The Indian workforce has more than one reason to smile this year. Not only are organizations across sectors hiring but are also offering fatter salaries than the year before.

The latest Kelly Services’ India Employment and Salary Guide ‘10-11 indicates that the average increments up-to mid-level are in the range of 15-20% in sectors like BFSI, Auto, Retail and Telecom. Leading the pack once again is the IT & ITES sector with 25-30%. “For those in general roles, we expect marginal salary increases as organizations are increasingly looking at other variable factors such as training and performance bonuses,” explains Kamal Karanth, Managing Director Kelly Services India.

The increments for mid-senior level workforce have been in the range of 40-55%. This of course has resulted in greater retention for organization, otherwise a constant battle. “Most of the talent pool, especially those in mid to senior management roles, will remain in their current organizations,” confirms Karanth. “Companies successfully retaining their workforce are actively involved with finding out what their top talent wants,” adds Vishal Chibber, Director HR, Kelly Services India. “They have realized that it is cheaper to retain their current staff than hire new employees,” he reasons.

Other key findings of the Survey include specific sectoral trends listed below:

1. Banking & Finance – There is a constant demand for banking and finance professionals as there is a constant rise in private, public banks and foreign banks. The sector demands high quality customer-oriented services. 
Hot Job: Relationship Managers to provide advice and financial planning.

2. BPO/Call centers – There is an overall upward swing in hiring in this sector.  Innovation, quality and process improvement will be the need to retain client base.
Hot Job:  Process Managers will be in high demand as the focus is on process improvement and cost efficiency.

3. Engineering – The hiring of engineers with specific skills-set is on the rise, while contractual and temporary job offers continue with project cycles.
Hot Job: Project Manager to handle projects in different domains is in demand.

4. Human Resources – The demand for HR professionals continues to be high as the war for talent grows.
Hot Job: Recruitment Manager to cater to new business and backfills.

5. Information Technology – Talent skilled in IT architecture and solutions continue to remain in demand as enhancements to existing systems are implemented. Big projects that were on hold during the recession are driving employment.
Hot Job: IT professionals with over 10 years of experience for senior positions are high in demand.

6. KPO Analytics - KPO has emerged as one of the leading industries in the hiring game.
Hot Job: Analyst / Sr. Analyst as most companies are looking at bagging new projects and clients.

7. Procurement supply chain & logistics – Although these industries were not adversely affected by the recession but the need for specialists with excellent communication skills has increased.
Hot Job: Warehouse Managers are being sought after to plan for efficient storage and systematic retrieval.

8. Real Estate: The industry is coming back on the profitable track with the demand for offices increasing in metros such as Bangalore and Mumbai. Hiring in this industry is on an upward trend.
Hot Job:  Project Managers to handle projects from beginning to end since infrastructure is growing.

9. Sales and Marketing – Though the market has not become as aggressive as in 2007, opportunities in the market are driving sales teams to put forward their best pitches.
Hot job: Senior Sales / Marketing professionals are in demand to manage and implement strategies.

The study shows that the net employment outlook for this quarter has risen by 6 points to 64% from the last quarter’s 58%. “We are seeing positive hiring intentions over the past few months and are expecting this to continue,” confirms Lala. Employment Outlook index witnesses growth in most of the cities, with New Delhi topping the chart, Ahmedabad and Mumbai record the smartest recovery and growth, over the previous quarters, while Kolkata still lags behind in comparison.

Sector-wise, the increase in hiring is driven by Infrastructure, Manufacturing & Engineering and Telecom. Interestingly, Telecom in this quarter sees healthy growth after three stagnant quarters.

The other key trend that has come out in this report is that of hiring trend at the bottom of the organizational pyramid. Junior and entry levels of organizational hierarchy are set to make a strong comeback with 17% and 11% increases in hiring intent – the biggest rise after more than 24 months of stagnant or negative growth. Another positive move is the drop in the ‘Not Hiring’ category which is 12-month low and stands at 12%.  Moreover, there is an increase in the intention to hire across all functions. Sales, Marketing & Customer Care register the highest increase of 8% among functional areas.

Lot of this perhaps can be linked to the steady growth in the Net Business Outlook which currently stands at 61%, an increase from previous quarter’s 56%. The Business Outlook index of all cities is at a 12 month high – sans Kolkata. The Business Outlook index of Ahmedabad (with 77 points), Bangalore (with 73 points) and Mumbai (with 52 points) has the best growth story to unfold over the previous 4 quarters. Hyderabad too exhibits recovery from its previous quarter slump. Industry experts believe that things will only get better in the months to come. We sure would hope so!

