Technology roles will continue to be in demand in the current calendar year across sectors as digital transformation remains key for businesses. Overall, the year 2022 is expected to see about 30-40% growth in hiring across levels versus 2021, while salaries could see an over 10% rise — which is considerably higher compared to the last five years.

According to Michael Page, from a salary perspective, expectations have increased by a large margin due to increments that are going on in different industries and markets. Nicolas Dumoulin, senior MD, Michael Page India and Thailand, told FE that while shifting, job increment increases to 25-30%.

“This can go further up to 50-100% depending on the position and the industry the individual works in,” he said.

Siddhartha Gupta, CEO, Mercer|Mettl, said, “The ‘Great Resignation’ has resulted in employees having the leverage in the employee-employer relationship, and thereby negotiating salary and benefits. As a result, recruiters will need a rethink in their strategy to attract top talent.”

As IT companies will have to support the digitisation journey, it will remain a major employer in the coming year. However, companies in sectors like telecommunication, communications, media, manufacturing and even restaurants and hotels will look at hiring serious tech talent in 2022.

Vijay Sivaram, chief executive officer, Quess IT Staffing, said, “The focus on automation will be at an all-time high. Further, tech professionals will continue to be in significant demand though attrition will stabilise, and organisations will focus on up-skilling”.

To be sure, Accenture in India said that it will continue to hire for in-demand skills in areas such as digital, cloud, security, data and AI as well as platform and other core skills. Lakshmi C, managing director and lead (human resources), Accenture in India, said, “We are also hiring experts across various industries including financial services, consumer goods and services and life sciences, and functional experts in the areas of finance & accounting, marketing, procurement and supply chain.”

At Walmart Global Tech India (WGTI), the focus will be to build a cross-functional leadership team, including members from technology, product, design, and business operations. Hari Vasudev, country head and senior vice president (technology), WGTI said, “We will continue to invest and accelerate in the areas of cloud, big sata and AI/ML to create delightful solutions for our customers.”

Leadership hiring is expected to grow at 20-25% in the next year, while mid-level hiring is expected to grow at 30-40%. “Both traditional and new age businesses will focus on strengthening their leadership teams. Whereas increased business activity will lead to expansion and growth at both mid to junior level hires,” Dumoulin said.

In terms of sectors, recent findings from ManpowerGroup show that IT and Technology sector employers have the strongest hiring intentions with a net employment outlook of over 60% in the first three months of 2022. Vigorous hiring activity is anticipated in the restaurants and hotels, and banking, finance, insurance and real estate sectors with outlooks of 56% plus and over 52%, respectively. Manufacturing and education, health, social work and government sector employers also expect a brisk hiring pace, while the outlook for the wholesale and retail trade sector stands at over 42%. Employers in the construction and primary production sector also forecast good payroll gains in the coming year.

Sandeep Gulati, managing director, ManpowerGroup India, said the boost in hiring outlook reflects employers’ sustained confidence in achieving a post-pandemic recovery.

However, the HR industry is cognizant of the concerns that the new Covid-19 variant Omicron poses for the hiring plans of companies. Aditya Narayan Mishra, director and CEO, CIEL HR Services, said, “In case Omicron-led infections increase, we might see restrictions in movement of people. Hence, the hiring in industry sectors like manufacturing, retail, infrastructure, travel, hospitality and entertainment will be impacted.”