Should HR Be Aggressive in Salary Talks? Exploring Long-term Impact on Employee Satisfaction

Salary Negotiation Strategy in HR

As an HR professional, should we be aggressive during the salary negotiation stage? According to my Managing Director (MD), we should identify the candidate's weak points and highlight them. We should aim to bring the candidate in with the same or a marginally higher salary.

However, for the sake of this discussion, let's consider a scenario where a candidate agrees to join with a salary lower than their expectations due to situational reasons. Will they stay for the long term, or will they be able to give their best effort while feeling dissatisfied?

Yes, a dissatisfied person will never give their best. Don't expect long-term commitment from such a candidate. Communicate these issues to your Managing Director and utilize your HR skills effectively.

I agree with you, Mr. Sandipan. A candidate joining for a lower salary than expected may not stay for the long term; they might quit the job within 2-3 months. They could join your company temporarily due to joblessness, pressure from their previous employer, or other personal issues. The main point is, for the long term, you could pay them a lower salary than expected initially and suggest to your MD to adjust their salary based on performance. It's a clear strategy.

Regards,
Ramkishore

Insights on Negotiation Skills for Salary Discussions

Should we be assertive and focus on highlighting the candidate's weak points during the negotiation process?

Regards

I would request not to negotiate for any candidate about salary. Please maintain the fixed standards according to company norms, industrial norms, positions, city (place), education qualifications, freshers, experience, etc.

Maintain Dignity in Hiring Practices

Please be like a dignified employer while hiring. Don't look for cheap negotiating skills because this is not a vegetable or a thing you are buying. It's for well-educated personnel services. So, pay as per standards.

Regards,
Santosh

Moreover, there is a cost involved (direct or indirect) during the process of recruitment, and then during induction and training. This is a recurring cost every time you hire a new resource. By negotiating, this cost gets increased. We can avoid this by offering as per industry standards.

Regards,
TMi

I also agree with your opinion. Sometimes, some managers don't want to give value to Human Capital, maybe intentionally. They make it feel like a vegetable market. They also want to interfere in every corner of the room. They are under the perception that they know everything and never try to understand that the job market is quite open now. To attract and retain potential candidates, you have to excel in every aspect.

For example, consider an engineering candidate with a total of 7 years of experience, out of which 5 years are in a core relevant field. When determining the salary, should you not consider his 2 years of non-relevant experience? During these 2 years, he worked in the engineering field but not in the relevant stream. However, he gained some sort of experience during that period, even if it may not be technically relevant. That doesn't mean he was out of touch.

I look forward to hearing your opinion.

Thanks,
Sandipan

Considering Experience and Salary Negotiation

If a candidate has a total of 7 years of experience, with 2 years not relevant to their field, I prefer to consider their previous salary and offer them a minimum of a 10% to 40% salary increase rather than following company standards for someone with 7 years of experience. What do you say, Sandipan? In this situation, is my approach okay, or what would you have done in this scenario?

Regards,
Santosh

Yes, I am also in the same line. For non-relevant experience periods, we can give half weightage rather than full. For 2 years, we will take 1 year, and for relevant 5 years, we'll give full weightage. That means we can consider his experience as 6 years rather than 7 years. Accordingly, we can fix his salary.

Regards,
Sandipan