Know This Before You Hire Top Talent in India

As a business looking to go global and hire internationally, you must have come across India as a country with great potential. And rightly so. India ranks number one as the most populous country with a massive workforce of 596 million employees actively working and seeking jobs. These employees work with their roots deep in all major sectors of the global economy.

Now as an international company looking to hire top talent, Indian employees present themselves as strong candidates. They come with great talent, rich skills, and strong experience.

It’s not me just throwing words and ideas out there. Some of the top leaders and CEOs of global corporations are Indians. They are innovators and passionate thinkers which makes them a steal. In this blog, we are going to dig into how to recruit this top talent. From insights into employee mindset to hiring the best employees in India, we’re going to cover this topic on a foundational level.

Understanding an Indian employee’s mindset to hire top talent

Every country and its countrymen have their own definitions of what makes up a good job and a good employer. These definitions are driven by a mindset that is shaped by cultural, economic, and societal norms. Indian employees are a mix of ambition, adaptability, and strong work ethics that they bring to the table.

Let’s understand the mindset, goals, and requirements of your to-be Indian workforce.

1. Career growth and personal development matter

Now I understand that this isn’t specific only to Indian employees. But it is one of the most important elements they keep in mind while looking for companies to join.

The amount of importance given to career growth differs according to different age groups too. The millennials and older generations generally prefer stability, security, and a good salary over career growth. We’ll come to that in a moment.

GenZs on the other hand give more importance to career growth over stability. Trends show that over 80% of GenZ employees value career growth even over a handsome salary.

2. Indian employees have an innovative mindset

Indian employees are known for their problem-solving skills and ability to think outside the box. The Indian employment market is evolving pretty fast. And if you’re not constantly upskilling, you’re not beating the competition. Thus, further reducing your chances of being a good potential candidate.

Employees here also like being a part of decision-making, solving challenges, and contributing to ideas that drive efficiency. A survey conducted by UKG says that about 89% of Indian employees say they feel highly motivated by challenges and extra responsibilities at work.

3. Job security and benefits are important

As I said before, what employees expect from their careers differs according to age groups and phases of their lives. While some may prioritize rigorous career growth, others wouldn’t mind having a slow, but steady and stable pace.

Especially when they are getting a secure job and amazing employee benefits. Business Today says that over 80% of Indian employees seek better compensation and benefits. And over 60% of them wish to have customizable health benefit programs.

4. Work-life balance is prioritized

Indians are known to be family-oriented people. Post work, they like spending time with their family and friends. They like being part of social gatherings. They are dedicated to their work, yes. But they also value their personal time.

But what happens usually is most companies don’t really offer a great work-life balance. And here is where, you as a potential employer, can outshine them by offering them a good work-life balance.

As a part of the Indian workforce myself, I vouch for the fact that companies offering a good work-life balance gain a strong reputation. It shows you value your employees and care for their well-being.

Competitive salaries to hire top talent

Salary is one of the major deciding factors Indian employees have when choosing a company. They want their skills and contributions to be fairly compensated. Especially when they are proactive and work hard towards the company.

Now one of the practices that is common amongst Indian employees is interviewing with companies, comparing offers, and then making a decision. This can usually create trouble for companies as employees may bail out last minute after getting better offers.

However, you can also use this as an advantage factor as you can present them with competitive offers from the start.

6. Smart salary structures for tax savings are preferred

Along with better salaries, employees also seek better salary structures in India. A salary package well-structured allows them to increase their take-home pay. This further allows them to reduce their tax burdens. Indian employees like to be aware of their salary components.

Components like allowances, reimbursements, deductions, etc, impact their overall earnings, and employees with higher salaries like having their say in this. Now here’s another advantage for you as a foreign company deciding salary structures in India. The Economic Times says that more than 40% of Indian companies have salary structures that are tax-inefficient.

So if you play it well with salary structures, you naturally will attract and hire top Indian talent.

