Employees seek competitive salary, work-life balance and job security- Randstad Report

Mumbai, India, June
20, 2019- Amazon India, the e-commerce giant is India’s most ‘attractive
employer brand’, reveals the findings of Randstad Employer Brand Research
(REBR) 2019, the most comprehensive, independent and in-depth
employer brand research in the world, conducted by Randstad, the global leader in the HR services industry. This recognition for Amazon is a first for
the brand in the history of REBR in India, spanning 9 years, and the company
scored high on financial health, utilization of latest technologies and a strong
reputation. Microsoft India emerged as the runner-up, followed by Sony India.

In line with
the REBR philosophy, Google India has been inducted into the Hall of Fame
category last year, for winning the coveted title for three consecutive years.

The Randstad
Employer Brand Research, covering 75% of the global economy with 32 participating
countries this year and more than 2,00,000 respondents worldwide, clearly
reveals that in 2019 too, salary and employee benefits continues to be the top
driver while choosing an employer for the Indian workforce, followed by work-life
balance and job security. These are also the areas where there is a significant
gap between what employees want and what employers offer in India. While gender
differences between men and women on the top three aspects were minimal, women,
however, attributed more importance to salary and benefits (49%) and work-life
balance (47%) compared to their male counterparts who ranked these as the top
aspects at 46% and 46% respectively.

It is interesting
to note the importance accorded to work-life balance as a key factor considered
while choosing an employer – this has increased even further (46%) compared to the last two
years and the emergence of the fact that employees in India are willing to
place a premium on job security. The number of employees in India indicating
that they would be agreeable to a security versus compensation trade-off is 23%;
higher than the broader APAC average. 52% of the survey respondents said that
they were willing to forfeit more than 10% of their salary for job security.

Presenting
the REBR 2019 survey insights, Paul Dupuis, MD & CEO Randstad India
said, “Industry 4.0 has
transformed the landscape for enterprises and skills – companies are being
forced to digitalize operations, while employees are up-skilling to continue being relevant in a
dynamic marketplace. Employer branding has emerged as a crucial positioning
tool for both companies seeking talent with ‘must have’ skills and candidates
seeking organizations that can support their aspirations of realizing a
meaningful career”.

“The results from
this year’s REBR reflect the same. The emergence of career progression as a key
‘stay or leave’ attribute is testament to the fact that even in a digital first
world, employees would prefer to work for a company that offers a clear pathway
of growth. Add to this mix, ‘purpose’ and the employer branding proposition
becomes an unmatched one”, he added.

Top 10 most attractive employer brands
in India for 2019:

1. Amazon

2. Microsoft

3. Sony

4. Mercedes-Benz

5. IBM

6. Larsen
& Toubro

7. Nestle

8. Infosys

9. Samsung

10. Dell

Other key findings from the Randstad
Employer Brand Research 2019

Top reasons Indian employees stay or
leave:

Job security
(45%) emerged as the top factor for an employee to stay with the current
employer. Offering increased career growth opportunities could be a great
technique for organizations to attract at least 43% of the workforce, who said
they left their employers for this reason.

Switchers and Intenders in focus:

29% of the
survey respondents from India mentioned that they changed their employer in the
past year and 45% indicated that they plan to change their employer within the
next year.

How do Indians look for and find
employers?

64% of the
workforce indicated that they used job boards to look out for prospective
employers, followed by LinkedIn (59%) and Google (54%). 44% mentioned that they
found another employer using job boards, while Google helped 42% find another
job.

MNC vs Start-Ups – what does talent prefer?

According to
this year’s survey results, a vast majority (55%) of Indians prefer to work for
a large multi-national corporation, while a negligible 9% preferred start-ups.
The preference for MNCs can be strongly attributed to job security, financial
health and career progression opportunities that these organizations are able
to offer their employees.

Top 3 sectors in India by awareness
and attractiveness:

The survey also
highlights that the Indian workforce prefers to work for companies operating in
sectors like IT, ITeS and Telecom (67%), Retail, FMCG and E-commerce (67%), followed
by Automotive (66%) and BFSI (65%).