So what if the likes of Infosys announce increment freeze, retention rates have still gone up in the Information Technology (IT) sector, especially for higher skilled talent. According to the Salary Primer 2012 by TeamLease Staffing Solutions, profiles like business analyst (BAN) and program manager (PRM) have delivered significantly higher, longevity scores despite being rewarded lesser than the last year.
"Attrition rates have dipped across several industries – and for specific profiles – and touched 3-year lows. Select profiles within healthcare, retail, FMCG and agriculture/agrochemical have longevity scores that have now overshot 93 per cent. On the skills front, while IT gets away with lesser increments than many other industries, it still manages to retain top-of-the-line talent. The IT industry's comparatively higher salary structure, couFpled with a not-so-ebullient market ensures this works," the report states.
Yet, despite the IT sector registering modest increments, Bangalore, the largest hub of the industry, is a leader with the highest median salary growth in last one year.
"Bangalore has been holding the reins for about 3 years in succession now. With a median salary growth rate of 8.6 per cent - incrementally higher than last year's – Bangalore seems in no mood to give up on its top position. Mumbai (8.1 per cent), Delhi (7.7 per cent) and Chennai (6.8 per cent) stay their courses as well," according to the report.
In fact, the biggest salary at junior / middle levels, drawn this year was Rs 142,000 per month by a SAS Programmer in IT-Bangalore. The profile received an increment of 14 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), across geographies. The overall hiring in the IT sector grew by almost 20 per cent y-o-y, with a continued upward trend.
As per the report, the sector also managed to retain top talent without having to increment salaries by a large margin. "The IT industry is currently in a win-win situation. The slowdown in market has made employees consider the old adage of 'one in hand is worth two in bush'. Moreover, with employees staying back, the IT companies have been saving up on otherwise additional costs they would have had to incur on continuing certain projects," says Rajiv Vaishnav, vice president, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).
The other sector to get away with modest increment is retail. "The marginally higher increment the retail industry pays here is paid back in gratitude with a significant increase in longevity," Salary Primer 2012 states.
However, contrary to IT and retail industry, not rewarding its higher talented profiles cost the FMCG industry in terms of increased attrition. "Thankfully, the attrition rates are well under 10 per cent in most cases and the industry can, perhaps, look at a more equitable reward structure," the report adds.
According to Salary Primer, as industries get smarter at hiring and rewarding the right talent, the diversity and sheer number of profiles getting rewarded with double digit salary growth have zipped up. "There is increased prevalence of industry-city clusters where this incidence occurs – healthcare in Bangalore, automotive in Delhi and hospitality in Mumbai and Goa are prime examples. Power and energy beats 10 per cent salary increments across four cities and three distinct profiles," the report highlights. Meanwhile, the average salary difference between temporary and permanent jobs has also come down from 15 per cent a few years ago to four per cent. "With even more parity forged across industries, cities and profiles, temp and perm jobs are seen to be fast converging on salaries," the report adds.
