Indian Firms Must Focus On Skilling Workforce, Flexibility. HR Survey

Human resources (HR) leaders in India must focus on skill development, worker fatigue and flexibility for their companies' growth, said a survey on Monday.

As many as 60 per cent of organisations understand the skills and talent development needs for today, but 50 per cent of them have clarity on what will be available later. HR has to improve companies’ ability to predict skills needed tomorrow and train today’s talent, according to Mercer’s Global Talent Trends 2023 HR Leader Pulse Survey.

Indian companies must focus on flexibility as employees greatly value working from anywhere, many willingly to forgo a salary raise for that option.

A trend post-pandemic has been observed in respect to supporting flexible workforces (expats, digital nomads among others), with 62 per cent of organisations indicating they support the needs of their mobile workforce.

“2023 will be a defining year as an optimistic and ambitious India looks to drive transformation amidst a BANI (brittle, anxiety-inducing, non-linear and incomprehensible) global environment. HR will have to lead the way in readying itself and the business for what lies ahead,” said Shanthi Naresh, partner at Mercer Career India.

Amid the challenges of inflation, recession and a tight labour market, 45 per cent of Indian companies in India are redesigning work with employee well-being in mind. They give employees realistic workloads, no-meeting days, and a positive work environment.

According to the survey, 93 per cent of respondents said they have policies for employee attraction, retention and engagement in 2023. Most companies said they provide support for employees’ mental health and 21 per cent of them said they invest in health and risk protection programmes.

About 124 HR leaders participated in the survey, representing approximately 800,000 employees in technology, automobile, manufacturing, professional and financial services sectors.

“In an economically challenging situation, if organizations are looking for ways to identify non-monetary drivers that can engage and retain employees, then investing in supporting flexible workforces certainly seems to be an area of opportunity,” Naresh added.

Mercer conducts a comprehensive Global Talent Trends every alternate year to study the perspectives of CXOs, HR leaders, experts, and employees. The Pulse survey of HR leaders is undertaken every year to determine whether patterns from the previous one are still valid, where firms are making progress, and areas for improvement.