AON INDIA's 26th SALARY INCREASE SURVEY

The last eighteen months have fundamentally changed our reference points and profoundly impacted the employee-employer relationship. While during the first wave the focus was on limiting impact on businesses and securing the immediate future, the narrative during the second wave has shifted towards employee welfare, productivity, and engagement.

Hence, this year's Salary Increase Survey was critical for us to gauge the broader industry sentiment. The 2021-22 Salary Increase Survey results have a lot of unique nuances. Salary increase projections for 2022 have improved to 9.4% while the actual increase in 2021 was 8.8%, indicating economic recovery and a journey back to pre-pandemic salary increase levels. This can be attributed to the return of a pent-up demand, high investor confidence and a booming technology sector fueled by investments made by firms in scaling digital capabilities across sectors. Unsurprisingly the biggest chunk of the pie in salary increases is also going to digitally skilled employees with an average increase of 12.5% in 2021.

to take paycuts and lower bonus payouts in 2020. Another big story of this year's survey is an unparalleled increase in attrition standing at 20% which is the highest seen in over a decade. This spike in attrition being a result of multiple factors from a huge surge in demand for digital talent across sectors, lower engagement levels in a remote working environment to a greater employee confidence in switching jobs.

This year's study also goes beyond this and looks at how firms are adapting to a virtual environment, their plans around return to work and initiatives towards building an inclusive workplace. We are excited to bring these results to you and hope they help you get a good perspective around rewards and talent management trends in 2021.