Air India Friday revised employment contracts and compensation for its non-flying staff, as it tackles one of the most onerous parts of its turnaround plan: streamlining workforce.“The new grades & designations have been arrived at after a comprehensive formal job evaluation to assess the size and complexity of each role, which have then been benchmarked against external companies so that the grade and associated compensation is aligned with market standards,” said the Tata group airline’s CEO Campbell Wilson in a letter to employees.Air India has been in the past criticised for having a flabby workforce and redundant functions. Two state-run airlines Air India and Indian Airlines were merged in 2007. Their payscales and structures were never completely aligned.Wilson said the airline has over the last few months recruited “many hundreds of new Air Indians and retrained many more,”“We have already deployed new remuneration packages for our pilots and cabin crew” he added.Air India will become “more performance-oriented & meritocratic”.“to introduce a performance-linked variable pay component. This variable component will be directly linked to both the company’s and each individual’s performance in a financial year, and will be based on clearer job descriptions that provide well-defined goals, KPls and accountabilities,” he saidThe new grades and compensation package which, as earlier committed, will be backdated to 1 April 2023.“..the final cohort to address is our non-flying staff based outside India. Due to the large number of countries involved and the individual circumstances of each location, it will take a little longer to work through – but we will get there,” he said.