India Inc. recognizes the need for Flexibility and Skilled-based Workforce, reveals Mercer’s 2023 Global Talent Trends Study

• 64% of the companies surveyed offer flexible work options for all employees
• About 60% of organizations understand the current skills and development needs of their employees and are providing access to upskilling/reskilling opportunities to all employees
• Only 54% of organizations have total well-being initiatives

India Inc. continues to identify an opportunity in enabling a skills-based organization, addressing worker fatigue and increasing organization adaptability, as the three main aspects of overall growth including that of employees, reveals Mercer’s Global Talent Trends 2023 HR leader pulse survey.

Every alternate year, Mercer conducts a comprehensive Global Talent Trends study that includes the perspectives of CXOs, HR leaders and experts, and employees. A Pulse survey of HR leaders is undertaken every other year to determine whether the patterns from the previous year are still valid, where firms are making progress, and areas where there is scope of improvement. The current study is a pulse survey following up on the 2022 comprehensive Global Talent Trends study.

124 HR leaders participated in the pulse survey, representing approximately 800,000 employees across technology, auto, manufacturing, professional and financial services sectors.

The survey observed that 60% of organizations understand the skills and talent development needs for today; nevertheless only 50% of them have clarity on the nature and quantity of skills available for tomorrow. Therefore, HR has a crucial role to increase companies’ ability to forecast for tomorrow’s skills and reskill today’s talent to stay relevant for tomorrow.

Commenting on the survey findings, Shanthi Naresh, Partner at Mercer Career India said: “2023 will be a defining year as an optimistic and ambitious India looks to drive transformation amidst a BANI (brittle, anxiety-inducing, non-linear and incomprehensible) global environment. HR will have to lead the way in readying itself and the business for what lies ahead.”

Amidst external challenging environmental situations laden with inflation, recession and tight labour market concerns, 45% of the companies in India are redesigning work with employee well-being in mind such as realistic workload, no-meeting days, and positive work environment. As per the survey findings, 93% of the respondents are focusing on how their benefit offerings can better support employee attraction, retention and engagement in 2023. Furthermore, it is seen that majority of the companies in India are currently providing support for employees’ mental health and establishing innovations to help address health conditions including 21% of them investing in new health & risk protection programs for the organisation.

Focus on Flexibility

Another important aspect for companies in India to focus on and progress, is flexibility at the workplace as employees are now greatly valuing the ability to work from anywhere. It has emerged as the number one reason for employees to willingly forgo a raise. An upward trend post-pandemic has been observed in respect to supporting flexible workforces (expats, digital nomads among others), with 62% of organisations indicating that they are supporting the needs of their mobile workforce better.

“In an economically challenging situation, if organizations are looking for ways to identify non-monetary drivers that can engage and retain employees, then investing in supporting flexible workforces certainly seems to be an area of opportunity,” Shanthi Naresh added.

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About Mercer 

Mercer believes in building brighter futures by redefining the world of work, reshaping retirement and investment outcomes, and unlocking real health and well-being. Mercer’s approximately 25,000 employees are based in 43 countries and the firm operates in 130 countries. Mercer is a business of Marsh McLennan (NYSE: MMC), the world’s leading professional services firm in the areas of risk, strategy and people, with 83,000 colleagues and annual revenue of nearly $20 billion. Through its market-leading businesses including Marsh, Guy Carpenter and Oliver Wyman, Marsh McLennan helps clients navigate an increasingly dynamic and complex environment. For more information, visit mercer.com. Follow Mercer on LinkedIn and Twitter.