Retaining top talent key hurdle for India Inc: Survey

Towers Watson, a leading global professional services company recently released their ‘Global Talent Management & Reward Survey’ (TM&R) that captures employer views on trends and issues in areas of rewards and talent management. The survey finds that a vast majority of organisations in India experience challenges in attracting talent with critical skills.

Indian employers score ‘career advancement opportunities’ followed by ‘challenging work environment’ as the top two attraction drivers, whereas employees rank ‘job security’ and ‘career advancement opportunities’. Incidentally, employees and employers in India seem to be in agreement on the top retention drivers with both viewing base pay and career advancement opportunities as the key drivers followed closely by convenience of work location and learning and development opportunities. On working as part of a cross-cultural team, the survey finds that 74% of the employers in India feel that their employees are actively engaged with colleagues who are in different countries as compared to 65% employers globally.

Employees have been expected to work longer and rest less, and this trend seems likely to continue with over half the respondents globally agreeing that employees have been working more hours than normal during the past three years and over a quarter of the Indian employers expect employees will work more hours than normal during the next three years.

The survey also finds that Indian companies are increasingly adopting workforce segmentation. Eighty five per cent companies in India have adopted formal ways of identifying top talent as compared to 72% globally. Companies are also increasingly segmenting their high potential employees and identifying employees with critical skills as a part of their talent management programmes.

Sharing perspective on this survey, Subeer Bakshi, Director, Talent & Rewards Practice, Towers Watson India, said, “A vast majority of companies in the developing world continue to struggle with attracting and retaining high-potential and critical-skill employees necessary to increase their global competitiveness. Part of the solution, for companies and workers alike, lies in the articulation and execution of a strategically designed employee value proposition (EVP). In the high-stakes quest to find, keep and engage the right workforce, the EVP can be an effective tool in creating the right balance between employee preferences and employer needs — leading to stronger overall performance and improved financial outcomes. Organisations willing to drive the design, delivery and differentiation of their EVP forward can create a successful future for both the organisation and its employees.”