By A Correspondent
- A Google Maps-inspire Mural in the Hyderabad office. Photograph courtesy: Google.com
It may not be the best of times to release a report like ‘The Best Companies to Work for’, given the low morale on the economy front and crunch in job opportunities prevailing in the marketplace. But there are companies that prefer to stand aloof from the depressing lot and would like to be counted as being amongst the best places to work for.
The Economic Times in partnership withGreat PlaceTo Work have released ‘India’s Best Companies to Work for 2012′. The study throws up a diverse line-up of companies as favourites to work for. Emerging the number one employer is Google India followed by Intel and NTPC at third. Further, five out of the top 10 companies are multinationals, pointing at the role played by global HR practices in stimulating employee satisfaction across workplaces in India.
The study has been divided into the Top 50 and Top 25 best workplaces. When analysed further, only two out of the Top 25 Best Workplaces are companies which are new to the list of Best Workplaces, the rest having featured in the list in previous years. However, similar consistency is not seen in the Top 50 list in which there are 14 companies which have never featured in the list in India before.
As for the standings, Gurgaon-based Makemytrip occupies the fourth spot, a drop from last year’s third rank. Amongst the media companies, HT Media Ltd is the only player to figure in the Top 25 list and is ranked 16th.
Reacting to the win, Rajiv Verma, CEO, HT Media Limited, said: “This recognition is a testament to the strength and integrity of HT Media’s corporate culture. A few years ago, when we crafted a set of long-term goals for our company, we embraced the vision of being an ’employer of choice’. The recognition that we received from the study is a compelling sign that we have been moving in the right direction.”
Other nominees include Cactus Communications that has been placed at number 20, Cleartrip Travel that is placed at 29th spot, Music Broadcast (operates radio channel Radio City) at number 41, Viacom18 placed at number 48 and Vodafone at number 49.
In the category of Best in Class, Outdoor Advertising Professionals India Pvt. Ltd. achieves the top spot under Advertising & Marketing; Vodafone India Ltd. is number 2 under Telecommunications; Godrej Consumer Products Ltd., Procter & Gamble, Mars International India Pvt Ltd. and Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd. are selected under FMCG; and Google India under IT.
Some prominent companies that came up trumps across 22 sectors include: Vodafone India in Best Company in Large Organisations (more than 10,000 employees); Makemytrip, Cactus Communications & Cleartrip Travel Services under Professional Services, and HT Media Ltd and Viacom18 Media under Media.
The study
TheGreat Placeto Work® framework is based on over 27 years of research of the best workplaces across the globe from employees’ point of view. Some key trends spotted include: overall employee perception of their workplace culture has not changed significantly from 2011 – this is true for all companies, the Top 50, and Top 25 best workplaces in the Study. Thus, while individual companies may have done well or poorly in building trust with their employees, the workplace culture in India Inc., as perceived by their people, remains the same.
Positive perceptions about their workplace culture continues to be high for senior management category compared to supervisory staff, with 7 per cent less supervisory staff giving positive feedback about their workplace culture. The study further reveals that 75 per cent of employees are below 35 years of age. While they are the majority in most organisations, their views about the workplace culture are significantly less positive than employees over 45 years in age. Only 20 per cent of employees, on an average, have worked in the same organisation for more than five years. There is a slow but gradual improvement in employee perception as one stays longer in an organisation, the study notes.
As in the previous years, the Top 50 best workplaces are concentrated in Mumbai, NCR and Bangalore, but also have representation from Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. 35 of the Top 50 have more than 1,000 employees, with 14 out of 50 having more than 5,000 employees. Only 7 of the Top 50 Best Workplaces saw employee increases of more than 30 per cent in the previous year, and 6 actually reduced their workforce.
Also, the percentage of women continued to be low with only 5 of the Top 50 employing more than 40 per cent women employees. Women constitute less than 10 per cent of employees in seven of the top 50. Only three of the Top 50 have more than 30 per cent of their senior management as women. While 15 out of Top 50 best workplaces have employee attrition of over 20 per cent, however, in all major industries, attrition for the Top 50, on an average, is less by one-third to two-third of the industry average.
As Business Head – Radio and Entertainment of HT Media, a role he assumed last year, Harshad Jain has his role tailormade for excitement. The FM Radio market may be small when compared to television or print, but given the nature of competition is a challenging play. In conversation with MxMIndia’s Robin Thomas, Mr Jain spoke about Fever 104 FM’s radio play – Gandhi, the consistency of the FM station’s leadership position in Delhi, Phase III plans and much more. Prior to joining Fever 104 FM, Mr Jain worked with companies like Pepsico, Worldspace and Airtel to name a few.