Microsoft wins the Randstad Award for 'Most Attractive Employer' in India

Microsoft emerged as the winner of the first Randstad Award 2011 and was awarded the “Most Attractive Employer” in the country, closely followed by Larsen & Toubro. The Randstad Award 2011 event was conducted at New Delhi, where winners from seven industry sectors were also recognised and awarded.

Randstad Awards, instituted by Randstad globally, to encourage best practices and to build “Employer Brand” is being launched in India by Ma Foi Randstad, country’s leading integrated HR Services Company.

Over 150 large employers in the country were surveyed to find India’s most attractive employer brand by the well-known global research agency ICMA. This survey, based on perceived attractiveness of companies was conducted amongst a large audience of 10,000 respondents in the country.

Mr. Vineet Nayar, Vice-Chairman & CEO, HCL Technologies attended the event as the Chief Guest and presented the awards. Dr. Bimal Jalan, Former Governor, Reserve Bank of India addressed the gathering about the importance of “Employer Branding”. The event was attended by the CXOs from 200 of India’s largest employers across sectors.

The five industry toppers were Volkswagen (Auto & Auto Component), Ernst & Young (Consulting), ONGC (Energy), SAIL (Manufacturing) and Taj Group (Travel & Hospitality).

Mr. Brian Wilkinson, Executive Board Member, Randstad congratulated the winners, paying a special compliment to Microsoft for setting the standard in the Award’s inaugural year.

He said, “With global skills shortages continuing to intensify, the insights from the survey will help employers to find out why potential candidates choose one company over another and what factors determine the attractiveness of an employer. We hope to contribute to the world of work through this global program.”

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. E. Balaji, MD & CEO, Ma Foi Randstad said, “Jobseekers are drawn to companies for a number of reasons, which vary from job security, pleasant working atmosphere, work-life balance, financial strength to high compensation.

To build a strong employer brand, it is important for companies to understand and manage employee expectations. With talent war looming, the ability of Indian companies to attract and retain the best talent will prove invaluable in their race to secure a greater market share and outperform competition.”

Key Findings

• Importance of financial stability and strong management increases with age whereas importance of good training and international career opportunities decreases with age.
• Job security is particularly important between the age of 25 and 45 years. The importance of high salary is significant among freshers and employees who are closer to retirement.
• Furthermore, older respondents are more attracted to companies with strong values that care about environment & society and that offer a pleasant working atmosphere and a good work-life balance.
• Graduates and Postgraduates attach more importance to job security compared to respondents with a lower education level. The higher the education level, the more people look for international career opportunities and future prospects.
• Employees with a lower education level are more attracted to companies with a strong image that offer quality training.

The Randstad Award survey is unique, as the winner is selected by the working public across India rather than by company nomination, panel of judges or internal employee surveys. The scale of this employer branding research is unrivalled internationally and the Randstad Award research has gathered data from 100,000 jobseekers globally this year.

About Randstad Award:

The Randstad Award program is based on a robust research platform that gives unique insight into the key drivers of talent attraction within our country and across the world.

Randstad has been working with globally respected research company, ICMA International, for over 10 years. In 2000, Randstad and ICMA launched the first Randstad Award program in Belgium to measure 50 employer brands. Today, the Randstad Award at Belgium has grown to feature 280 employers, with the event attracting over 500 CEO’s and HR Directors. Based on its success, Randstad had expanded the research program into 12 countries around the world and is being brought to India for the first time.