New Delhi, May 4 (IANS): Amid COVID-19 disruptions, 66 per cent of organisations have deferred or suspended their hiring schedule at different job levels, while 30 per cent have also reduced their headcount budgets, a report said on Monday.

Across job roles, except at non-management levels, most companies have opted to go ahead with freezing or suspending hiring, according to KPMG in India's COVID-19 HR practices survey report titled "Cutting through Crisis".

However, very few organisations in sectors such as IT/ITES, life sciences/pharma and consumer said they suspended hiring schedules.

The findings showed that about 50 per cent of the companies have deferred or suspended their promotion schedule.

At the same time a downward trend on promotions numbers across all job levels was observed wherein 33 per cent of organisations admitted to having reduced it, said the report.

However, most organisations in IT/ITES, life sciences/pharma and retail sector have refrained from any downwards trend in the overall promotion cycle.

The survey showed that while 50 per cent organisations across industries are keeping their salary increment budgets unchanged, around 36 per cent organisations have opted for decreasing the salary increment budgets.

More than 40 per cent organisations in the advisory, automobile, education, energy, oil and gas sectors have opted to defer the increment cycle, said the report.

However, the majority of the organisations (80 per cent) across industries have not changed the health insurance benefits offered to employees.

"With most organisations now moving to a new normal of working which is more liquid and flexible in nature, there is a need for strategies and new operating models for business continuity and workforce managementm" Vishalli Dongrie, Partner and Head, People & Change, KPMG in India, said in a statement.

The survey outcomes highlight the impact of COVID-19 on a wide range of HR practices and processes like employee well-being, recruitment, compensation and benefits, performance management and learning and development, etc.

For the study, 315 organisations were polled across 20 key industry sectors.