MOSCOW, 24 November 2022. Russian Public Opinion Research Centre, jointly with “Best in Russia” Anews Awards, presents the findings of a survey about the most attractive employer as viewed by Russians aged under retirement age.

Dream company

The working age Russians were asked to choose the most attractive companies to work for as part of the survey. Gasprom is at the top of the rating for the second consecutive year (40%; 32% in 2021). This is followed by three most popular companies — Russian Railways (16%), Rosneft (15%) and Yandex (14%). Every tenth respondent chose Sberbank and Rosatom (10%, each). Lukoil and Roskosmos were chosen by 9% (each); Norilsk Nickel, 7%. The following companies were mentioned less often: Tinkoff Bank (5%), VK (till 2021 — Mail.ru Group), Severstal, Kaspersky (4%, each), Rostelekom (3%) and Bashneft (3%).

Thirteen percent of respondents would not like to work for any of the listed companies. Respondents aged 45-59 view them as less desirable, which can be caused by low interest in new jobs (20%).

Searching for employer information

More Russians assess a potential employer based on the information from online sources rather than traditional mass media. Over fifteen years the demand for Internet resources has increased 8-fold (49% vs. 6% in 2007); employer’s official websites, 4-fold (28% vs. 7% in 2007). Reviews of the former and current employees have become less popular compared to the previous year (−8 p.p. since 2021) and returned to the 15-year-old figure (45% in 2007). Whereas in 2007 reviews of employees were the main source of information, today they, along with traditional media, give place to the Internet. Every fifth respondent assesses a company’s attractiveness based on publications in print media, exposure on TV and radio (22%), which 15 p.p. lower than in 2007.

The share of those who use job postings has decreased 2.5-fold over this period (27% vs. 11% in 2022). The same is true for the information obtained during job interviews (24% vs. 10% in 2022). Every tenth respondent evaluates potential employers based on rumors (10%); 5%, based on the information from employment agencies (5%); over fifteen years the popularity of this source of information has decreased threefold (15% in 2007).

Not only salary that counts

Good salary is the main criteria for the working age Russians when choosing a job (4.70 out of 5 scores). However, financial aspect is not the most important one: it is much more important for job seekers to know that the employer fulfils its obligations completely and in a timely manner (4.64 scores) and follows safety rules in the workplace (4.58).

Application of professional skills (4.52 scores), stability (4.51) and favorable psychological climate (4.49) are equally important. Respondents pay less attention to physical work environment (4.37).

Despite the fact that the remote work became trendy due to the pandemic, Russians view the opportunity to work remotely as a less important factor when searching for a job (3.35 scores). Convenient work schedule is more appreciated (4.33). Social benefits (4.32), strong management (4.17) opportunities to take courses paid by the employer (4.10) are slightly less important than convenient work schedule.

Expectations vs reality

Respondent’s views of an ideal employer are almost in sync with the working conditions at the current job. Most of the working age Russians are satisfied with work schedule at their current jobs (4.36 scores out of 5). Compliance with safety norms and employer’s ability to fulfil the obligations are scored 4.33 and 4.32 respectively. Having an opportunity to apply professional skills is scored above average (4.28). This is followed by favorable working climate (4.24) and workplace conditions (4.21). Russians are less satisfied with social benefits provided by the employer (3.93), salary (3.83) and management effectiveness (3.83). Respondents are least satisfied with stability (3.77), an opportunity to take courses (3.69) and to work remotely (3.32). Low scores given to the latter parameter can be explained by the specifics of certain jobs that do not provide a remote work opportunity.

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian telephone survey was conducted on October 3, 2022. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18-56 (women) and under 61 (men) took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample extracted from a complete list of cell phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted according to social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Key effectiveness indicators, October 3, 2022 survey:  cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7706; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0251; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1549. Based on corporate standards: https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/

* CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.

*The list of companies was made based on respondent answers to an open-ended question.

*Face-to-face household interviews were used (“Express” project); stratified multi-stage sample based on socio-demographic quotas; representative of the Russian population aged 18 and older by type of settlement, gender, age, education and federal district. Sample size: 1,600 respondents.