MUMBAI : Salary hikes this year will be an average of 9% as companies trudge back to the pre-pandemic levels and business outlook improves. HR firms like Aon expect a 9.9% increment rolled out by India Inc, the highest since 2016, while Mercer says it will be about 9%, compared to 7.7% in 2020.
Talent assessment firm Mercer|Mettl on Wednesday stated that as business landscapes change with more technology penetration, demand for niche skill sets are at an all-time high. Java, JavaScript and SQL developers will be the coveted roles in 2022 and DevOps has become one of the prominent roles to hire across industries because of India Inc's increased emphasis on network security and cloud adoption.
The increments that come in after a pandemic induced two-year lull also reflect the need to retain talent as attrition touches an all time high.
"Highest attrition over two decades signify the impact of great resignation on India," Aon said on Wednesday. Attrition across sectors is estimated to be 21% in 2021 compared to 12.8% in 2020.
Interestingly, different designations command starkly different salary hikes. Mercer noted that while a para-professional in the consumer sector commanded a premium of 3.2%, an executive commanded a premium of 10.7% as compared to general industries. While a management level employee in the manufacturing sector commanded a premium of 10.2%, an executive in the sector is in fact witnessing lower than the level median pay.
Mercer's study also found that the salaries for new hires across tenure continued to remain highly competitive with the premium for last 1-year joiners across levels, more prominent at mid to senior managerial roles.
