Most Attractive Employers in India – Survey Randstad India

-Google India wins the Randstad Award 2015 for the ‘Most Attractive Employer’ in India

-Competitive salary and employee benefits continue to be the top priority among the Indian workforce followed by long term job security while choosing an employer

Google India bags the 5^th edition of the Randstad Award 2015 for the ‘Most Attractive Employer’ in India, followed by Sony India who has won the Runner-Up position. The sectoral specific special recognition awards this year has been awarded to Tata Steel for Manufacturing, P&G for FMCG and Honda India for Automobile verticals. The Randstad Award 2015 gala event will be held at The Taj Palace, New Delhi on April 23^rd, from 6 pm onwards.

In line with the Randstad Award philosophy, Microsoft India has been inducted into the Hall of Fame category this year for winning the coveted Randstad Award title for four consecutive years.

The Randstad Award is hosted each year to encourage best practices for talent attraction and to identify the best ‘Employer Brand’ in the country based on perceived attractiveness of a company. The Randstad Award survey is the world’s largest independent employer branding survey that gives unique insights and the 5^th year of this research in India captured the views of more than 8500 respondents, who chose the nation’s most attractive employer brand for 2015. Globally, this research covered 23 countries, capturing the views of over 225,000 respondents.

The Randstad Award 2015 event will host an august audience of CXOs, HR heads and stalwarts from various industries. The panel discussion at the event will see eminent speakers from across industry verticals to bring in perspectives on the much debated topic, ‘Secrets of successful employer branding’.

Speaking at the press conference, Mr. Moorthy K Uppaluri, CEO, Randstad India said, “The revitalized Indian economy and the job market continues to gain momentum, and this puts pressure on corporate India to retain and attract the best talent. The context for building strong employer brands has never been more important for organizations to build, maintain and enhance their reputation as desirable employers in a highly competitive marketplace.”

Mr. Uppaluri added, “For the last five years, Randstad Award survey is adding value to the entire HR fraternity and CXOs in the country by being the truest reflection of insights from the potential employees, thereby spearheading the employer branding evolution in the country.

It is interesting to observe the shift in priorities and how the drivers behind an employee’s desire to stay with an employer have changed over the years. This year’s survey results clearly show that work-life balance and career growth opportunities are the main factors for the Indian workforce to stay with an employer, in addition to competitive salary. Taking a cue from the survey findings, I can say that this is the right time for India Inc.to better articulate and strengthen their employer brand to attract, manage and retain the top talent”.

Key findings on the choice of employer

Influencing factors

This year’s research clearly shows that salary and employee benefits continue to be the top priority among the Indian workforce while choosing an employer. The importance of salary has increased even further since last year (7% increase from 2014) followed by long-term job security.

Top 5 influencing factors

Salary & employee benefits (54%), long-term job security (49%), work-life balance (39%), pleasant working atmosphere (39%), and financial health of the company (38%) are the top five preferred criteria while choosing an employer.

By Gender

The survey highlights that men in India are more often tend to be driven towards companies  with a good financial health, a strong management and one that offer career progression opportunities.

Women, on the other hand, prefer a pleasant working atmosphere, good work-life balance, convenient location and flexible working arrangements.

By Age

There is a greater preference for employers who offer good training, international career opportunities and interesting job content among the younger workforce aged between 18-24 years.

For India’s workforce aged between 25 - 44 years and 45 - 65 years, competitive salary, job security, financial stability and health of the company remain major drivers when looking for an employer. More than the younger workforce, they also value pleasant working atmosphere and strong management in the company they work or want to work for.

By Education

Salary and employee benefits and long-term job security are the top priorities for all the respondents irrespective of their educational background, however for the secondary and lower education group, the importance of good work life balance is significantly lower than respondents with a bachelors and master’s degree.

On the other hand, the importance given to the financial health of the company was much higher for respondents within the secondary and lower education group. Career progression opportunities features as one of the most important factor for respondents with a master’s and higher educational qualification.

Other Key Findings:

Work Life Balance:

Good work life balance is emerging as one of the most important factors for an employee to stay with the current employer (42%). Promoting work-life balance could be a great asset also to attract at least 23%, the proportion of workforce that left their employers for this reason.

Social media platforms are the most popular channels for job seekers

There has been a major shift observed in how people go ahead with their job search. The survey reveals that 66% of the job seekers in India use social networking sites to look for jobs.

Top 3 most attractive sectors:

According to the survey, the Indian workforce prefers to work or move to sectors like IT and Communication (72%) followed by FMCG and retail (68%) and Automobiles (67%).

About Randstad Award:

The Randstad Award program is based on a robust research platform that gives unique insight into the key drivers of talent attraction within our country and across the world. The 23 participating countries (Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungry, India, Italy, Japan, Luxemburg, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, USA) are from Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas, where Randstad has active presence. In each country 150 large companies with over 1000 employees are chosen for the survey.

Unlike similar surveys, HR officers, staff members or experts are not invited to take part in the survey, which guarantees maximum objectivity. The respondents are asked to identify the companies they recognize and then to indicate whether or not they would like to work for them. In the next step, they evaluate the relative attractiveness of each of the selected companies based on 10 key factors. 

The survey makes a clear distinction between ‘absolute attractiveness’ and ‘relative attractiveness’. A smaller or lesser-known company may actually be a more appealing potential employer, than a larger or well-known company. However, based on absolute attractiveness, the high profile organization would rank better in the ratings due to greater public awareness. To make sure that a small company’s ranking is not impacted adversely by its brand awareness, the Randstad Award distinguishes between absolute attractiveness (among all respondents) and relative attractiveness (among respondents who know the company).

The methodology used is a uniform approach which makes it easier to draw useful comparisons between countries. This is also why the research is conducted almost simultaneously across all regions. The method is very useful as it significantly contributes to the knowledge about employer branding, and about why people select certain jobs and employers. Each company surveyed will receive a comprehensive report post the event, detailing the strengths and weaknesses of their external employer brand measured across 17 determining factors. This report will provide an excellent benchmarking tool to ensure ongoing success in an increasingly competitive talent market.

About Randstad India:

Randstad India offers the broadest HR services portfolio ranging from Staffing, Search & Selection to Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO). The organization has a vast network of offices across the country to be within the reach of clients, candidates and flexi workers.  The company, previously called Ma Foi is a leader in the HR services industry in India for the past 23 years and became part of Randstad through its global acquisition of Vedior in 2008. Randstad is the global #2 HR services provider active in 39 countries across the globe. Randstad India continues to focus on developing customized and innovative HR services, leveraging on its unique strengths of geographical presence and end-to-end capability across all HR service functions.

For more information: www.randstad.in