New Delhi, Jan 30 (IANS): When it comes to hiring, soft skills, work flexibility, anti-harassment policies and pay transparency have emerged as the four trends that will gain momentum in India this year, Microsoft-owned professional networking platform LinkedIn said on Wednesday.

The research revealed that soft skills have been assigned greater importance in developing markets like India that would play a crucial role in transforming the future of HR and the recruitment industry in developing countries, noted LinkedIn's "Global Talent Trends 2019" report.

With the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation technologies, 87 per cent respondents in India believed that candidates with strong soft skills are becoming increasingly important to their organisations, while 53 per cent say their companies have a formal process for assessing soft skills to employees.

"Salary has always been a confidential topic in the workplace and now with salary information on sites like PayScale and LinkedIn, companies are facing more pressure to own the conversation on pay," the report said.

Around 71 per cent people in India agreed that sharing salary ranges is fostering greater job satisfaction for employees and 78 per cent people fear that this could create salary disputes among current employees.

The report also stressed that compared to the 71 per cent participants globally who believed that harassment prevention is a very important trend for the future of the hiring and HR industry, 87 per cent Indians agreed with the notion.

"In India, 50 per cent of hiring professionals say that companies talk about their harassment policies as part of their pitch to potential hires, nearly double the global average of 29 per cent," the report claimed.

For developed markets like the European and American counterparts, the report revealed work-flexibility as an important factor in considering a new job.

Even in India, 67 per cent employees gave a thumbs up on joining companies that gave them an option to work irrespective of their locations.

"With technology easing the way we work, 74 per cent respondents in India believe that the main benefit from allowing employees to work remotely, is enabling them to achieve better work-life satisfaction," the report said.

The report had over 5,000 professionals across 35 countries, including more than 400 participants from India.

The Microsoft-owned platform recently announced that it has touched the 50 million user-mark in India with 562 million global members.