Nothing like handing out those hundred thousand dollar salaries to get an executive’s heart pounding — particularly if it’s going to employees who live in a country where the per capita annual wage is about $620.
But that’s what is being faced by at least one manager, as reported in The Wall Street Journal’s Jan. 4, 2006 article, “India’s Talent Pool Drying Up Tech Sector Suffers As Wages Surge And Multinationals Splurge.”
According to reporter John Larkin, India’s having a tough time finding the qualified back office talent it needs to keep its services industry humming.
Pay in many professional segments rose 25% to 30% last year, according to the article. That means companies are cranking up retention efforts: Sierra Atlantic takes mid-level managers to team-oriented war movies. Genpact has opened store-front recruiting offices in five cities. Larsen & Toubro Ltd., a major construction company has opened up an IT solutions division, L&T Infotech, to enable engineering employees to expand their skills sets.
Interestingly, the article offers the following up as a long-term challenge for India, according to executives and educators: to improve its higher-education system. Isn’t that what they say in the states too?
