Turkey is continuing to see high inflation. We are under pressure from employees to protect them from this however we are not seeing any movement in salaries. Wondered if others are doing/planning to do anything regarding this or have experienced countries with high inflation previously.
Thanks
Also just monitoring the situation at the moment, like most other companies. The issue is more about the FX rate versus Euro and USD than it is about inflation... it makes imported goods such as cars very expensive. The recent slide in the value of Turkish Lira may not be permanent, it depends what political decisions are taken next.
We are looking at a slightly increased merit budget this year. Data we have shows a lot of companies looking at increases between 12-15% and some companies already making some adjustments mid year.
We are also holding to our current position, but are staying close to our advisers to see what, if anything, other companies do if the Turkish economy deteriorates further. At the same time we are evaluating options should we need to act. However, I think its still prudent not to rush too quickly on these situations.
We are not doing anything special just yet - rather watching & waiting. I have seen this a lot on other networks and most of what I have seen is that people are still doing the same. I remember in Russia a few years back a similar problem where we defined "sustained high inflation" and then added a special allowance rather than increasing base pay...but i always struggle with this particular issue - isn't paying more money to people in a high inflation market just going to make the problem worse??