Shrink wrap business opportunities

NEW DELHI: A six-day work week is passe. A large majority of executive talent wants to work for organisations that offer a 5-day work week for office-based roles. This, say executive search firms, has made it difficult for them to hire candidates for those companies that still have a 5.5 to 6-day work week.
Companies that do not follow a 5-day work week norm have to make do with “leftover talent”, say headhunters.
A 6-day work week in a job offer is a deal-breaker, says

According to James Agrawal, MD of BTI Executive Search, at a time when organisations have moved to a hybrid way of working, candidates find it difficult to understand why any company should operate a 6-day work week. “When we approach any CXO candidate with a 6-day work week job offer, they are shocked. Many of them are not interested in a 6-day week job. However, there are still companies — particularly in sectors like manufacturing, infrastructure and energy — where there’s a culture of a 5.5 to 6-day work week. These companies stand to lose out on a larger talent pool if they do not change their work culture,” says Agrawal.
Joseph Devasia, MD of the leading recruitment firm Antal International, says when a candidate is approached with an opportunity, it is generally assumed that the company in question has a 5-day work week. “At least 95% of the candidates want to join companies where there is a 5-day work week. As a result, what companies with a 6-day work week would get is the leftover talent,” says Devasia.
Recently, Antal managed to place a candidate in a CHRO position in a company that has a 6-day work week. “The candidate was placed from an MNC where it would have taken him at least two more years to become a CHRO. He thus compromised on the number of days he would have to work in a week. But I won’t be surprised if he moves within 12-15 months on getting a better offer,” says Devasia.
Radhika
Earlier, the corporate and R&D functions at pharma biggie
Several manufacturing and pharma companies operate for the full six days, or have an alternate six-day week, for reasons apparently of equity and fair play. “If plants are running for the full six days, and those handling the manufacturing functions have a six-day week, then why should others (in corporate functions) have a five-day arrangement?” an industry executive explained.
An Intas spokesperson said, “Aligned with industry and regional practice, the company has two weeks of five working days, and rest six working days, in non-manufacturing functions.”
The growing preference for a 5-day work week has a lot to do with the post-pandemic realisation of the importance of personal time and mental health. Several companies globally have embraced the hybrid way of working following the pandemic. “Working from home several days a week is welcome, where employees are able to balance job and family priorities. In India specifically, we have feedback where employees are enjoying re-connecting with colleagues and internal/external partners during their in-person workdays,” adds Tomar.
Life’s priorities too have undergone a change. Pre-Covid, Puri says 10-15% of candidates used to raise the question about number of working hours and days in a week. Today, at least 40% are asking such questions when approached for jobs. “It’s a complete change in mindset about life’s purpose and priorities, and today people value their personal time much more. They don’t want to be working on weekends and are rejecting such job offers,” says Puri.
Even the lure of making more money is not a good enough reason for them to take up offers which do not give weekends off, or are tight-fisted about leaves. “CXO candidates come and ask me, ‘What do I do with more money and better job prospects if I do not get time to spend with the family?’,” adds Puri.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Twitter Due to your consent preferences, you’re not able to view this. Open Privacy Options

The successive opening of direct flights connecting famous tourist destinations between the two countries is paving the way for travel to boom.

Indian arrivals to Vietnam would increase further through the implementation of specific solutions linking the two markets.

Vietnamese and Indian enterprises exchange information at the conference. Photo: nguoilaodong.com.vn

Ambassador of India to Vietnam Pranay Verma shared his expectation at the Tourism Promotion Conference between India and Vietnam held by the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City on August 17.

“My family is looking forward to traveling to Vietnam. Currently, many airlines have reconnected flights between cities around the world. Besides, there are many opportunities to deploy solutions to attract tourists to Vietnam and India. On the Indian side, medical tourism is also very potential but not popular to many tourists,” he added.

He acknowledged that less than 200,000 Indian visitors to Vietnam before Covid-19 is a modest number, which does not show the full extent of the relationship between the two countries.

The launch of the tourism promotion conference between the two countries is part of the efforts to lure more visitors from the country with a population of 1.4 billion people to Vietnam.

Representatives from Vietnamese tourism enterprises such as Vietravel, TSTtourist, and Fiditour – Vietluxtour agreed that the potential for Indian tourists is huge. They have been contacted by Indian businesses to send Vietnamese tourists to India and attract tourists from all over the world.

Director of Communications and Marketing of TSTtourist Company Nguyen Minh Man assessed that this is a great opportunity to attract Indian tourists because the Indian travel businesses are also willing to cooperate with their Vietnamese peers.

At the conference, 34 travel companies from India exchanged tourism information with Vietnamese companies in the context of surging demand for travel to Vietnam by Indian travelers.

According to Google’s market trend tracker tool, the volume of searches from Indian visitors for tourism services in Vietnam has increased strongly in recent months. The most searched destinations by Indian travelers are Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Phu Quoc Island, Hoi An Ancient Town and Dalat City.

Recently, to reach the goal of welcoming five million foreign tourists this year, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) is targeting new niche markets such as India and the Middle East. Vietnam has currently issued 6,000 visas per day to Indian tourists compared to 250 visas per day before the pandemic.

In addition, one of the factors contributing to promoting the flow of tourists from India to Vietnam is successive openings of direct flights connecting famous tourist destinations between the two countries.

Currently, Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet and Indigo (India) are operating dozens of air routes between the two countries. In June, Vietnam Airlines officially opened an air connection between Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and New Delhi.

Meanwhile, Vietjet will operate 17 routes from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Danang City, and Phu Quoc Island to New Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, and Bangalore.

Nguyen Bac Toan, Director of Vietjet’s Commercial Department, said India is a very potential and strategic market for the airline in the coming years.

“Vietjet’s promotional airfares from just US$1 is a great opportunity for tour operators in India to send tourists to Vietnam,” he said.

Vishal Yadav, a representative from the Indian Association of Tour Operators, said that China has not yet opened to tourism, while the demand for international travel is very big. Vietnam has a great opportunity to welcome this source of international visitors if there is a solution to strongly promote tourism.

“Vietnam’s tourism industry needs to step up a promotion because many Indians still don’t know much about Vietnam destinations,” Vishal Yadav suggested.