India leads global push towards agile work as firms seek faster hiring and specialised skills: Report

Indian employers are betting heavily on flexible talent models as they grapple with skill shortages, shifting business priorities and the growing impact of artificial intelligence on work, according to a new report by job platform Indeed. The Indeed Global Talent Report 2025 found that Indian companies are among the most enthusiastic adopters of what it calls “workforce agility”, a broad category that includes contractors, freelancers, project-based workers, fractional executives and AI-assisted roles.

Nearly all Indian employers surveyed (96%) said workforce agility is important to achieving their business goals, while 87% of job seekers said it matters to their career plans. The report, based on responses from more than 10,000 employers and workers across 12 countries, found India standing out not necessarily for current adoption levels but for the pace at which companies expect agile hiring to grow.

About 74% of Indian employers said they expect to increase their use of agile talent over the next year, compared with a global average of 50%. The reason appears to be different from that in many other markets. While employers globally cited flexibility and resource allocation as key motivations for using non-traditional workers, Indian employers were more likely to view agile talent as a way to respond faster to market changes.

The report suggests this reflects a more mature understanding of flexible workforce models. “Employers and job seekers in India are optimistic about agile work’s potential to change work for the better,” the report noted, describing India as “a mature agile market driven by speed and ambition.”

 AI increasingly shaping hiring decisions

India also emerged as the strongest adopter of AI in managing agile workforces. Only 4% of employers and 8% of job seekers in India said they were not using AI to support workforce agility, the lowest proportion among all countries surveyed. In comparison, globally, 18% of employers and 35% of workers said they were not using AI for such purposes.

Indian companies are using AI for skills matching, workforce planning, talent sourcing and productivity management, the report found. More importantly, employers appear to be seeing measurable outcomes from those efforts.

Around 82% of Indian employers said agile workforce models improve hiring speed, compared with a global average of 67%. Similar proportions reported gains in cost efficiency, innovation and the ability to scale during changing market conditions.

Workers in India also appeared more receptive to flexible work than their peers elsewhere. Nearly seven in ten said agile work improves wellbeing, versus 55% globally. They were also more likely to see flexible work as offering stronger earning potential and better career growth opportunities.