Indian industry – across the board – is slated for a robust growth in the near future. India is set to become the fifth largest market for consumer durables globally. With an incremental job creation in the offing, the emphasis is now on the need to improve the employability of India’s workforce.
And offering the solution is a Fortune India 500 company, TeamLease, one of India’s leading human resource companies. It suggests a two-fold perspective – for current times and for future – in a bid to strengthen and sharpen the focus of the ‘Make in India’ concept.
According to TeamLease, an inherent part of the exercise is skilled workforce which is capable of performing and delivering using advanced technology in various industrial sectors.
Bridging the skill gap
TeamLease has been steadfastly working towards bridging the considerable skill gap that exists in the Indian workforce today. Its aim is to deliver ‘ready-to-work’ employees in several industrial segments, including automotive, manufacturing, logistics and warehousing and engineering.
Founded in 2002 by Mr. Manish Agarwal and Mr. Ashok Reddy, both alumni of Delhi’s Shri Ram College of Commerce, the duo realized that employability is one factor which would eventually become a big challenge in Indian industry. And thus was born TeamLease with the aim of ‘putting India to work’.
Mr. Sudeep Kumar Sen, Business Head – Industrial & Engineering, TeamLease shares: “Our co-founders had thought of putting India to work as more of a cause than a business. We believe that there is tremendous opportunity in the market where we can create jobs and employ people. As of now, we have already given jobs to 1.5 million people, and roughly two lakh people are on our payroll. It is those at the bottom level of the pyramid that need employment in reality. Keeping that in mind, TeamLease offers an opening balance to those who do not get a permanent job because of their skill gap or lack of opportunities.” To bridge skill gaps, TeamLease facilitates training for the seekers at TeamLease Skills University.
Facilitating resources
TeamLease believes and works on the principle of three Es – Employment, Employability and Ease of doing business. According to its officials, TeamLease works closely with the Government in making policy changes and forming new policies.
A recommendation from TeamLease says that under CSR activities, companies may choose to provide advanced instruments to engineering, vocational and polytechnic colleges. That way the companies can reduce their duress who need to keep a constant eye on the margins and thus are generally unable to block huge capital for training their fresh recruits.
Currently, Indian industry must look out for two key words – experience and skilling – amongst the future workforce.
Mr. Sen says: “Ready products do not create jobs. They are created when the assembly and production happen locally, for example in automotive, engineering or similar sectors. A company which habitually imports manufactured parts from around the world but assembles it locally will now be able to buy parts manufactured by Indian companies and assemble the end product here because of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. The products can still be multinational but will be manufactured in India.”
Talking about the logistics and infrastructure segments in the current times, as per a paper published by TeamLease in June 2018 which quoted from a report named Indian Logistics Revolution says ‘the infrastructure status and the subsequent investment coupled with GST implementation will boost the growth of the Rs. 14,19,000 crore logistics industry in India to 10.5 per cent CAGR’.
In that context, the logistics sector is slated to create three million new jobs in the coming four years in India. Mr. Sen explains: “Macro-economic and regulatory factors will transform the logistics sector and improve its global competitiveness, thereby reducing logistics cost from 14.4 per cent of GDP by about two per cent. Also, the number of women employees in this sector has now risen to 20 per cent from 5 per cent in 2010 and is further expected to rise to 26 per cent by 2021.” The analysis by Teamlease covers 10 sectors that include automotive, transportation and logistics industries too.
EVs and the future
With the electric vehicles soon going to become a reality as per the MORTH directives, the job creation scenario is even more positive. And, according to Mr. Sen, these jobs that will be created owing to the EVs will be on a continuous basis. He elaborates taking the EV sector as an example: “Manufacturing EVs will need experts and so also will servicing of these vehicles create more work opportunities. Besides, relevant infrastructure will need to be built to cater to the customers. Then there will be a need for customer support executives, besides the need for mechanics who understand the technology. In a nutshell, the associated job creation will be high. Hence, it is extremely important for the government, private companies and educational institutions to connect, foresee, plan and execute courseware that is precise and will educate a would-be engineer or a mechanic specifically for this sector.”
Besides, manufacturing and R&D in the EV sector will require people with working knowledge of electric automation, assembly and troubleshooting. And that can be achieved only when the students are educated about the newest trends in the market.
Mr. Sen says: “The Government must contribute by way of policies and infrastructure which will also include mandating heads of divisions in companies to spend time with students and share their knowledge and guide them.”
The prospects are bright, but the key is to have relevant courses in the colleges to be developed in line with the industry expectations so that there is no skill gap with the job seekers while the employers can get ready and productive staff.
Painting the true positive picture
Highlighting success stories of the blue collar workers, especially being executed by women, sends a positive vibe to the whole industry. Mr. Sen agrees: “Hiring a certain percentage of women by companies who are planning to set up their manufacturing units should get special rebates from the government. This shall act as a great incentive in general.”
And skilling needs to be a measurable factor too – be it for blue collar jobs or white. Mr. Sen shares: “A delivery boy may do his job well for a few years and also be taught soft skills and safe driving, but what are the skills that he is learning that will enrich his professional life? On the other hand, imagine a person who is working in a factory, he learns hard skills like how to operate a machine, efficiency and now with the advent of IoT new technology is also being introduced to him. He will receive this kind of enrichment over a period of time. And that will impact the future generations directly. And that is how we can give a decisive direction and quality to the ‘Make in India’ initiative too.”
And the time is ripe now to sow the professionalism seeds to take India on to a different trajectory within the next 5-7 years time.
Staffing the CV sector
TeamLease delivers talent like drivers, service technicians, fork lifters and drivers for 6-8 wheelers when it comes to the CV sector. And the biggest challenge for this as well as other sectors is paying the right wages, adhering to the labour laws and formalization in terms of movement from informal to formal jobs in the proper manner.
Mr. Sen expands on it: “In India, the statutory and labour laws pertaining to a State and a particular sector need to be adhered to. Our USP is our people connect across almost the entire country.”
In the manufacturing sectors, newer technologies like AI and machine learning are already driving a transformation in how things must be approached.
Delivering workforce with pride
TeamLease takes its motto ‘putting India to work’ extremely seriously. For the team, taking care of the job seekers in terms of helping with the offer letters, documents, working out employee benefits is but one part of its huge responsibility.
And TeamLease carries out its responsibilities with pride and foresight!