Hop, Skip And Jump

Despite the spectre of mass layoffs in a few sectors, global recessionary fears and inflationary pressures, many people are jumping jobs more than ever

- Vidya S. And Aakanksha Chaturvedi

THESE ARE ATYPICAL times. The once-ina-century Black Swan event of 2021 and 2022—we’re not talking Covid-19 necessarily; we’re talking lockdowns—forced governments, companies, schools, colleges, you, me, everybody, everywhere in the world, to go digital. As industry after industry sank to their knees in the face of the lockdowns, corporations frantically upped the pace of digitalisation, unwilling to be caught napping anymore in any lockdown-like scenario, or any other unforeseen-event scenario.

Yet, today it is the tech sector that is handing its employees the most pink slips in a layoff maelstrom.

Flip the coin. Employees are also merrily hopping jobs. I can’t buy an iPhone with this salary, I’m leaving. I don’t like my boss, I’m leaving. This industry has no future, I’m leaving. I’m too good for you, you’re not able to use my skills properly, I’m leaving. I’m falling behind, not learning anything new, I’m leaving.

All this, despite mass layoffs in some sectors, global recessionary fears, and inflationary pressures having taken root by mid-2022. Data from HR consulting firm Aon shows India Inc.’s voluntary attrition (as in, you decide to quit) rising to 17.5 per cent at the end of 2022, compared to 15.7 per cent in 2021. That difference is rather significant. In 2021, skyrocketing salaries, exorbitant joining bonuses and multiple job offers had become the norm in the Indian IT sector because of the digitalisation boom across industries. Yet, even in early 2023, it continues to be an employees’ market.