Lenovo to poach dismissed Motorola employees
After Motorola Mobility closed its Nanjing R&D office, the Chinese PC maker Lenovo has benefited by taking on a number of the rival firm's bereft staff.
Beijing News reports that approximately 40 ex-Motorola employees have made the transition to Lenovo's Nanjing R&D Center, and dozens more may be poached to work for the firm.
According to the publication, software engineers in particular have been of interest to the Chinese PC maker.
Motorola's Nanjing R&D office housed over 500 employees, but only 40 will be given the chance to transfer to Beijing or move abroad -- the rest currently face unemployment.
The move seems to work out not only for the ex-employees, but for Lenovo -- as the firm will be able to shore up its research and development base in Nanjing, rather than scout for staff in other areas. Originally, the PC maker planned to set up R&D centers in other cities, but after hearing about the closure, rapidly changed their main R&D address to Nanjing.
As The Next Web reports, the research center focuses on mobile phone and tablet development, so the lured ex-Motorola staff are likely to work on these projects.
Beijing News understands that Lenovo plans to take 100 members of staff in total, which leaves 60 job slots open -- and a planned poaching reaching a fifth of Motorola's staff numbers. However, other firms are apparently also sifting through the hundreds of ex-Motorola staff left without work, including China Telecom and Naritech.
After a protest organized by Motorola staff in August over Google's plans to downsize and lay off over 4,000 employees in the hope of increasing profitability, Nanjing was one of the worst-affected areas. After Motorola's head of China become involved in negotiations, over 200 ex-Motorola staff have signed agreements which terminate their employment.
Motorola suffered losses of $527 million in Q3 2012.
Beijing News reports that approximately 40 ex-Motorola employees have made the transition to Lenovo's Nanjing R&D Center, and dozens more may be poached to work for the firm.
According to the publication, software engineers in particular have been of interest to the Chinese PC maker.
Motorola's Nanjing R&D office housed over 500 employees, but only 40 will be given the chance to transfer to Beijing or move abroad -- the rest currently face unemployment.
The move seems to work out not only for the ex-employees, but for Lenovo -- as the firm will be able to shore up its research and development base in Nanjing, rather than scout for staff in other areas. Originally, the PC maker planned to set up R&D centers in other cities, but after hearing about the closure, rapidly changed their main R&D address to Nanjing.
As The Next Web reports, the research center focuses on mobile phone and tablet development, so the lured ex-Motorola staff are likely to work on these projects.
Beijing News understands that Lenovo plans to take 100 members of staff in total, which leaves 60 job slots open -- and a planned poaching reaching a fifth of Motorola's staff numbers. However, other firms are apparently also sifting through the hundreds of ex-Motorola staff left without work, including China Telecom and Naritech.
After a protest organized by Motorola staff in August over Google's plans to downsize and lay off over 4,000 employees in the hope of increasing profitability, Nanjing was one of the worst-affected areas. After Motorola's head of China become involved in negotiations, over 200 ex-Motorola staff have signed agreements which terminate their employment.
Motorola suffered losses of $527 million in Q3 2012.
