NEW DELHI: With just three per cent of employers in the country anticipating an addition of staff in the next three months, hiring sentiment is the weakest since 2005, according to a survey by the Manpower Group. The survey, which covered 813 employers across India, showed that employers are being cautious for the final quarter of 2020.
Just seven per cent anticipate an increase in payrolls, while three per cent forecast a decrease, and 54 per cent expect no change. Once the data is adjusted to allow for seasonal variation, the hiring outlook stands at three per cent, the survey noted.
“Hiring sentiment is the weakest since the survey began 15 years ago, remaining relatively stable when compared with the previous quarter, but declining by 16 percentage points in comparison with this time one year ago,” it noted. The strongest hiring pace is recorded in the small-sized organisations, followed by the medium-sized and large-sized firms.
“Post the ‘right sizing’ exercise aligning themselves to the current market demands, organisations are now looking at improving productivity, new forms of employee engagement, getting furloughed employees back and implementation of technology,” said Sandeep Gulati, Group MD.
These factors are influencing the employment trends this quarter, he added. Gulati went on to add that “the government is also trying to ease the burden on corporate India by providing various sops from production-linked incentives to changes in the labour law and leniency on tax returns. We hope to see the impact of these reforms in the subsequent quarters”. Nearly 44 per cent expect to return to pre-COVID-19 hiring within the next nine months.