After two years of the pandemic, sustenance in the job market is a challenge with the talent shortage prevailing. This has led businesses to rethink their employee benefits and other policies around the workforce to retain the right talents on board. A recent study conducted by TeamLease found that, unlike the last two years, this year most of the job roles from across sectors have been considered for a salary hike. 

However, the study titled Jobs and Salary Primer Report for FY’22 states that increments will be moderate. Out of the 17 sectors reviewed 14 have indicated a single-digit hike. The median salary increment will be around 8.13%. Ecommerce and Tech startups, Healthcare and Allied Industries, Information Technology and Knowledge Services are the only three sectors that have registered a salary growth greater than 10%. 

Some of the key findings of the survey are as follows:

Demand for specialization and expertise is unabated: Employers continue to place a premium on super-specialized job roles and the demand for this job category continues to rise. Growth rates in the category have inched up from 11% to 12% this year.

Corresponding stats for the 2021 edition: Salaries grew by a minimum of 6.08 % and a maximum of 12.13% across sectors 

• Ecommerce and Tech Start-ups, Healthcare and Allied Industries, Information Technology and Knowledge Services exhibited growth in excess of 11%
• Agriculture and Agrochemicals, Automobile & Allied, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, BPO and IT Enabled Services, Construction & Real Estate, Educational Services, Fast Moving
• Consumer Durables, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Hospitality, Industrial Manufacturing and Allied, Media and Entertainment, Power and Energy, Retail, Telecommunication exhibited less than 10% growth
• Top super-specialized profiles: Automation Engineer– (Information Technology and Knowledge Services : 10.71%), Consultant Content Writer (Ecommerce and Tech Start-ups : 10.11%), R &  D Analyst (Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals – 10.07%)
• Top Sector-Cities: Information Technology and Knowledge Services – Bangalore [maximum 10.71%] and Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals - Delhi [maximum 10.07%] exhibited the maximum salary growth across cities/sector

Sales and IT roles continue to dominate: As entire sectors are transitioning towards pre-Covid levels – some rapidly and the others steadily – the sales and IT functions remain critical for this phase of return to normalcy.

• Top Sales profiles: Sales Consultant, Manager-Pre Sales, Quality Officer, and Product Specialist
• Top IT profiles: IT Consultant, Network Engineer, Sr. Project Manager, and Digital Strategy Consultant
• Average salary growth for Sales profiles: 7.41%
• Average salary growth for IT profiles: 9.23%

Salary variance stays on track: Despite a marginal 4% drop pay differentials between permanent and temporary job profiles (less than 3%) stood steady for nearly 37% of all profiles across all sectors. 

• Corresponding stats for the 2021 edition: Variance less than 3% for 41% of the profiles and in 15 sectors
• Less than 5% variance: Automobile and Allied Industries, BPO and IT enabled Services, Construction & Real Estate, FMCD, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Hospitality, Industrial Manufacturing & Allied, Media & Entertainment, Power & Energy, Retail and Telecommunications

Significantly less than 5% variance: Agriculture and Agrochemicals, Fast Moving Consumer Durables, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Industrial Manufacturing & Allied, Media & Entertainment, Power and Energy, Retail

Top and bottom sectors: 

• Top paymasters [Greater than 10% salary growth]: Ecommerce and Tech Start-ups, Healthcare and Allied Industries, Information Technology and Knowledge Services
• Bottom paymasters [Lesser than 10% salary growth]: Agriculture and Agrochemicals, Automobile & Allied, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, BPO and IT Enabled Services, Construction & Real Estate, Educational Services, Fast Moving Consumer Durables, Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Hospitality, Industrial Manufacturing and Allied, Media and Entertainment, Power and Energy, Retail, Telecommunication

Elaborating on the report, Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder & Executive Vice President, TeamLease Services said, “While the increments are yet to reach the double-digit hikes, it is heartening to see that the phase of salary de-growth and stagnation that have been hovering across the job market in the last two years is nearing its end. The revival coupled with the growing appetite for roles across profiles and sectors indicates that the modest approach will soon taper off and push the increments to reach the pre-covid level.”