Employees who prefer to work from home are finding it difficult to navigate the job market, suggests the latest YouGov-Mint-CPR Millennial Survey. Nearly 54% of respondents who found remote working useful said it was “difficult” to find a job these days, while the share was 43% among those who see advantages to working from an office. The share of people with mixed feelings on remote work was in the middle—nearly 50% find job hunting difficult (see Chart 1).
The findings are based on two questions the survey asked the employed respondents. One gave them a list of eight possible consequences of remote working—four positive, and four negative, ranging from effects on career development and work discipline to family time and social bonding. The second question asked them how easy or difficult it is to get a job these days.
Overall, a majority of urban Indians felt that getting a job is difficult (watch part 1 of the series: https://bit.ly/3XP226R), but this share decreased among those who are okay with going to office.
Responding to the survey findings, Aditya Narayan Mishra, Director, CIEL HR Services, said, “Those who prefer to work from home (WFH) are seeing a decline in the number of remote jobs available.” Their employers, many of whom are asking them to return to office, are also saying, in some formal and informal ways, that those who don’t see their growth are inhibited compared to other colleagues.”
Pros and cons
About 39% of respondents viewed WFH as somewhat positive, 26% viewed it as somewhat negative, and 26% were on the fence. A minor share was overwhelmingly positive or overwhelmingly negative. Women, married individuals, and those living in large families were more likely to see a positive effect of working from home (see Charts 2 and 3).
The online survey is conducted biennially by Mint in association with survey partner YouGov India and Delhi-based think-tank Center for Policy Research. The latest round, the ninth, was conducted in December 2022 with 9,698 respondents across 207 cities and towns. More than 42% were Post-Millennials (born after 1996), and 40% were Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996).
Three years after remote working entered the mainstream, what is it that is making it click for some and not others? At its center, it is career and family. Of the four potential benefits listed, the most popular benefit was that WFH enabled individuals to spend more time with family, an option chosen by 39% of respondents. But 30% were afraid of the same proposition. Also, 37% said WFH could improve career growth (see Chart 4), while 26% feared a lower chance of promotion.
Among working millennials, women (41%) were slightly more likely (41%) than men (37%) to feel that WFH can improve career development. But they were also almost as likely as men (28% versus 27%) to believe it could reduce their chances of promotion. Women were more likely (44% versus 38% for men) to see WFH as a way to have more time with family and children, but a larger share (33%) also saw it as a limitation Seen as they will feel compelled to spend more. Time for family and household chores.
gender roles
In August 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed the view that remote working and flexible workplaces could help more women participate in the labor force. In a country with an unusually low presence of women in the formal workforce, can WFH be a middle ground for navigating family norms? We tried to find out in the survey whether Indians really see any connection between WFH and gender.
We asked respondents who needed the option of remote working more: men, women, both, or neither. More than half (55%) saw no need for WFH policy to choose between men and women—51% felt both needed it equally, and 4% said neither did. Another 23% saw a greater need for women and 22% for men. Young, unmarried urban Indians held the strongest bias towards stay-at-home men: 25% would prefer men to work remotely, 20% against women, contrary to the whims of the social system. But among married individuals, the figures flipped substantially, with women clearly needing to work remotely. About 28% of women were selected against 18% for men. Among those in their forties and above, the breakdown was 25% to 20% (see Chart 5).
Interestingly, it is mainly women who feel that WFH women are needed. Male respondents would prefer to do remote work themselves rather than women on their behalf. For women making the case for WFH, the top reason was more time with children and family (30%), followed by the need to avoid commute hours due to time, safety or traffic (20%). Among those choosing men, the top reason was again family time, but with only 24% of the vote. The need for better attention to work tasks at home (22%) was also important. For both sets, chores were the least important reason on the list of five.
This is the second part of a series about the survey findings. The next section will look at the emerging political priorities of urban India. Note that these surveys are skewed towards urban affluent netizens with 82% of respondents falling under the socio-economic category of NCCS-consumers. Full Methodology Note: https://bit.ly/3lMgKhG.
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