Concluding comments

And that forms a good foundation for understanding the mindset of Indian employees. When you create your strategies to hire great people, these are the points that’ll help you hire better in India.

While talking strategies, let’s quickly create a checklist that will further solidify the process to hire top talent in India. This is the next in our list, but equally important thing you should know to hire good quality and top talent in India.

Your checklist before hiring top talent in India

I’ve created this checklist as a starting point for you in your strategies to hire great people in India. Sort of like the things you need to tick off and get right way before you actually start hiring. Let’s quickly go through the checklist.

1. What are your goals?

Have clear goals about what you want to achieve out of hiring top Indian talent. Do you want to set up a specific team? Or do you need the employees just for a few projects? Which industry do you need to hire top talent from? This is the starting point of your hiring strategy. Make sure your goals are as clear as a brook. 

2. What is your budget?

Next is your budget. You want your budget clearly laid out, structured, and allotted. Your budget includes not just the salaries, but additional costs like benefits, payroll taxes, compliance expenses, hiring fees, potential overheads, miscellaneous expenses, etc. Sort this out and it strengthens your hiring planning and strategy.

3. What are your hiring requirements?

Defining your hiring requirements clearly will serve as a checklist of its own. This will narrow down your options for the mode of hiring your top talent. You will understand here if you want to set up your own entity in India or find a recruitment agency. This will also answer your question of how to find the right recruitment partner in India.

These are the following questions you will need to answer and decide on.

1. Does your hiring strategy require you to scale up and down?
2. What are your project needs? What is the size of the team you need to build?
3. What type of employees do you need? Do you need freelancers, independent contractors, short-term or long-term employees?
4. What are the employee roles and responsibilities? Are they defined clearly? Do you have a clear idea of what employees you need with how much expertise, experience, and skills?
5. What is the time sensitivity of your hiring needs? How quickly do you need to hire top Indian talent, set up a team, and get it up and running?
6. What is the duration of your project? How long do you plan to keep it running? Is it a one-time project or is it recurring?
7. Skills and expertise required – What skills, expertise, and how much experience do you need to make your project successful?

4. Have you duly noted compliance and legal considerations?

Indian compliance is quite complex. And this is a critical step in your hiring strategy. You cannot afford any mistakes here. Because errors in compliance bring hefty penalties, sometimes even legal troubles.

So make sure you’re steering yourself clear of it. If you’re setting up an entity, you will need to hire your own legal and compliance counsel. If you choose hiring partners, you will have to see which partner offers full compliance. For example, partners like employer of record offer 100% compliance.

5. What is your employer branding?

How you brand your company is another key thing. This shapes and decides how you attract and hire top talent. So make sure you build a strong reputation and brand yourself as a strong employer.

You can build a good employer by doing things I mentioned above – adapting to the mindset of the employees.

6. What is your onboarding and retention plan?

Another important element of your hiring strategy. This decides how you lock down and hire top talent. You need to have a smooth onboarding process. You need to put a good impression of your company. Make sure your company presents itself as reliable and trustworthy. This will also improve employee retention.

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And with that, we come to the end of the checklist. All pointers of which, you must tick off before you hire your top Indian talent.

So up until now, we know how the minds of Indian employees work. We have a foundational and very important checklist in place before you hire talents. But I want to make sure I got your back on every front. So on the list of things you should know before hiring top Indian talent is – the challenges in hiring employees in India.

What are the potential challenges in hiring?

Hiring employees for your global business expansion comes with its own set of challenges. Let’s understand what these challenges are and how you can tackle them.

1. Cultural differences can lead to misalignment

India has a quite different work culture as compared to other countries. Here we have more hierarchical structures and centralized decision-making. Creating interpersonal relationships and team bonding are important for employees to thrive.

Foreign companies that are unable to adapt to these practices can notice a misalignment and a disconnect of the employees from the company. Therefore, they need to make sure this cultural gap is filled in as closely as possible.

