SLASSCOM and PwC to publish Sri Lanka IT-BPM industry compensation and benefits study for 2020

SLASSCOM Director Shehani Seneviratne handing over the first edition to SLASSCOM Chairman Channa Manoharan 

SLASSCOM, being in the forefront of promoting the IT and BPM industry in Sri Lanka, has published the latest edition of the Sri Lanka IT-BPM industry compensation and benefits study for 2020, which is an initiative of the HR forum of SLASSCOM.

The annual publication has been produced with the continuing support of PwC Sri Lanka, who acts as the independent technical partner providing HR rewards and research expertise, to address critical areas such as attracting and retaining talent within the local IT-BPM industry. This benchmark report also provides invaluable talent insights to improve the competitiveness of incumbent industry participants as well as help potential new entrants understand the talent landscape and cost of doing business in Sri Lanka.

The 2020 edition of the compensation and benefit study covers data of over 17,100 incumbents employed in a broad spectrum of IT and BPM job functions. Within the IT sector, the study covers all traditional job functions including Software Engineering, Quality Assurance, Business Analysis, Systems and Network Engineering, Software Project Management and UI Engineering as well as emerging growth areas such as Cyber Security and Scrum Master roles. Within the BPM sector, the study covers the common outsource service areas in Finance Operations, KPO Services, Business Process Outsourcing, Customer Service Operations and Publishing. The study is well represented with data directly shared by participant companies ranging from small to large local as well as foreign owned IT and BPM service companies in Sri Lanka.

In addition to the comprehensive compensation and benefits analysis presented, the report also covers useful insights on talent management practices employed by participant companies. Information on actual and planned salary increment levels, qualification of entry level hires, staff attrition rates and main reasons for staff turnover are amongst areas covered and which can be helpful for companies planning their talent attraction, retention and engagement strategies. The 2020 edition specifically covers how Sri Lanka’s IT-BPM service companies coped with the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is no surprise that 2020 was a challenging year due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 compensation benchmark study has captured essential changes organisations performed to reshape their workforce and related strategies in response to the pandemic,” says PwC Sri Lanka Executive Director and Head of Strategy and HR Consulting Lasanga Abeysuriya. “Whilst companies have been quick to adjust to ‘how they work’, we also notice companies focusing on engagement activities for physical and mental wellbeing of staff as much as trying to manage operating costs and business continuity aspects,” he continued to add.

SLASSCOM Chairman Channa Manoharan stated, “The IT-BPM industry in Sri Lanka has seen substantial expansion and has had some of the strongest growth among all export sectors and earned recognition in the global market for their cost-competitive advantages, high quality and educated workforce with developed skills. This innovative and constantly evolving industry has provided significant benefits to the national economy as well. With the Sri Lankan start-up ecosystem expanding rapidly, improving the supply of highly qualified professionals will be essential to satisfy the growing IT-BPM market and we believe this report will give an insight into the future talent requirements of the sector and also pave the pathway for initiating strategies to attract the right talent for the industry that will in turn help to propel it’s future growth.”            

This latest survey publication, currently available for purchase at the main SLASSCOM office, has been produced despite the challenges caused by the prevailing pandemic is a testament to both SLASSCOM and PwC’s continuing commitment to support the local IT-BPM industry and its talent development requirements. The on-going participation of industry participants including a number of first-time survey participants in the 2020 edition has been encouraging and reflects the continuing value delivered by this SLASSCOM-led initiative.