Millennials, among other age groups, are most likely to switch jobs in a year’s time and a third of Gen Z staff in India want to work for fewer hours as personal fulfilment is as important as financial reward, a new survey suggests.
Over a third of the respondents to PricewaterhouseCoopers’s India Workforce Hopes & Fears Survey 2022 state that they are extremely or very likely to switch to a new employer as compared to 19 percent globally.
“Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) are the most likely to seek new employment, with 37 percent indicating that they are likely to switch employers in the next 12 months,” the survey said.
It added that while Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2012) employees are less likely to quit, 33 percent of them are extremely or very likely to ask for a reduction in work hours. While balancing business considerations with employee aspirations, companies could therefore look to leverage flexibility as a retention strategy for Gen Z, it said.
Gen Z, Gen X and millennials are also more likely to ask for a raise or promotion within the next 12 months, compared to boomers, as per the survey.
Workforce Hopes & Fears Survey 2022 findings reveal that compensation alone will not be sufficient to attract and retain talent. “The opportunity for creativity and innovation on the job and being one’s true self at work are as important as financial reward. This reinforces the need for employers to craft organisational purpose as a driver of the employee value proposition,” it said.
Over 30 percent of Indian employees want to change jobs while 71 percent feel they are being overlooked for career advancement, the PwC India report said.
While employers have been more focused on building a resilient workforce strategy, employees are driven by opportunities for fulfilment, creativity, innovation and authenticity, apart from financial rewards, said PwC's survey.
However, another significant point highlighted by the report is that India is perceived to have a lack of high skill sets and insufficient opportunities for upskilling. Over half of the respondents agreed that India lacks skillsets.
Moreover, 67 percent of the respondents in the country believe that their job requires specialist training as compared to 49 percent globally, according to the report.
“Employees in the healthcare (including pharma and life sciences), technology, communications, entertainment and media sectors, in particular, are more likely to believe that their jobs require specialist training and India lacks people with requisite skills to provide such training,” the report claims.
The report is based on the findings of PwC's Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2022. The survey included 2,608 participants from India and 93 percent of them were full-time employees.
