As per the survey, 7 percent of employers anticipate an increase in payrolls, 3 per cent forecast a decrease and 54 percent expect no change. Once the data is adjusted to allow for seasonal variation, the outlook stands at 3 per cent, it said. "Hiring sentiment is the weakest since the survey began 15 years ago, remaining relatively stable when compared with the previous quarter, but declining by 16 percentage points in comparison with this time one year ago," the survey said. The strongest hiring pace is recorded in the small-sized organisations followed by the medium-sized and large-sized firms. From a region perspective, north and east regions indicate a more positive outlook compared to the west and south, the survey said. "Post the 'right sizing' exercise aligning themselves to the current market demands, organisations are now looking at improving productivity, new forms of employee engagement, getting furloughed employees back and implementation of technology," said Sandeep Gulati, group managing director of ManpowerGroup India. These factors are influencing the employment trends this quarter, he added. Gulati further said that "the government is also trying to ease the burden on corporate India by providing various sops from production-linked incentives to changes in the labour law and leniency on tax returns. We hope to see the impact of these reforms in the subsequent quarters". The survey further said that nearly 44 per cent of employers reported that they may return to pre-Covid-19 hiring within the next nine months whereas 42 per cent are unsure about returning back to normalcy from the hiring perspective.