New Delhi, May 14 : Tide1, the UK’s leading business management platform for SMEs, has revealed new hiring insights showing how scaling companies is as much a talent challenge as it is a technology one with the quality of hiring decisions emerging as a critical driver of growth.
As Tide grows its platform to over 1.8 million small businesses, its FY 2025–26 data shows what it takes to build strong teams at scale. The company hired over 1,280 employees, with an average time to hire of just over 55 days, climbing to 80 days for critical roles across product, technology, and operations.
This aligns with broader global trends. Insights from talent recruiting platforms, SHRM, Josh Bersin, and Glassdoor, suggest that it takes around 44 days on average to hire, with specialised roles taking longer. This shows the increasing complexity of talent acquisition in high-growth sectors. Tide’s data shows over 40% of roles see changes or backfills over time, reflecting evolving business needs, role recalibration, and the realities of scaling in a dynamic market.
In India, this challenge is even greater. According to ManpowerGroup’s 2026 Talent Shortage Report, 82% of employers in India struggle to find skilled talent, especially in technology and digital roles, making accurate hiring more important than ever.
At Tide, this has long informed a shift towards precision-led hiring, an approach that is now showing clear results as the company scales. Neeti Kumar, Head of People, Tide (India) said,
“In high-growth environments, the instinct is often to hire fast. But speed alone doesn’t build strong teams. Hiring decisions directly impact how teams operate, how quickly we deliver, and ultimately how we serve SMEs. That’s why we’ve consciously shifted from speed-led hiring to precision-led hiring.”
Even though hiring for key roles takes longer, Tide still has a strong acceptance rate of over 86%, showing good alignment with candidates and a clear appeal to talent.
Workforce trends add more complexity. Studies by Aon (A globally integrated Risk Capital and Human Capital expert) show attrition in India is just over 16%, and even higher in technology and high-growth sectors reinforcing the need for stable, high-performing teams.
Tide’s ‘Precision Hiring Framework’ is anchored in three core principles:
-
Deliberately slowing down hiring for critical roles to prioritise long-term fit over short-term closure
-
Treating every hiring decision as a direct lever on product delivery, team performance, and SME experience
-
Embedding HR at the core of business decisions to build teams that can scale sustainably
Gurjodhpal Singh, CEO, Tide added
“Every hire we make has a direct impact on the experience we deliver to small businesses. Getting those decisions right is essential to building sustainably at scale and we’re already seeing that reflected in the stability of our teams.”
As fintech platforms continue to compete on innovation and customer experience, Tide believes that the ability to hire and retain the right talent will be a defining factor in long-term success.