Freshers’ pay remains stagnant at IT firms

Notably, attrition among IT employees with 2-3 years of experience is the highest as these freshers after having a few years of experience switch jobs for better salaries

Early Stage Blues

♦ The issue again became alive with a recent Cognizant job posting

♦ Most IT firms pay around Rs3 lakh to majority of freshers

♦ Students shying away from opting for IT/Computer Science trade

♦ With this, many tier-II engg colleges shutting shop

Bengaluru: Indian IT industry remains a bad paymaster for fresh engineering graduates as salary revision since last decade remains minimal despite some companies creating different salary slabs for graduates passing out from premier institutes.

HR experts in the know said that despite differential slabs created during the pandemic, compensation for freshers has not matched even the inflation rate in recent years.

“Though IT industry remains one of the major employers for the engineering graduates due to bulk hiring, the compensation remains stagnant for the last one decade or so. That is the reason many students are shying away from opting for computer science or information technology trade for pursuing engineering degrees,” a Bengaluru-based HR expert told Bizz Bizz at the condition of anonymity.

“Even many tier-II colleges have been shut down in recent years owing to lack of admissions in adequate numbers by students. This is because the fresher salaries across various engineering trades remains pathetic,” the person added.

Low salary of freshers has again hit the headline when a Cognizant’s recruitment advertisement created a furore in the social media last week. The advertisement mentioned that freshers will be paid around Rs2.52 lakh as compensation (around Rs20,000 per month) in their first jobs.

This has led to several comments and memes across the social media ridiculing the salary level as very low for sustaining in metro cities. Many social media users have suggested that many blue-collar workers earn more than such low level of compensation.

Reacting to the backlash, Cognizant has clarified on Sunday that its recent job posting was grossly misrepresented. It said that the job posting, with compensation of Rs 2.52 lakhs annually was only for candidates with a 3-year undergraduate degree and not for engineering graduates.

In a statement, Surya Gummadi, EVP and President, Cognizant Americas, said: “Our annual compensation for fresh engineering graduates ranges from Rs4 lakh to Rs12 lakh annually, depending on the category of hiring, skill set, and advanced industry accredited certifications. The compensation we offer for engineering graduates is highly competitive within the IT services peer group.”

Despite Cognizant’s clarification, HR experts pointed out that most global and Indian IT companies provide around Rs3 lakh of annual compensation to freshers till date for a majority of graduates. The higher compensation is for graduates passing out of premier institutions like IITs and NITs.

“The median salary differentials are rising every year with CEOs and other top-level officials are paid in several crores of rupees. But freshers’ salary remains stagnant for more than a decade now and all the raised salary slabs introduced during the Covid pandemic for freshers have been withdrawn by most companies. It shows IT firms remain top heavy with the little concern by the board and investors on this sensitive issue,” said the HR expert.

Notably, attrition among IT employees with 2-3 years of experience is the highest as these freshers after having a few years of experience switch jobs for better salaries.