News & Analysis

Indian Employees Confident of Job Prospects

More than 80% of the employees are landing new jobs in spite of the global layoffs as 70% are actually looking to switch in the next six months

Employees in India appear to be a happy lot as their confidence in getting better jobs remains high in spite of the recent spate of layoffs in the global markets, says a new study. In fact, a sizable majority of them are even looking to change jobs within the next six months with adequate work-life balance being a major contributor to the shift. 

Findings of the study by recruitment firm Randstad was published in the ET. The survey titled Workmonitor 2023 said 80% of the respondents were confident of landing a new job within the next three to six months and reiterated that the biggest reason for doing so was to ensure an adequate work-life balance. 

India’s reasons for changing jobs

The global study covered all the top industry verticals such as consumer, manufacturing, FMCG, construction, retail, information technology and real estate. As many as 70% of the respondents in India said they’d be actively seeking a change over the next six months for reasons that include job security, higher salaries and better work-life balance. 

The survey found that close to 75% of the respondents found work-life balance to be the key driver behind their desire to change jobs. This was highest in India compared to other countries with people ready to quit jobs if it prevented them from “enjoying their life”. In fact, close to two-thirds of the respondents confirmed quitting a job for this reason. 

In fact, the survey said while 58.7% of the respondents quit their jobs due to toxicity in the workplace, over 60% said their prime reason for moving was that the work itself did not fit in well with their personal life. A further 56% of those surveyed said disengagement and dissatisfaction with work led them to follow the “quiet quitting” approach which is a euphemism for doing just the bare minimum at the workplace. 

Close to 93% of the respondents from India said they value flexibility in both working hours, location and even intensity of work. In comparison, the number when taken at a global level dropped considerably to just 70% who felt that remote work was a critical component as were the ebbs and flows of work coming their way. 

Economic recession was indeed a fear

The survey also proved that for most of 2022, employees were not keen to shift as the focus was to protect an existing job in the wake of the considerable impact of both the pandemic and the economic downturn that followed. Still about two-thirds of all surveyed did accept that they had looked for a change in jobs even in such conditions. 

What was surprising is that among those surveyed, 97.4% consider job security to be mission critical while 69.5% actually feared the possibility of a job loss looming large in their lives. A further 82% were worried about the economic uncertainty and its impact, which also meant that they were considering better job opportunities as a safety net for themselves. 

The recruitment firm held the view that employee-centricity was a crucial factor for hiring the best of talent. Nearly all the respondents from India agreed that an employer’s values and purpose were equally important with three-fourths of them feeling optimistic about retiring before approaching 65 years. 

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