Industry
Job hunts heat up post appraisals. But where are the jobs?
Summary
- The study—Talent Insights Report—looked into the data of 3,000 job seekers and employers in April-June. A staggering 78% candidates said they find the job market very competitive with limited opportunities.
Everyone wants a new job, but there simply aren't enough of those going around. That's the key takeaway from the Mint+Shine study for April-June that says a whopping 95% of employees studied are looking for a job change post-appraisals.
That also means competition for the few openings that are there is rather stiff. “The competitive job market presents challenges for candidates seeking new opportunities," said Akhil Gupta, CEO of Shine.com. “After appraisals, many look for job changes, highlighting the need for clearer performance metrics."
The study—Talent Insights Report—looked into the data of 3,000 job seekers and employers in April-June. A staggering 78% candidates said they find the job market very competitive with limited opportunities.
Of course, the fact that so many employees are looking for new jobs is the outcome of a muted appraisal season.
As per the study, 89% seek clearer performance metrics in appraisals. About 32% say compensation/benefits are the most important factor in keeping them in the same organisation after appraisals.
Read more: How banking staff is paying price for digitalization-led growth
What companies are doing
To be sure, the fear of losing top talent is pushing companies across sectors to make changes in their compensation and benefits programs.
Law firm Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co has revised its compensation and benefits structure in July to incentivise high performance, the company said.
“We maintain our unparalleled and objective variable compensation policy of up to 200% of the eligible variable compensation," said the company's spokesperson in response to Mint’s queries. “As a result, our super performers will earn at the highest end of the market."
The law firm has brought in policies such as work from anywhere (two weeks annually), caregiver leave (up to three weeks), paternity leave (increased to three weeks), additional childcare leave, health check-ups, and sabbatical policies for associates and partners.
The changes come on the back of a fierce talent war in India’s top law firms. The demand for partners specializing in mergers and aquisitions, private equity, disputes, and competition law is high.
Niren Srivastava, brokerage firm Motilal Oswal Financial Services’ chief human resources officer, told Mint that “in a competitive and a price sensitive labour market, attrition is going to be a reality".
The brokerage firm lists out that while compensation remains a key element, benefits programs are a strong hook to attract job seekers.
Motilal Oswal has rolled out health and life insurance coverage for its employees' household help.
“Top quartile performers in sales and research, niche skills like data science and tech research, specialist roles in fund management, and wealth advisory and sales are always in accelerated demand and important to retain," Srivastava added.
Read more: Is Uttar Pradesh stuck with low women's participation in its labour force?
Impact of delayed hikes
While a poor job market has ebbed attrition numbers in many sectors, firms cannot afford to disappoint their key talent.
Mint wrote in July that thousands of IT employees are staring at delayed wage hikes for the second year running. This is because the IT firms, navigating a winter of weak revenues and muted outlook, look to shore up margins. The delay comes at a time of falling headcounts at most tech companies.
Mint wrote that while Wipro, HCLTech, Tech Mahindra and LTIMindtree are yet to decide on wage hikes, Infosys, which had given FY23 last November as against the usual June, isn't thinking about FY24 hikes yet.
According to the Talent Insights study , IT , BFSI, manufacturing and e-commerce remain the top recruitment sectors still. However, education , real estate, and telecom have dialled down their hiring.
Recruiters have seen the uptick in candidates “shopping" but the muted hikes add a dampener. “We have to temper expectations and now a 20-25% is what one can expect when changing jobs. Job seekers can no longer expect 30-35% hikes, and this will soft side will continue for the next few quarters," said Aditya Narayan Mishra, CEO of CIEL HR Services, a staffing firm.