According to the recent Kelly Services study, the global workforce favors greater ownership stake in their jobs, with 60 percent respondents saying profit sharing would motivate them to perform better. The findings are part of Kelly Services’ annual study – Kelly Global Workforce Index, conducted over 1,34,000 people from 29 countries across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America including almost 13,000 in the United States.

Interestingly, more than half of all Americans surveyed believe they would be more productive if they have a greater interest in the companies they work for, through benefits like profit sharing. “Such arrangements create a powerful bond between employees and employers and can motivate people to be more productive or creative,” explains George Corona, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Kelly Services. It’s a little wonder then why the idea of giving an employee a “slice of the pie” is gaining appeal. “As the global talent shortage looms, employers need to stress on improving workforce productivity through employment packages that align individual performance to corporate goals,” adds Corona.

The study shows that Gen X (aged 30-47) employees are much more likely to be receiving performance-based pay than Gen Y (aged 18-29) or those in the Baby Boomer generation (aged 48-65). Male employees are also more frequently in performance pay plans than their female counterparts. 

Of those who do not have such an arrangement, more than a third would like to see this practice adopted by their employers, particularly Gen Y and male employees. “Most employees are keen on having a part of their compensation tied to their organization’s financial performance,” elaborates Mike Webster, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Kelly Services.

Aside from salary, the highest rated benefit for all generations is Training, but it is much more important to Gen Y and Gen X.

Additionally, the survey highlights that employers with a proactive role in improving the health of their workforce are preferred, with 84 percent respondents saying that employer-provided health initiatives should be part of their employment package. “These programs can yield benefits for both employers and employees by creating a more productive and energetic work environment,” confirms Webster.

Approximately half of all generations rate employer-provided health benefits as “very important” and believe that employers should provide an incentive for adopting healthier lifestyle changes e.g. quitting smoking, losing weight or taking up exercise.  Roughly 80 percent of all generations think that employers should take responsibility for employee health and well-being. The employer-provided health benefit that is most attractive to all generations is health insurance, while gym access or discounts are relatively popular with Gen Y.

“Across the workforce, there is an expectation that employers need to move beyond traditional areas of compensation in looking after the well-being of their key people. With many spending considerable time working, employee health and welfare has become vital,” Corona explains. “So it is not surprising that health and training have emerged as two key priorities for many individuals. These are also the benefits that help to strengthen commitment for the long term and are recognized as a good investment in human capital by employers,” he concludes.

Other results of the survey in the United States about employee benefits and perks shows: 

• 51 percent say that profit sharing would motivate them to perform at a higher level.
• Among major U.S. regions, the largest concentration of workers receiving performance pay is in northern New Jersey and Memphis, Tennessee (both 33 percent), followed by Portland, Oregon (32 percent), Tampa, Florida; New York City; and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina (all 31 percent). 
• Industries with the highest rate of performance-based compensation include financial services, travel & leisure, retail, and business services.
• Aside from salary, the reward that rates highest is health benefits, followed by flexible hours and retirement benefits. 
• More than two-thirds (67 percent) believe that employers should provide incentives to encourage a healthier lifestyle for changes like quitting smoking, losing weight, or taking up exercise.

( Source: Kelly Global Workforce Study)

What started as an initiative by IBM to bring its ‘Global Entrepreneurship Initiative’ to colleges and fortify industry-academia alliance in 2009 has gained further momentum. This year too, IBM is planning to set up 75 new Centers of Excellence (CoE) like the previous year, thereby, taking the total number of CoEs in India to 150. Last year, the CoEs were launched at several engineering colleges in the states of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, among others.

The CoE is an outgrowth of IBM’s Global Academic Initiative covering more than 2,000 colleges and universities around the world. Under the initiative, IBM partners with the local government and academia to create an enabling environment by allowing access to IBM software, course material, training and curriculum development. Thus, it helps the country become an innovators’ nation by investing in skills development and technology enablement, thereby, empowering future workers to be able to compete in the larger global workforce.

“We are trying to bring the industry and academia closer by creating a program where industry can use the CoE set up and the certified resources in the college to create innovative software projects,” explains Himanshu Goyal, Country Manager – Academic Initiative, Developer Works & Globalization, IBM – South Asia. 

