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H R BULLETIN VOLUME 17
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HR BULLETIN
The post-Covid resume: Hybrid workplaces will need employees to gain new technology and soft skills As an increasing number of companies are looking at the option of hybrid workplaces — a blend of remote working and working from office — this has led to reassessing the set of skills and competencies in the new work milieu.
Has the Covid-19 pandemic permanently transformed the workplace? At least for a large part of the white-collar corporate workforce, the answer is ‘yes’, with many companies adopting work from home and employees likely to continue operating remotely even when things come back to business as usual. As an increasing number of companies are looking at the option of hybrid workplaces — a blend of remote working and working from office — this has led to reassessing the set of skills and competencies in the new work milieu. While digital transformation has been a top business priority of many companies over the last couple of years, the pandemic has not only accelerated the use of technology and digital tools but also led to the need for a whole new set of skills for people to function in a remote environment, said the HR heads of leading companies including Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Mastercard, Schneider Electric, NTPC, PFC and Vedanta.
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The new skill sets span from core technical skills to digital skills, business skills and soft skills. “Companies are taking a 360-degree view on skills. This includes digital skills such as digital marketing, business skills such as problem solving, ideation and innovation, and interpersonal skills to communicate effectively in a virtual work environment,” said Anurag Malik, partner, people advisory services, EY India. “Enterprises are building personalised, interactive and shared virtual communities for which experience-related skills like digital interactions, digital marketing, etc., will be required,” said Krishnamurthy (Krish) Shankar, executive vice president and group head of human resource development, Infosys.
The ability to work from anywhere will be a key competency going ahead, said Priti Singh, senior vice president-HR, South Asia, at Mastercard. “Cognitive skills such as complex problem solving and critical thinking virtually, emotional skills such as emotional intelligence, self-awareness, adaptability and resilience, as well as social intelligence and cross-cultural competency will be critical.” Mastercard is setting up a digital academy to enhance skills. Rachna Mukherjee, CHRO, India and South Asia, Schneider Electric, said: “Digital learning and remote working skills have always been a top priority. However, the outbreak of the pandemic further stimulated this need.” AI and automation skills and cyber security skills will come into prominence in a virtual work set up.
“We expect to see an increased demand for future-ready employee, adept in digital or niche skills like ecommerce, cyber security experts, data analysts, machine learning analysts,” said Harshvendra Soin, global chief people officer, Tech Mahindra. “The technical skills in demand are role and industry specific,” PeopleStrong chief executive Pankaj Bansal said. In IT, coders in security and networking, microservices, machine learning and Big Data would be in high demand; in pharma demand would be higher for R&D, and manufacturing workers and frontline sales staff with digital selling skills. In auto, connected technology skillset would continue to be in demand, he said. State-run power major NTPC is in the process of identifying jobs and roles which can be permitted under WFH in the times to come. Skills such as communication, self-motivation, trustworthiness, discipline, critical thinking, adaptability and accountability will be assessed before allowing people WFH, said AN Verma, executive director-HR.
Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/the-post-covid-resumehybrid-workplaces-will-need-employees-to-gain-new-technology-and-softskills/articleshow/78635952.cms
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Cathay Pacific to slash 24% of its workforce The Airline’s regional Cathay Dragon brand will be no more Cathay Pacific Airways announced the slashing of 5,900 jobs in Hong Kong and the ending of Cathay Dragon, its regional brand, amidst the ongoing pandemic and falling demand. It is reported that while about 2,600 vacant posts will be done away with altogether, about 600 employees outside Hong Kong will also lose their jobs. In all, about 24 per cent of Cathay Pacific’s workforce may be asked to leave, which means more than 8,000 may be rendered jobless. The downsizing is part of the Airline’s restructuring strategy, which will cost about $283.9 million. The Airline will also work on altering certain conditions stated in its employment contracts with cabin crew and pilots. About 40 per cent of the Airline’s fleet is being stored outside Hong Kong, and it sees no hope of the industry recovering soon. It plans to operate at less than half its normal capacity in 2021. The Airline had been surviving on financial assistance from the Hong Kong government and was incurring heavy losses on a monthly basis. With the pay cuts of executives to continue all through 2021, it is hoped that the restructuring exercise will help save about HK$500 million a month. Cathay Dragon, which was formerly Dragonair, operated most of the Group’s flights to and from mainland China. The Airline will work towards folding most of Cathay Dragon’s routes in Cathay Pacific as well as its budget airline, HK Express. Last month, the number of passengers fell by 98.1 per cent compared to last year. However it continued to carry cargo, even though the demand for the same also fell, but only by about 36 per cent..
