Column

Come the end of the financial year and the beginning of a new one, the talk in offices turns to, not taxes or vacations as you might guess, but increments. Increments are to the salaried rodent what cheese is to the mouse and a mouse is to the cat, except that Oliver-like, the office type is always expecting more. The cry goes out from the cubicles and at the water cooler, “let’s see what they are going to give this year” and the ritual begins.

Barely a decade ago, this was a bland and boring exercise. Salaries were low and the annual increment was more or less along the expected lines. Yet, despite or maybe because of the regularity, it was something to look forward to and brought a lot of joy and satisfaction to all concerned, with the entire family getting together to celebrate: a new shirt for the father, a sari or gold chain for the mother and a treat for the children.

In the post-liberalisation era, salaries have gone up and so have expectations. Just like no one joins a company for life, and is always in the market for a newer, better-paying job, there is no saying what the new year will bring. Salary packages are high, and why shouldn’t they be. There is a lot of demand out there for skilled professionals, even if many are neither skilled nor professional. When demand exceeds supply, salaries start climbing and the increment has become one way to hold on to staff.

Those not in the game must know that this is not merely about the money. Yes, the pay hike is important and the perks even more so (better car, more allowances) but what ultimately counts is the game itself. Both sides, the giver and the receiver circle each other, trying to read the signals. Tea leaves are studied closely, hints are picked up and ever-so-casual feelers are put out. All the while, both sides also keep one eye out on the external scenario — is there a need out there for these skills and is the competition circling our organisation?

Some sectors are booming, others are in a slump. IT professionals were in great demand till very recently and with a six-week course in web-design you could walk into a reasonably good organisation. Not so today. The same with hot shot finance wallahs. They were internationally mobile professionals, working in Singapore one year and Dubai another. Now, thanks to the sub-prime crisis, it’s a bloodbath out there. A friend, working for a London-based company says, “I have been told to lie low and keep my mouth shut. It’s enough that I have a job.” Obviously the picture is not that depressing in retail or oil exploration or media or infrastructure, but who knows when that will change.

The shortage of people is because we are an 8 per cent growth rate economy sputtering along with a 3 per cent growth rate educational infrastructure, which means every employer is basically chasing the same small pool of professionals. Even the mediocre are lapped up, on the simple premise that something is better than nothing.

The results of this are visible everywhere, from a department store to a large corporation. If we get irritated at the poor quality of service in a mall, consider the frustration of the owner who just cannot get staff. Or try out a bank, where ill-trained and poor quality ‘relationship managers’ are put on the front desk to deal with irate customers. And who is to say that a highly paid manager in that well known company is worth his hefty pay packet. (And while on the subject, whatever happened to everyone’s English language skills? Doesn’t anybody study good old Wren and Martin any more?)

But everyone — the shoddy, the mediocre, the passable, the slackers, the phoneys, the truly appalling, the no-hopers as well as the beavers and the brilliant — will all hope for and get the much-awaited increment. Even those who do not deserve it will be basking comfortably in the knowledge that some extra shekels will come their way and if they are not satisfied with it they can easily move out and get another job, thank you very much.

It will all end of course. Just like the stock market bull run, which came to a halt and caused much heart burn to those who had bet on it, the job market will slow down and many of us who enjoyed those wonderful pay hikes will find that it is the buyer’s market. Who knows, there might not be many jobs around at that time. But seeing the way things are going, that day is some time away. So why not make the most of it and aim for the skies?

Email: sidharth01@dnaindia.net