By CNBC : The world economy is once again in a
precarious position as governments in developed
countries cut spending,
while the private sector braces for another slowdown. Unemployment rates in
many developed countries are running in double digit percentages, creating a
jobs crisis.
In the midst of this, some of the world's largest companies in Western and
emerging markets aren't cutting jobs, in fact they are adding to their
payrolls.
We've put together a list of the world's 10 largest employers among publicly
listed companies based on figures from Reuters, global stock indexes,
company websites, annual reports and other publicly available information.
We've used full-time employees, except in a few cases where the business
depends largely on part-time workers. In such cases, we have clearly
indicated that the number includes part-time workers.
The world's largest employers come from a variety of industries such as
retail, telecom, energy and banking. We looked at how efficient these
companies were with their labor. We calculated the companies' revenue per
employee and profit per employee figures based on their 2010 annual
earnings. Some of these organizations might surprise you, while others are
famous for their size and global reach.
10. IBM
Employees: 426,750
Revenue per employee: $234,000
Profit per employee: $34,750
IBM is the world's third biggest technology company by market cap, behind
Apple and Microsoft. It is also one of only two tech giants to make the list
of the 10 biggest employers.
Founded in 1911 as the Computing Tabulating Recording Company, the firm
adopted the name International Business Machines in 1924. Its operations
span computer hardware, software, infrastructure and consulting services.
IBM marked a major milestone this year, celebrating 100 years since its
founding. It now has employees in over 200 countries.
In 2009, IBM announced it was shedding as many as 10,000 U.S. jobs. The
company has been accused of offshoring U.S. jobs to Asia and South America.
In 2003, IBM employed just 9,000 people in India, but by 2010 that number
had jumped to 75,000. In comparison, its U.S. workforce shrunk from 135,000
to 105,000 in the same period.
From 2005 to 2010, the conglomerate added over 97,000 jobs globally. The
company's revenue per employee has declined by over $42,000 compared to
2005, but its profit per employee has gone up by over $10,000 in that
period.
9. Compass Group
Employees: 428,000
Revenue per employee: $53,000
Profit per employee: $2,500
Compass Group is the world's largest contract food service company with
operations in over 50 countries. It serves 4 billion meals a year.
The company was founded in the U.K. in 1941 as Factory Canteens by Jack
Bateman, and went on to grow through mergers to become the Compass Group in
1987. The caterer expects sales for its fiscal year 2011 to grow by 9
percent despite rising food costs and weakness in its European markets.
The group added nearly 18,000 employees from 2005 to 2010. U.K. and Ireland
account for only 20 percent of its workforce, while over 40 percent of its
employees are in North America. In recent years, the company has also
improved labor productivity. Its revenue per employee has gone up nearly
$14,500 from 2005 and its profit per worker is now almost five times what it
was five years ago.
Compass' growth is being driven by its operations in emerging markets and
North America, along with contract wins and acquisitions. In April, the
group acquired two Indian companies Vipul Facility Management and Ultimate
Hospitality Services to broaden its reach to 44 cities in India. Earlier
this month, Compass also took over leading Turkish business food services
provider Obasan.
8. Agricultural Bank of China
Employees: 444,440
Revenue per employee: $85,470
Profit per employee: $33,500
Agricultural Bank of China, also known as AgBank, is the world's biggest
bank by the number of customers, branches and employees.
The lender was founded in 1979 to provide credit to farmers and is one of
China's big four commercial banks. In 2010, the lender's massive IPO pulled
in $22.1 billion from Hong Kong and Shanghai, making it the largest IPO in
world history. China's big push over the past decade to develop the
country's rural hinterland has spurred Agbank's growth.
Agbank has however had a rocky past, requiring a government bailout because
of bad debts. In 2008, for example, the company got a $19 billion cash
infusion from the government. The company's huge workforce hasn't declined
much in recent years even after it made a transition from a completely
government owned lender to a publicly listed company. The bank is less
profitable on a per-employee basis than other Chinese lenders such as ICBC,
which is the world's largest bank by market cap and assets. ICBC for example
has revenues per employee of $150,000 and profits per employee of $65,000.
