International consultancy firm Mercer ranked Microsoft India at the top of its 15 Best Companies to Work for in India 2007 list. The study was jointly conducted by Mercer with financial magazine Business Today and international market research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS).
In a list dominated extensively by technology firms, Microsoft was followed by Mindtree Consulting, Johnson and Johnson and Sapient. Infosys, India’s second-biggest software exporter which topped the list in 2006 slipped to fifth spot this year.
Other companies in the top 10 include iGate (6th), Agilent Technologies, HCL Comnet, Accenture and Dr Reddy’s Labs (10th). The last 5 spots in the Top 15 go to Marriott Hotels India, Covansys India, HCL Infosystems, Godrej Consumer and Honeywell Technology.
FMCG majors J&J and Godrej Consumer, hospitality giant Mariott and pharma major Dr Reddy’s are the only 4 non-IT companies in the list. Mercer said this year’s list include 7 new entrants in the top 15 rankings. Last year’s list had ten firms, but it was increased to 15 this year on the request of participants.
Padmaja Alaganandan, Principal Consultant, Mercer, said, “Clearly, compensation has emerged as a necessary but not sufficient condition for employee engagement. This is good news for companies who are currently facing increasing pressure on margins due to spiralling compensation costs. Companies need to take a good look at jobs that they offer and build in elements of autonomy, challenge and scope for innovation to have a truly ‘engaged’ workforce.”
This year, 129 companies registered for the survey, of which 94 completed all participation formalities. To be eligible, companies must have had a minimum of 200 management or executive level employees in India, and be in existence in India for a minimum of 4 years.
People at Work & Play 