Hr news file
- 1. 22 NOV, 2010
- 2. Airlines may get more time to phase out expat pilots The central government may extend the deadline for Indian air carriers to phase out foreign pilots. In a move to help Indian flight operators deal with the shortage of pilots , the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked all leading players to submit a five-year hiring and training plan. The industry regulator, in its June 2008 order, has shown strong opposition against foreign pilots manning domestic flights as they are not adequately familiar with Indian airfields and weather. Also, there are some 3,000 Indian pilots, who are still looking for jobs. This will not be the first time DGCA is re-looking to postpone a phase-out deadline for expat pilots. In April 2010, DGCA agreed to extend the deadline from June 2010 to July 2011, subject to validation of their foreign licence by DGCA. In a much-awaited relief, DGCA had asked airlines such as SpiceJet, Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher, IndiGo and Go Air to give a detailed five-year plans of foreign and Indian pilots that they plan to hire. Air carriers will also have to submit the number of local and expat pilots currently hired by them along with their training plans. Further, they will have to provide information on how they plan to ensure career progression of Indian pilots. “Technically, it is unrealistic to expect that the deadline can be adhered to. The industry cannot be grounded,” said a senior official from civil aviation ministry on the basis on anonymity. Airlines’ association, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FAI) confirmed the development. FAI had made a representation to DGCA on the rationale behind hiring expat pilots for the next five years. “We need a healthy mix of Indian and expat pilots for the industry to grow. DGCA has agreed to relook at the issue,” said two people close to the development, who did not wished to be named. Three years ago, when this rule was announced, DGCA had got a number of representations from airlines here, which said their services would be severely affected and many planes grounded if the July 30 deadline is not extended. In a latest development, airlines have asked DGCA to open up the sky for recruiting foreign pilots for an unlimited period. The model is currently followed in the Middle East and South East Asia. “Yes, it is true that DGCA has asked us to submit details of hiring pilots for the next five years and all three full-service carriers have submitted it. We need to open up the hiring of expat pilots for the industry to grow,” a full-service carrier spokesperson said on conditions of anonymity. As per the industry estimates, there is a shortage of type-rated commanders with airline operators. The industry estimates peg the shortage at 300, at present, this will swell to nearly 700 once a government order, which bars expat pilots, comes into effect from July 2011.
- 3. The problem is going to further aggravate for low-cost carriers, such as IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir, which are estimated to more than double their fleet size to 130 in the next five years. Full-service players, such as Jet Airways, Air India and Kingfisher Airlines , which together operate nearly 350 aircraft, too, are expanding. The country’s biggest private airline Jet Airways plans to increase its capacity by 15% this year. “The demand has increased and the only way airlines can manage it is hiring a good core team of expat pilots. It is important for airline to attract talent as there is a huge shortfall. Expat pilots are required for the next 3-4 years,” said a senior official from SpiceJet requesting anonymity. SpiceJet plans to hire 50 pilots, of which 10-15 will be expats, for both domestic and international operations. The low-cost air carrier has 200 pilots, of which 14% are expats,” he said. While Air India has written to DGCA seeking an extension as it expects delivery of its Boeing 787 in 2011. “The delivery schedule of B787 will have an impact on requirement of pilots, including expatriate pilots. We have asked DGCA for extension as there is a shortage of type-rated pilots,” said a senior official from Air India. State-owned Air India has 153 expat pilots and will promote 50 co-pilots with sufficient hours as commanders. Despite this, the airline will have a shortage of over 100 pilots. Jet Airways and Kingfisher have around 200 expats. Both of them are also trying various ways to phase out expats. “We are optimistic that DGCA will consider the issue and allow airline to hire foreign pilots if they expect the industry to reach some capacity. We do expect the regulator to announce some measure in the next 45 days,” said a senior official from one of the leading airlines. At present, there are over 600 expat pilots, who are employed by five major Indian scheduled operators — Air India, Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines, IndiGo and SpiceJet. The DGCA programme to phase out foreign pilots had resulted in their numbers reducing from 944 in 2008 to 686 in 2009 to 600 this year.
