Professional recruitment services firm, Michael Page India, launched the ‘Talent Trends 2021 Report’, indicating optimistic recruitment trends across industries in 2021. The new normal signals a hybrid work culture, as firms and industries across sectors work towards a healthy recovery with a renewed positive outlook.

The COVID-19 pandemic adversely impacted economies across Asia Pacific, including India. India entered 2020 with robust hiring activities, however, the pandemic led to a dip in hiring activities by 18 per cent in 2020. With that said, optimism is already starting to show, with about 53 per cent of companies in India looking to increase their headcounts in 2021.

Nicolas Dumoulin, Managing Director of Michael Page India, says, “Technology and healthcare sectors witnessed significant activity even during the lockdown phase given the sudden increase in demand for relevant talent across functions. Hiring activities among internet-based businesses such as e-commerce and educational technology (ed-tech), remained relatively robust across India and is expected to maintain the momentum in 2021 as well.”

According to the report, India projects an optimistic outlook for 2021. Around 60 per cent of the employers intend to increase salaries while 55per cent of the companies plan to give out bonus payments with 43 per cent of them looking to give out more than one month’s worth of bonus.

The healthcare sector is expected to see the largest percentage rise in salary at an average increase of 8 per cent, followed by FMCG (7.6 per cent) and E-commerce/Internet Services (7.5 per cent). The technology boom in India has only further accelerated especially in the SaaS, health-tech, ed-tech and gaming industries with rising demand for professionals in the Artificial Learning and Machine Learning space.

Furthermore, around 74 per cent of technology companies in India expect a 14 per cent increase in headcount. Companies are open to considering talent remotely available and offer flexibility to the right candidate for remote working arrangements or hybrid work model.

On the other hand, NBFCs and Fintech companies will focus on skill sets such as analytics-driven risk, digital marketing, strategy-driven portfolio management collections, alliances and partnerships. Even during the lockdown, insurance players continued to be consistent with their broader hiring plans

Growth in e-commerce has also led to the growth of more tech-enabled platforms in logistics and warehousing. Industrial warehousing has fuelled demand in real estate as well. 

Nicolas Dumoulin, Managing Director of Michael Page India observes, “As we see the economy moving towards recovery, companies will look at a strategy that will ensure retaining existing talent and hiring talent to bridge the skill gap, especially specialised talent in certain key growing areas in technology and healthcare. Companies will be looking at a dynamic working culture along with competitive remuneration and benefits package to attract talent. Start-ups in India, examined their core businesses and retrained their focus on profitability last year, while larger conglomerates, took the time to increase their reach and influence and establish new lines of business. This will continue in 2021.”