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High living costs force IT workers to seek salary hikes, better-paying jobs
MANILA, Philippines - Rising prices are prompting IT workers to seek salary hikes or look for other higher-paying jobs, a trend that may worsen attrition problems of the information and communication industry (ICT). Nearly three-fourths—or 73 percent—of respondents in a poll of 100 IT workers said they need to an increase in compensation from their employers, a study undertaken by Canadian company XMG said. Of these, 70 percent said they are looking at the job market to increase their compensation, either within the city where they are working or overseas. Conducted in the third quarter of 2008, the survey polled a total pool of 100 ICT Metro Manila-based workers. “Call center, IT and BPO (business process outsourcing) companies in Metro Manila should brace themselves for increasing sentiments from employees for a salary adjustment as a form of lifeline support to combat inflation," XMG said in a statement, citing results of its Exployment Lifestyle Index. Seeking higher pay will be another hump to cross for the local ICT industry, particularly the BPO sector, which is already faced with many talent-related problems. Besides experiencing a lack of qualified workers, the industry is having a difficult time retaining those already hired. To address some of these issues, the industry has been aggressively recruiting more ICT workers, offering them a package of benefits including health insurance, meal allowance, night differentials and sometimes a signing bonus. However, the recent XMG survey has revealed that these are not enough. “Our numbers show there is a genuine trend for the constant clamor by employees to increase the cash component of their enumeration", XMG Research Statistician Emerson Fababaer said in the same statement. Therefore, XMG said it expects human resource practitioners to be faced with the dilemma of addressing the immediate needs of employees to manage attrition. ICT workers doing high value work, such as engineers, are looking at the international job market. Among these potential markets are Singapore, Australia, Canada, the United States and the Middle East. “There are very few extrinsic options. Either provide a relief in the form of increased compensation, subsidy or allowance or position the current compensation package as being above industry," XMG Chief Analyst Lauro Vives added. XMG suggested that ICT companies review their compensation packages regularly and study industry benchmarks. It would also help if they can independently monitor employee perception and behavior to accurately gauge employee sentiments towards the organization. - VERONICA C. SILVA, GMANews.TV
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