Hiring intent for Sept qtr rises 7%

Mumbai: A rise in public investment in production linked incentive scheme (PLI) has resulted in a growth in hiring intent for July-September as 61 per cent of companies surveyed said they are keen to hire more, according to a TeamLease Employment Outlook Report.

The overall intent to hire witnessed a 7 percentage point increase during July-September to 61 per cent from 54 per cent during April-June quarter, according to the report.

Metro and tier-I geographies top the intent to hire, witnessing an increase of 6 percentage point for the forthcoming quarter (rising to 89 per cent) compared to the previous quarter, it said. Tier II cities on the other hand, witness an even higher increase (7 per cent) in the intent to hire and rises to 62 per cent for the coming quarter, while tier III cities show an increase of 3 per cent to 37 per cent from 34 per cent during April-June quarter, it revealed. According to the report, rural geography will witness a nominal rise of 2 per cent. The TeamLease Employment Outlook Report is based on a survey which covered nearly 900 small, medium and large companies across 23 sectors and 14 cities.

The report further revealed that from a city perspective, Delhi (72 per cent) followed by Mumbai (59 per cent) and Chennai (55 per cent) are the most promising cities in the manufacturing sector. From a services sector perspective, the top cities are Bangalore (97 per cent), Mumbai (81 per cent) and Delhi (68 per cent), it added.

Promising cities with hiring intent

Geography - Growth

Sharing insights about the hiring sentiment in the industry, TeamLease executive director and co-founder Rituparna Chakraborty said, overall the ecosystem is taking a progressive turn, with more organisations projecting the intent to increase their hiring. "This optimism is largely influenced by increased public investment in PLI schemes, an advanced Rs 2.65 lakh crore stimulus package by the government to generate job opportunities and provide liquidity to sectors like tourism, aviation and housing. "With these factors, an increase in hiring sentiment is not only imminent but over the next few quarters, it is likely to cross the 70 per cent mark as well," she said. On the other hand, while few organisations may occasionally stall hiring due to the rise in Covid cases or possible restrictions due to the pandemic, there will not be any major recalibration in the overall hiring strategy, Chakraborty added. The report revealed that with regards to intent to hire as per the business size, small companies witness the highest increase in hiring intent, that is 47 per cent from 41 per cent (an increase of 6 per cent), as compared to medium and large-sized businesses with a 4 per cent increase to 69 per cent for the quarter.

Meanwhile, the forthcoming quarter brings good tidings for junior-level roles as the hiring intent for these roles sees a sharp rise to 61 per cent from 51 per cent in the last quarter, it noted. Entry-level roles are also set to gain as well, with a 600 bps increase in hiring intent to 59 per cent from the last quarter. This is indicative of a spurt in job prospects across these two levels, for potential seekers, while the mid-level fares rather modestly as it shows an increase of 4 per cent in hiring intent (currently 37 per cent), the senior levels show a meagre growth in intent to hire (2 per cent), it said. Hiring sentiment on the basis of functionality, the report highlighted that engineering and Marketing roles showed dramatic increase in the hiring intent for the next quarter. The hiring intent for engineering roles sees a staggering 13 per cent increase to 70 per cent, it added. Additionally, it said hiring intent rises by a substantial 10 per cent for marketing roles to 63 per cent, sales and information technology (IT) to see an increase in hiring intent by 8 per cent to touch 90 per cent and 83 per cent, respectively. In the blue collar job roles, there is a significant 7 per cent rise to 57 per cent in the July-September quarter from 50 per cent during the previous term, it said. IT and sales remained the most in-demand job functions, but with employers stepping up their plans to hire for the other functions, the coming quarter is set to see increased levels of hiring for engineering, marketing and blue collar, it added.