·         Competitive salary and employee benefits continue to be the top priority among the Indian workforce while choosing an employer, followed by good work-life balance

·         Employees in India prefer to work withIT, BFSI sectors, say they are not loyal to any one sector

Pune, 27^th April 2017: Google India, the search engine giant has been named as India’s most‘attractive employer brand’, according to theRandstad Employer Brand Research 2017, the world’s largest public opinion survey on employer branding conducted by Randstad, one of the country’s leading HR service providers. This was followed byMercedes–Benz India as the runner-up. Google India also emerged as the winner of the 7^th edition ofRandstad Award, based on this survey.

The sectoral specific winners for the most attractive employers this year are Amazon India for E-Commerce, ITC Limited for FMCG and Philips Indiafor Consumer and Healthcare.

The Randstad Employer Brand Research, covering75% of the global economy with 26 participating countries and more than 1,65,000 respondents worldwide, clearly reflect that this year too, salary and employee benefits continue to be the top driver among the Indian workforce across all profiles while choosing an employer. This is followed by good work-life balance and job security. However, for the IT professionals, good work-life balance emerged as the top priority while choosing an employer. It is interesting to note that the importance accorded to good work-life balance has increased considerably across all work profiles, with this attribute moving up to Rank 2 from Rank 5, as per last year’s findings.

Are employees loyal to the industry they work in?

The survey findings reveal that more than a quarter of employees (31%), say that they are not loyal to any one industry or sector and are open to shift industries.Compensation remains a key driver in determining employee loyalty to a sector with 42% of the respondents saying that they are open to a job shift to a completely different industry, only if the pay and benefits are at least similar to what they receive now in their current operating industry or sector.

The survey also highlights that the Indian workforce prefers to work for companies operating in sectors like IT (65%), followed by BFSI (63%) and retail & FMCG (62%).

Presenting the survey insights, Dr. Moorthy K. Uppaluri, MD & CEO, Randstad India, said, “Employer branding continues to be of strategic importance influencing the talent agenda, particularly so in an economy that’s driven by knowledge workers. Organizations have come to realize the value of employer branding and the return from such investments, both in terms of attracting new talent and retaining. A multi-generational and diverse workplace, the new war for talent, swiftly evolving technology innovations and the evolution of new strategic talent solutions – with these disruptive game changers playing in tandem, the job market has undergone a paradigm shift to become extremely candidate focused. Today, it is critical for employers to have a buffet of choices and an employer brand that’s appealing to various layers of this talent strata”.

Dr.Moorthy further added, “At this juncture, understanding workforce trends, expectations and key Employee Value Proposition (EVP) drivers are imperatives for organizations. For the last seven years, our employer brand research has been consistently adding value to this process by capturing the voice of the ecosystem by holding a mirror to the preferences of the current and potential workforce that has helped employers transform themselves into talent magnets”.

The Randstad Award, instituted globally by Randstad, is hosted each year to encourage best practices for talent attraction and to identify the best ‘Employer Brand’ in the country based on perceived awareness and attractiveness of a company. In India this year, the Randstad Employer Brand Research captured the views of around 3500 respondents, who chose the nation’s most attractive employer brand for 2017.

Other key findings from the Randstad Employer Brand Research 2017:

1.       Drivers of choice while choosing an employer

Attributes by Gender:

Our survey highlights the fact that attractive salary and employee benefits, good work-life balance andlong-term job security are the top 3 criteria for men and women alike while choosing an employer. 

Attributes by Age:

The younger workforce in India, aged 18-24 years is more oriented towards salary and benefits, long-term job security and good training.  Workforce between25-44 years – often the age when parental responsibility becomes significant, look for companies that offer a good work-life balance.

To the mature workforce of India, aged 45-65 years,salary and good work-life balance remain major drivers while choosing an employer. Since this age group might face challenges in finding a new job, they clearly prioritize long-term job security as well. 

Attributes by Education:

Workforce with a bachelor’s and master’s degree arelooking for an employer who offers attractive compensation, work-life balance and job securitywhile those with secondary and lower education rankgood work-life balance over compensation and job security.

2.       Behaviors exhibited by employees based on job profiles:

Employer Brand vs job content:

The survey highlights that talent across all profiles prefer job content (56%) over employer brand (44%).This holds true for IT (59%) and Engineering (60%)talent as well.

MNC vs Start-Ups – what does talent prefer?

According to the survey results, large and multinational corporations emerge as the preferred workplace for employees across all profiles. However,IT professionals indicated that they would rather work in the dynamic start-up ecosystem over the SME sector. On the other hand, Engineering talent prefer working in start-ups over the public sector companies, reveals the survey.

Most trusted channels to verify brand reputation:

The survey reveals that talent across all profiles in the country find company websites as the most trusted channel to verify brand reputation, followed byLinkedIn, which is used extensively by IT and Engineering talent.