Read more at: https://www.hrkatha.com/news/cathay-pacific-to-slash-24-ofits-workforce/
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30 lakh CG staff to get PLB worth Rs 3,737 crore About 30.67 lakh non-gazetted employees of the Central government will receive a productivity-linked bonus for 2019-2020, as approved by the Cabinet. The payment of this PLB will be made in a single instalment and will cost Rs 3,737 crores. The PLB for 2019-2020 to be paid to 16.97 lakh non-gazetted employees of the Railways, Posts, Defence, EPFO and ESIC worth Rs 2,791 crore was earlier approved by the Cabinet. Ad-hoc bonus worth Rs 946 crore will be paid to about 13.70 lakh non-gazetted central government employees. Just last week, a new scheme was announced wherein employees could claim LTC benefit by submitting proof of expenses incurred in buying goods and services. The well-timed scheme will be of immense benefit to employees who plan to spend heavily during the festive season, and in the process push demand and help the economy.
Central-government employees have been issued a circular explaining that an amount equivalent to 100 per cent of the leave encashed and half of the value of estimated travel fare will be deposited in advance into their bank accounts. The remaining will be paid against submission of bills of purchase of goods and services. However, they have to spend digitally to avail the benefit. A second scheme announced was the Special Festival Advance scheme, under which all Central government employees are eligible for Rs 10,000 advance till March 31, 2021. This amount will be given to them as a prepaid RuPay card.
Read more at: https://www.hrkatha.com/news/30-lakh-cg-staff-to-get-plbworth-rs-3737-crore/
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Centre to study job-creation environment, take national headcount The objective is to find out how many people are employed by professionals amidst the pandemicrelated slump The Central government is setting up a special committee to help the Labour Bureau conduct a national survey and take a headcount of the number of people employed by professionals, such as lawyers, architects, fashion designers, doctors and chartered accountants. These professionals have yet to be studied in detail for their potential to employ people and create jobs. For instance, many fresh commerce graduates, data analysts and cyber-security specialists also find jobs with chartered accountants. Not all chartered accounts set up their own practises, a significant number take up jobs with various organisations. The country has about two million registered lawyers, and more than 1.15 million doctors (allopathy), and over three lakh chartered accountants, who have the potential to create jobs. The survey is expected to give a clearer and bigger picture of the job environment in India. The Committee set up to assist the Labour Bureau in this survey, will be headed by SP Mukherjee, labour economist and emeritus professor of Calcutta University. This Committee will decide on the schedules, sampling design, methodology and other technicalities. The resultant data will help evaluate the employment scenario better so that suitable policies can be formulated.
The Labour Bureau is already doing a study on migration workers and the manner in which they have been affected by the pandemic. The Committee led by Mukherjee is assisting the Bureau in fine-tuning the same, as reported by Mint.
Read more at: https://www.hrkatha.com/news/centre-to-study-job-creationenvironment-take-national-headcount/
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Reversing trend: Jobs in Indian companies attract resumes from abroad One of the key reasons for this expected transition now, said Shetty, is the swiftness with which even traditional Indian companies have adapted to work from home as a concept and ensured business continuity. When TeamLease Services recently advertised for an opening in a marketing role at the recruitment firm, it was surprised to receive a response from candidates not only across India but from the US as well. Both employers and employees have recognised the potential of working from any location. This has opened up a geographically diverse talent pool for companies to hire from. For candidates, the canvas of job opportunities just got wider. Not only that. The situation could be advantageous for India as global companies are expected to outsource jobs, said hiring firms. Randstad India head (strategic account management) Sanjay Shetty said global CEOs the firm interacts with are keen on outsourcing to India jobs in R&D, processing and design, in addition to technology. “Some global CEOs we are talking to are looking at India for its quality talent. This could be another wave of jobs being outsourced to India in a big way. A number of high-end jobs — which were hitherto kept close to the mothership of an MNC, especially in FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods), FMCD (consumer durables), banking and liquor industries — are expected to relocate to India. Some of these companies had earlier shied away from doing so, for various reasons,” said Shetty.
One of the key reasons for this expected transition now, said Shetty, is the swiftness with which even traditional Indian companies have adapted to work from home as a concept and ensured business continuity. Earlier, some companies were averse to such an idea. “For these global companies, there’s a cost adv..
Read more at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/jobs/reversing-trend-jobs-in-indiancompanies-attract-resumes-from-abroad/articleshow/77518688.cms
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