- 4. Infosys bets on training to groom leaders India’s second largest technology firm, Infosys, is putting a new premium on internal training as it looks to groom employees for leadership roles in its various ventures. The company plans to increase its training budget by 24% next fiscal to $230 million, and has already hiked training time by 10 weeks to 29 weeks. HR head and director TV Mohandas Pai said Infosys plans to reward employees by offering more leadership positions. This fiscal the company filled over a dozen leadership slots through its internal, ‘open market place for leadership’ initiative. Most recently, the senior VP of its BPO arm, Swaminathan Dandapani, was elevated as CEO of Infosys BPO. By increasing training time, Infosys Technologies , which provides technology services to global customers like British Petroleum, DHL, JP Morgan, Citigroup, Royal Philips Electronics and Goldman Sachs, is preparing employees to handle the large transformational contracts. For instance, for its retail customers Infosys offers system integration services, technology support, customer help desk, supply chain management and is also developing new e-commerce platforms for at least six of the top eight US retailers. For a global communications major, it’s developing 4G wireless solutions. “We want employees to understand context of the customer, equip them with better business acumen so they can offer solutions and options for clients and not just routine services,” said Tan Moorthy, VP & Head (education & research), Infosys. The transformation type of contracts, like the ones that IBM and Accenture do, call for understanding the way customer does business and try and evolve new and better ways to do it, which is different from traditional system integration, testing or coding kind of projects that technology companies like Infosys have been used to. According to Chandramouli CS, director-advisory services at Bangalore-based Zinnov Management Consulting, intellectual property-led growth and utility solutions are on the radar
- 5. for service providers. “Executing business transformation projects requires lot more conviction and confidence, ability to think and articulate solutions to clients. Definitely demand for such talent followed by training is going to be high,” he said. A strengthening rupee and higher employee costs are also forcing companies like Infosys to go for the higher value services and eventually delink revenue and manpower growth. Adds Rishi Das, founder & CEO, CareerNet Consulting, (a Bangalore based recruitment firm), “Expanded training needs have been fuelled by hiring non-engineers for technology services jobs and for better productivity gains. The market has improved, yet its tough to get the more complex business which gives better margins, hence the emphasis on training.” Corporate executives can expect a good rise in bonuses India’s factory output has moderated to a growth pace of 7.1% in June and had fallen short of analyst’s estimates but the factory output expanded by 11.6% in the first quarter of the current fiscal as compared to last year and it is now expected that full year growth could touch 9%. As Indian sentiments—the current political philosophy and overall economic growth in the country—show a positive trend, companies are also more than likely to follow a robust performance plan. It looks like an open sesame for new job seekers as corporates are pitched to go after them for hiring and retention. Appraisals seem to be over in most organisations and even government of India has decided to reward its hardworking parliamentarians with pay hikes. Corporate executives can expect a good rise in their bonuses as the economy is recovering and the last quarter results have also been very positive. This is the time to invest in human resources. There is certainly no doubt that companies need happy employees along with healthy bottom lines and great savings. Adding a few new benefits to an organisations repertoire can make their business more attractive to prospective employees, help retain performing employees and provide an edge against competition. The improving business environment catapults the need to introduce more and effective incentives and remunerations for the workforce. In India, the linkage with performance has
- 6. started now. Today approximately 30% of an employee’s pay, across sectors, is variable. Many companies are also consciously adding non-taxable components and variable incentives to motivate the team other than the usual festival payouts, performance based bonuses and the trend will only continue over the next two years. This year has been very positive for the companies. Consumer sentiments have been very positive. Manufacturing growth was strong during this quarter, as indicated by the Index of Industrial Production. Construction growth is likely to have been healthy; service sector has also supported overall GDP growth. Looking at these, companies should announce an impressive bonus during the festival season. Other than monetary incentives, companies can invest in training of human resources. Last year because of cost cutting many companies had to discontinue certain initiatives. Again we can see employee benefits like foreign travel, gift vouchers and overseas training coming back. These are some measures, which an employee looks forward to. It is a moment of pride for him and it also encourages the employee. If companies can make performance bonus effective for employees, it adds tremendously to its equity and bank of loyal brand ambassadors. In order to build loyalty among employees, companies should provide fair opportunities for their career