Search engine giant Google India has been named as the country's most attractive employer brand, followed by Mercedes Benz India at the second place, a survey says.

The sectoral specific winners for the most attractive employers this year are Amazon India for e-commerce, ITC Ltd for FMCG and Philips India for consumer and healthcare.

According to the Randstad Employer Brand Research 2017, competitive salary and employee benefits continue to be the top priority among the Indian workforce while choosing an employer, followed by good work-life balance and job security.

However, for the IT professionals, good work-life balance emerged as the top priority while choosing an employer.

"Employer branding continues to be of strategic importance influencing the talent agenda, particularly so in an economy that's driven by knowledge workers," Randstad India MD and CEO Moorthy K Uppaluri said.

According to the survey results, large and multinational corporations emerge as the preferred workplace for employees across all profiles.

However, IT professionals indicated that they would rather work in the dynamic start-up ecosystem over the SME sector. On the other hand, engineering talent prefer working in start-ups over the public sector companies, reveals the survey.

Sectorwise, Indian workforce prefers to work for companies operating in sectors like IT, followed by BFSI and retail & FMCG.

"Organisations have come to realise the value of employer branding and the return from such investments, both in terms of attracting new talent and retaining," Uppaluri added.

The survey further noted that 31 per cent of employees, said they are not loyal to any one industry or sector and are open to shift industries and compensation remains a key driver in determining employee loyalty to a sector.

The Randstad Award, instituted globally by Randstad, is hosted each year to encourage best practices for talent attraction and to identify the best 'Employer Brand' in the country based on perceived awareness and attractiveness of a company.

In India this year, the Randstad Employer Brand Research captured the views of around 3,500 respondents, who chose the nation's most attractive employer brand for 2017.