Jobs and Salaries: A Quintessential Understanding of the Hiring Mechanism

As the new financial year sets in, it is interesting to be prepared for and also be excited about the emerging new trends that will enable employers and employees to find a better balance on the jobs and salaries spectrum.

The recruitment process across sectors has started gearing up. The forecast is based on the insights from the ‘Jobs and Salaries Primer 2021-22,’ the recently launched report by TeamLease Services. It is evident that the Covid-19 turbulence seems to be settling down. Various sectors, more or less, seem to be moving back to pre-Covid levels. Smart staffing gives employers a resilient solution to stand firm against unstable economies and indefinite/unforeseen circumstances like the pandemic. Agility to employ manpower based on the requirements/demands and for the specific roles with particular expertise/specialisation can be very cost-effective and directive. Hiring contract staff, freelancers, gig workers, consultants, and apprentices brings smart staffing to the fore. There is either growth, and if not, stability, sans doute, visible on the ground.

Salary growth is more or less uniformly distributed across a large majority of organisations, with most adapting to multiple modes of work—office, remote, or hybrid—and normalcy is returning to the workplace. Though the ‘back to office’ ask is on the rise, and employers are experimenting with multiple formats using a ‘carrot and stick’ approach, the Hybrid model seems to be the most commonly vouched-for model, at least for now.

Jobs and Salaries: Top paymasters

Ecommerce and Tech Startups, Healthcare and Allied Industries, and IT and Knowledge Services remain the top paymasters, as there is more than 10% salary growth, whereas lower than 10% salary growth are sectors such as, Agriculture and Agrochemicals, automobiles & Allied, BFSI, BPO and ITES, Construction & Real Estate, Educational Services, FMCD, FMCG, Hospitality, Industrial Manufacturing and Allied, Media and Entertainment, Power and Energy, Retail, Telecom.

Highest salary growth in terms of city is observed in Mumbai (9.05%), followed by Bangalore (8.72%) and then Chennai (8.43%). However, Delhi pays the highest salary of about INR 60,700, followed by Bangalore at INR 60,100 and Mumbai at INR 59,200. The job functions with the highest salary are Business Operations Analysts, IT Consultants & Relationship Officers.

Jobs in demand and salary growth

The movement towards pay parity with near equal payouts for permanent and temporary roles is steadily marching on. Despite a marginal 4% drop, pay differentials between permanent and temporary job profiles (less than 3%) stood steady for nearly 37% of profiles across all sectors. The hiring trends seem to have upgraded for the good per se.

The Covid slump has bottomed out, and there is a quick progression visible in about 10 sectors with a 7% to 10% rise in job creation, whereas there is a steady progression in about 8 sectors with a 5% to 7% increase in job creation. 9 out of 17 sectors showcase the creation of new hot jobs, and 6 sectors have rolled out requirements for new upcoming jobs. Employers are placing a premium on super-specialised job roles with growth at 11% to 12%.

Demand for specialisation and expertise is unabated. Sales and IT functions remain critical in leading the phase of returning to ‘normality.’ Blue-collar profiles are also in demand, where the required skills include interpersonal and communication skills, product knowledge, and problem-solving. Some of these roles are that of Logistics Executives, Sales Promoters, Riggers, Warehouse Executives, and telecallers, in which the salary being offered per month is between INR 15,000 and 21,000.

Apart from the blue-collar profiles, some of the other hot jobs include Field Scientist profile from the Agriculture and Agrochemicals, the EV Technical Expert role from the Automobile & Allied Industries, the KYC Analyst role from the BFSI sector, Digital Marketing Manager profile from the Ecommerce and Tech Start-ups, Curriculum Developer from the Educational Services sector, Food Technologist role from the Fast Moving Consumer Goods and the SaaSops Engineer role offered by the Information Technology and Knowledge Services to name a few.

The bigger picture

The worst is over for the Indian labour market. The third wave of Covid receded without a whimper; consumers are up and about, business sentiment is rallying up, employers are suiting themselves to varied configurations of office and remote work, and jobs are being created at a frantic pace. It seems that businesses have bounced back quickly to pre-covid confidence in the job market and salary levels.

Salary increments, bonuses, and the company’s investments in digital tools and skilling programs are all becoming part of new initiatives and policies that will help businesses to stabilise, grow, and at the same time retain talent and fight the ongoing attrition.

Download our latest ‘Jobs and Salaries Primer 2021-22’ to know more about how employers continue to place a premium on super-specialised job roles and more.