Private sector salaries for Govt employees?

BONANZA FOR BABUS: CNN-IBN panel debates on 'internal brain drain' and why Govt loses out on talent.

          

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Rajiv disagreed stating the example of Singapore, where the public and private sector salaries are at par. He reasoned that government jobs would not be able to attract the right kind of talent unless the difference between the highest and the lowest level government wages isn’t increased.

The Political Dilemma

But it is a difficult political decision for the government to touch the salaries of Class 4 and Class 3 employees.

Rajiv said increasing the difference doesn’t mean cutting down the salaries of Class 3 and Class 4 employees. Salaries at the top can be increased to achieve the same result, he suggested. He contended that increasing the wage difference was an important step in the direction of better governance.

If we have armies of people at the bottom serving redundant duties, shouldn’t they be given the golden handshake?

Rajiv answered in the affirmative saying that all government employees deserve to have their salaries increased, but it also true that half of them should be given the golden handshake, seeing as most of them work alternative jobs as well.

The Wage Differentiation Factor

So should the employees at the lower level be gotten rid of, or at least de-incentivised, while retaining the talented top level?

“That’s how the market is. The ratio of the salaries at the top to the bottom is only 1: 10 in the government, whereas it is 1:100 outside. If you want to attract people from the same talent pool you have to pay the market salaries,” Hitesh replied.

Subramaniam seconded Hitesh’s argument. He said if the CEO of a small-sized company can rake in as much as Rs 10 lakh a month, a top level government employee, whose everyday decision, possibly affects the country’s economy, certainly deserves to be paid a much higher wage.