The appreciation of the Indian rupee has probably hit the IT and BPO sector the hardest. IT pundits say that the days ahead will be hard as the need of the hour is more time and dedication.
Apart from working extra hours, employees in the IT and BPO sector will now have to bear with cost-cutting, which would mean that their salary increments could be affected.
At least 47 per cent of the expenditure incurred by IT firms is in the form the salary paid to employees.
Says Ashok Sinha, an executive at an IT firm in Bangalore, "The pressure is on and it is difficult to give any of the employees an increment or make a salary correction, even if though attrition rates are high." He also says that most firms are toying with the idea of increasing the variable salary and this would mean that employees get paid more only if they work more or better.
The firms that will be hit hardest are the ones that have the biggest work-forces in India. A senior manager at an IT firm in Bangalore said that at a recent meeting on cost-cutting, employee salaries was the main item on the agenda.
Apart from reducing the headcount, which is the biggest threat looming over employees in this sector, the meeting also discussed doing away with the pool of workers that is being maintained to provide a buffer against employees quitting.
Sources also add that salary increments will now directly be linked to productivity and performance. Only if the employee delivers will he be considered for an increment.
Sainath P, an employee at an IT firm, says that they were expecting this. "I guess the party is over and the days of IT employees being highly paid will soon become a dream. What goes up has to come down and higher the elevation, deeper the fall. How can we forget that," he
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