7. Deutsche Post DHL
Employees: 467,000
Revenue per employee: $148,000
Profit per employee: $8,350
Deutsche Post DHL is Europe's largest mail and express delivery company and
one of the world's biggest logistics firms.
The German company, which operates in more than 220 countries, was
privatized in 1995, but state-owned bank KfW owns a 30 percent stake.
Deutche Post's labor force has increased in recent years, because of a
number of acquisitions such as British logistics company Exel and India's
Blue Dart. However, the company has also been shedding jobs and its net
full-time payroll has shrunk by about 7.5 percent from a total workforce of
about 455,000 in 2005.
Deutsche Post's business has been affected by a growing trend towards email
rather than snail mail. It recently reached a deal with German union Verdi
for average wage cuts for new mail employees of 4 percent in exchange for
guaranteeing the jobs of 130,000 workers through 2015. The company said the
move was an effort to stabilize operating profits in the mail business at
$1.36 billion, as well as deal with the future shrinking of the mail market.
On the other hand, the company's freight services have been experiencing
strong profit growth. In August, the group announced that full-year 2011
profit would be up to $3.5 billion, higher than analysts expectations of
$2.36 billion.
6. Carrefour
Employees: 471,750
Revenue per employee: $256,000
Profit per employee: $3,920
France's Carrefour is Europe's largest retailer, and the world's
second-largest retailer after Wal-Mart. Founded in 1958 by the Fournier and
Defforey families in southeastern France, the company now has hypermarkets
and supermarkets in 32 countries, with over 57 percent of its revenue coming
from international operations.
The company's workforce has increased from 436,000 in 2005 to around 471,000
at the end of 2010. In recent months, the grocery giant has issued a string
of profit warnings because of slowing consumer demand in its main European
markets and stiff competition in France. Carrefour warned in September that
its 2011 profits would slump 15 percent as it cut prices to regain market
share.
The company has also faced labor disputes recently. In April, about 65,000
French workers went on a one-day strike against low wages, job cuts and poor
working conditions. Meanwhile in August, workers in Indonesia, where the
retail giant employs 28,000 people, threatened strike action and staged a
rally demanding better job contracts.
Carrefour generates $55,000 more in annual sales per employee compared to
Wal-Mart and $60,000 more when compared to Tesco. But the company generates
about $3,000 less in profit per employee than Wal-Mart and $5,000 less than
Tesco.
5. Tesco
Employees: 492,700
Revenue per employee: $194,000
Profit per employee: $9,000
Tesco is the world's third biggest retailer behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour.
The U.K. grocery giant, founded by Jack Cohen, opened its first supermarket
in 1929, and now retails everything from books, clothing, and electronics to
financial services.
The employer has seen its workforce grow 19 percent over the past five
years, adding close to 80,000 jobs between 2007 and 2011. Tough trading
conditions in Britain with declines in domestic profits have been offset by
its expansion in fast-growing Asian markets. Profits rose by 19 percent in
Asia, compared to only 4.5 percent in Britain in the six months to August
27th, compared to the same period in 2010.
Earlier this month, Tesco posted a 0.7 percent decline in U.K. sales for the
three months ending August, compared to the same period last year. The drop
in sales marked the firm's third consecutive quarterly decline. The company
said it would invest $784 million in cutting prices of staples like milk and
carrots in a bid to reverse market share losses. In August last year, the
firm also cut 2,000 management roles at its U.K. convenience stores as part
of a restructuring plan.
The company's international expansions haven't always worked out. The group
recently announced that it was pulling out of Japan after eight years,
selling 129 small supermarkets to focus on operations in other Asian
countries.
4. PetroChina
Employees: 592,700
Revenue per employee: $390,000
Profit per employee: $37,250
PetroChina is China's largest oil and gas company with a market cap of
$274.3 billion. It is also the world's second-most valuable energy firm
after Exxon Mobil.
