There are reports that entire top management of Air India will be recast in the coming 30 days. It is said that some of the old time directors are going to be asked to leave. Air India will be looking for a Professional Chief Operating Officer. However what needs to be seen if they will do away with a beurocrat taking up the position of CMD (whether the CMD Arvind Jadhav will continue in office)?

Air India will be roping in some of the leading corporate personalities and management gurus as independent directors. Government it seems is happy with the help they have got from the directors they appointed in the Satyam case. So they expect these corporate honchos to put Air India back on track and ensure that it turns around to profitability.

Layoffs expected?

The future for the Air India employees will be tough as the new decision makers will sure take the togh decision and this will sure lead to layoffs. No independet director will take this job unless they are given full power to take decisions. So no matter what the layoffs will come to Air India – hard or soft. What needs to be seen is how they will tackle it. It may be recalled that Government has forced Jet airways to take back its laid off employees earlier. Now the ball is in Government’s court and see what they will do with the excess staff they have?

If the company has decided that layoffs are necessary and they announced  it then one can make the best of a bad situation by taking different steps to come over from this situation.If things go perfectly, employees won’t ever have to do layoffs.

Layoffs are a major event and should be handled by top company executives.An advance notice should be given to the employees about the mass layoffs. As soon as the company know that they will have to do a layoff, if they hold a meeting and tell to employees about the reason for doing layoffs then this will allow some forewarning to the employees so that the actually layoff isn’t such a shock. It is a terrible thing for a family when parents goes to work daily, and one day comes home  unemployed. Often one of the questions that people ask is, “how am I going to tell my family?” If your employees get some warning beforehand, they will be able to prepare their families for the possibility of a layoff.

After company layoffs, many survivors are required to cope with  demands as a result of additional work that was previously performed by former co-workers. In many cases, the increased workload causes a decrease in effectiveness and productivity. Unexpected stress is caused to the workers. If you are in a similar situation, in order to increase effectiveness at work after surviving company layoffs consider implementing these pro-active strategies for approaching your job.

If you experience a layoff or job termination, you are usually eligible for unemployment. Apply immediately following the layoff. Your employer can not contest payment on a layoff or job termination as this is not a performance based loss. Also, you can have unemployment and severance at the same time. Do not forget to apply for unemployment immediately, even if you get severance. Stay aggressive in your job search. The market is very competitive. Use resources like free seminars at the unemployment office, library, community to help create new skills or enhance skills. This is also a good way to network.

Focus on your strengths. A negative attitude can affect your people skills and reduce your chances at finding a new job. Write out a list of your strengths and careers successes to boost your confidence. This will also help will preparation for possible interview questions.

Getting to hard numbers let’s assume that a company A sacks 10 per cent of its employees and promises to pay 12-months’  salary in advance. Also, let’s assume that on an average these employees earn Rs 20,000 per month. This will help them get Rs 2,40,000 in advance. This amount if planned and spent productively can help them cope financially till the time they get another job. If you have a debt of any kind — home loan, personal loan, credit card payment etc — make provision for that first from the money that you can squeeze out from your ex-employer. There is no point in defaulting on your debt as it may come to hound you later — via your credit rating — when your financial condition improves.

If  this happpens then no employee can get into depress after getting the pink slip. The company has to think over the future of the employees because the top of the company will get an idea previously  about the financial situation of the company then and there only they take the decision of  layoff,s and if such situation occurs then they should provide saalry for atlest 4 months till that they can get settled in a next  job.

• Average salary hike in India in 2009 will be 8.2% (the highest in the Asia Pacific region hoever first time in six years that India is likely to see single-digit salary increases)
• Projected salary hike is lower than the increase of 13.3% seen in 2008
• The hike higher than China (8%) USA (3.2%) and Japan (2.3%)
• Sectors expected to see the highest raises are FMCG, durables and telecom.
• Healthcare is sector that is doing well globally and in India. In 2008, hospitals had awarded the lowest salary increases but have been placed among the top five sectors for 2009.

With inflation well below 5.5%, an average increase of 8.2% can be considered as a good raise.

