Lanka’s Most Preferred Employers

TNS recently announced the results of its first Employer Branding Study in Sri Lanka. This year’s study ranks Unilever Sri Lanka as the most preferred employer of choice followed by John Keels, Brandix , MAS and Virtusa in the top five.

Not a widely explored area in Sri Lanka, the Employer Brand of a company is the image it has in the minds of its internal and external stakeholders including current and future employees. The Employer Brand is therefore critical in attracting the right talent. According to Kunal Sharma, Country Manager of TNS Lanka “At present, there are no formal tools in Sri Lanka to indicate whether the efforts by organizations to promote and enhance their image among prospective employees are working or not.

The TNS study hopes to scientifically measure and help enhance the employer brand of companies.”

The Employer Brand study seeks to understand the needs and expectations of prospective employees, to measure and rank where companies sit against these expectations as well as to leverage the areas of strength and bridge the gaps. The study categorized the employees’ expectations into four heads namely “Hygienic”, ``Potential Savers”, “Motivators” and ``Hidden Opportunities”.

Some of the choice drivers under these heads included freedom to make decisions, flexible working hours, work environment and reputation of the company.

Comprising quantitative as well as qualitative modules, the study covered over 500 undergraduates from the top universities in the country including University of Colombo, University of Sri Jayewardenepura , University of Kelaniya , University of Peradeniya , University of Moratuwa as well as foreign affiliated universities such as Royal Institute, APIIT, SLIIT, ACBT and Informatics Institute of Technology.