Building leadership skills is a priority for India Inc: Study

As growth momentum continues to shifttowards emerging countries like India, its growing knowledge basedeconomy willdemand for new and adaptive capabilities with a key focus on leadership skills, reveals the Randstad Workforce 360survey. 49% of Corporate Indiasays that developing leadership skills for the next phase of business growth is a key productivity challenge faced by their organization. The Randstad Workforce 360 survey provides an understanding of the HR Game Changers for 2014, through insights from around 500 HR leaders in India.

Today’s business leaders believe that success depends on their ability to understand and adapt their workforce at warp speed. When it comes to recruitment, they are certain of who will benefit theirorganization the most. The survey reveals thatin the next one year, 50% of Indian employersare inclined towards recruiting knowledge workers into the organization.

Commenting on the findings, Moorthy K Uppaluri, CEO, Randstad India and Sri Lanka said -“There are three types of companies based on their growth trajectory: companies with exponential growth, companies that start growing fast but then level off, and companies that experience sluggish growth. In all three segments, no matter what stage of its lifecycle the company is in, people are at the core of the business. And, in an economy like ours, there is going to be a high emphasis on leadership skills and knowledge workers.

Moorthy further added that“HR and Business leaders should look at arresting brain-drain andcreate a culture to attract, develop and empower talent.This will automatically lead to increased productivity, business growth and career progression opportunities. Also, an optimum balance between leaders and knowledge workers is critical for sustained profitable growth.”

Other Key Findings:

-       49% of Indian employers believe the top productivity challenge faced by them in the year ahead would be developing leadership skills among employees to drive business growth. Sentiments shared by other Asia Pacific countries: Singapore(52%), followed by Malaysia and New Zealand (49%), Hong Kong (48%), Australia (46%), China (41%).

-       The biggest challenge that talent leaders face in Indian organizations is increasing Workforce performance and productivity which accounts for 19%. In other countries like China, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand the productivity challenge accounts for 25% respectively, followed by Singapore (22%), Malaysia (17%).

-       41% of business leaders in India are confident that the education system will deliver the required skills. Employers in New Zealand agreed the most (48%), followed by Australia (46%), Singapore (40%), China (37%), Hong Kong (33%) and Malaysia (22%)

-       50% of the India Inc is confident of recruiting knowledge workers in the next 12 months. In other countries the confidence levels are- 68% in Singapore, 63% in Hong Kong, 57% in New Zealand, 55% in Malaysia, 53% in China and 44% in Australia.

-       26% of Indian employers will undertake recruitment in temporary or contract basis to address talent scarcity in the next 5 years. This is highest in Australia with 29% followed by New Zealand with 26%, Singapore and Malaysia with 24%, Hong Kong with 20% and China being the lowest with 13%

-       56% of Indianorganizations rate their ability to attract top talent which records the highest in comparison to other countries like New Zealand, Singapore & Australia at 47%, 40% for Hong Kong, 39% for Malaysia and 36% for China.

-       34% of Indian employers feel that management's concern about employee productivity is the single biggest barrier to offering flexible work options. Malaysia tops this list with 48% followed by Hong Kong at 34%, Singapore 27%, Australia & New Zealand 26% and China records the lowest with 24%.

-       43% of Indian organizations feel that women in leadership positions will be a critical success factor. China records the highest with 51% followed by Singapore, Australia and Malaysia with 47%, New Zealand with 44% Hong Kong with 41%.

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