Do they qualify for this hike?

Indian IT professionals have always been accused of taking home much higher salaries compared to professionals from other industries in India. Being an IT professional myself, i agree that we are far ahead of others in terms of compensation that we get but at the same time i also know how difficult it is to convince your line manager, his superior and the HR that you qualify for a decent hike.

Take the case of somebody like me who works as a manager in an IT company. This is how my appraisal works.Set KRA's at the beginning of the year, adhering to them all through the year, showcasing your management on the appreciation mails that you got from customers during the year, being in the good books of your manager, maintaining quality processes in your project, increasing your onsite numbers/overall resources in the project by convicing your customers and above all have a decent customer satisfaction metric. Even if you fail to deliver on two of these fronts, you can be pretty confident that your hike won't exceed 5-7%

This blog is not to put forth the plight of IT professionals in getting an hike but is in reference to an article in the rediff yesterday which says,


Salaries of President, Vice-President doubled

"Salaries of the President and the Vice-President will be doubled with the Union Cabinet on Thursday approving the increase with effect from January one last year.

After the meeting of the Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images], Information and Broadcasting Minister P R Dasmunsi said the President will get Rs 1 lakh per month compared to Rs 50,000 earlier.

Similarly, the Vice-President will get Rs 85,000 per month against the present Rs 40,000, he said.

Likewise, Dasmunsi said, the salary of Governors has been raised from Rs 36,000 a month to Rs 75,000.

The hike was necessitated in view of the fact that Members of Parliament were getting Rs 68,000, while the presiding officer of the Rajya Sabha was drawing less than them, he said.

Former Presidents' emoluments have also been doubled to Rs 6 lakh a year, while more facilities have been sanctioned for the spouses of late Presidents and Vice-Presidents."

I am not getting into a discussion on whether this is justifiable or not but look at the reason for the hike. The salary limits have been increased just because MP's were getting more than the president and vice-president.

So, now don't say IT professionals are paid more because we work at least 50% for the salary that we get but imagine having a luxury car, z category security, all allowances, free foreign visits etc plus 1 lakh as salary per month for doing nothing and thats exactly what irritates me.