Siveco lays off one tenth of its staff

One of the top players on the local business software market, Siveco Romania, will forego at least 10 percent of its employees, in an attempt to cut costs, and to compensate for the lack of local market IT projects, according to sources for Business Standard. This measure is being applied in March 2009. Employees are being asked to agree to resign by mutual agreement, and will receive one extra salary. Contacted by Business Standard, Siveco representatives declined to comment on the information before the closing of this edition. Sources said the measures are applicable to employees in all departments. According to information provided by the company, Siveco had some 750 employees by mid-2008, and had been planning to increase its staff to 900 people by the end of last year. The difficult economic framework led to a significant decline in IT investments and consumption, which has translated to layoffs, especially on the IT retail and distribution segments. Companies have either closed stores or resized personnel based on their current operational needs. Romsoft, a company which owns the Depozitul de Calculatoare retail chain, closed several stores late last year, while the Tornado distributor laid off some 40 percent of its employees. Oracle Romania, the local branch of the top international business software producer, decided to lay off employees with temporary labor contracts, hired through the Addeco HR company. Telecom operator Orange Romania also decided not to renew temporary contracts for some 200 employees leased through the Manpower company. Oracle officials did not comment on the information, while Orange representatives indicated that measures are not related to the global crisis, but to the company’s business priorities. The local IT market is set to decline this year, as public projects are blocked and companies have lowered investments in the field.