Is Up-Skilling the Existing Workforce Truly Needed, or Is It Just Industry Hype?

Skill Development in the Workforce

A skilled and competent workforce has been a pain point for industries for quite some time now. Often, we hear and read about the need for industries to increase their focus on skill development. The Government, industry leaders, policymakers, and everyone else are talking, now more than ever, about the huge mismatch in the demand and supply of skills and the proactive participation required to address the same at the earliest.

There are broadly two aspects to skill development: skilling an upcoming workforce (freshers) and up-skilling the existing workforce. My questions are primarily focused on the latter:

- I want to clearly understand if there is actually an issue with the quality of the existing workforce and if a need exists for re-skilling or up-skilling the same. If yes, then:
- What are the specific issues that would qualify as pain points pertaining to the workforce skill requirements?
- What kind of solution would an industry expect for such issues?
- Is there a need and demand for skill development (technical, soft, or behavioral)?
- Why is it so hard to reach out to the industry (HRs) to present a viable and effective solution, or what is the best way to do this?

Awaiting much-needed insights about the points raised in this post from the experienced people in the community.

By raising concerns about the skills gap, you have taken a step further. Before delving into that, what Indian entrepreneurs need to do is measure productivity at every stage of operations. This is the real problem. Since owners are not very aware of business or operations ratios, they are unclear about what needs to be increased or decreased. To manage these ratios, skilled manpower is necessary.

Key Ratios in the Indian Context

The only ratios that matter in the Indian context are profitability and customer service. However, that alone is not sufficient. If you go to any factory and ask about the significance of the Inventory Turnover Ratio (ITR), many professionals start grumbling. This is the case for other operations ratios as well. Ideally, any mid-sized company should establish a research cell to conduct research on their operations. This research is distinct from the research conducted by the R&D cell for future product development.

Recognizing the Skills Gap

The response to your first three questions is that Indian entrepreneurs need to recognize the impact of the skills gap. Mere acknowledgment is not enough. Their perceptions of their businesses differ. Since the owners are not sensitized, neither are the HR professionals. This addresses your fourth question.

Cost Measurement in Manufacturing

To operate in any manufacturing sector, one must measure costs. I have provided a list of costs in one of my previous posts. You can click here to refer to that post.

IT and BPO Environment

Regarding the IT and BPO environment, they exist in their own realm. Productivity measures in coding, testing, or turnaround time at various stages are not readily available.

The Culture of Measurement in India

In India, there is a lack of a culture of measurement as a whole. Skills are developed from these measurements. Therefore, we should focus more on that aspect. Look at our political scenario. After 67 years of independence, we still lack a scorecard for our MPs or MLAs. Without a scorecard, do we pay attention to the skills of our MPs or administrators?

Thanks,

Dinesh V Divekar