Employment trends in India 2020 – how will it fair? Population in India is at its all time high and growing. As per Wikipedia, the youth literacy rate is 91.2%. Yet India’s employment situation is bad, especially with the current ongoing fight against coronavirus. The unemployment rate as of 03 May 2020 stands high at 24.1%, according to CMEI unemployment data. In the year 2019, there was a predictable slowdown in the economic growth and labor market, leading to employers of major companies racking their brains to overcome this crisis.
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty – Winston S. Churchill
Difficult times always bring out the best in every situation. The Indian marketplace, although witnessing the worst at the moment, sees a range of opportunities and employment trends in the offing. Here are some of the top employment trends in India that looks sturdy and is here to stay:
Skilled employees
One major employment trend thought by major companies is to upskill their existing staff as hiring new recruits would increase their budget, which they could ill afford and be counterproductive. Upon keeping a close watch on the fluctuating business and rising employment trends, the recruitment experts concluded that a major percentage of industries did not wish to increase the strength of the workforce but made sure to retain the right people for the required role. Even while hiring a limited number of employees, the top job companies in India preferred employees with multiple skill sets who will be able to handle changes in the work environment.
It had been tentatively predicted by experts in 2019 itself about a drop in hiring new recruits and as further slowdown in business was also on the cards in the first quarter 2020, major organizations did a raincheck on their current staff, boosted their morale and also upskilled the talent as per their requirement. The organizations are a little apprehensive about taking on new initiatives with the dip in the GDP growth. However, the second half might be better, feel the experts with overall company growth and thereby job opportunities.
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Technological growth
Analysts these days are going gaga over intelligent automation. In simple terms, it can be defined as the unification of two technological concepts that we are already aware of for quite some time now — Artificial Intelligence and Automation. So ideally, this new mantra, Intelligent Automation, is here to stay. By using this combination of artificial intelligence and automation, an organization can automate processes end to end. A typical end-to-end process involves developing and testing products, personalizing products and services, managing customer interactions and many more.
Work from home
A report published in the Harvard Business Review says employees felt that commuting to their workplace was more stressful than their jobs itself. With the current pandemic that the world is facing, work from home is one trend that will definitely stand out in 2020. Many studies have been conducted on remote working and suggest that it helps employees to have a work-life balance, thus reducing stress and increasing productivity.
Contractual employment
While 2019 was quite dismal in the job market with many layoffs, 2020 seems to be following the same trend, even worse. Almost half the Indian population is engaged in agriculture, dairy farming, horticulture and many related occupations. With millions of migrant workers, most of them into agriculture, they lack stable employment. Recently, the Indian labor workforce suffered due to low productivity growth and widening income inequality. Slowdown in the construction jobs, mounting educated youth unemployment and also lack of quality jobs have resulted in an increased Indian labor market. On the positive side, the share of regular and formal employment increased marginally. The share of informal jobs within the government and public sector increased too. A dominant share in rising employment trends by small units of the unorganized sectors without any written job contract can still be generated.
Employees in major organizations who are engaged on the basis of a written contract or terms of employment for a fixed period come under the category of fixed term employment. Under this head, the working conditions in terms of working hours, wages, allowances etc would be at par with the permanent workers. As the name suggests, the fixed term contract expires once the particular project or task is completed. The Ministry of Labor and Employment recently made this move official, thereby, enabling industries across all sectors to hire workers for the duration of the project or specific period. This is a laudable move by the government and has been widely accepted by the trade and industrial sectors. All in all, it is a win-win for both the workers and the companies.
Other benefits apart from salary
One of the emerging employment trends in India is providing employees with added benefits apart from the monthly salaries. This could be in the form of life or health insurance policies, remote working opportunities, personal loans, yearly bonuses, yearly family holiday trips, training opportunities etc. For some employees, monetary benefits are not sufficient motivation and this has been one of the many reasons that many employees look for employment elsewhere.
Jobs in demand
With the advanced technology available at our disposal, the jobs to look for in the coming decade are Digital Marketing, Artificial intelligence, Data Scientist, Cyber Security, Drone Handling. Having expertise in these fields can go a long way in boosting one’s career. The future generation are a smart lot who are always on the go to learn and absorb all the knowledge they can. Besides the above mentioned jobs, careers as Dieticians, Robot Engineers, Event Managers are in great demand and will continue to do so.
Companies in demand
The top best companies that any new recruits or working millennials dream to work for in india are listed below:
- Reliance Industries
- Tata Steel
- Oil and Natural Corporation Ltd
- State Bank of India
Hiring trends
About a decade ago, the hiring process was handled by the company itself. There was a huge transformation in 2010, wherein, the Indian HR companies merged with the HR companies of the world to source out organized workforce and staffing solutions. With increase in demand for the workforce, numerous staffing companies emerged in the country that are facilitating organizations with their recruitment.
Some of India’s best staffing companies are ABC Consultants, Adecco India, AON Hewitt, and Career Net. Social media hiring is another rising employment trend in the current job market. With India’s economy a little shaky presently and the unemployment reaching a catastrophic high, India Inc. is searching for a dynamic leadership to guide them out of the woods.
In summation, the employment trends in India looks upward but the nation has to be ready with their talent pool for the new employment demands and the skills that employers are seeking for. Reskilling and upskilling will turn out to be the winner in order to stay competent and updated with the always-hungry-for-skilled-talent workplace.
You might also be interested to read: ‘Mega Global HR Trends Are Catering To Two Simultaneous Big Bangs’
References:
- “Top 5 hiring and employment trends to look forward to in 2020” by TIMESOFINDIA.COM on Jan 3, 2020
- “Employment Trends in India, 2020” By SightsIn Plus on January 3, 2020
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