In performance appraisal season, telecom employees have nothing to cheer

About 40% may not get a raise: COAI

With the beginning of appraisal cycle, employees across various sectors are looking forward to get rewarded for their hard work but staff of telecom operators may not get hefty hikes given the financial stress in the industry.

The debt-laden telecom sector has been facing declining revenues and dropping profitability and with consolidation becoming the norm, many of the employees may be handed pink slips and even those remain on the rolls, increments are likely to be in single digits.

“The past one year has been a difficult period and as a result, about 40% of the work force may not get a raise, and even if they do, it will be a marginal one. While the top performers may get some raise, telcos will look at reskilling employees keeping in mind the new technological needs of the sector,” industry body COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said.

The entry of Reliance Jio in the telecom market has been disruptive and most of the operators have seen their profits sliding. Country’s top operator Bharti Airtel is also likely to report a net loss for the first time in many years due to the challenging environment in the market.

From a 8-9 player market, there will be soon just three private players in telecom. Although consolidation may be good for operators as they can improve their finances, it's bad news for employees and many of them will lose their jobs.

In such challenging times, companies are trying to save costs. Industry watchers say the hikes can be in the range of 2-3 per cent for telecom staff and even the outperformers are likely to get increments in single digits.

With not many jobs around, employees have to take whatever hikes are offered, an employee of one of the operators said.