2. Finding and attracting the right talent is tough

Now I know what I said. I am not contradicting myself. India does have a massive workforce with millions looking for jobs. Yes, finding potential talent is easy. But finding someone with skills and experience that exactly match your requirements can be difficult.

Sometimes, the compensation or certain policies might not align, and many such issues. And even after you do find a great candidate, you still need to make sure he doesn’t leverage you to get better offer elsewhere. You need to catch their interest, promise personal growth, match their salary expectations, etc. It does tend to get difficult.

3.  Sorting through thousands of applications is overwhelming

Another challenge that most employers face is managing recruitment data. Say you put out a hiring requirement for a senior software engineer with 5 years of experience and xyz skills.

The applications you will get will be a mix of everything relevant and irrelevant. You will get applications from data analysts, software developers with 2 years of experience, software engineers who are freshers with not enough skill, etc.

Filtering through these irrelevant applications and sorting out the ones you need is honestly exhausting.

4.  Slow hiring processes can cost you top talents

As I mentioned before, the Indian employment market is fast-evolving and fast-paced. You will lose out on your ideal candidates if your company doesn’t highlight itself when they’re looking for a job.

You also might lose them if you take a lot of time to make your hiring decisions. This is where the checklist comes in as your savior. If you have answered every point and every question on that checklist, your hiring process will be faster, clearer, and more importantly – more intentional.

5.  Compliance requirements are complex and difficult to navigate

Your scope of compliance depends on the mode of hiring you choose which decides what compliance you’ll deal with.

• If you decide to set up a subsidiary, the list of laws to comply with goes quite long. There are a ton of processes, documentation, and registrations you need to do within the given time. You can read more about it in our guide for setting up a subsidiary company in India.
• On the other hand, if you decide to go with hiring partners and service providers, then you’re majorly responsible for payroll compliance of your employees. In this case, there are four essential acts of payroll compliance you have to be familiar with.

 

https://remunance.com/compliance-management-in-india/

Concluding comments

These challenges, if not handled carefully, can be detrimental to your business and to the whole process that’ll help you hire top talent. In such a scenario, you need a solution that can help you hire top employees in India while battling these challenges.

And like I said, I want you covered on all fronts. Hence, our next section and your hiring solution – employer of record.

Employer of record as your hiring solution

An employer of record is an organization that helps you hire employees in India. It does so by becoming your legal employer, which absolves you from the need to have your own entity.

It is the most cost-efficient solution cause EOR helps you save, like, a ton of costs that go into setting up an entity.

Here’s everything an EOR can do for you, put together in a gist.

1. Like I said, you don’t need to set up an entity.
2. EORs hire the best-fit employees for you replicating your hiring requirements
3. They don’t just recruit, but fully manage the administration and lifecycle of your employees.
4. They do the payroll, engagement, and retention of your employees keeping employees smiling and satisfied with your company.
5. They offer prompt IT and infra support making sure your employees have everything they need to work in peace.
6. This deserves a better highlight – they keep you 100% compliant with all the legal rules and regulations. And there are a ton of them to comply with.
7. Most EORs also help you with customized employee contracts.

This was a short brief of everything EOR can do for you. For a more detailed understanding, you can read our guide – what is an employer of record? Guide for foreign businesses.

Suggested read: How to use an employer of record in India

Conclusion

And that should be a good foundation for you to start hiring your top talent in India.

You should know, hiring employees in India isn’t just limited to ticking off on some checklist or building strategies. It is one of the most important aspects, yes, but you should also understand the bigger picture here.

The Indian workforce is dynamic and ambitious. They have goals and are headstrong in achieving them. Meanwhile, they are also deeply rooted in their culture and traditional values.

If you hire top Indian talent without keeping this in check, you’ll hire people, but might eventually lose out of them. But say you take your time in understanding them and you know what truly drives them. You use this and adapt to their needs and desires, you’ll create for yourself a team that is loyal, driven, and invested in the success of your company.