 "Air India revises salaries, designations of non-flying India staff")
Air India on Friday revised salaries and designations of its non-flying staff based in India to bring them in alignment with the ‘market standards’ and ‘promote efficiency’ within the airline.
The carrier has a total of about 16,000 employees: 7,000 are non-flying staff while 9,000 are flying staff such as pilots and cabin crew members. The company had revised the salary structure for flying staff in April.
The airline's chief executive officer (CEO)and managing director (MD) Campbell Wilson said on Friday: "The new grades and designations have been arrived at after a comprehensive formal job evaluation to assess the size and complexity of each role, which have then been benchmarked against external companies so that the grade and associated compensation is aligned with market standards."
Additionally, Air India is introducing a performance-linked variable pay component in line with its drive to become more performance-oriented and meritocratic, he told employees through a message, which has been reviewed by Business Standard.
"This variable component will be directly linked to both the company’s and each individual’s performance in a financial year, and will be based on clearer job descriptions that provide well-defined goals, KPIs (key performance indicators) and accountabilities," Wilson added.
The revised salary structures and designations will be applicable from April 1, 2023, onwards. The Tata Group had, on October 8, 2021, won the bid to acquire Air India from the government. The conglomerate took over the airline on January 27, 2022.
After Wilson's message, the airline' chief human resources officer Suresh Dutt Tripathi issued a circular, saying, “The contemporary organisation structure with new roles and designations has been designed to provide clarity on lines of accountability, promote efficiency, cross-functional collaboration and ample growth and advancement of our employees".
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Tripathi said that there is absolutely no equivalence or linkage between the old and new grade structure.
He said that annual increments would be awarded to employees who joined between October 8, 2021, and December 31, 2023. For employees who joined prior to the privatisation, their salaries will now follow cost to company (CTC) structure, with fixed pay and performance-linked bonus.
There will be ‘harmonisation’ of pay and benefits for fixed-term contract and permanent employees. He clarified that employees who have not been assigned any role in the new organisation structure will not receive the revised employment contracts and compensation.
Tripathi said that employees who have applied for voluntary retirement will also not receive the revised employment contracts and compensation.
Air India is currently operating about 2,956 flights per week, which is 32.3 per cent more in the corresponding month last year, according to aviation analytics Cirium.
Wilsons said: "With contracts and compensation structures now transitioned from erstwhile Air India to the new, privatised environment for flying crew and India-based non-flying staff, the final cohort to address is our non-flying staff based outside India. Due to the large number of countries involved and the individual circumstances of each location, it will take a little longer to work through – but we will get there, too."
"And with job sizes and grades established, we are also now able to update and disseminate certain dependent policies for all staff categories which will roll out in the coming weeks," the CEO added.
Key highlights in salary and designation revision of non-flying staff:
1. There is no equivalence or linkage between old and new grade structure
2. Annual increments for employees who joined between October 8, 2021, (date of privatisation) and December 31, 2023
3. Harmonisation of pay and benefits for fixed term contract and permanent employees who joined before privatisation
4. Introduction of cost to company (CTC) structure for employees who joined before privatisation
5. Revision of CTC with annual increments for employees who joined between April 1-December 31 last year
6. Performance bonus for employees who joined between April 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023