Everest Group has released its Top GBS Employers™ 2026 and Top Employers for Tech Talent™ 2026 reports, offering an independent, outside-in perspective on how employers are perceived by current and prospective talent across key global markets.
As Global Business Services (GBS) organizations evolve into strategic hubs and companies compete for increasingly specialized digital skills, employer brand perception is emerging as a structural business priority – not merely an HR metric.
According to Rohitashwa Aggarwal, Partner at Everest Group: “In a talent market where “good enough” gets ignored, Everest Group’s Top Employers research cuts through the noise with an outside-in read of how your employer brand is really landing. It shows where you’re winning, where you’re leaking talent, and what to fix to build sharper differentiation, credible growth pathways, and a lasting talent edge.”
Drawing on extensive publicly available data, the Top GBS Employers™ 2026 report evaluated 400+ organizations across India, the Philippines, and Poland, while the Top Employers for Tech Talent™ 2026 report assessed 430+ employers across India, the US, and the UK. Together, the findings highlight a structural shift in employer brand dynamics across markets and industries.
Key findings from the reports –
- Employer brand perception weakened across both employers for GBS and tech talent in 2026. Among GBS employers, India recorded the sharpest fall, with ~57% of employers reporting declines greater than 5%. Among the latter, average employer brand scores declined by ~2% in India and 5-10% in the US and UK, indicating greater pressure in mature markets
- Brand perception continues to be volatile, particularly in GBS organizations, with 50-60% of 20th-50th percentile employers moving downward across assessed markets
- Career development remains the most structurally pressured Employer Value Proposition lever across both reports. GBS employers showed the widest industry dispersion, ranging from selective improvement to severe underperformance. Similarly, employers for tech talent witnessed a drop of 8-12% across markets
- Industry performance differs across employers for GBS and tech talent. In GBS, technology and professional services remain underrepresented, while Healthcare and Life Sciences, Banking and Financial Services, Insurance, CPG, Retail, Manufacturing, Energy, Technology, and others demonstrate stronger presence. Among the latter, perception challenges are most visible among technology and information services employers
A pivotal moment for employer brand strategy
The 2026 findings point to three trends shaping the talent landscape:
- Employer brand pressure is no longer concentrated among a few high-profile players – it is market-wide and intensifying across sectors
- Mid-tier differentiation is narrowing. The space between ‘best-in-class’ and ‘everyone else’ is shrinking, raising the bar for distinctiveness
- Career clarity has become the defining competitive lever. Organizations that make growth pathways visible, credible, and attainable are pulling ahead
This is not a subtle shift. It is a structural change in how talent evaluates opportunity – and how employers must respond. Organizations that proactively redesign their Employer Value Proposition and talent architecture to meet rising expectations will be best positioned to sustain leadership in an increasingly volatile global talent market.
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Please note: These are the executive versions of the reports. A more detailed and comprehensive edition will be published in the next two weeks and will be available exclusively to our members. Additionally, we offer deeper, customized assessments for our member clients.
