Employment Outlook: Hiring Sentiment for April-June Q1 FY24
Intent to hire in India stands at 64%, dips 4% from last quarter
India Inc’s intent to hire has slipped by 4% for this April-June quarter as companies take precautionary steps amid macroeconomic uncertainty, global recession, and workforce restructuring measures. TeamLease recently launched ‘Employment Outlook Report April-June Q1 FY24’ shows that despite the on-going global turmoil of uncertainties and layoffs, close to 64% of employers are keen to increase their resource pool across industries but with caution. And compared to the same quarter in the previous year (Apr-Jun FY 2022-23), the intent to hire in Q1 Apr-Jun FY 2023-24 is still higher by 10%. This points to a healthier sentiment employers have today compared to the post-pandemic bottoming out.
Cautious hiring on the clock
Companies are taking the cautious route in terms of hiring due to the recession and market volatility. They are in the wait-and-watch zone and see how the economy performs before making any major hiring decisions. However, the hiring sentiment of many industries looks positive in the coming months.
Geographical hiring sentiment: A slight decline in hiring intent is seen in the Metro and Tier-1 cities this quarter, which are usually the flag bearers of hiring growth. Even in Tier-2 and Tier-3 regions, the intent to hire is marginally impacted due to factors considering the global slowdown. However, the manufacturing sector’s intent to hire is relatively higher in these regions compared to the services sector.
Tier 3 cities for the services sector has a hiring decline of 2% this quarter, while Rural areas show a slight improvement of 1% compared to the previous quarter. In manufacturing, Tier 3 hiring has a slight improvement of 2% intent to hire upsurge, but in rural areas, the hiring intent has a dip of 4% compared to the previous quarter.
Hiring intent by job level: The intent to hire at mid- and senior-level positions increased in Q1 (Apr-Jun) FY 2023-24 for both services (4% increase) and manufacturing (5% increase). Employers are strategically focused on rebuilding their teams and moving towards lateral hiring. Entry-level positions are seeing a possible slowdown in hiring, bringing down the intent to hire for entry-level positions in both services and manufacturing by 6% apiece.
Hiring intent by business maturity: Large-sized organisations in both the services (86%) and manufacturing sectors (73%) have weathered the recessionary sentiment well and have higher levels of intent to hire compared to the previous quarter. But the hiring sentiment in the medium-sized businesses and small enterprises sees a decline in this quarter (approximately 4% & 8%).
Attrition continues to hurt businesses
Attrition continues to loom over businesses. Employers are attempting to strike a balance between attracting potential employees and retaining them for longer through their compensation plans.
In the manufacturing sector, the healthcare & pharmaceuticals industry continues to witness double-digit attrition at 14.11%. However, it is over 1% less than the previous quarter. The Electric Vehicle & Infrastructure industry repeatedly outshined, displaying the lowest attrition rate of 2.09%.
The services sector is also one of the sectors that have been hit hardest during economic instability. This time also, it’s not different either. Information Technology, yet again, witnesses a high attrition rate of 29.17%, while Travel & Hospitality witnesses the lowest attrition of 2.57%.
Conclusion
The TeamLease quarterly ‘Employment Outlook Report Q1 FY24’ is a forward-looking tool for human resource professionals and policy and decision makers, reflecting hiring sentiment across 14 cities, 9 manufacturing industries, and 14 service industries in India for non-white-collar jobs. This report carries “Intent to Hire” statistics for Q1, 2023-24 [Apr, 2023 – Jun, 2023], on the basis of the survey and analysis carried out during January and February, 2023.
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