Enhancing skills of the working population is vital and significant

Enhancing skills of the working population is 

vital and significant

Dr. K. Balasubramanian, Thought Leader/Transformation Coach, www.visionunlimited.in

Work force development has traditionally been found in two forms: place-based strategies that attempt to address the needs of people living in a particular neighbourhood, or sector-based strategies that focus on matching workers' skills to needs in an industry already present in the region.

Skill building can be viewed as a mechanism to improve the effectiveness and contribution of labour to the overall production.  It is as an important component to push the production possibility cutting edge outward and to take growth rate of the economy to a higher path.  Skill building could also be seen as an instrument to empower the individual and improve his/her social acceptance or value.

A vibrant manufacturing, especially, Small and Medium Enterprises sector can play a key role in creating jobs and high economic growth.  It has the potential to provide employment for the remarkably large labour force that is still working in agriculture.  Achieving and sustaining such growth and higher employment will require a boost in industrial and services growth, spurred by SMEs.

Today, many high-income countries are restructuring their human resource development strategies. In the face of increasingly aggressive international competition, these countries are setting up lifelong learning systems as an essential national policy for maintaining their global competitive advantage.

Skills based education is tarnished by multiple access barriers like limited infrastructure facilities, quality of training, rigid entry requirements, lack of financial support, and negative perceptions. These limitations exist more for the disadvantaged, especially women and rural communities. Developing our human resources reservoir that not only feeds to the domestic market but also the global workforce and labour crisis is the urgent growth imperative. Indian workforce needs to be trained across the four levels, from White Collar to the Rust Collar workers linking them to job opportunities and market certainties.

The skills challenge doubles up for us with a bulge young working age group population. Often referred to as the ‘Demographic Dividend’, the skills v/s jobs requirement divergence often leads to economically inactive working age group people. While this impacts the economy and the particularly the growth of the domestic industry, it is a huge social and civil risk. Examples of growing unrest, for example the red belt or the increasing revolution are a wakeup call.

It is further more challenging to bridge the huge skills demand – supply gaps. Sadly, careers springing from skills are a matter of chance for majority and not a well thought choice. Other challenges in implementation like shortage of trained trainers and teachers, mismatch in the curriculum and industry expectation and a lack of global recognition of certification as such.

The recent ‘Make in India’ scheme surely calls for a significant contribution from the SME sector. Nevertheless the SME sector organizations in India have a huge shortage of skilled manpower. At the same time the organizations also have not taken any steps to upgrade the skills of their human sources and the efforts from their side are not good enough.

The Indian work force lack in technology front, communication and digital communication. A study reveals that in the northern part of the country only 42% of the organizations focus on enhancement of skill of their workforce. The study also states that 20% of the workmen are unskilled and 21% of the workforce got themselves trained after taking up a job.

It is worrying to note from the study that 61% of the organizations state that the skill development and enhancement in a structured manner and a specific plan for the same is never complete and possible due to non-cooperation from the employees which are the road blocks to productivity and profitability.

The study also reveals stunning information that 41% of the financial services organizations, 39% of the trading organizations make use of the latest communication technology and telecommunication facilities. 85% of such organizations could reduce their working capital expenses significantly and 80% of the organizations stated that they could save a lot of time which has resulted in efficiency, effectiveness and productivity.

If Indian companies have to compete globally, skill development, continuous improvement among the workforce is inevitable or else the SMEs would perish automatically despite many plans on the paper at the Government level.