Employee empowerment – this two-word phrase has a lot of strength and power in it. In simple words, it is a strategy and philosophy of an organisation that gives its employees leverage to make decisions in their respective roles. It is a powerful strategy for an organisation to achieve its overall goal of growth by making their employees responsible for their own work and its outcome. For a company to rise and shine, employee empowerment is of utmost priority…Read more
Author: Guest Writer
35% of Indian students are school dropouts. Of an initial enrolment of 100 students, on an average, only 70 finish school in India. While the number of students in the elementary education level is high (94), many drop out during the secondary level (with 75 left). The graphs below depict these rates for various levels…Read more
With answers to a raft of pertinent questions on the health of apprenticeships in India and deep-dive data-backed insights on current apprentice hiring levels and employer hiring intent for the 6 months (July-December 2019) The Apprenticeship Outlook and Index puts speculation to bed…Read more
Recently we went up close with Sandeep Gokhale, Manager – HR at AAM India Supa, Ahmednagar. He spoke to us at length about the market demands and how apprenticeships can help solve the current skill level. During the exclusive interview, he mentioned that the industry is going through an uncertain market demand currently and thus, we need a skilled and flexible workforce that meets the commercial and safety quality standards. He stressed the importance of apprenticeships and appreciated the different upskilling initiatives taken by the government to solve the skill crisis…Read more
Labour resource or workforce management has been ranked as the most critical business activity for seven years consecutively by 2019 Research Gate study on HRM. Training your workers can be an all-consuming activity, costing you both time and resources. Before you go ahead and dismiss the idea of helping your employees acquire new skills, or sharpening their existing skills, consider the many ways that skill-based training can positively affect your employees and your company…Read more
In a recent survey conducted by Oliveboard, it was revealed that 44.3 percent of the Indian youth have voted for job stability and 36.7 percent gave their approval to better work-life balance over the other popular choices presented in the survey like the salary that received only 11.1 percent vote. It was revealed in the survey this is why Indian youth are more drawn towards banking and government jobs across the country. Interestingly, 79 percent of the survey respondents were from tier 2 and tier 3 cities. The survey was conducted among 5000 banking and government jobs aspirants across the country…Read more
Who doesn’t love praise? Well, that is not the point. When you appreciate a trainee/apprentice who is working on probation in your organization for the good performance and hard work that he/she have put up, you are honoring the commitment that they have given to you at the time of joining and has proved the same also. Taking the time and effort to appreciate such apprentices is considered to be a professional way of expressing your gratitude towards the person…Read more
Taking the Government’s flagship project Make in India one step ahead the Apprenticeship Rules 2019 has been modified by the Government of India. The new rule is focused to increase the skilled manpower in the country and increase the remuneration for the apprentices. The newly amended rule has now raised the hiring limit to 15 percent of the total employee strength in an organisation with a revised stipend that can go up to INR 9000. Mahendra Nath Pandey, Union Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship has said the number of apprenticeships is expected to rise to 2.6 lakh as compared…
By 2020, India will be blessed with a median age of just 28. Quality education and skill-building can become the key to reaping the benefits of our demographic bounty. Does India have a workable plan to address the scale of investment required to create a quality labour force? A recently released white paper by MBAUniverse.com resolutely states that ‘investing in education and human skills’ is an undisputable pre-requisite for India’s ambitions to get slotted as a major world economy…Read more
With the technology changing at a rapid pace, the old alignment between educational qualifications and economic credentials, opportunities and careers are being called to question. Individuals are torn between the requirements of the degree they don’t have and on the job training that they can’t get. And the employers are questioning that there are jobs yet not enough skills…Read more
The draft National Education Policy (NEP) released earlier this year shines the spotlight sharply on revamping Indian education to meet the challenges of gaping gaps in skills and employment. The NEP is indicative of serious resolve- the first comprehensive education policy reform in the country since 1986 when India’s National Education Policy was tabled…Read more
As per the estimates, the total workforce in the logistics sector will increase from the current 21 million to over 31 million by the year 2022. Hence it is no brainer to think that the government, different logistics governing bodies and training institutes need to build training capacity to meet the skill demand of the industry. It is already a fact that apprenticeship and on-the-job training are the best ways to build a skilled workforce. Understanding the need of building a skilled workforce for the promising logistics industry, Logistics Skill Council (LSC) launched the ‘First Apprentice’ program under National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) to boost apprenticeships in…
