Kyushu Electric To Slash Hiring 30% In Spring '14

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Kyushu Electric Power Co. (9508) announced Wednesday that it will take on 180 new hires in the spring of 2014, down 30% from this year.

This will mark the first time in seven years that annual spring hiring falls below 200 from the planning stage. The reduction is in line with plans to rein in overall personnel spending. The utility has already laid out plans to cut annual employee pay by an average of 21% over the three years from fiscal 2013.

Kyushu Electric will take on 65 recruits for administrative posts and 115 for engineering positions, both down 28% from the hiring planned for the spring of 2013. Including midcareer recruits, it will likely add 200 new employees to its payroll in fiscal 2014.

Separately, Kyushu Electric said it has reached agreement with labor on plans to lower employees' base pay by 5% on average, with the cuts taking effect in April.

Management and labor also agreed to introduce a defined-contribution pension program and abolish company-run leisure facilities.

(The Nikkei, March 14 morning edition)

• 
• 
•