you have exhausted your limit of Rs. 1,00,000 under
section 80C, here are a few more options:
Section 80D - Deduction of Rs. 15,000 for medical insurance
of self, spouse and dependent children and Rs. 20,000 for medical insurance of
parents above 65 years
Section 80G- Donations to specified funds or charitable
institutions.
4. House Rent Allowance
Are you paying rent, yet not receiving any HRA from your
company? The least of the following could be claimed under Section 80GG:
25 per cent of the
total income or
Rs. 2,000 per month or
Excess of rent paid over 10 per cent of total income
This deduction will however not be allowed, if you, your
spouse or minor child owns a residential accommodation in the location where
you reside or perform office duties.
If HRA forms part of your salary, then the minimum of the
following three is available as exemption:
The actual HRA
received from your employer
The actual rent paid by you for the house, minus 10 per cent
of your salary (this includes basic
dearness allowance, if any)
50 per cent of your basic salary (for a metro) or 40 per
cent of your basic salary (for non-metro).
5. Tax Saving from Home Loans
Use your home loan efficiently to save more tax. The
principal component of your loan, is included under Section 80C, offering a
deduction up to Rs. 1,00,000. The interest portion offers a deduction up to Rs.
1,50,000 separately under Section 24.
6. Leave Travel Allowance
Use your Leave Travel Allowance for your holidays, which is
available twice in a block of four years. In case you have been unable to claim
the benefit in a particular four- year block, you could now carry forward one
journey to the succeeding block and claim it in the first calendar year of that
block. Thus, you may be eligible for three exemptions in that block.
7. Tax on Bonus
A bonus from your employer is fully taxable in the year in
which you receive it. However request your employer for the following:
If you anticipate tax
rates to be reduced or slabs to be modified in the subsequent year, see if you
could push the bonus payment to the subsequent year
Produce your tax investment details well before, to prevent
your employer from deducting tax on bonus before handing it over
A Final Word
Keep in mind the below points, to avoid the hassles of last
minute tax planning.
Give your employer details of loans and tax saving
investments beforehand, to prevent any excess deduction
Check the Form 16 received at the end of each year from your
employer thoroughly
It is important to start your tax planning well before 31st
March, and to file your returns before the 31st of July each year.
Source: www.hrmorning.com
Uh-oh: Average interview process now longer than ever
Feel like it takes forever to come to a decision on
new job candidates these days? That may be part of a troubling, growing
trend.
In 2009, the average interview process took about 13
days. By 2013, that number had nearly doubled to 23 days.
That’s according to Catherine Rampell with The New
York Times, who asked jobs website Glassdoor to compile info on the duration of
the job application process.
While there are major differences among industries,
the upward trend of lengthier interview processes appears to be true across all
companies and sectors.
Exhibit A: Restaurants, bars and food services went
from a seven-day interview process in 2009 to a 12-day interview process last
year — and that’s the shortest time span of the bunch.
On the other end of the spectrum: arts,
entertainment and recreation positions. A 13-day process in 2009, applying and
interviewing for one of those jobs took nearly an entire month in 2013.
And that’s bad news for employers. Rampell notes
that longer interview processes are more expensive — your workers need to take
more time to interview and vet people, and interviewees get frustrated by the
feet dragging.
2 theories
Rampell explored two theories behind the extended
process in the article:
Some people have blamed the so-called “skills gap” —
the lack of available employees who can fulfill a company’s lengthy (and
sometimes impossible) list of needs.
Rampell argues that that probably isn’t the case. If
it was, wages would have gone up — but they’ve stayed about the same since 2009.
More likely: Employers are being super-duper
careful: “Companies are really, really worried about making a mistake and do
not feel pressure to fill openings right away so long as they can still dump
more work onto their existing staff members.”
The problem, as Rampell notes: It’s basically
impossible to find a cheap worker who can do everything an employer needs
without some sort of on-the-job training.
The takeaway: In some instances it might be better
to hire the “good enough” candidate rather than wait for the “absolutely
perfect” one.
source: www.hrmorning.com
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