About 54% of Indian employees are seriously considering leaving their jobs for better opportunities in terms of career and base pay, according to the latest Mercer's What's Working survey. This is a substantial jump of 28% from 26% employees planning to change jobs in 2004.

Women may be leading the exodus as 58% say they are considering leaving, versus 53% for men. Around 66% of employees under age 24 are seriously considering leaving and lead all age groups in satisfaction with their organisation at 82%. Mercer's survey, which examines employee views on work, was conducted among more than 2,000 workers in India.

"This should not come as a rude shock to organisations, this issue had been cropping up for years and now it's there for all to see and take measures to control it before it gets out of hand," says Nishchae Suri, Managing Director, Mercer Consulting India.

"For companies, it's revisiting the drawing board and chalking out a redeveloped strategy to not only retain employees but also help them grow. Organisations need to come up with a holistic approach that also can work on an individual level because there are different generations are working under one roof in companies and not all benefits work for everyone," adds Suri.

Advancement in career was the top priority in the age group 25-34 of the respondents surveyed, followed by workers in the age group of 35-54. Training Opportunities was rated the third most important reward for workers in India.

Base pay was the second-most important reward segment for Indian employees, which also was deemed important to older workers and non management workforce.

Another interesting and important finding of the Mercer study was that 66% of Indian employees want work-life balance, 61% want a flexible work schedule where they can ensure that personal and professional commitments are carried out in equal measure.

62% of the employees' surveyed said that type of benefits provided was important in their scheme of work. 64% of respondents said that benefits decided whether they should continue working in their present organisation.

The survey was conducted in 16 other markets worldwide among 28,000 employees including 2000 plus workers in India, of whom 70% were men and 30% women employees. The sectors covered were IT, ITES, pharma, manufacturing, banking and insurance.  (Economic Times)