TeamLease Services, India’s leading human resource company has launched their hiring sentiments report called ‘Employment Outlook Report’ for the period April-June, 2021. According to the report, if further lockdowns and workplace operating rules are not enforced the intent to hire in the current quarter (April - June 2021) can rise to seven percentage points over the previous quarter (Jan 2021- March 2021). In fact, out of the 21 sectors reviewed more than eight sectors will witness a 9-11percentage points rise in their intent to hire in the current quarter.

As per the report Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, Educational Services, Ecommerce & Technology startups, and Information Technology are the key sectors that are likely to ramp up their talent pool. In fact, more than 58% of the corporates in the Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals sector (which is nearly 11% points higher than the period Jan-March 2021) are keen on hiring talent. Educational Services, Ecommerce & Technology Start-ups, and Information Technology have also indicated similar enthusiasm with 55% (12% point growth), 51 percent (ten percent point growth), and 50 percent (11 percent point growth) of the companies expressing intent to hire.  According to the report, while there is an overall positivity, Power & Energy, BPO / ITeS, Media & Entertainment Consulting, Marketing & Advertising, Travel & Hospitality may take more time to reach the kind of intent to hire enthusiasm that the other sectors are expressing.

Further from a geography perspective while Metro and Tier 1 cities (32 percent) take the lead in terms of overall intent to hire, with a nine percent increase each, Tier 3 cities also are not far behind.  Tier 3 towns have witnessed a five percentage point increase. Delving deep into cities barring Kochi, Coimbatore, Nagpur, and Kolkata most of the cities have expressed growth in keenness to hire. With regard to functional areas similar to the previous quarter, Sales (41 percent) and Marketing (34 percent) continues to be the most sought-after functional roles. However, when it comes to hierarchy the preferences seem to have changed substantially. The intent to hire senior-level talent has dropped by a four percentage point over Jan-March, 2021.

Elaborating about the report findings, Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder & Executive Vice President, TeamLease Services, said, “Indian economy has been regaining the lost ground and the same was reflecting in hiring as well. Be it the IMF, OECD or Fitch all have been positive and this was bolstering the business sentiment and the intent to hire. However, if we resort to lockdowns it will derail and further delay the recovery. In fact, it will impact the scope of growth in employment negatively.  If we continue with our efforts and not opt for lock down the business optimism will remain intact and so the hiring. The intent to hire will grow from 27 percentage point (Jan – March, 2021) to 34 percentage point in the current quarter.”

A comprehensive study analysing the eco-system according to the report it is the large and medium business who will be driving the demand for talent rather than the small business. Further, as per the report the attrition levels have plummeted across sectors with the onset of COVID, and are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.