MAM
Urban India gives lockdown decision a thumbs up: TRA white-paper
MUMBAI: TRA Research, a consumer insights and brand analytics company, today released its white-paper on the findings of its research survey conducted across 16 cities from 10 April to 22 April 2020. The white-paper titled "TRA’s Coronavirus Consumer Insights 2020", is based on research conducted across 16 cities with 902 urban citizens and delves into their perceptions, attitudes, worries, fears and expectations who have been under voluntary house-arrest for nearly a month.
According to the white-paper, the overall effectiveness of the lockdown decision across cities was at 91 per cent, with five of the sixteen cities giving it above 98 per cent or ‘excellent’ score. However, the overall implementation of the same across cities was much lower, at 74 per cent.
TRA Research CEO N Chandramouli said, “The lockdown decision and implementation had a significant gap of 24 per cent in terms of effectiveness. There are also big gaps in information and knowledge about the Coranavirus transmission, especially in two age brackets, 21 to 24 years and 46 to 50 years. The same information gap is seen across cities, barring Mumbai. The misinformation is impacting the attitudes and actions of citizens, for example, the belief that eating meat or eggs would.”
“Consumers’ trust on India’s Health Ability to combat crisis is considerably high, at 73 per cent, which translates as ‘good’, while their trust on India’s Economic Ability to combat crisis is significantly lower at 63 per cent, showing that the fears of a long term financial and economic impact are prominent on the minds of the citizens,” added Chandramouli.
On coping with the crisis, children were affected and data showed that this was not getting recognised and addressed by the family as the coping indices were significantly different for both. “Perhaps parents take the tantrums and confusion that children face during the lockdown as they would in normal times, often not addressing it directly. This is clearly indicated in the wide gap between the coping scores of children and the family. It is most important that parents take cognizance of the fact that children are going through extreme trauma during the lockdown, and need to take the time and effort to explain and guide their children through with empathy and love.”
In the Family Worry Index, the highest concern across cities was that the family may contract the disease (74 per cent), Job/business loss was the second biggest concern (68 per cent), and the delayed salary was third (62 per cent). Lucknow displayed the highest Family Worry Index at 85 per cent, followed by Nagpur at 81 per cent. The survey found that the Economic Impact Worry Index was at 66 per cet, showing that the personal worries overshadowed any other worry of the citizens.
While most cities are relatively aware of the disease symptoms, they are considerably ill-informed about the disease spread. Misinformation is highest about disease spread in Delhi followed by Chandigarh. Delhi, however, scored the highest in terms of the knowledge on symptoms, followed by Mumbai which was nearly two-third lower in this quotient.
Brands
33 per cent of women believe the salary scale is rigged: Naukri report
Voices @ Work study finds rising calls for equal pay audits and lingering bias
MUMBAI: Progress may be visible in India’s workplaces, but many women still feel the need to tread carefully. A new report by Naukri reveals that one in two women hesitate to disclose marriage or maternity plans during job interviews, worried that such information could influence hiring decisions.
The findings come from the second edition of Naukri’s annual Voices @ Work International Women’s Day report, titled “What Women Professionals Want.” Drawing insights from more than 50,000 women across over 50 industries, the survey sheds light on evolving workplace aspirations alongside the biases that continue to hold women back.
One of the report’s most striking insights is the growing demand for equal pay audits. The share of women calling for regular pay parity checks has climbed to 27 per cent this year, up from 19 per cent a year ago. The demand now stands alongside menstrual leave as the most sought after workplace policy.
Interestingly, the call for pay transparency grows louder higher up the income ladder. Nearly half of women earning between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore annually say equal pay audits are a priority, suggesting that pay gaps become more visible as women move up the career ladder.
At the same time, confidence and ambition appear to be rising. About 83 per cent of women say they feel encouraged to pursue leadership roles, a significant jump from 66 per cent last year. Cities in southern India appear particularly supportive, with Hyderabad leading the way as 86 per cent of respondents there reported encouragement to step into leadership positions. The education sector recorded the highest sense of encouragement at 87 per cent.
Yet the report also highlights a growing trust deficit around pay equity. Nearly one in three women, or 33 per cent, say they do not believe men and women are paid equally at their workplace. That figure has risen from 25 per cent last year, pointing to widening perceptions of disparity as careers progress.
Bias in hiring and promotions continues to be the biggest hurdle. About 42 per cent of respondents say workplace bias is the main challenge for women from diverse backgrounds. The concern is consistent across major metros, with Chennai and Delhi NCR reporting similar levels.
Reluctance to discuss personal milestones during hiring processes is also widespread. While 34 per cent overall said they hesitate to share marriage or maternity plans in interviews, the anxiety increases with experience. Among professionals with 10 to 15 years of work experience, the figure rises to 40 per cent.
Info Edge group CMO Sumeet Singh, said the data reflects both progress and unfinished work. “Behind every data point in this report is a woman who is ambitious. The fact that 83 per cent feel encouraged to lead is something to celebrate. However, the fact that one in two still hide their marriage or maternity plans in interviews tells us the work is far from done. As India’s leading career platform, it felt not just important but necessary for us to shine a light on these gaps through the second edition of our report,” he said.
The report suggests that while ambition among women professionals is growing, structural changes around pay transparency, fair hiring and supportive policies will be key if workplaces hope to keep pace.
