Indian employees feel must skip jobs to advance career: Study

An overwhelming number of Indian employees feel that they must leave their existing organisations for advancing in their careers, a study said.

"India, as a matter of fact, is ranked the highest at 56% where a majority of the employees feel they have to leave their organisation to advance to a higher job," a Towers Watson's Global Workforce Study, said.

India at 56% is ahead of the US at 43%, UK at 41%, Brazil at 39%, China at 38% and Germany at 37%, the study said.

"The top management in India Inc needs to review the career advancement programmes for their employees if they have to retain talent in what promises to be a prolonged growth phase of the business cycle," Towers Watson India's managing director, Dhritiman Chakrabarti, said.

Towers Watson conducted the global workforce study in India between November 2009 to January 2010.

It surveyed employees in the 25-35 years age-group, predominantly male, having less than five years work experience, in mid-management levels of medium-sized organisations with employees between 1,000 and 4,999, a statement issued here said.

The survey observed seven principal elements that defined career advancement.

These were making more money, acquiring skills to perform better, achieving higher status/recognition, advancing to senior leadership role, acquiring skills to be eligible for other jobs, moving up a well-defined career path and making lateral career moves, it said.  

"Making more money was globally the number one element that defined career advancement except in the UK where acquiring skills to perform better topped the list," the study said.

Another interesting aspect, the study noted, was that increasingly more employees in India are taking an opportunistic attitude and are open to job shifts to advance their careers.

While 32% of employees surveyed globally said they would work for one organisation, this number was much lower in India and China.

"Only 25% Indians and 23% of Chinese employees listed working for one organisation as their preferred career model," the study said.

On the other hand, 44% of Indians and 39% of Chinese listed following opportunities as they arose as their preferred career model as opposed to a global average of 33%, it said.

"This trend in China and India is symptomatic of growing economies and the optimism it generates. Employees here are more bullish about the future and are willing to follow opportunities as they arise," it said.

To retain talent, India Inc will have to increasingly engage its employees in every aspect--be it competitive pay, learning opportunities, challenging work, career advancement opportunities or being an employer of choice," Chakrabarti said.