97% Firms Will Stop Hiring, Increments In 2020; Worst Hiring Outlook In 15 Years (HR Report)

It seems that India’s hiring segment is going through the toughest time as the country is witnessing the weakest hiring sentiment in the last 15 years.

According to a survey of over 800 employers revealed on Tuesday, only 3 percent of companies are planning to add staff in the next three months.

ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey

The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook has Surveyed over 813 firms across India, Indian employers report cautious hiring plans for the final quarter of 2020.

According to the findings of this survey, 7 percent of employers anticipate an increase in payrolls, 3 percent forecast a decrease and 54 percent expect no change. 

Further, the outlook stands at 3 percent, after the data is adjusted to allow for seasonal variation, it said.

The survey said, “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,”.

So far, the strongest hiring pace is recorded in the small-sized organizations, then comes the medium-sized and large-sized organizations.

What Does Survey Indicate?

In terms of regions, the survey indicates that north and east regions show a more positive outlook compared to the west and south regions. 

The Group Managing Director of ManpowerGroup India, Sandeep Gulati said, “Post the ‘right-sizing’ exercise aligning themselves to the current market demands, organizations are now looking at improving productivity, new forms of employee engagement, getting furloughed employees back and implementation of technology,”

In addition to 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 labor law and leniency on tax returns. We hope to see the impact of these reforms in the subsequent quarters”, said Gulati.

As per the findings from the survey, nearly 44 percent of employers reported that they may return to pre-COVID-19 hiring within the next nine months.

On the other hand, 42 percent are still not sure about returning back to normalcy from the hiring perspective. 

When asked about the existing employees, who have been placed on a job retention or furlough scheme, 42 percent of the participating companies said that they are planning to bring them back with reduced hours.

Nearly 3 percent said that they will have to let go of the staff.

From a global perspective, the employers in 22 of the 43 countries and territories surveyed by ManpowerGroup are expecting to add to payrolls in the period up to the end of December 2020.

In 16 countries and territories, employers expect to reduce payrolls, while flat hiring activity is forecast in five.