The Job Confidence Index Q1 2017, conducted by the recruitment firm Michael Page India, has found that compensation is only the third factor that keeps an employee happy and results in satisfaction. The top two reasons happen to learning new skills and work-life balance. This and many more interesting findings from the survey were recently reported.

What is the survey?

Michael Page India conducted the Job Confidence Index for the first quarter of 2017, and collected responses from 4,700 employees spread across the Asia-Pacific region. 650 employees from India also participated in the survey. The objective of the survey was to measure their job confidence and satisfaction levels. 

What are the results of the survey?

Job satisfaction: 62% of the Indian employees surveyed were satisfied with their working conditions (down from 63% last quarter), as opposed to 53% in the overall Asia-Pacific region (down from 54% in Q4 2016). However, in a city-wise comparison, other than Mumbai (56% to 57%), Delhi (70% to 66%), Bangalore (70% to 62%) and Chennai (74% to 55%) witnessed a fall in the job satisfaction levels as compared to the last quarter of 2016.

Career Change: The top motivations for employees to look for a new job were recorded as: 48% of the respondents in India wanted to learn new skills (down from 52%); 39% aspired for better work-life balance (up from 35%) and 34% chose salary (down from 35%). Although the top three reasons are the same as last year, their order has changed as work-life balance has quipped compensation.

Job Optimism: Employees in India were seen to be most optimistic regarding skill development, work-life balance and scope of function over the next year. As compared to the last quarter of 2016, 85% of the respondents were optimistic about skills development (up 4%), 56% were optimistic about work-life balance (up 1%) and 76% were optimistic about scope of functions (down 1%). However, respondents were less optimistic on the following fronts: compensation level (72%; down 2%) and career promotion (66%; down 4%).

Furthermore, working professionals in India are much more optimistic than their global peers when it comes to national economy. This is especially noteworthy, as the Indian economy has witnessed some far-reaching disruptions in the past few months. 53% of the Indian respondents viewed the country’s economy as ‘good to excellent’ as compared to 33% respondents from the entire Asia-Pacific region. 

“A robust demand for qualified professionals in a competitive market has resulted in the importance of skill enhancement among millennials,” said Nicolas Dumoulin, MD, Michael Page India. “On the backdrop of an improved economic environment and adaptation to global culture, Indian professionals have a positive outlook towards a rise in job opportunities, wage growth and a better work life balance. Their appetite to acquire new skills outweighs other job search push factors and is a positive move towards developing India’s workforce for the future.”

Why are the results important?

The results of the survey show that an increasing number Indian professionals are striving to learn new skills and maintain better work-life balance. The fall of compensation from the second spot in the priorities for a career-change also denotes that factors other than salary are massively influencing the decision of employees, when they look for a new job. This is noteworthy, as a bump in the salary is assumed to be the top motivation for anyone switching jobs. Furthermore, the results show that Indian employees are far ahead of their global counterparts in terms of optimism and confidence. All these indicators together signify that India Inc. is likely to develop and grow rapidly in the coming times, and employees are going to be riding this wave to better jobs, better careers, better compensation and better skill development in the future.