India sees 77% growth in HR analytics professionals in 5 years, says report

In the past five years, there has been a 70 per cent increase in specialised analytics professionals in HR across the Asia-Pacific region, whereas India has shown a higher growth at 77 per cent, according “The Rise of Analytics in HR: An era of Talent Intelligence” report published by LinkedIn. These professionals are known to fill various specialised job titles such as ‘data scientist’, ‘talent analytics director’ and ‘diversity analytics specialist’. In India, 14 per cent of total jobs in HR are analytics-based, signifying that companies are increasingly trying to arm their HR functions with analytical capabilities with talent as their focus area. 

The top three industries to adopt talent analytics in India are financial services and insurance, technology-software, and professional services. In fact, financial services leads the pack as the top industry to adopt talent analytics in seven countries in Asia-Pacific, including Australia, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, and Taiwan. Compensation and benefits, talent acquisition, talent development and productivity are established focus areas for use of analytics in the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, companies are also actively ramping up the use of analytics for emerging focus areas such as employer branding, workforce planning, and culture and diversity. HR leaders in India are currently prioritising the use of analytics in three areas namely, compensation and benefits, talent acquisition, productivity and performance. Interestingly, analytics usage for retention ranks four in India, compared to eight in Southeast Asia as well as China, and nine in Australia. This could be attributed to the fact that India has a high attrition rate. Priority areas in different countries vary as per the different business realities in each market. For example, in India and China where people change jobs often, talent acquisition is a high priority. However, in Southeast Asia and Australia where attrition is lower, the focus is on talent development and workforce planning, respectively.

Workers open to trade pay hike for flexible work hours

About 93 per cent of the respondents possibly or definitely plan to ask for a pay rise in the coming appraisal cycle for 2018, with women more likely to ask for a rise than men, reveals findings of a wage growth survey published by job search portal Indeed. According to the survey findings, 67 per cent of all women respondents confirmed that they would be asking for a pay rise in comparison to 64 per cent of men. While this is indicative of the fact that most employees are not satisfied with their current level of remuneration, it highlights the fact that more women than men are dissatisfied with their current pay. Interestingly, while 20 per cent of women respondents believe that their male counterparts are being paid more than them, only 9 per cent of men feel their female peers are being paid less than them. More than half of the respondents stated that they had asked for a hike in the previous year, while a third said they had done so more than once during the same period of time, only to be refused. The primary reason given for the refusal was the lack of budgets; however, close to a third of respondents were also told that their quality of work was not up to the mark. In comparison to remuneration in other countries, over 64 per cent of respondents believe that Indian salaries are generally lower than the average. However, a number of respondents also stated that they would be willing to accept alternative benefits at work in place of a pay rise. Over 60 per cent stated flexible work hours as an alternative to a pay hike, while 47 per cent suggested an increase in annual leave. Close to 40 per cent also cited paid parental leave as a benefit they would prefer, while 63 per cent respondents asked for healthcare benefits instead of a pay rise. Interestingly, of the respondents who do not plan to ask for a pay rise, 43 per cent claimed that their present salary was satisfactory. Over 80 per cent of respondents agreed that they would consider changing their job in order to secure a pay rise.