Don't serve chocolates or mint to your guests. Don't use that expensive brand
of mineral water. Don't use colour printers. Don't buy unne
cessary software. India Inc seems to have added more 'Don'ts' to its list than
ever and the panic has spread wider. Increasing cost pressure, reducing margins
and widening credit crunch have forced many companies to not only reconsider
their costs, but also rewrite the rulebook.
A large American investment bank has stopped providing luncheon coupons to its
employees, usually worth a few thousand rupees, to entertain their guests.
Employees of a leading Gurgaon-based BPO have been told to make their own
travel arrangements beyond a certain distance from office, if working in day
shifts.
Other BPO firms have told employees that a cab won't be provided unless there
is a large number of those to be dropped home. If that wasn't enough, firms are
even cutting down on the number of times their premises are
cleaned.
Executives, in large IT companies, who could earlier get cab drops as and when
needed for working overtime, are now finding that they need at least three
other peers to get a ride back home. Recently, Wipro chief Azim Premji, in an
internal letter, asked employees to reduce 'discretionary' expenses.
The country's third-largest tech firm is also learnt to have pruned its
marketing spends and discouraged purchase of any software which is not
considered essential.
It's not just IT-BPO and financial services companies that are on a
cost-cutting spree. A leading Indian pharma company has already done away with
toilet paper at its offices and has changed its brand of bottled water to a
cheaper one. A leading Indian bank also asked its entire investment banking
division to stop travelling business class within or outside the country, at
least for the next 12 months.
Similarly, global banking firm, Deutsche Bank has instructed its employees not
to travel unless the trip has been approved by the respective business unit
heads. Sources say the decision has been implemented across Asia. When
contacted, the bank did not comment. However, a senior company official
confirmed the move, adding that such measures are part of a travel policy and
employees need to seek approval from their COOs and sometimes Asia heads before
travelling.
Others are discouraging use of colour printers and round-the-clock use of air
conditioners. "An infrastructure company has asked its employees to switch off
office ACs for at least two hours daily to cut electricity bills," said an
industry source. Companies are also reducing the number of newspapers and
magazines they subscribe to.
"People anticipate another 6-12 months of trying times. So, things that had
become a norm in the past two years, such as business class travel for all,
sometimes even for a single meeting, offsite meetings abroad or five-star
luncheons at the drop of a hat, are going away.
These have been replaced by video conferencing, domestic offsites and concern
for the environment with 'print only if necessary' and switching off lights
when leaving one's room," head-hunting firm Executive Access partner Charul
Madan said.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3658654.cms?from_et_daily_newsltr=1
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