60% of millennials seeking flexible working options

New Delhi, June 4th, 2019: The growing convergence between new-age technologies and business processes is rapidly changing the way organizations across India operate. But are their workplaces keeping pace with this evolution of business operations? What does the modern Indian workforce demand from its employers when talking about work culture and job satisfaction? It is to find answers to these questions that Shine.com, India’s second-largest job portal, recently conducted its Future of Flexible Working Survey.

With companies realizing the need to retain top talent, employee satisfaction has emerged as a key priority for HR professionals across the country. Through the survey, Shine.com identified the major needs and pain points of new-age Indian professionals, thus providing in-depth insights about the changes that organizations can make in their HR policies to improve employee satisfaction across the board.

Understanding the need for flexible working

According to the Shine.com survey, 60% of survey respondents wanted flexible working options to maintain an optimal work/life balance. Avoiding traffic was highlighted by 13.88% of the respondents as a key reason for a flexible working policy, while 6.37% wanted to save on the cost of their commute by working from home.

The Future of Flexible Working Survey also highlighted the various flexible working preferences that Indian professionals demanded. Interestingly, over 39% of employees mentioned that they would like their organizations to offer flexible working hours every day. Other options such as work from home are also important to employees, but only 6.36% are looking for this option every day. Evidently, a majority emphasized to rather have flexible working hours. In fact, it was revealed that 30.98% would like the option to work from home just once or twice a month.

Shine.com also highlighted how adopting a flexible working culture could not only help organizations improve their employee retention, but also attract talent to drive new recruitment. As per the survey findings, more than 77% of employees think that organizations should offer flexible working options such as work from home.

How the new-age millennial workforce is changing the work culture in India

One of the most important findings in the latest Shine.com survey was how the burgeoning flexible working culture in India was influenced by the evolving needs of its modern workforce. 70% of the total respondents fell into the age bracket of 22-30 years, indicating how more millennials preferred to strike a healthy balance between their professional and personal lives.

Another major focus of the survey was to identify the functional areas that are embracing flexible working options to maintain employee satisfaction and motivation. While flexible working options were earlier limited to IT-based profiles, the survey revealed that other roles such as Accounting, Finance, HR, and Admin are also catching up with modern workforce trends.

According to the survey, 43% of employees in India already have access to flexible working options. However, over 52% feel that their organization might not have the adequate culture to provide flexible working options. This calls for better communication between HR teams and employees, as well as the need to lay down certain guidelines regarding alternate working options.

Working remotely: Identifying the challenges

Facilitating better communication channels between employees and HR teams is also essential for productivity mapping. As the survey went on to identify the major challenges that arise with working remotely, it was revealed that 19.83% of employees felt that their bosses and colleagues have perception issues and do not realize how much they really work from home. Without any visibility and appreciation for the work that they are putting in from home, such perception issues can bring down employee morale significantly.

Another challenge that 22% of respondents faced while working remotely was the inability to stop working, even after office hours. While working from home, employees might end up checking emails, attending calls or completing tasks even after the stipulated office hours. Since millennials have expressed their desire to maintain a healthy work/life balance, it becomes even more important for HR teams to create more conducive policies around flexible working and bring down such instances of prolonged work hours.

Finally, 17.56% cited the lack of coordination with colleagues as a major challenge of working remotely. Factors like slow data connections or weak phone signals can cause major communication roadblocks for employees working out of the office. Along similar lines, another 13.46% of employees felt that a lack of face to face conversations can cause hindrances while working remotely.

Speaking on the findings, Zairus Master, CEO – Shine.com, said, “Of late, the team at Shine.com has come across several candidate résumés that mention flexible working options as one of the top priorities. This survey was aimed towards understanding why Indian professionals want flexible working, and how organizations could improve their employee satisfaction and talent retention by adopting more non-conventional HR policies aligned with the requirements of their workforce.”

“It is extremely heartening to see that flexible working is being embraced in organizations across industries, as well in traditional functional areas such as accounting and finance. The insights delivered by our latest survey will allow more organizations to adopt new-age HR practices and provide unhindered access to the necessary concessions that the millennial workforce needs to work optimally,” he added.

The survey was conducted with professionals across functional areas including Accounts and Finance, Production, Human Resources, and Sales/BD. 77.81% of respondents were working in full-time jobs, while 74.24% were working in Indian companies. Through the survey, Shine.com has drawn relevant comparisons between the expectations of employees and the realities of flexible working options in India.

Key highlights:

· 39% want flexible working hours; while 6.36% also looking for work from home options

· Major challenges: 22% of professionals can’t stop working, even after office hours, while working remotely

· Previously traditional job roles such as HR, accounting, and finance are embracing flexible working options

· Avoiding traffic (13.88%) and saving on transportation costs (6.37%) other reasons behind the growing push for flexible working