India’s festive hiring cycle is shifting from finding workers to keeping them, with employers reporting significant hiring difficulty even as workforce expansion is projected to strengthen through the second half of FY27, according to TeamLease Services’ Employment Outlook Report released on 24 September 2026.
The report, based on inputs from 1,239 employers across 23 industries and 20 cities collected between July and August 2026, projects net employment change at 5.4% for H2 FY27, up from 4.7% in the first half. Sixty per cent of employers plan to expand headcount, 24% expect reductions and 16% anticipate no change. Hiring difficulty, however, is now the dominant workforce theme: 72% of hiring employers expect moderate to significant difficulty filling roles.
E-commerce and technology startups lead sectoral hiring intent at 12.6%, followed by travel and hospitality at 12.3%, retail at 10.3% and automotive at 10.1%. Large enterprises show the highest hiring confidence, with 66% planning workforce expansion, against 59% for medium enterprises and 53% for startups and MSMEs.
“The employment growth of 5.4 per cent expected in the H2 of FY27 reflects a shift towards more targeted workforce expansion, with businesses aligning talent decisions closely with changing demand,” a TeamLease spokesperson said.
The retention pivot is also visible in TeamLease’s earlier Festive Season Workforce Report 2026, which had already flagged expanded use of attendance bonuses, surge pay, referral incentives, productivity-linked rewards and learning-based wage benefits as tools to hold onto festive workers.
Balasubramanian A, SVP and Business Head at TeamLease Services, described the shift as “precision hiring rather than volume-led recruitment,” with employers looking for skilled frontline workers who can support speed and customer experience across physical and digital channels.
Digital literacy is now the most sought-after hiring requirement at 59%, followed by communication skills at 51% and teamwork and collaboration at 48%. TeamLease flagged labour-code compliance costs and the gap between broad and deep AI adoption as the two workforce considerations employers will need to navigate through H2 FY27.
