MUMBAI: LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, today announced the findings of the fifth edition of the LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index, a fortnightly pulse on the confidence of India’s workforce. Based on survey responses of 2,903 professionals in India, findings from the fortnight of 14 to 31 May reveal how executives with different professional backgrounds exhibit varied levels of confidence towards company outlook, personal finances, and remote working.

This fortnight’s LinkedIn Workforce Confidence Index shows that while India’s overall confidence remains steady with a composite score of +49, the country’s confidence in jobs is beginning to trend downward. The report also states that professionals from healthcare, manufacturing and corporate service industries are more likely to anticipate a decrease in personal spending and personal investments in the next six months.

Findings of this fortnight also bisect India’s composite workforce confidence score into Individual Confidence Index (ICI) and Confidence in Employer Index (CIE). The Individual Confidence Index indicates how professionals feel about their ability to leverage economic opportunities available to them, and the Confidence In Employer Index points to how professionals feel about the future of their employers. This new addition comes at a time when India is beginning to ‘unlock’ and reboot its business landscape.

Here are this fortnight’s key findings:

●    Enterprise professionals most confident about the future of their employers: 

With a CIE score of +24, employees at large enterprises - companies with 10,000+ workers - are more confident about the future of their employers when compared to their peers from mid-market (+15) and SMB (+16) companies. Reaffirming this optimism, findings further show that 41 per cent of enterprise professionals think their companies will do better in the next six months, while 63 per cent think their companies will be better off one year from now. However, this confidence of professionals from larger enterprises fades when it comes to individual confidence, as ICI scores show that enterprise professionals (+42) are least confident about the future of their jobs, finances and careers, when compared to their SMB (+51) and mid-market (+50) peers.

●    Healthcare, manufacturing and corporate service industries least optimistic about personal finances: With India’s continued focus on social distancing, people are expected to control their discretionary spending, despite improved access to resources. Findings reaffirm this trend as two in five employees in manufacturing (38 per cent), corporate services (40 per cent) and healthcare (45 per cent) will decrease personal spending in the next six months. Findings also show that 52 per cent of healthcare, 48 per cent of corporate services, and 41 per cent of manufacturing professionals anticipate a decrease in investments in the next six months. 

●    40 per cent of the Indian workforce anticipates fewer jobs and interviews in the immediate future: As the Indian workforce navigates a shrinking job market, two in five (40 per cent) professionals believe that the number of jobs and scheduled interviews will decrease in the next two weeks. The news comes as bittersweet for Indian professionals, as more than one in three  Indian professionals state that they will now spend more time working on their resumes and preparing for interviews. Findings also show India’s consistent focus on upskilling as 67 per cent of the Indian workforce state that they will continue to increase time spent online learning.

●    Marketing, project management, and engineering professionals confident about the effectiveness of remote working: Over the past three months, many organisations have shifted to a remote working model to circumvent the pandemic and ensure business continuity. This fortnight’s findings show that three in five (61 per cent) marketing professionals feel confident about being effective when working remotely. They are joined by more than half of project management (56 per cent) and engineering (54 per cent) professionals, who are also confident about  the effectiveness of remote working. In contrast to this optimism, only 39 per cent of HR, 36 per cent of finance, and 31 per cent of education professionals think they would be effective when working remotely.