Microsoft slashes contract worker rates by 10 pct

[OhioChick]

Source: AP

5 hours ago

SEATTLE (AP) — Microsoft Corp. is slashing overtime, hours and pay for U.S. temporary workers as part of an overall push to curb expenses during the recession.

Microsoft will cut what it pays the staffing agencies by 10 percent for current projects and won't raise the rate it pays for temporary workers who return after a mandatory annual 100-day break. The company also plans to reduce overtime and the total number of hours clocked by temporary workers.

In a statement Thursday, the company said it talked with some employment agencies before making the decision.

The move, first reported Wednesday by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, comes a month after the software maker resorted to its first mass layoffs and said it would trim travel costs, freeze wages and scale back expansion plans for its Redmond, Wash., headquarters.

As the recession has deepened, consumers and businesses have reined in spending on new computers and software. Because Microsoft sells the operating system that runs on the vast majority of computers around the world, it is feeling the pinch, particularly in its lucrative Windows and Office desktop software businesses.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jQIWXXj_1PLS0RN3q6Y_MuMKVK-QD96JFDO80

[IDFbunny]

1. Savings go into CEOs bonus

[CatholicEdHead]

2. What is left will be set at overseas rates

No place in IT is safe anymore.