HR Talk
Ola Electric undergoes internal restructuring and cuts around 1000 jobs
It hasn’t been long since Ola Electric laid off around 500 employees in November 2024. Now, the electric vehicle manufacturer, led by Bhavish Aggarwal, is again reducing its workforce to cut losses. These job cuts will affect various departments, including the charging infrastructure division, fulfillment, procurement, and customer relations. In this second round of layoffs, more than one-fourth of the workforce, excluding contract workers, will be affected. The company has reportedly restructured its operations and embraced automation to control costs, improve customer experience, and increase profit margins. In this process, it has eliminated redundant roles to maintain productivity. In the December quarter, Ola incurred a 50 percent increase in losses, rising from Rs 376 crore dur...
JioStar announces 600 job cuts as part of its post-merger restructuring
JioStar, the newly formed media giant resulting from the Reliance-Disney merger, is set to lay off approximately 600 employees across India. This decision is part of a significant restructuring effort aimed at optimizing resources and eliminating duplicate roles following the consolidation. The layoffs will impact employees from both Reliance and Star, as the company reorganizes its workforce. With JioStar now positioned as the country’s largest media and entertainment entity, the merger has created overlapping functions, making job cuts unavoidable. To facilitate the transition, JioStar is collaborating with an outplacement agency to help affected employees find new opportunities. The company has assured that existing health insurance and hospitalization benefits will continue until their...
Meta announces 41 jobs in Bengaluru as part of India expansion
Meta is planning to expand its operations in India and is currently seeking talent for its enterprise engineering team at its Bengaluru center. This team will manage Meta’s internal tools, according to a report by Tech Crunch. The fact that Meta is beginning to view India as an engineering hub is a positive development, indicating growing opportunities for the country’s youth. Recently, Meta laid off five percent of its workforce due to underperformance, making the new hiring initiatives in India particularly encouraging for engineering talent in the region. While the company’s other offices in Mumbai, Gurugram, New Delhi, and Hyderabad have limited openings for tech positions, the Bengaluru center is looking to fill 41 engineering roles, which include opportunities in machine learni...
Starbucks to lay off 1100 corporate staff to increase efficiency
Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees worldwide as part of a restructuring under Brian Niccol, the new chairman and CEO. This decision aims to streamline operations and enhance efficiency throughout the company. Employees were informed in a letter that the layoffs will be announced by midday on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. In addition to these layoffs, several hundred open and unfilled positions will also be eliminated. The company is focused on reducing complexity, increasing accountability, and improving integration within its operations. In January, Starbucks already conducted another round of layoffs, targeting corporate-level positions. The primary goal was to streamline operations by removing redundant roles and addressing internal inefficiencies that were believed to h...
Google announces layoffs in its HR and cloud operations as part of continuous cost reductions
Google has begun implementing job cuts within its cloud division and human resources department as part of a larger internal restructuring effort. These layoffs are part of the company’s ongoing initiative to streamline operations and redirect resources towards artificial intelligence and business expansion. To optimize resources for AI investments and business growth, Google has informed full-time employees in its people operations division in the US about a voluntary exit program set to begin in early March. Reports indicate that mid-to-senior level employees who choose to participate in this buyout could receive severance packages that include 14 weeks of salary plus an additional week for each year of service. Several teams within Google’s cloud division, including sales operatio...
Chinese firm’s strict two-minute restroom rule sparks controversy
A manufacturing company in China has recently implemented a strict policy limiting restroom use to just two minutes, which has garnered widespread criticism. The Three Brothers Machine Manufacturing Company, based in Foshan, Guangdong, now regulates its employees’ bathroom breaks by designating specific time slots and imposing penalties for exceeding the limit. The company claims that the policy is inspired by traditional Chinese medicine, citing the ancient text, “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon,” as justification. Under the new rules, employees are allowed to use restrooms at specific times: before 8 a.m., from 10:30 to 10:40 a.m., between 12 noon and 1:30 p.m., from 3:30 to 3:40 p.m., and between 5:30 and 6 p.m. Those working overtime are granted additional access after 9 p.m. ...
