Tech giant Google’s branch in India has been named the country’s most attractive employer by Randstad Employer Brand Research 2017, PTI reported on Thursday. Google India became the winner of the Randstad Award for the third year in a row.

Mercedes-Benz India came second on the list. Sectoral winners in the same category were Amazon India for e-commerce, Philips India for consumer and healthcare, and ITC Ltd in the fast moving consumer goods sector. For its research in India, Randstad had spoken to as many as 3,500 respondents, and based on their replies, decoded the country’s most attractive employer brands.

For an Indian employee, competitive salary, job security, work-life balance and employee benefits continued to remain the top priorities while choosing an employer, according to Randstad. For employees in the information technology sector, a good balance between their professional and personal lives emerged the top priority. In fact, a proper work-life balance, which was ranked fifth last year in the list of priorities for all employees, has been ranked second this year.

Multinational corporations were rated the most preferred workplaces for employees across all profiles. But, IT professionals preferred working in start-ups, over small and medium-sized enterprises sector or the public sector companies, the survey revealed.

“Organisations have come to realise the value of employer branding the return from such investments, both in terms of a tracking new talent and retaining,” Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Randstad India, Moorthy K Uppaluri told PTI.

Only 31% of employees were found to be loyal to a specific sector or an industry, the report said. Moreover, around 42% employees said they were open to shifting industries if the pay and employee benefits were similar to the existing industry.