I’d been waiting for the results of the Unofficial Salary Survey 2009 after we wrote about it about 6 weeks back. This year the survey got over 100 responses from eLearning professionals in India – up from 54 last year. At such a growth rate this survey has the potential to be a good benchmarking source for Indian eLearning companies.
Now that the results are out, here is a quick summary of the key points that emerge and we found interesting:
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- Salary ranges are very wide – For instance, some IDs with 2-4 years experience draw salaries of INR 800,000-10,00,000 while some other IDs with 6-8 years experience make just INR 350,000-500,000 only. That’s a huge mismatch and I’m wondering if the survey needs to capture many more respondent details to get a more accurate range. Or is such a wide range in remuneration a reality we live in. Another thought comes to mind – are all IDs same? In their education, experience and the kind of work they do. Guess not!
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- Variable pay – 75% of eLearning professional with salaries higher than INR 500,000 have a variable pay component. At Upside Learning we don’t have that as yet (except for sales people) but it sounds like something to consider for the future. But then again, do incentives really work for knowledge workers? I heard this Daniel Pink talk last week and I am kind of confused now. Need to give it more thought before we go down that route. I am all ears if someone from the eLearning industry can give advice on how (if any) a variable pay component for individuals has helped achieving their overall business goals.
- The recession has had an impact – Severe impact I must say. 12.5% of the sample had a salary reduction, 34% remained at the same salary as of last year, and 33% had salary increments of less than 10%. I imagine those who had higher increments would be placed at lower rungs of the ladder (with lower base salaries) so the actual increase may not be great in real INR terms. The situation at Upside Learning has certainly been better than what this survey suggests. I‘m confident that eLearning is on the rise and that this situation will change in the next 6 months at most other companies too.
