Saturday, January 20, 2007

CEEEEE TEEEE CEEEE ( CTC ).. Myth you are living with

Cost to Company or CTC as it's popularly called , amazing word it is . Mere use of this word inflates your salary ( may be ego , status & respect also) . We love to flaunt this , be it ex - colleague , relatives , friends , family or any body on the street . How far this is from reality is known to ; your spouse ( it's difficult to hide your salary from them ) or your account where your salary is getting credited .

My idea of this post is that you may keep happily using this word till you are not fooling your self or getting fooled by your employer ( present or prspective ).

Actually when it comes to salary truth can be divided in two :

Monthly : Right side bottom of your salary slip i.e what get's credited
Annually / Half Yearly : Bonus as credited in your account .

What bloats CTC artificially ? Let's study some of these factors , you must know this . Check out your offer letter / appointment letter or promise of your placement consultant

House Rent Allowance ( HRA ) :
Check the finer print , it varies from location to location . You might get transferred to Indore and your package may mention your HRA as per Mumbai . See how your real salary reduces .

Interest on Loans :
You may be offered a subsidised loan and the difference would be added to your package aka CTC . Check out for :
  1. What's the difference in the rate of interest calculation ?
  2. When you'll be elligible for this loan?
  3. Any clause that says that in case you leave with 2/3/4 years this portion would be reversed
Bonus :
Biggest of myths , your package may include performance bonus at a certian rate , check out for :
  1. When you'll be elligible for this ?
  2. How this has been calculated ? Average , At least or Maximum Elligible

Allowances :

At times you may find whole lot of allowances included in your package , Beware and check out for :

  1. Whether payable monthly or annually?
  2. Any elligibility condition?
  3. Any expenditure proof required ?

These some of the artificial inflationers , do check out for the complete offer carefully ask questions ( as many times as you want ) and then decide .

Till then keep quoting your CTCs happilly to the world ( Indian government or thier employees are still happy quoting their basic salary scales and actually their take home is much more than that including DA etc )

Must say that some organisations have started simplifying this CTC concept and are quoting what can be actually called WYSIWYG.

What you see is what you get , Can you say this for your salary and appointment letter ?