Inflation And Your Salary Hikes

Not to blame the pandemic, but 2020-21 did bring out a dip in all our finances. People across sectors were praying that they do not lose their job, in such a scenario, asking for a salary hike or a promotion was unthinkable for many.

In fact, even now in 2021-22 the employment rate among Indian youth (15-24 years) stands at 10.4%  as compared to 10.9% in 2020-21. This is much lower when compared to the World Bank estimates of 23.2% for 2020.

According to CMIE, the employment rate among the youth in 2016-17 was 20.9% which fell to 17.9% in 2017-18, to 15.5% in 2018-19 and to 14.7% in 2019-20. Source 

"The urban unemployment rate is usually higher at about 8% than the rural unemployment rate, which is usually around 7%. In August the urban unemployment rate shot up to 9.6% and rural unemployment rate also increased to 7.7%," CMIE managing director Mahesh Vyas told PTI. Source 

And while these numbers do keep fluctuating every few month, the rising numbers of unemployment with a few periodical dips is a matter of concern.

However, what I wanted to talk about today was the inflation and what the corporate sector is doing about it.

 Price-tags of daily groceries from oil to rice and hair oils have risen between 10% and 22% since January. The average retail prices of rice, wheat and atta have increased by 8-19% in the past one year, according to the government data. Source Source  

Safe to say that everyday life is getting expensive. In Mumbai, the base price of cabs and rickshaws were also hiked, the mobile phone tariffs were revised a few months ago as well, so even other things like commute and communication is getting expensive.

And yet, come appraisal season, we are in a cut-throat competition to prove our worth and secure that hike. While reports state that hikes this year will be to the tune of around 10%, only time will tell if this stands true, as several corporate are already indicating that giving higher increments would be an issue as they too are facing the inflation woes. Source

Keeping all of the above in mind, I could easily do a post on the lines of ‘5 ways to ensure you get a promotion this year’ but I shall not.

I would for a change like to flip the table and ask the management if they are taking any pro-active steps to ease the financial pressure on their employees? Shouldn’t it be their responsibility too? The corporate sector was all gung-ho during the pandemic because everyone was working from home and thus commute costs should be deducted from the salary (Thankfully this idiotic idea didn’t see the light of the day), even now, they are not too keen on moonlighting. So if they are curbing all the ways of earning a bit extra, why not help the employees meet their ends as well, especially when the cost of living is sky-rocketing anyway?

We often hear HRs talk about how important employees are to the company and all those flowery words. But come appraisal time, all these big statements fall flat on their face.

It’s not that I am only questioning the employers, I am saying this is a constitutional failure, and employers are just the first ones in the long time of people to be questioned.

Why are we not able to control our inflation? Why are we not able to provide more employment? Why is the gig economy only witnessing a boom in the urban areas? Why are we not able to increase the per capital income of individuals in the country?