Hiring picks up, and you may get 8.6% salary hike in 2022

• Indian employers gave an average salary hike of 8% in 2021 and early estimates project that corporates may offer their employees an increment of 8.6% in 2022, a fresh compensation and reward survey by consulting firm Deloitte showed Monday

I gave an Indian employers average salary hike of 8% in 2021 and early estimates project that corporates may offer their employees an increment of 8.6% in 2022, a fresh compensation and reward survey by consulting firm Deloitte showed Monday.

The survey that collected data from 450 corporates claimed tip performers will get 1.8 times that of the average pay hike and more than three-fourth (78%) of the employers have also started hiring like that of the pre-covid time, even though there remains a bit of uncertainty around the third wave of the pandemic.

“Early estimates reveal that average increment for 2022 is expected to increase to 8.6 percent in line with a healing economy and improving confidence. If this holds true, increments in 2022 would reach the pre-pandemic levels of 2019. About 25% companies surveyed have projected a double-digit increment for 2022," according to the Workforce and Increments Trends Survey by Deloitte.

Anandorup Ghose, partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP said while most companies are projecting a higher increment in 2022 compared to 2021, India Inc. continues to operate in an environment where covid-19 related uncertainty persists, making it harder for companies to forecast exactly.

The survey indicates that in 2022, the Information Technology (IT) sector is likely to offer the highest increments, followed by the Life Sciences sector. IT is the only sector that is expected to extend double-digit increments with some digital / e-commerce companies planning to give some of the highest increments.

“Retail, hospitality, restaurants, infrastructure, and real estate companies continue to project some of the lowest increments in line with their business dynamics. Not all employees are expected to get the same increment as organisations continue to differentiate pay increases by skills and performance," said the survey that collected data from 450 companies.

While average salary hike is going to be 8.6%, top performers can expect about 1.8 times the increments given to average performers.

“Organisations are trying to balance employee cost with what is best for their employees. It is heartening to see most companies extending increments in 2021 even in sectors which have not fully recovered yet. Going forward, function specific increment differentiation may become more prevalent as attrition rates vary significantly across different skills," said Anubhav Gupta, partner, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP.

Gupta said compensation is usually one of the top reasons for attrition, particularly at a junior management level, where virtual hiring has made it easier to jump ships.

“With respect to hiring, 78% companies stated that they have started recruiting at the same pace as they used to prior to covid-19. Other key findings from the survey shows that about 60% organisations updated their health insurance policy due to covid-19 and 24% organisations readjusted their life insurance policy," the survey said.

“Most organisations that updated their insurance policies, either introduced a Covid-specific claim or increased the coverage amount for their employees. Almost 2 out of every 3 organisations readjusted their leave policy and introduced special leaves of 14 to 21 days, over and above the regular annual paid leaves," it added.

As far as return to office is concerned, only 25% companies have conducted an employee preference survey to decide their return to work strategy. The IT sector has been the most proactive in assessing employee preferences with regards to the desired workplace. In most cases where such a survey was conducted, employees seem to prefer a hybrid work arrangement—a combination of work from home and office, wherever feasible.

(source : livemint.com)