Companies are restoring salaries to pre-COVID levels in a graded manner ahead of the festive season in November as the economy restarts.
It comes as positive news for many workers who have been taking salary cuts ranging between 5-50 percent since the COVID-19 lockdown in March.
Companies to reverse salary cuts include Deki Electronics, Forbes Marshall, Livspace, Lumax Industries, Sandhar Technologies, TIL, Toppr and Upgrad, The Economic Times reported. Export firms, however, are still on wait-and-watch mode.
Nitin Sethi, CEO, (Performance, Rewards and Organisation) at Aon India told the paper that the next few months will see more companies reversing salary cuts, adding that keeping employees engaged, motivated and driven is important.
Overall, close to 12 percent companies have already restored salaries, while another 20 percent announced plans for the same, Aon India survey (of 425 Indian companies and over 2,000 global companies) showed.
Revival in economic activity is inching to normalcy as indicated by GST collections, e-way bills, rail freight load for September and companies are thus looking to boost employee morale by graded restoration of salaries, the report noted.
In the auto component industry, salary cuts of 30 percent have been reduced by 10 percent each month since August. This was a direct result of demand pick-up in the sector. “Faster the recovery, faster the wage restoration in the sector,” said Jayant Davar, founder of Sandhar Technologies.
Livspace Co-founder Ramakant Sharma said salaries have been reinstated to pre-COVID levels for 80-85 percent workforce, with the remaining likely to be completed over the coming days.
Electronics has also seen quick demand revival, which is why salaries for 100 percent employees have been revived since August till September, Deki Electronics MD Vinod Sharma said.
Salaries of executives, however, are on wait-and-watch, said Sumit Mazumder, MD of construction equipment manufacturer TIL.
Forbes Marshall echoed similar sentiment, with C-chairman Naushad Forbes saying that while employees’ salaries are restored, senior management pay is still on lower salaries as uncertainty continues.
Sector-wise, tech companies, especially edutech firms, have seen quick and complete reversal of salary cuts, said Deloitte India.
Source:-moneycontrol.com