Indian professionals cautiously optimistic heading into 2021: LinkedIn

India has remained cautiously optimistic and resilient in the face of uncertainty, and overall confidence scores remained steady between plus-50 and plus-57 from April to November.

New Delhi: About two in five or nearly 40 per cent of Indian professionals expect an increase in the number of new jobs (up from 19 per cent in April) and one in two (53 per cent) expect their companies to do better in the next six months going into 2021, according to the world’s largest online professional network LinkedIn.

Its year-end data shows that despite experiencing radical changes in the way we work, India has remained cautiously optimistic and resilient in the face of uncertainty, and overall confidence scores remained steady between plus-50 and plus-57 from April to November.

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This optimism also comes at a time when India’s economy is slowly opening up, and the hiring rate continues to recover steadily back to pre-Covid levels with a 46 per cent year-on-year growth as of October. However, working in isolation and navigating a tough job market over the past few months has adversely affected India’s emotional well-being and financial outlook.

As of November, four in five (78 per cent) unemployed professionals feel stressed and only one in three (32 per cent) Indians expect their incomes to increase heading into the new year. This holiday season, three in five (61 per cent) Indian professionals say they will take less time off while about nine in ten (87 per cent) say they will spend equal or more time working at their primary jobs this year-end.

Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager for Linkedin, said the year 2020 was a disruptive year and 2021 will help tackle unforeseen challenges and prepare for new realities. “Going forward, India will re-imagine the future of work across five areas — the workplace, careers, recruiting, business and leadership styles,” he said. “In 2021, skills-first hiring will be a pivotal trend, the chief human resources officer will play a critical role, virtual collaboration will become stronger and learning will be part of everyone’s job,” said Gupta.

Online learning will continue to be a critical tool in helping professionals future-proof their careers. LinkedIn data states that the average number of monthly learning hours on LinkedIn Learning increased 3X from April to December compared to pre-Covid months of January and February. As per LinkedIn’s year-end findings, three in five (57 per cent) professionals say they will increase their time spent in online learning going forward. With this renewed focus on skilling, people are turning to online learning to build the right mix of digital and soft skills, to upskill and to land new opportunities within the same company.