Interviewed following last week's announcement of a planned spin-off of TMP Worldwide's eResourcing and Executive Search branches into a separate, Nasdaq-listed company, TMP Asia-Pacific general counsel Vanessa Goss said she did not expect the move to result in job losses within TMP's 1800-strong workforce in the region.
However, the move is likely to have far-reaching consequences for the employment terms and conditions of Asia-Pacific staff, as up to 80 per cent work in the eResourcing and Executive Search businesses.
If the planned restructuring meets with regulatory approvals, TMP Worldwide would consist only of online recruitment service Monster.com and advertising and communications service Adcomms.
Goss said the split was designed to concrete the business separation between the company's different divisions.
"Traditionally and logically Monster.com offers itself to the recruitment sector," Goss said. "But there remained a perception that Monster competes with the recruitment companies within TMP. The split takes away any perception that eResourcing and Monster.com are competing within the one entity."
Timetables for the implementation of the planned split are still to be finalised due to the requirement to secure regulatory approvals. However, TMP Worldwide senior management expect the project to be completed by March 2003.
"The feedback so far is that all the employees are excited about the proposed move, because they realise it allows the people on each side of the business to really focus on what they do best and that presents a great opportunity," Goss said.
Although eResourcing is the company's largest division in the Asia Pacific region, Goss says Monster.com is by far the largest globally, hence the core focus for the company.
"The goal for Monster.com is to successfully branch out into different areas, such as Monster moving which has enjoyed a successful launch in the US, and Adcomms business lines have also continued evolving," Goss said. "The company will sit back and look at its strategic plans and continue to grow."
