77% HR leaders confident of hiring remotely

With active hiring expected to resume by January next year, about 74 per cent of the 114 human resource (HR) and talent acquisition (TA) decision makers digitally surveyed by CareerNet feel confident of hiring remotely. A good 77 per cent, that is, about 8 in 10 organisations are ready to adopt virtual /digital hiring. While it is heartening to see that remote hiring has been embraced widely, about three per cent of the respondents still feel they cannot hire remotely, while five per cent are eager to learn about it. According to the survey, employers are increasingly using online assessments, video interviews and other remote-hiring solutions for more efficiency. However, the campus hiring cycle may end up being longer than usual. This is because campus hiring has been deferred this year and may even be phased out.

Campus hiring

Only 31 per cent companies plan to hire from campuses this year, whereas a quarter of the respondents do not intend to visit campuses at all. Over one third are unsure of their campus hiring plans. Forty-four per cent of the smaller organisations do not plan to hire from campuses this year, while 51 per cent of the mid-sized companies, which have more than 500 employees, plan to hire from campuses. About 47 per cent of the big organisations with more than 5,000 employees are unsure about their campus hiring plans this year. About 36 per cent of the organisations surveyed expect a decline in campus hiring this year. About 74 per cent (three out of four) said they will honour all offers made by them and go ahead with onboarding. Only about 14 per cent of employers are deferring the on-boarding of new employees.

Positive news

The best and most positive change witnessed is that organizations are helping their new employees to work remotely by getting the required assets delivered at their doorstep, and using technology-driven collaborative and productivity tools. Most organisations (33 per cent) have widely embraced a mix of company-provided assets and employees’ personal assets. A significant number are using company-provided assets, while many employees are using their personal assets

While active hiring is likely to resume after January 2021, almost half the organisations feel that COVID-19 has had a medium impact on their company and business. One in four employers report low or no impact, while three in four are honouring offers that are rolled out and on-boarding employees.

Clearly, the hiring plans have not stalled. It is partially active for 57 per cent of organisations for the next three months and 56 per cent feel that it will remain so for the subsequent three months. One in five companies anticipate no change in their plans to fill the vacancies in the next one year.

The hiring plans of companies will be partially active during the Jul-Dec period. More than half of the employers have partially active hiring plans for the next three months. It is likely to open slowly in Q3. Eighteen per cent of organisations have fully active hiring plans for Q2, which jumps to 25 per cent in the third quarter.