Man says appraisal led to lower take-home pay: ‘I am taking 1.5k less than before’

Corporate employees have voiced their frustration over the paltry pay hikes they have received during the appraisal season. Several have shared sarcastic videos on social media, counting coins — “chillar”, a word Indians use humorously to describe a negligible increment - while others have written about their experiences.

For a Reddit user, something unusual happened: “Appraisals decreased his salary.” The user expressed his disappointment on r/India Workplace, detailing how he had joined his current company six months ago, had been contributing at par with senior colleagues, and had hoped for a favourable review.

However, the increment fell far short of his expectations despite working efficiently.

“I used to make a decent amount and was content with it. I joined this company only 6 months ago, basically the last possible time after which I wouldn’t be considered for an appraisal.

I have worked well here, do almost the same amount of work as my seniors, and in general do quite a bit for the team. With these, I had a certain expectation to get a good appraisal.

It turned out to be sad, sad, and I ended up getting

8%😭

There was nothing I could do but accept the letter,” he wrote.

“One month later (yesterday), my salary was credited, turns out, I’ve been moved to the next tax slab, and I don’t know the exact math, but I ended up getting 1.5k less than before. Is there anything I can do about it other than cry to myself?”

The employee also recalled his earlier job switch, saying the overall salary gain was not as significant as expected.

“My overall jump percentage from the previous org to this wasn’t great either. That’s a story by itself.

I had interviewed here, got a 40% bump, and then accepted the offer. The same day, my previous org decided to promote me to the next level with an increment of 25%, so my net increment was just 15%. It was so dumb that the people in my team had laughed when I quit😭😭”

One user wrote: “Dude, you're probably missing some rebates, that's not how tax slabs work. Ask a CA friend what is happening, or maybe ask Gemini.”

Another user said, “Apparently, this isn’t as uncommon as I thought.

Heard the same thing happened with another friend in a different company… But as you said, there’s more to this than just the tax slab, I guess. Have to get the detailed pay slip breakdown, yet to be uploaded on our portal.”

A third user commented: “Could you provide your salary breakup or state your total compensation? Going to the next tax slab should never reduce your in-hand due to marginal relief. Unless their payroll software has a wrong calculation or they have moved you to a different regime.”

(Disclaimer: This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Livemint has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.)