‘Work from anywhere’ top reason for employees to forgo a raise, reveals Mercer study

Mercer’s Global Talent Trends 2023 HR leader pulse survey observed that India Inc continues to identify an opportunity in enabling a skills-based organisation, addressing worker fatigue, and increasing organisation adaptability, as the three main aspects of overall growth including that of employees.

The survey found that an upward trend has been observed post-pandemic with respect to supporting flexible workforces like expats and digital nomads among others. As many as 62 per cent of organisations indicated that they are supporting the needs of their mobile workforce better.

“In an economically challenging situation, if organisations are looking for ways to identify non-monetary drivers that can engage and retain employees, then investing in supporting flexible workforces certainly seems to be an area of opportunity,” Shanthi Naresh, Partner at Mercer Career India, said.

The survey observed that 60 per cent of organisations understand the skills and talent development needs of today. However, only 50 per cent of them have clarity on the nature and quantity of skills available for the future.

The Human Resouces department has a crucial role in increasing a company’s ability to forecast skills needed and in reskilling the workers, the survey said.

According to other findings of the survey, 45 per cent of the companies in India are redesigning work with employee well-being in mind, with measures such as realistic workload, no-meeting days and a positive work environment.

Moreover, the majority of Indian companies are currently providing support for employees’ mental health and establishing innovations to help address health conditions. Over 21 per cent of them said they are investing in new health and risk protection programs.

Every alternate year, Mercer conducts a comprehensive Global Talent Trends study that includes the perspectives of HR leaders, experts, and employees. A Pulse survey of HR leaders is undertaken every other year to determine whether the patterns from the previous year are still valid, where firms are making progress and the areas in which there is scope for improvement.

As many as 124 HR leaders participated in the pulse survey, representing approximately 8,00,000 employees across the technology, auto, manufacturing, professional, and financial services sectors.