The Time Of Millennials

The society is transforming. The era is witnessing a change in trends as the millennials are engaging into business with an alternative perception and perspective. Leading leaders of the industry shared the platform at BW Businessworld HR Conclave, shedding light on the changing trends in the economy and how the proposition of compensation is altering in contemporary times.

“As far as annual pay hikes are concerned, we are going through an equalisation phase where job contribution is being linked to impact on the business and people aren’t possibly getting the kind of increments they have come to expect,” said Jagjit Singh, Chief People Officer, PwC India. A key thing that is beginning to impact compensation progression trends is paying more for the same skills – up to two-three time multiple rates (beyond the normative rate of inflation ) while the jobs have remained the same over the past 5-6 years, he added.

According to him, the millennials think very differently. They are more socially profiled and are cognisant of the fact that merely moving up the hierarchy is not enough. For the millennials, a vibrant and relevant career is all about varied experiences that they gain through different on-the-job learning and career building opportunities.  Hence, organisations that are not able to evolve - rework their job design, work culture, leadership culture, compensation structure, etc., do have a challenge. Having said that, while compensation is getting moderated, for the ‘mile high’ club (the high performers) – nothing is changing. High performers continue to get better raises and bonuses. Bottom line is that they need to be able to perform and contribute to making an impact.
The performance-based compensation has been gaining momentum across the industry. Consequently, the double-digit increase in salary hike is limited to the outstanding performers.
“For the sustainable model of development, companies are ready to pay more but only to outstanding players,” shared Naveen Rattan, the Senior Rewards Consultant at Aon Hewitt.

“Predictive capabilities are lost among us all,” said Rajeev Bhadauria, Director Group HR, Jindal Steel and power. Since 2008, there has been ‘disruptive technology’ and ‘digital natives’ that are overpowering the industry.

“The salary size is growing; the creative and talented people are getting salary raise and consequently, no one trend can be continued or anticipated,” he added.

The concept of variable pay is growing across the industry as the experiment of work based performance is gaining high results among the professionals. “Inspiration can’t be injected into anyone, it is something that comes from within,” Bhadauria shared. It is this inspiration that differentiates the professionals and distinguishes their salary hikes.

Highlighting the evolution of salary, Sanjiv Sachar, former country head of Egon Zehdner said that 60 per cent of the kitty is distributed among the 28 per cent of high professionals in their organisation. Consequently, India is the best pay master across the world.

The ‘business mix’ is transforming as the millennials join the workforce among industries. As technology, automation, robots step into the world of business, the trends pertaining to the entire ecosystem is transforming and like always, the ecosystem would adapt, if not sooner than later.