Microsoft 'most attractive employer brand' in India: Survey

Technology giant Microsoft India has emerged as the country’s ‘most attractive employer brand’, while Mercedes Benz India climbed up the rankings to emerge as the first runner-up, followed by e-commerce giant Amazon India, says a survey.

According to Randstad Employer Brand Research (REBR) 2022, Microsoft India scored very high on financial health, strong reputation and attractive salary & benefits the top three Employee Value Proposition (EVP) drivers for the organisation.

Also read: Microsoft cuts 1% workforce amid recession fears; Google goes slow

The 10 most attractive employer brands in India for 2022 include Hewlett Packard in fourth place, Infosys (5th), Wipro (6th), Tata Consultancy Services (7th), Tata Steel (8th), Tata Power Company (9th) and Samsung (10th), as per the survey released on Thursday (July 21).

The research globally captures the views of over 1,63,000 respondents (general public, aged 18-65) from 5,944 companies in 31 countries.

“The concept of employer branding has evolved radically over the last few years. It is no longer enough to merely create brand recognition; it has to now create a more meaningful connection. It should be backed by a compelling brand promise and purpose, which then seamlessly connects to employees and prospects,” Viswanath PS, MD & CEO of Randstad India, said.

As per the survey, 9 out of 10 Indian employees (88%) consider training and personal career growth very important to them when compared to the average of APAC (76%) employees.

Also read: India has world’s third-largest pool of AI talent: Bain-Microsoft report

“It is interesting to note that Indian workers are more driven to succeed in their careers compared to employees in the rest of APAC. Much of this shift can be attributed to gold standard learning opportunities offered by Indian employers and the flexibility to adapt to the continuously evolving needs of the workforce across sectors,” Viswanath said.

The report further noted that 24% of employees in India switched their employers in the last half of 2021.

About one in three employees (37%) had said that they intend to change their employer in the first six months of 2022 when the survey was conducted between January and March this year.

As per the survey, this year too, the Indian workforce considers work-life balance (63%) as the most important driver when choosing an employer. This trend is even more so for higher-educated (66%) and above 35 years old employees (66%). This is followed by attractive salary and benefits (60%) and a good reputation of the organisation (60%).

The survey also revealed that 66% of white collar employees consider work-life balance as the most important driver, whereas 54% of blue collar workers consider reputation and financial health as the most important attributes for an employer, leaving both work-life balance and even salary and benefits trailing behind.

“Most parameters for an attractive employer brand remain the same for both male and female employees, however, women employees now have a heightened focus on flexible working, healthcare benefits, and corporate social responsibility along with career progression,” Viswanath said.