Moreover, this initiative helps start-ups capture new business opportunities by providing access to technology resources from IBM. Through its Global Entrepreneurship Initiative program, IBM will select a few projects based on their feasibility and provide guidance to take them to market and build sustainable business for the entrepreneurs. “Apart from providing training, certification and software, free of cost to these colleges, IBM plans to take the CoEs to next level and convert them into Incubation Centers,” confirms Goyal.

IBM’s Academic Initiative, under which these CoEs are being launched, has been ensuring certified and industry-ready software professionals, hitherto producing nearly 10,000 certified candidates from the various CoEs. The number is expected to increase by 6000 certified candidates in 2010.

The much awaited cheer in the Indian job market is back indeed with organizations returning to the hiring mode. And it’s not just the permanent staffing business that’s seeing a rise but also the temporary and contractual staffing industry.

Temping gains ground
According to the latest Teamlease Temp Salary Primer ‘10, the Indian Temping industry is all set to grow by 18% in the next 1 year. “With the organized sector recognizing temping as a key people staffing strategy, temporary staffing practices have evolved considerably,” notes Rajesh A R, VP, Temporary Staffing, TeamLease Services.

Telecommunication and Energy together stepped up hiring by about 16% which beats the average quarterly market growth by a wide 4%. The IT sector too has begun hiring contractual and temporary workforce in good numbers. “The Indian temporary staffing market is fast maturing and employers are giving valuable skills due recognition and rewarding them well,”  adds Rajesh.

Rewarding skills
Covering temporary staffers working across 264 different job profiles, 13 Industries and 8 Functional Domains in 14 major locations, the study indicates that the temporary staffing market is not yet very generous in incrementing salaries across the board. In general, organizations have kept salary growth at very modest single digits, the average being 5.25%. The good news though is that a significant number of employers have rewarded select profiles with a fairly large dosage of increment.

Thus, rewarding valuable skills will be the silver lining for the coming year and special skills sets are likely to be highly valued. “Now that salary increments are back, a 7.5% to 15% raise for temporary staff, based on capabilities, is seen to be well in order to retain well-skilled people,” shares Rajesh.

Industry is handpicking highly skilled profiles and paying them much higher increments than the rest. For instance, Agriculture / Agrochemicals businesses in Bangalore have rewarded many of their sales profiles with increments in excess of 10%. Likewise, many an engineering and a blue collar profile received similar hikes across multiple cities from Automobile companies.

Sector Trends
According to the study, Infrastructure and essential services, as well as the IT/ITeS sectors that largely employ skilled labor and knowledge workers will raise salaries. The raise here is expected to be between 7.5% and 15%. While Manufacturing industries and traditional services sector business (except for Retail), that mostly employ relatively less skilled/semi-skilled workforce, are not likely to increment payouts.

Telecommunication and Energy have increased salaries by over 7.5%. Telecommunication companies in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune as well as Energy businesses in Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore upped the ante and doled out a 10% plus increment for several profiles.

Few sectors like Agriculture / Agrochemicals, BFSI, FMCG, Hospitality, Manufacturing and Retail are still conservative and maintain sub-5% increments at an aggregate level.

The much awaited cheer is back in the Indian job market. According to the latest Teamlease Employment Outlook Survey for the April-June quarter of year 2010-11, the Employment Outlook is up by 11%. To put it simply, this is great news for all job-seekers. The previous quarter though positive was certainly not as encouraging as the current one. The survey covers India’s 513 companies within the organized sector providing representation across sectors including Manufacturing, Engineering, Financial Services, IT, ITES, Infrastructure, Retail, Media, FMCG, Telecom, Healthcare & Pharma.

According to the report, this quarter will witness a gradual but sure advent of aggressive hiring. The Employment Outlook for the quarter has jumped from 47% to 58%. The Business Outlook too is up by 15%, and currently stands at 56 index points.

So what does that mean to any of us? For starters, this is your chance to look forward to getting a job opportunity you’ve been waiting or working for. “Industry seems to have turned the corner and intends to hire aggressively,” Rajesh AR, VP, TeamLease Services confirms.

The sectors which show promise of mass hiring include Healthcare/Pharma (with 72 points) which has the highest index points followed by IT (with 69 points). Interestingly, the Infrastructure sector which was leading in the last quarter is lagging behind now with a net decrease of 33 points.Among cities, there is an increase in Employment Outlook index points of all metros including Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chennai.  The one leading the brigade is Bangalore which saw the highest increase (by 23 points) in Employment Outlook Index points followed by Ahmedabad (by 17 points). “The recovery in sentiment is smart, comprehensive and widespread – the jump in hiring sentiment is shared across geographies and across most sectors,” shares Rajesh.