growth. Variable pay must be linked with the performance. In a talent starved industry, it is difficult to find quality employees and even more difficult to retain them. But with apt HR practices and compensation, companies can retain the talent pool. It is all about creating the right environment, one that is in sync with the company’s and also the employee’s growth ambition. Suspense's over, UK chooses TCS for 10-year pension deal The coalition government in the UK has confirmed the 10-year contract for administration of the state pension scheme awarded to India’s top software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), ending months of uncertainty over it. The contract is valued at around £600 million (over `4,000 crore). The confirmation of the deal also indicates that Indian outsourcing vendors will be well-considered by the
- 7. new government in the UK, as it embarks on a drive to cut a massive £83 billion in spending. ET had reported, in its edition dated October 22, that the pensions contract or Personal Accounts Delivery Authority (PADA) project, may stay with TCS. Awarded by the previous Labour government, the project had attracted criticism from the Conservatives — who are now in power along with Liberal Democrats — and was widely expected to be cancelled. “TCS is delighted that the government and the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) have chosen to move forward with the second stage of the Scheme Administration service contract which continues to build on the work already started in stage one. TCS believes that this project will have a significant and positive effect on millions of people in the UK in helping them save for their future,” said N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD, TCS. Friday’s official announcement by NEST Corporation, the trustee body of the NEST, puts these fears to rest. NEST said it confirmed the long-term contract for the administration of the pension scheme until June 30, 2020, with the option to extend it for a further five years. The PADA contract consists of two phases with the first phase being worth only a fraction of the total contract at around £25 million. Had the deal been cancelled after the first phase, TCS would have invested a significant amount of resources, but would not have gained proportionately with a long-term contract. “We are fully committed to the project and believe that it will create real value for UK society and will deliver a world-class product for its citizens,” said Mr Chandrasekaran. Steve Webb, the new minister for pensions in the UK government, termed the contract as a significant milestone. The contract covers all aspects of scheme administration, including web-based enrolment, record keeping, contribution collection and details of each individual’s retirement fund. “Key elements of NEST are falling into place as planned. We are appointing global leaders in their fields,” said Tim Jones, chief executive, NEST Corporation. “This is the first of a series of announcements that NEST will make over the coming months, as we complete our preparations for accepting business from volunteer organisations from the second quarter of next year,” added Lawrence Churchill, chair, NEST Corporation. 3rd August,2010 Gopalakrishnan to step down from Tata Motors board
- 8. ata Sons director R Gopalakrishnan will step down from the board of Tata Motors as the $70-billion salt- to-software conglomerate plans to increase the number of executive directors on the boards of its major companies. India's biggest conglomerate, which has increased the number of executive directors in key group companies such as Tata Chemicals , Tata Power and TCS, now plans to extend this to the two biggest listed companies, Tata Motors and Tata Steel, according to a person familiar with the matter. A Tata Motors spokesperson said Mr Gopalakrishnan, 64, had decided not to offer himself for re-election as a director because of what he said were "personal reasons". India’s largest automobile company, which in March appointed Carl-Peter Forster as CEO and MD, has nominated the GM veteran to its board. His appointment will have to be ratified by shareholders at the annual general meeting. Ranendra Sen, former Indian ambassador to the US and an architect of the Indo-US nuclear deal, has also joined Tata Motors board as a non-executive director from June this year. Tata group veteran NA Soonawala resigned from the board as non-executive director in March. Though Tata Motors is not bringing a new face in place of Mr Gopalakrishnan, whose term expires in September, an executive director is likely to be appointed in due course, according to a person familiar with the subject. "Carl-Peter Forster and PM Telang are the two executive directors on the board. The company may look at appointing more executive directors," he said. Other Tata Group companies have more executive directors on the board. The group's power utility major Tata Power has four, including its managing director Prasad Menon. Software major TCS has its MD N Chandrasekaran, CFO S Mahalingam and Phiroz Vandrevala on the board. But Tata Motors has only two executive directors and Tata Steel’s managing director HM Nerurkar is the only executive director on its board. Sebi has recently amended the Clause 49 agreement, saying that the number of independent directors should either 33% or 50%, depending on whether the chairman is non- executive or executive. Since the number of non-executive directors is more in Tata Motors — nine non-executive directors compared to two executive directors — the company does not to wish to fill the post to be vacated by Mr Gopalakrishnan.