Paucity of talent coupled with high rate of attrition has forced corporates in India to give more weightage to employees than customers to ensure their top and bottom lines continue to improve.Cutting across sectors, employees both in new-age and brick-and-mortar companies are today in the enviable position of choosing their employers, contrary to the dictum of chasing a job. With this reversal in trend companies are striving to become "employer of choice", the industry players believe."Finding the right talent has become much harder in today's world and employers need to create brand value for themselves among the job seekers," executive search firm Teamlease Services' CEO Manish Sabharwal told PTI."Employers are now working in a small pond with very few quality candidates and finding a right person is three times harder than it was ten years ago. Employer branding comes as a rescuer in such a scenario."Waking up to the need, a number of companies, from IT firm HCL Technologies to tyres-to-pharma group Apollo International, are projecting themselves as employers of choice, while valuing their workers more than customers.At HCL, a strong message is conveyed - customers come second to the employees, HCL Comnet's HR head Piyush Dutta said. HCL Comnet is a subsidiary of India's fifth-largest software exporter HCL Technologies."This imbibes a feeling in the mindsets of employees that they are the priority for their organisation.This creates a sense of belongingness and employees on their part feel a sense of responsibility for the organisation," Dutt added.Sharing similar views, Apollo International's HR director Vijay Rai said, "Apollo wants to be known as the most preferred employer of choice."