According to the survey, there is an increase in the intention to hire across all functions, except Marketing and Customer service which are at par with last quarter. It is observed that the intention to hire has increased (highest at Middle level) across all levels, except entry level. “The improvement in sentiment has been studied and gradual over the past 4 quarters – giving us sufficient reason to believe that it is here to stay,” notes Rajesh. “Although global economy concerns persist, as far as the employment scenario in India is concerned, the cheer has spread and the good times are back,” he concludes.

As the saying goes, what goes up must come down and vice-versa, Indian employment scenario too is shaping up a lot better than the last year. While hiring is still being done with a lot of caution, there’s a lot more positivity and optimism in the current state-of-affairs.
The jitters that came along with the last recession in the job-market have at last been shaken off and the employment outlook certainly is getting better with world economy bouncing back. More so, in the case of Indian job market.

According to the latest TeamLease’s Employment Outlook Report, the Net Employment Outlook for the quarter January – March 2010 has gone up by 1 index point to 47% from the last one. The survey covers India’s organized sector providing representation across various sectors including Manufacturing, Engineering, Financial Services, IT, ITES, Infrastructure, Retail, Media, FMCG, Telecom, Healthcare & Pharma. Among these, Infrastructure (with 69 points) has the highest index points followed by IT (with 59 points) in their employment which is reflective of their hiring trend. So for all those seeking jobs in the IT or the Infrastructure sectors, things couldn’t have been better!

Needless to say, there is a demand in other sectors too which are largely city-specific. So while in Bangalore it is the Financial Services sector leading the employment growth followed by Health and Telecom, Mumbai and Delhi are being led by IT industry followed by Infrastructure. For Hyderabad, Infrastructure, Health and ITES are the biggest contributors to Employment growth and for Pune it is IT and ITES. In Kolkata it is Infrastructure followed by Health leading the way while Retail, Media & FMCG followed by Health are the biggest contributors for Ahmedabad. Chennai, on the other hand has Healthcare as the biggest contributor to Employment growth.

Among cities, there is an increase in Employment Outlook index points in most cities with Pune ranking the highest with an increase of 50 points while it dropped the most for Delhi by 24 points. Speaking of these cities, compared to the previous quarter, there is an upward hiring trend in the Metros while in rural areas it continues to remain steady. The survey also indicates that there is a decrease in the intention to hire at all Managerial levels and an increase in the intention to hire in Marketing and Customer Service functions.

Clearly, the hiring sentiments have improved this quarter, in line with the Industry’s positive outlook. Industry experts believe that there would be a leap of faith during this current quarter and trends will not just hold out but will get bolder, resulting in higher employment gains. That said, employers are continuing to be cautious and are placing stronger emphasis on skill-gap and employability.

Another interesting trend that has emerged through the survey is the attrition rate. During the past three months, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi and Bangalore cities were having the highest attrition rates at 10%, 8%, 7% and 7% respectively; while the other cities were having comparatively lower attrition rates. Ahmedabad on the other hand, has the lowest attrition rate in last 3 months as well as in the last 1 year. Interesting, isn’t it?

At the beginning of the millennium, there were only three women among the heads of large US public companies. In 2009, there were 12 women among Fortune 500 CEOs, wielding 2.4% of top leadership positions in the world’s top companies. While this is something to cheer about, the sobering fact is that there are only 29 women leaders (1.5%) among the world’s 2000 top performing companies.

Despite the best of efforts that women are making to secure top leadership posts, the world of business is still largely considered a man’s turf and women making it big here are often considered a rarity of sorts. As a Harvard Business Review study reported, in most cases women leaders are appointed from outside the company and often fare poorly in the internal race for the CEO’s post.

However, the good news is that all of these women at the top represent a significant change that has been sweeping boardrooms during this decade.

Of the 29 women CEOs of the world’s top 2000 companies, 19 were appointed after 2002. Most of them were given the job when the company was performing badly and needed an extra boost. For instance, under Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo grew by 12% in 2009 while Avon, under CEO Andrea Jung, grew by 34%.