Founded in 1999, PetroChina is the listed arm of state-owned China National
Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), which still owns 86 percent of the firm. The
company's activities span drilling, exploration, refining and fuel
retailing. PetroChina also owns nearly all of its 18,000 branded service
stations in the country.
The oil giant has increased its workforce by over 25 percent from 2005 to
2010, adding over 113,000 jobs in that period. More than 60 percent of
PetroChina's employees work in the energy production sector, accounting for
around 337,000 workers. The company also has 66,000 employees who work in
administration and another 66,000 in technology.
In terms of labor efficiency, PetroChina makes about $71,000 less than its
competitor Sinopec in revenue per employee, but the refiner takes in $20,000
more in profit per employee compared to Sinopec.
3. Hon Hai Precision Industry | Foxconn
Employees: 836,000
Revenue per employee: $117,700
Profit per employee: $3,000
Hon Hai Precision is the parent company of Foxconn Technology, the world's
largest electronics manufacturer by revenue. Foxconn is also the largest
exporter in the Greater China region.
Founded in 1974 by CEO Terry Gou with just $7,500, the Chinese tech giant
now assembles everything from computers to smartphones and display panels
for customers such as Apple, Cisco, Dell, Nokia and Sony.
In 2010, media reports said the tech giant planned to increase its China
workforce by 400,000 over the next several years. The company has faced a
string of suicides, many of which have been blamed on harsh working
conditions. In response, Foxconn nearly doubled production-line salaries in
2010 to between $180 and $300 per month. Rising labor costs though have hit
its net profit, which fell by 23 percent in the April to June quarter over
the previous year.
About half the company's employees work at its coastal Shenzhen plant, but
the firm plans to reduce the location's headcount by 170,000 over five years
and open new factories further inland, where labor is cheaper. Foxconn is
also planning to switch to using robots and will reportedly deploy one
million of them within three years up from about 10,000 currently.
2. McDonald's
Employees: 1.7 million*
Revenue per employee: $14,200
Profit per employee: $2,930
McDonald's is one of the world's most valuable brands and one of only three
American companies to make the list of the 10 biggest employers.
Founded in 1955 by American businessman Ray Kroc, McDonald's is the world's
largest chain of fast food hamburger restaurants. The company has a presence
in 118 countries with over 33,000 restaurants — more than 80 percent of
which are owned by independent franchisees.
In April this year, McDonald's drew headlines on "national hiring day," when
it added a whopping 62,000 U.S. employees in one day. That was more than the
50,000 it planned to hire on that day to boost its U.S. staff by 7 percent.
McDonald's biggest market in 2010 was Europe, accounting for 41 percent of
its global revenue. The U.S. made up 34 percent of its revenue, while the
rest of the world contributed roughly 21 percent.
The company is continuing to expand. In 2011, it plans to invest $2.5
billion, roughly half of it to open around 1,100 new restaurants around the
world.
1. Walmart
Employees: 2.1 million*
Revenue per employee: $199,500
Profit per employee: $7,100
Walmart is the world's largest retailer with over 9,600 stores in 28
countries.
The company was founded in 1962 by Arkansas businessman Sam Walton. The
Walton family remains one of the richest families in the world with a 48
percent stake in the company.
Walmart's workforce grew nearly 17 percent from 1.8 million employees in
2005 to 2.1 million in 2010. Over that time, the company has been able to
generate high revenues and profits per employee. Its annual revenue per
employee has gone up by nearly $27,000 compared to 2005, while profit per
employee has also gone up by $900.
Out of its 2.1 million employees worldwide, about 1.4 million work in the
U.S. Outside of the U.S., Walmart is also the largest private employer in
Mexico and one of the largest in Canada. International revenues amounted to
$109 billion for the same period.
With more employees than any other private company in the world, Walmart has
also faced scrutiny from labor groups. It's been criticized for its strong
anti-union policies. The company says its employees earn an average annual
wage of between $10 and $12 per hour. But some local politicians and
community organizers have protested the opening of new Walmart stores
arguing that it depresses wages and hurts other businesses.
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Courtesy: http://en.news.maktoob.com
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