Great managers are not born that way; they make an effort to create a difference by going the extra mile. We all have heard someone say this or perhaps have said it ourselves, “The best boss I ever had.” Familiar enough? What sets them apart from the other good-but-not-great-managers? It is their capacity to identify what you are good at and feed you opportunities (with challenges) to flourish in that area of work…Read more
The Indian Retail industry has witnessed a phantom leap in growth and expansion as new players set foot into the marketplace each day. What appeared to be stand-alone brick and mortar stores that ruled consumer buying for more than a century has now had an adept transformation through the advent of online shopping and eCommerce portals…Read more
Have you met the often overlooked but nonetheless talented pool of students outside mainstream education? In the millennial era, anyone can make it. If you are still hung up on chasing students with traditional schooling and certifications with little to no real-job experience or work-ethic, your organisation is missing out. Big time. To be ahead with your human resources, and still find candidates within your manpower budget, you need to think outside the box…Read more
India is known for its robust workforce in IT and supports services across the world. Ours is a country of young population, where 50 percent of the population is below 25 years of age. No doubt that human resource is our biggest resource, and most of it belongs to the urban sectors of IT, banking and services…Read more
Let’s begin with employability rates of the cream of the crop of India’s higher education – 1.5 million engineer graduates every year (52% employable); 3,60,000 MBA graduates from 4,000 B-schools (61% are unemployable). Why? Acute skill gaps and no work experience, cites the India Skills Report 2018. If this is the state of affairs of the crème de la crème, what becomes of the rest of the student population?…Read more
In the latest American Staffing Association Workforce Monitor survey (2018) of over 2,000 American adults, an overwhelming 62% of respondents agreed that apprenticeships increase the employability quotient compared to going to college alone…Read more
In an extremely gratifying development, giving apprenticeships a robust shot in the arm, the Central Apprenticeship Council (CAC), under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), has proposed new reforms through amendments to the Apprenticeship Rules 1992. The CAC chaired by Cabinet Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Mahendra Nath Pandey, laid out the following…Read more
Skills directly impact the economic development of any nation- a sentiment germane to India’s workforce development challenges. Between 2017-2022, the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship estimates an incremental human resource requirement of 103.4 million spanning 24 high priority sectors, and a skills training need of 126.87 million for the same period…Read more
While a juggernaut of vocational training and education rolls out through various policies and schemes, what does it mean for India’s demographic advantage? Over half of India’s population is below the age of 25 and 62% in the working-age group (15-59 years). The effect of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) on future employability and wages of Indian youth is the litmus test which will determine how well we have harnessed our youth power…Read more
Several industry-friendly amendments in 2014 to the Apprentice Act (1961) saw an impressive 15% growth in apprentice engagement during 2015-16, up from 5% the year before. And the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme web portal saw a whopping 500% leap in candidate registration since its launch in 2016…Read more
Of the nearly 15,000 ITIs, 84% are privately run. The 2017 Annual Report of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) estimates that 126 million individuals will require skilling by 2022 to be relevant to the job market. Which means, India needs more capacity to skill and this has resulted in ITIs sprouting all over the country…Read more
It is heartening to note the prominence given to vocational education in the Additional Key Focus Areas section of the report. The report gives a clarion call, which we welcome wholeheartedly, in integrating vocational and mainstream education across all schools, colleges and universities (revised from the 25% target in 2015) and to provide technical and vocational skills training to at least 50% of students by 2025. The NEP categorically states that all students in Grades 9-12 must be exposed to vocational education in at least one vocation or trade…Read more
Employability rates among college graduates languish under 50% dropping to 30% in disciplines such as commerce and arts. Equally alarming, an astonishing 80% of India’s total college student population is enrolled in disciplines with the least market value. Why is that? An acute lack of awareness among youth on what skills jobs require is a key reason. Secondly, practical skills and problem-solving abilities which most employers seek can only come from real work experience. There exists a palpable mismatch between what employers expect of young people at the recruitment stage and what youth know of what is expected of them…Read more
The National Youth Policy 2014 defines ‘youth’ as persons between the ages of 15-29 years. Rural male and female youth unemployment rates were 17.4 percent and 13.6 percent respectively in 2017-18 according to National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). Regular jobs with social benefits are hard to come by, especially for rural youth. A buoyant rural economy is key to India’s march towards improved livelihood opportunities. And skills play a central role…Read more