CHENNAI: Until a few years ago, a rating of the best employers in India would invariably feature that middle-class favourites Infosys and Wipro with a clutch of other tech companies added as a garnish. But the latest rating of preferred employers by the job search site Indeed.com has none of them in even the top 50.
The list is headed by Google, of course, for the nth time. Surprisingly, the second and third spots are taken by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and State Bank of India, respectively. The presence of the two PSU leviathans at the top is indicative of the value job security is given in the current economic turmoil.
Indeed's 50 Best Places to Work for in India, curated from the site’s hundreds of thousands of company reviews by employees and job seekers, is notable not only for the absence of the usual suspects but also the near exclusion of Indian IT companies, bar Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), which is 9th in the list.
However, there are plenty of multinational infotech companies in the Top 50: Intel (6), IBM (8), Microsoft (12), Cisco (11), SAP (13), Hewlett Packard (16), Accenture (50), Dell (42), to name just a few.
Even brick-and-mortar companies like Tata Steel, BEL and Asian Paints are more preferred by job-seekers than Indian IT companies, the list indicates.
Also, market heft is not the only barometer of employee preference it seems. Bharti Airtel (20), currently being upstaged by Reliance Jio (47) is the more preferred company.
Indeed has over 15 million company reviews globally. “Company reviews can greatly impact a job seeker’s decision on where they apply,” said Sashi Kumar, head of sales, Indeed India.
The Indeed list is based on both overall and across-category rating. Employers were ranked on the basis of ratings given by employees on Indeed’s portal. The companies with the highest rating get pushed to the top.
However, not all companies with high ratings get a shot at it. Only those companies that have a large employee base and have a measurable economic influence at the national level were considered.
So what makes an employer attractive? One who pays the most is the best, obviously. Yes, but that’s not all. Work/life balance and work culture are important factors too. An employer who offers a work/life balance and good work culture is preferable in the long run to one who offers high pay and works you to death.
In the overall Indeed ranking, Google scored 4.3 on a scale of 5. Of the 1707 employees who reviewed the company, most agreed that the search engine offered the best work/life balance and work culture. 'Fun place to work', 'open culture', 'friendly environment', ‘work-life balance', 'opportunities for career advancement' are some of the key comments by job-seekers who rated Google.
In fact, most reviews praising Google and Amazon (4) as best places to work made no mention of salary.
Job security counts – a lot
India’s middle class does not normally nominate PSUs for Best Employer Oscars, looking down on their babu culture and their snail’s pace decision-making. But the economy has put the fright into all such fancy notions. Thus do we see three PSUs -- BHEL (2), State Bank of India (3) and BEL (37) in the Indeed list. All three are hoary old PSUs but it’s no surprise they are seen in such kind light right now. For instance, BHEL is a welfare state unto itself with subsidized housing and education. SBI coddles its employees with low-interest loans.
While this is Indeed’s first India-specific report, PSUs are notably absent in the best employer lists put out by other agencies in recent years.
Three months ago, in June 2017, Great Place to Work, a US-based consulting firm, published a list of best employers in India. Not a single PSU found a place in its Top 25.
What makes the PSUs attractive now? As the job market – both in the NRI world and in India -- turns gloomy, employees are rediscovering values they set aside in the heydey of globalization.
“The management is considerate, job security, perks and promotions are satisfactory,” wrote a former SBI employee who served as a branch manager.
For employees who rated BHEL, the benefits included less workload, job security and time-bound promotions. This is particularly true of employees holding senior positions.
“Not so much workload. Also, there is job security, fixed promotions. Hence, nothing much to worry about. If you are a learner there are so many opportunities here,” an employee of BHEL wrote on Indeed.com. He gave 5 stars to his employer.
Another hailed BHEL’s “free lunches”, “allowances” and “short” working hours.
Another resounding message from the Indeed ratings is this: employees, both public and private sector, are crying out for shorter working hours. Work-life balance is cherished by both, although in most cases it is public sector employees who get to enjoy it.
The young are after opportunities
Does age of the employee make a difference in how an employer is perceived? Whether in the public or private sectors, youngsters want to learn; so, not surprisingly, “opportunities for career advancement” is a phrase commonly used by young employees. To most of them, an employer who offers such opportunities is the best.
While senior employees of BHEL love their employer for less workload and free lunches, a good number of young interns admired the opportunities offered by the company to learn and advance their careers.
“You get to learn a lot from this company especially in the field of production and manufacturing,” wrote a BHEL intern. “In this company, you have a lot of scope for learning about automated machines,” wrote another.