Future Workforce Expectation Survey 2010-11 Highlights

The objective of this study is to understand and analyse the expectations of students who graduate from colleges across the country and are eligible for being considered for employment. For the purpose of this report the term future workforce / GenNext has been used to connote the respondents of this study, most of them are below the age of twenty five years. The study aims to

• Make meaningful comparisons across various segments of the future workforce.
  
  
• Provide pointers to industry on the typical expectation profile of the future work force.
  
  
• Make international comparisons wherever possible.
  
  
• The findings of this study provide analyses of demographic variables, future workforce preferences and factor analysed trends on the following aspects.
  
  
• Factors considered while evaluating and selecting a company.
  
  
• Preferred source for obtaining information about the company.
  
  
• Preferred selection methods.
  
  
• Preferred mode of assessment.
  
  
• Preferred industry segment, company and work location (city).
  
  
• Preferred compensation.

What’s different about the present study?

• First-of-it’s kind comprehensive study designed to understand future workforce expectations.
  
  
• This is the second edition of the survey following the first one done in 2008. In this edition, we have also looked the changing profiles of the future workforce expectations between the two editions.
  
  
• In this edition of the study we have also included the following
  
  
  • Individual career projection in 5/10 years
    
    
  • Work values

The respondent profile is exhibited in the table 1:

The sample of institutions for the study was randomly selected from the universe of colleges available across the country, stratified according to the four regions in India and the academic streams. The cluster of students from the selected sample of institutions was invited to participate in the study. The stratification for the Institutes of management education was based on a method of ranking that was developed by the research team based on various published studies which had ranked these institutions. The strata for the premier category of institutes of the management category was those who featured in the top thirty in rankings published by different publications.

The sample distribution among various institutions across the regions is given in table 1A:

The expectation profile is clearly different for respondents from different regions, thereby necessitating a customized approach to ‘sourcing’ from companies..

With around one half of the population of India in the age group of twenty five years or below, there is little doubt that this group or GenNext as we have chosen to call them, will have a very significant impact on the business and economy in the near future. This study of over 2700 respondents across different regions from different academic streams provides a comprehensive snapshot of the expectations of GenNext, by focusing on key relevant issues. This study is in continuation to the first Future workforce expectations study done in 2008.

In this edition of the study, we wanted to see if there are changes to the expectation profiles. Surprisingly we find that the expectations have changed considerably between the two editions of the study. In this edition we also asked students about where they see themselves 5 & 10 years from now. With work values playing an important role in an employee’s retention, we have also tried to understand the future workforce’s work values.

It should be noted that the top factor considered by GenNext to evaluate companies is different for different academic streams. The expectation profile is clearly different for respondents from different regions, thereby necessitating a customized approach to ‘sourcing’ from companies.

It is also interesting to note that although a majority of students prefer an online mode of assessments for selection, they have also shown considerable interest in the offline mode.

The internet has been identified as a major source of information by over 85% (up from 75% in the last study) of the respondents thereby emphasizing the need for companies to ramp up and include online assessments and information as a key component of their selection process.

This study also reinforces that while there are various factors related to the company and the job that are important to GenNext, there is a clear desire to receive formal training from companies, in order to supplement the academic knowledge and accomplishments.

It is also interesting to note that the preference of industry segment seems to have changed completely from the last time around. The telecom sector which was the first choice last time across all student groups has been replaced by specific industry segments for each of the 4 categories. Engineering students have shown a strong preference for ‘Manufacturing’ (64%), Non-engineering non-management students seem to prefer ‘IT’ (22.4%) as the first choice. ‘Consulting’ (23%) is the preferred choice of students from premier management institutes while ‘Financial Services’ (26.2%) has been identified as the top choice by non-premier management students.

In this year’s study ‘Job related’ aspects seem to hold more weightage than company image and management profile which were key factors in the choice process in the last edition of the study. However company related aspects have been short listed in the top 5 by all respondent groups.

‘Interviews’ have been replaced by ‘web based information sources’ as the preferred source of obtaining information across the board. This means that companies need to make sure that their websites are updated continuously and are equipped with all relevant information about the company and the job.

Compensation expectations have gone up tremendously from the last edition of the survey. This could be because companies have slowly wriggled out the recessionary mode are in a hiring spree again.

In terms of location, the National Capital region (NCR) seems to have replaced Bangalore as the most preferred work location. Bangalore emerges as the second most preferred location followed by a surprise entrant this year-Pune.

Our study findings establish very clearly that "one- size- fits- all" strategies are not likely to work and organisations need to address GenNext sourcing through different strategies due to the continuously changing expectation profiles, as also the regional cultural differences.

The internet has been identified as a major source of information by over 85% (up from 75% in the last study)

• The expectation profiles predominantly vary across the four academic streams.

• There is a clear difference in perspective, expectations and choices between the two editions of the survey.

• Future workforce preferences change year after year and it’s important for companies and institutions to be in touch with the changing preferences.

• A significant majority of respondents expect formal training by companies.

• GenNext finds Job profile and Company image most important.

• The preference of industry segments presents a completely different picture from the earlier edition of the study. The current preferences seem to be in line with the overall economy and business sentiment prevalent in the country.

• Career advancement and Opportunity to learn are the GenNext’s key work values.

• GenNext has shown interest in Entrepreneurship in a 10 year horizon.

• GenNext appears to be net savvy as well as values robust offline selection processes indicating a preference for a hi-tech and hi-touch approach.

• Companies need to adopt a customized approach to sourcing to enhance the effectiveness of the process and greater alignment with GenNext expectations.