To read more about this on Hewitt website – click here

• Employees at the junior manager, professional and supervisor levels are expected to receive the highest increases.
• About 16% of companies in India are considering retrenchments
• More than 60% are still hiring
• Nine out of every 10 companies still giving promotions
• Only 0.83% of companies are resorting to salary cuts

Now compare this to USA – 55% of companies in the US, 30.6% in China, 32% in Australia, 20% in Thailand and 17% in Japan are considering laying off their employees to cut costs in the face of economic recession

How Indian companies are facing recession

• In India, most companies face the downturn by drastically cutting down on luxuries and discretionary expenses such as non-billable travel and entertainment, with greater focus on prudence and productivity with the intent is to avoid layoffs.
• They are redeploying human resources and making largescale realignments to the organization

Till now in India the layoff by an Indian company were an hush hush affair. The layoff or pink slips (as they are called in western world) were thought to be a way of only companies from rest of world. This event was unlike the earlier layoffs which has been splashed in media like anything.

On the other side of world amidst the economic recession more than 750,000 jobs have disappeared from the U.S. economy this year. The workers face the prospect of plenty more layoffs to come as a continuing credit crunch and weak consumer demand hamper firms trying to maintain payrolls.

Now the big question before all of us workers is – “How safe is my job”? The answer is tricky but not difficult. You can now look for early warnings indicators for approaching layoffs. Here are seven signs (EWAs) that may signal your position is on the line.

(1) Other got fired in your company: If others are losing their jobs you may too, even if your boss says otherwise. Prepare yourself for that call to corner office and being handed over the pink slip. Note that in bad times even management may not have sense of things which may be affecting the business real time. In a globalized economy situations change rapidly. This does not mean that people are telling lies but them may not be aware genuinely. It may be the case of missing information, or circumstances change.

The basic pint is that you need to be aware of the possibility of a layoff. Workers at greatest risk of layoffs may be those who were most recently hired (although a lot depends on company policy). This was the case with Jet Airways layoff above. Other targets are workers who aren’t getting the job done. Middle management and highly paid top managers are also targets. The workers who are contract are also among the first to go.

(2) Freeze on New Hiring: Vanishing job postings (internal or external) and vanishing referral schemes are also send a layoff signal. You should look at whether colleagues are taking on more or less work, and whether some are being asked or told to leave.

The sequence of disappearance is typically started with the newly created or budgeted positions that have not been filled which are the first to go, then replacement positions that used to be posted and have disappeared, and then come the retirements that seem to be welcomed by management and are not filled.

(3) Training budgets cut: Even large companies may cut training budgets, a red flag that financial concerns could lead to layoffs. While there are certain critical initiatives or projects that need to go forward if a company wants to keep up production, workers should watch out when project spending slows.

From an employee’s standpoint, anytime they see an organization cutting back on its spending and cutting back on activities, as well as staff or initiatives around them, they need to think through the details and figure out at what point does it reach my position.

(4) New projects and events vanishing from scene: The new IT project or budgeted initiative has just vanished and no one talks about it now. Well, that is an indication of slowdown and probable cut in employees who are normally required for new projects.

(5) Office Grapevine: Conventional wisdom calls for taking office gossip with a pinch of salt. But sometimes it makes sense to listen to what your co-workers are saying and doing. It makes sense to notice what the talk is and to notice how people’s responsibilities or jobs are being redefined.

(6) Company is missing targets quarter after quarter: While some management may be less than forthcoming about missed targets for financial performance, workers can investigate a company’s health by checking out the budget. A major sign of approaching layoffs is a business that isn’t performing well. Especially at publicly traded companies, performance is critical, because firms that don’t perform to an expected level, even during recessionary times, will be forced to cut back.

(7) What your top management is saying in public: The top management speeches and statements in public are sometimes indicators of coming dangers. Like in case of Jet airways – a stress deal with Kingfisher airlines is announced a couple of days earlier and this followed by retrenchments.

Whatever may be the reason workers all over the world need to face recession and have to secure their jobs. Making note of early warning indicators may help in some cases.