What Makes Employees Love Their Companies

A BT-People strong survey reveals what makes companies tick for employees.

- Ajita Shahshidhar

Sriram Sridharan, a second-year student at a leading Indian business school, is looking forward to cutting his teeth in corporate India. He sat through a dozen interviews for his summer internship and, by the end of it, had three offers in his kitty. Though an offer from Uber, his first choice, evaded him, he is more than happy to intern at an FMCG company. The interesting thing is that the 24-year-old not only read the annual reports of all these companies, he also went through their CSR reports. “My dream is to be associated with a great employer brand that will not only give me a great role but is also known as a company that cares for the society.”

For Ghazal Jain, who did her MBA from SPJIMR last year and has been working with India Infoline, the biggest kick has been the opportunity to work closely with the CEO of the company. “I not only interact with 700-odd salespeople on a day-to-day basis, I also do business analysis for my CEO,” she says.

Sridharan and Jain represent 60 per cent of India’s workforce – the millennials – whose expectation is not so much a stable and a well-paying job but the experience it offers them. They want to be associated with organisations which have a larger purpose, which are agile and innovative and which offer fast-track growth. “I am not picky about job security or compensation, but the brand I will associate with matters a lot,” says Sridharan. Both Sridharan and Jain are among the lucky few who have the luxury of choosing their dream jobs as there are thousands of job seekers who have to be content with what they get. However, expectations of millennials from their workplace go beyond Maslow’s traditional hierarchy of needs. Self-actualisation is on top of Maslow’s pyramid but millennials’ expectation from their jobs goes beyond self-actualisation.