Ever wondered why engineers in India always disclose their salaries especially after their appraisal? Here are top 5 reasons that Kal Bittianda, Lalit Chowdhary and I came up with…
- It starts in college - where people share grades and benchmark against each other.
- Society expects it - job offers are made and accepted after discussion with the family and they know all the details - of course this plays well for prospective spouse searches
- Game theory - it benefits the engineers the most if they openly discuss it raises; it puts the management on defense. If they get more, they deserve it; if less, the manager has to defend it and be prepared for attrition!
- Argumentative Indian – an inherent part of Indian culture; beautifully argued by the Nobel Prize winner, Amartya Sen.
- Public sector influence – since the pay scales and salaries there are public information.
What’s your take on this?
Dear Sharad,
I am an avid reader of your blog. It indeed sets me thinking about
same old things, in very different ways. In fact, I have been
inspired by your column and subjects discussed therein, to begin
my own blog sometime soon.
My take on your points here is probably radically different from what
others have to say about this. Since I belong to IT industry, I will
confine my subject set to the engineers from IT field only. I think,
most of the time, the engineers don’t know how much do they deserve or command. The current flux of the industry also has largely to do with this. When an average engineer is apprised or changes jobs, he tries to compare himself with peers/friends or tries to squeeze as
much as possible from the prospective employer. Most of the companies cannot justify why do they pay someone, whatever they pay. I have first-hand experience on this. Moreover, the companies are on
a hiring spree; in effect, a prospective employer does not mind
paying a few thousands rupees if the joinee seems to have been
‘tapped’ by others. Thus, the engineer is never encouraged to judge
his own employability and value. The best way left for one to find
out if s/he is amongst the ‘valued’(!) employees or not, is to probe
his/her friends/peers/colleagues/prospective employers.
The prospective employer characterised above, is almost always
a competitor company, who is doing exactly the same job. Almost
always, they are hiring not because they are about to do something
radically different, but because they need to increase the headcount.
Time is a premium, not potential of the employee. In a situation
like this, they find it logical to offer some more money to lure
a employee, rather going thru the whole complicated process of
finding whether the prospective employee ‘fits in well’ or not.
But, this is another subject of discussion, I guess.
Sharad,
Very interesting insight!
Nirmalya has made a good comment from the employer perspective.
I guess each one of us can take a shot at it.
These are my own reasons.
1. Growing “Salary = ABILITY attitude” or “Salary justifies all other short comings attitude”
2. Attracts “cooler” guys and “hotter” girls
3. Craving for other’s envy or secret admiration.
4. Status of Salary “advisor or consultant”. The Gyan sessions begins for the wannabes
5. With burgeoning open culture in corporate India, men’s salary and women’s age is no more a taboo.
Thanks,
Arun.PC
Two Reasons
- Traditional (People have been “measured” by what they earn). Go back to yesteryears and a society like ours with so much disparity - money is the only clear measure of who you are.
- Maturity - That’s why we still are a “Developing” nation.
Regards,
Kiran
1. It is a plain demand - supply equation. Demand in industry being much more higher than supply.
2. People do not know what is their worth, and try to get best of everything.
3. Companies are also partly responsible (but on other hand forced) to hire, else they won’t get business. So, no choice.
4. This changing of jobs will mostly happen with less than 7 - 8 years experience not after that.
5. It is a short sightedness of those people demanding more without delivery of work, which is difficult to explain to them.
Summary: Some action should be taken by companies to stop the jumping. One suggestion is that the employee need not be accepted, if he has had too frequent change in jobs.
Boasting ?
Since most people in IT dont really diserve the 6-7 figure salaries they get, they might as well boast about it to their not-so-lucky-freinds.