Google does it again! It’s the best MNC to work for

Indian businesses are talking about transition from being Indian companies to multinationals (MNCs). But are these firms ready for a take-off? The result of a survey tells a different story.

The outcome of the World’s Best Multinational Workplaces 2015 survey is not encouraging as not a single Indian company found a place in the top 25 list in the fifth edition of the study carried out by the Great Places to Work Institute.

However, six of the world's top 10 MNCs have a sizeable presence in India. They are Google, NetApp, EMC, Microsoft, Monsan and American Express. The study took samples from more than 6,641 firms across 685 multinationals (2,089 subsidiaries) and 12 million employees worldwide.

"While many of the organisations in this list are also great workplaces in India, no Indian MNC has made it to this list yet," said Prasenjit Bhattacharya, India CEO, Great Place to Work Institute.

So what are the conditions necessary to feature in the list?

An organization must have at least 40% of its workforce based outside of the home country is the first condition. Most Indian MNCs have yet not reached a stage where they employ a significant percentage of employees outside from India, he Bhattacharya.

Further, Indian MNCs need to work on aggressively building a better employer brand outside of India and go beyond the employee cost arbitrage phenomenon.

The study finds a clear link between companies being ranked as great places to work and their financial performance, with most companies being the top or near the top in their respective industries.

As expected Google has again been ranked number one. It remains the most desirable employer for engineering and business students globally and has the fourth largest market capitalization globally, making a strong case for the link between a great workplace culture and financial performance.

While fun at work emerges as an important indicator of employee perception of a great workplace, other drivers include a team or family feeling, co-workers' willingness to cooperate and the sense of being treated as a full member regardless of position. But throwing the occasional party or having 'Fun Fridays' isn't enough.

Employees in the top 25 companies also placed significant value on factors like competent management, proper resources and equipment for the job, a physically safe work environment and being able to take time off when necessary.

Cisco, which comes in at number 15 on the list is an interesting example where employees rate it as a company where people care about each other because of its policies, even though it has steadily been cutting jobs over the last few years.

Another interesting parameter the study looked at is the 'Trust Index' where employees ranked the statements which best described their feeling towards their workplace. Pride in the workplace emerged as the top indicator of how people felt about their workplace across all geographies except the US where camaraderie ranked as the highest.

Globally, camaraderie came a close second, in part because of the changing nature of the workplace and how companies are responding to it.

(Image: Reuters)