Despite layoffs, job seekers choose startups

Despite mass layoffs, startups remain the preferred choice for employees, with 79% preferring to work for startups,” says the Mint + Shine Talent Insights report.

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A quarterly survey from October to December found that executives in new-age companies prefer flatter hierarchies and faster decision-making. About 39% of respondents work for startups because of the learning opportunities they provide.

“Founders and employees often work together, so the flow of information, ideas, and response to crisis is faster than in larger organizations,” said the study.

About 22% opted for a ‘fast-paced career progression’ and 20% of respondents would rather work with a startup that offers better compensation plans for their employees than a company.

Recruiters also point to information technology (IT), IT-enabled services (ITeS), and startups as still the industries of choice, despite the lack of funding and the global recession.

“IT remains an important sector for lower and middle management given the type of large-scale hiring IT does. Layoffs don’t really matter when you’re 20 years old,” said Aditya Narayan Mishra, Chief Executive Officer of Ciel HR Services.

Over the past two quarters, big tech companies have announced layoffs and hiring freezes. Job vacancies at major Indian tech companies have also dropped nearly 90% of his normal hiring volume, making startups a viable option for software developers, coders, AI and machine learning professionals.

However, despite the headcount cuts, the market this quarter will be favorable for Indian job seekers, as research shows that 7 out of 10 Indian IT companies want to increase headcount during this period. predicted to be.

Shine.com CEO Akhil Gupta said:

Tenure was also a focus, as the days of big resignations seemed to be over. But most people don’t want to stay with the company long term.

“50% of respondents would prefer to remain in their organization for two to five years, compared to 22% who would like to make a change within the first two years of their career,” said the survey. . , 82% of the Indian workforce he intends to change jobs by the end of 2022. Most of them belong to the young age group of recent graduates or Generation Z.

Companies such as Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T) say they have multifaceted ways of retaining talent.

“The company has a structured talent assessment process, which is successfully conducted through its development center. It includes an objective process, which also strengthens the pipeline of local leaders,” said C. Jayakumar, executive vice president and head of corporate HR at the engineering giant, in an email reply. increase.

L&T recently hired a batch of over 3,000 engineering apprentices, a threefold increase from last year. About 30% of her 3,000 trainees are women.

L&T has another leadership program, the Seven-Step Leadership Development Programme. It provides young employees with potential access to curated learning experiences delivered by thought leaders in Indian and international business education institutions.

According to the survey, 43% of employers are working to improve their company’s compensation and recognition programs to boost employee morale.

These programs are designed to help employees feel valued through extended paid leave, flexible work arrangements, bonuses and awards.

About 22% of employers believe they provide employees with opportunities to upskill so they don’t feel stagnant.

Reliance Industries, Deloitte, Citibank, PWC India, Tata Communications and Sun Pharmaceutical have partnered with skills training platforms like Coursera and UpGrad. The Upskill platform currently offers customized courses on subjects such as Python, AI, and leadership management skills.

For India Inc., upskilling also proved to be a key retention policy, as there were opposing offers, and out-of-turn pay increases impact profitability. Last month, Reliance Industries decided to provide employees’ families with access to Coursera’s business certification program. In the December quarter, the most in-demand skill profiles were Sales and Marketing, Data Science, AI and ML, followed by Coding.

Another aspect of post-pandemic workplace dynamics is how companies are adapting to hybrid or work-from-home systems. But over the last few quarters, companies have asked employees to return to work. And this is shown in the metro and non-metro adoption trends in this study.

“Employers are more likely to hire from large cities (74%) than from non-metropolitan cities (26%),” says the report.