These numbers are also likely to change significantly in the decades to come, with more and more women enrolling for management education. For instance, women comprise 36% of the Harvard Business School class of 2011. In India, too, the results are encouraging. The Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, ranked 12th in the world in the Financial Times Business School Rankings, had 26% of women among its students in 2009. Among its faculty, 16% were women.

There is also a significant uptick in the number of women entrepreneurs in the country. The Economic Times reports that IIM Bangalore’s Management Program for Women Entrepreneurs (MPWE) admitted only 60 women in 2007. By 2009, the course had 130 women in two batches. In 2010 there are over 200 applications for the course, which begins in April.

Things are also looking up for rural women. Established in 2006, the Maan Deshi Udyogini Business School for rural women, founded by economist and farmer Chetna Gala Sinha, counts among its students shepherds, tea vendors and fruit merchants. Located about 430 km from Mumbai, the school specifically addresses school dropouts and women without formal education.

Businessweek reported a few years ago that companies with the highest representations of women in leadership roles show better financial performance. However, while many top companies have women in key management roles, in the boardroom they are still no more than a token presence.

India has nearly four times the number of women CEOs as the US. A recent survey by EMA Partners International revealed that around 11% of Indian publicly held companies have women CEOs. However, it must also be considered that many of these leaders are from the families of the promoters. The true test of success will be when women are allowed to break the glass ceiling and rise up from the ranks into the boardroom.

Analysts everywhere are awaiting the end of a decade that has seen at least two economic upheavals. In 2001 the bursting dotcom bubble caused a major shakeup among Silicon Valley startups, spreading gloom across the world. Late 2008 witnessed the fall of Lehman Brothers and the domino effect on the global economy that resulted in widespread job losses, slashed budgets and political repercussions.

Business-watchers are optimistic that the new decade will bring good tidings. They say that there are encouraging signs that the recession is showing signs of easing. While the economic slowdown led to across-the-board cost-cutting and dealt a harsh blow to face-to-face networking events in 2009, it forced serious professionals to go online. It made them rethink and redefine their networking strategies.

People are now networking in more and more dynamic ways. Video résumés, mashup profiles and online portfolios gained importance as job-seekers tried to gain a foothold in the slippery market.

The growth of wireless communications clearly led the way in 2009, making the mobile office a reality. At the same time, the rising popularity of tools like Google Wave enabled teams to collaborate across geographies and time zones while allowing companies to keep operating costs low while driving up productivity.

Online, business networking has acquired a personal touch. Signs of change are showing in networks such as Facebook, which initially began as a platform for university grads to connect with each other but now sees increasing traction with advertisers and brand marketers, making them attractive to job-seekers.

These trends reflect an upbeat mood in the jobs market. The Wall Street Journal reported in December that recruiters expect a 19% rise in executive-level jobs in the first half of 2010. The Christian Science Monitor warned that the growth of the jobs market may be “agonizingly slow” though the outlook is good for small and medium businesses, which will lap up many job-seekers. There is good news for fresh graduates, too. Job fairs, which were not fashionable in 2009, are showing signs of a revival.

The trends go to show that no matter at what pace the economy recovers, smart business networking holds the key to success in 2010. Are you ready?

Biofuel for Aircrafts

Planes that fly exclusively on biofuel can’t be far away, if research propounded by the Policy Exchange convinces the European Union into taking a decision in their favor.

The UK think-tank has argued that the biofuel lobby should put aside demands for biofuel from cars and other terrestrial vehicles, as meeting them would require the raw material to produce the fuels to be grown over a cultivable area equivalent to the USA. Instead, Policy Exchange recommends that biofuels be used to fly aircraft, as this would help reduce the emission of greenhouse gases directly into the stratosphere.

Fuels prepared from algae, corn, sugarcane, rapeseed and jatropha – a berry-producing wild plant – have already been tested. Recently, Virgin Atlantic used a fuel mixture containing up to 20 percent biofuel on a test flight.

India already contributes immensely to global aviation industry in terms of technical support, avionics and wing design. This new aspect of the aviation business could open a vital thrust area for Indian industry, particularly in the area of chemicals.

While the farming of jatropha for bio-diesel production has already interested agriculturists, the process of refining and processing biofuels could offset the rise of the related chemicals industry. The increased demand for biofuel production would also necessitate the employment of qualified chemical engineers.

Even as the demand for biofuels grows, the possibilities are bright for career-seekers. For fresh science graduates and students of agricultural sciences, careers in chemical engineering and biofuel cropping must surely be something to think about.