TCS ex-employee accuses ‘visa fraud’, claims ‘gaming system’ to dodge H-1B regulations and US labour laws
A former employee of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has accused the company of engaging in visa fraud to circumvent U.S. labor laws and H-1B visa regulations. Anil Kini, the whistleblower who worked as an IT manager at TCS’s Denver office, claims he was instructed to alter internal organizational charts and misclassify employees as managers to evade scrutiny regarding visa applications, as reported by Bloomberg. Kini’s current allegations are part of an appeal following the dismissal of his earlier lawsuit. He asserts that these fraudulent practices began during the first term of former U.S. President Donald Trump, when stricter regulations on employment visas were introduced. The accusations involve TCS’s use of L-1A visas, which are intended for transferring managers w...
Infosys Delays Trainee Assessments Following Massive Layoffs
Infosys, an Indian IT services company, has postponed a crucial internal assessment originally scheduled for February 18 at its Mysore campus. The delay comes in response to significant backlash following the termination of hundreds of trainees, which has sparked criticism from employee unions and prompted government intervention. The assessment was set to involve around 800 employees, with results expected by February 19, 2025, and potential terminations by February 21. After pressure from the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) and other unions, Infosys has rescheduled the assessment for February 24, 2025. A formal announcement was communicated to trainees via email, which has since circulated online. This postponement provides temporary relief to the affected trainee...
TCS to give out 4-8% compensation rises in March; connects increments to the return-to-work policy
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is expected to begin disbursing annual salary increments for the financial year 2025 in April, which is just two months away. The Indian multinational company plans to implement these increments in March, with increases anticipated to be in the range of four to eight percent. As per usual practice, divisions that have demonstrated exceptional performance are likely to receive higher increments. However, this year, the overall increments are lower compared to previous years. While the average increment generally ranged from seven to eight percent, this year employees have been informed that the increment will fall between four and eight percent. This is notably lower than the average increment of 10.5 percent in FY22. In April 2024, TCS introduced a new polic...
JPMorgan Chase employee fired for questioning CEO Jamie Dimon regarding return-to-office
When Nicolas Welch, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase, asked CEO Jamie Dimon about the bank’s return-to-office policy, he was shocked to find himself terminated for the inquiry. During a recent town hall meeting, Welch questioned Dimon about why his team of seven members, who work from different parts of the world and in various time zones, needed to be present in the office. He explained that his team did not require office attendance to be productive. Additionally, Welch suggested that decisions regarding in-office requirements should be left to the individual team managers. It’s important to note that Welch is currently going through a divorce and is struggling with childcare and other responsibilities. While the employees welcomed his suggestion, Dimon made his disapproval clear. He f...
JPMorgan Chase starts planned layoffs for 2025
In February, JPMorgan is set to see some employees leave the organization due to the planned layoffs that have already begun. While cuts will continue throughout the year, around 1,000 employees will be asked to exit this month, and most of them were notified last week. The bank is also looking into the redeployment of affected employees as part of its usual management practices. Despite these layoffs, the bank does not plan to halt its hiring process. According to Reuters, there are currently 14,000 job vacancies available. By the end of 2024, JPMorgan’s workforce had grown to over 317,000 employees, and the bank reported record annual profits for the previous year. However, in February 2023, JPMorgan Chase & Co caused a stir in the industry by announcing layoffs for hundreds of...
Porsche intends to cut an additional 1900 positions by 2029
Porsche, the renowned German manufacturer of luxury and sports cars, is planning to eliminate 1,900 jobs over the next couple of years. This decision is driven by several factors: intense competition in the automobile industry, rising manufacturing costs, and a slowdown in market demand. Additionally, the transition to electric vehicles has not progressed as positively as anticipated, compounded by challenging geopolitical and economic conditions worldwide. Porsche’s global workforce, which consists of 42,000 employees, will be reduced; however, media reports indicate that this will not involve compulsory redundancies. Job cuts began in 2024 when many temporary worker contracts were not renewed. In December 2024, there were reports that Porsche was preparing to reduce its workforce i...