IT 2008-09: Salary hikes & attrition

The average IT sector attrition rate, which was 18 per cent last year has dropped to 15 per cent, according to a survey by IDC, a premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and Dataquest.

Despite the marginal increase in salaries, a freeze on fresh induction, layoffs, cutting down on talent and keeping offer letters on hold, the industry saw a dip in attrition rate to 15 per cent.

The average retention rate, defined as percentage of employees retained out of the total employees as on March 31, 2008, improved to 85 per cent, from 79 per cent in 2008, the survey stated.

The survey results indicate a visible improvement in work environment even though the average salary increases during the year were pared to 1.4 per cent.

The salary increases for employees with less than two years of experience earned 2 per cent increase. Those between 5.1 and 10 years received an average salary hike of 5 per cent and those with over 10 year experience earned four per cent salary increase.

In addition to work-life balance, job security came out as a crucial factor in the survey. The study reveals that there is a drastic fall in the number of people who feel that their job is secure within their company.

The reducing bench and mass layoffs by the larger players seems to have left an impact on the minds of people.

A majority of IT employees said they changed jobs for better salaries and compensation (53 per cent), overseas postings (38 per cent), better job security (18 per cent), flexible working hours (18 per cent) and training and development (9 per cent).

The survey also reveals that companies have become more transparent in their communication with employees giving them a sense of belonging. They have also gone ahead and adopted a higher degree of professionalism in their dealings with employees as well as customers or suppliers.

Another key finding is that more employees are satisfied with the interest shown by their companies as well as their immediate seniors in helping them strike a work-life balance compared to last year.

More employees believe that training has helped them in their all round growth. On the salary and compensation front, a surprisingly high number of employees feel that they are being paid at par with industry standards compared to last year.