Pay Discrepancy for Chartered Accountants: How Should I Address This with HR?

Pay Discrepancy Issue for Chartered Accountants

I'm a Chartered Accountant working as a consultant in one of the leading IT companies. In my organization, CAs have two types of functions/grades: 1) Consultant and 2) Support.

Since I joined three years ago, every six months, the organization hires new CAs and allocates them to random grades. If there was a pay package difference between the two, there used to be a rationalization procedure. Through rationalization, the salaries of two CAs recruited from the campus but with different functions used to be at par with each other.

In the recent campus placement, the company changed the pay package of those in the Support grade. The difference is very significant. We were hoping for rationalization, but that never happened.

I raised the concern with my HR, and they are saying that it is possible for two candidates (freshers from campus) in different profiles to have different pay packages.

Please let me know if there's anything that can be done. I have read that this is not right constitutionally.

Thanks & Regards,

Sheli Sehrawat

Understanding Salary Parity and Performance Management

Parity brings every employee into the same salary band but doesn't equate them. Minor differences are likely to remain.

Performance Management System

How does the performance management system work? Is your firm using a bell curve? There can be more than one reason why the salaries are not matched.

Regards

Understanding Salary Structures and Performance Appraisal Systems

Bell Curve is definitely not the reason for different salary structures. The performance appraisal system is distinct from parity checks in my organization; they run parallel to each other. The salary I am referring to is the entry-level salary of a Chartered Accountant (CA). Whenever a new batch joins at a package higher than earlier batches, the salary of the earlier batches is revised, regardless of the performance appraisal ratings.

Regards,

Is There a Logical Reason for Salary Differences?

Can there be any other logical reason? I also want to share an inside fact that it was apparently done because of a higher attrition rate in the Support function. One HR even said that two freshers from the same institute, irrespective of their marks/grades, may have different salaries (the difference in our case is 23%) if they are in different profiles. Is it right? Can I challenge this?

Please note that the work timings, challenges faced, etc., are all the same in the two profiles.

Please help.

Regards,

Cost Per Hire and Salary Parity Concerns

The cost per hire with each new hire accelerates in your firm. This is a recruitment strategy where they spend more to bring new talent into the firm and eventually plan to achieve parity. However, the absence of parity, as mentioned by you, is a defect. How were the salaries of those who joined before you matched to yours? If the amount of work and quality parameters remain the same for everyone, this is flawed for sure.

I request our experts to comment on how to approach this situation.