The year 2022 is said to be the Year of Resignations‘ first time in the history of our country. A reputed market survey agency has projected an unbelievable finding of 80 percent of employees contemplating job change during this year in India. This means 4 out of every 5 employees are looking for a job change. This is too alarming a figure. It has severe consequences for industries and businesses. This leads to a huge war in the industry as War for Talent.
Talent is very scarce and the entire top talent is about 10 percent of the population only. There is suddenly a boom in the industry post-Covid or after Covid slowing down. The Covid had created havoc in the industry, society, and the nations worldwide. The Covid for about 2 years was a long enough period and it was unseen unpredictable uncertain times and situations.
It was not known how to handle such a situation and it became catastrophic due to huge job losses, organisations closing down, and severe health problems among employees and their families including Càsualties. The suffering due to the job losses and health issues, apathy towards the employees and their families, and lack of care by HR or the organisations.
At the same time, there were exemplary employers and very caring organisations who took good care of their employees. Covid made the working class realise what it means to be a caring employer. They realised what could have happened if their employers would not taken care of them at that juncture.
The new best employers have emerged as those who took good care of their employees and their families. Employees have become choosy for the Organisations with human faces, empathy, kindness, caring, etc. During Covid Work from home or remote working or Hybrid models came up which were quite successful in steering their organisations to recovery and growth.
The new order, new ways of working, Digital life, remote working, working from anywhere, etc changed the ways of doing business and culture of the Organisations. It also favoured large number of women employees to get into the employment sector by working from home.
It opened up jobs for those who were deprived of the work from office or could not make it. The new comfort of working from home or anywhere opened up a new interest, avenues, opportunities, and passion for the employees. Many chose not to get back to office work.
This resulted in further Skill shortages in the industry which needed Office work. The talent landscape got changed post-Covid due to choice of various careers and new opportunities. Also, new age industries like E-commerce employing very large number of Gig workers have resulted in Talent shortages for the regular office or manufacturing jobs. Talent is largely getting into the Tech sector due to the attraction of the industry, remote working possibilities, learning opportunities, far better compensation and benefits, fast growth, etc.
Work-life balance is one of the major factors after compensation and benefits to attract and retain talent. Youngsters or the new-gen employees want to work hard, play hard, or party hard. Gen X wants to work in the Tech sector with flexible timings, remote working, or Hybrid models of working. They would like to work smart, skill themselves with the latest technologies, and stay aligned to the fast-changing technologies.
They also want quick recognition for their work or achievements. They are impatient, they need constant feedback or real-time feedback. Annual appraisals would not go well with them. They do not believe in lifetime employment in a single organisation. They are on a fast track. They want to break free from the Hierarchical structures and reporting structures. They would challenge their own Bosses if they believe they are right.
It’s a new challenge managing these millennial employees. Creating a great organizational culture or DNA is important to attract millennial employees. Scarcity of talent and the large number of opportunities chasing very few Talent or very candidates with the employability skills has made the Talent shortage terrible and leads to War for Talent.
In India adding to the woes is the poor employability skills of our people which is hardly 10 percent with the employability skills. This 10 percent comes majorly from the premier Institutes of IITs, NITs, IIMs, etc. The average Indian graduate does not have good enough employability skills. The skill development sector and the Government in India are trying to bridge the Skill gaps but it would take at least 4-5 years.
How to Win the War for Talent
The war for Talent can be won through multiple strategies focussed on attraction and retention of talent such as: Competitive compensation and benefits, good healthcare facilities, great work-life balance, highly satisfying job with challenges, freedom to work and experiment, scope for creativity and innovation and appreciation and recognition for excellence, high end Technology , learning and development opportunities, growth opportunities, changing work assignments, high exposure, great Boss who can inspire, build teams, coach and mentor, great place to work or employer of choice , great work culture, leadership development, great Product or services branding , high in employee engagement, talented peer group and team members, Visionary and inspiring leadership, Compassionate management, Social or community or national or global branding for great social cause or CSR activities, organisation high in values and ethics, a fun workplace, stress-free and conducive to work environment, high level of professionalism and fairness, global player, international exposure or assignments, globe-trotting .
The talent shortage can also be overcome by Artificial intelligence and Robotics which are predicted to take over at least 40 percent of the process-oriented tasks like manufacturing etc. Jobs have to be redesigned and re-engineered to make them a winning combination of human talent and AI.
The future is highly challenging and exciting as well for AI to penetrate into every sphere of our life. Intelligent human beings would be required to utilise Artificial intelligence. Both would compete with each other. Both would retain their inherent Strengths. Let’s be prepared to embrace the change and look at these exciting opportunities.
