Coronavirus pandemic | Worried about pink slips, execs now ready to move jobs with pay-cut

Candidates are ready to take lower pay hikes or even cuts due to the looming threat of job losses

M Saraswathy

March 30, 2020 / 12:38 PM IST

Till about a month ago, Vidyut Kapoor was confident that he would be able to get at least a 30-40 percent jump in his salary when he switches to a new job.

But, things have changed, with the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

The 25-year-old hospitality industry professional has now applied to companies in the FMCG sector and is open to any role, even without a pay increase.

“I have been working in the hospitality sector for two years now. However, the way things are moving it looks like I may lose my job, especially I am among the newest entrants. Hence, I am open to any job offer from a good brand, even if there is no hike,” said Kapoor.

COVID-19 has led to 29 deaths and 1,071 positive cases in India as of now. This has led to the government asking companies to offer work-from-home facilities to staff and also mandating non-essential service firms to suspend operations.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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“We had recently interviewed a senior resource in the tourism industry who was ready to take upto 20-25 percent cut in his annual compensation if he got a job in another good brand. While we did try to convince him to change his decision, he was worried about losing his job soon,” said the head of a Mumbai-based hiring firm.

Companies have already announced suspension of operations or shutdown. On March 29, IndiaNivesh announced that it had shut its Portfolio Management Services (PMS) business, citing ongoing market volatility amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.