Closing the Skill Gap – Recruit or Reskill?

1. Closing the Skill Gap – Recruit or Reskill? The changing dynamics of a competitive global industry has created the need for a skilled workforce in certain technologies or domain. A recent Mckinsey survey has found that most organizations face skill gaps at present or may develop them in the next five years. Does this ring a bell? Given the short lifespan of skills, organizations are facing a real challenge in getting the right candidates for various job roles. In fact, the competitive nature of the industry has meant organizations are wary of hiring new employees due to their high

2. hiring costs. So, to ensure growth and competitiveness, organizations are looking at a workforce that can unlearn old skills and learn new ones at a faster pace. Unlearning is important as old skills are likely to be incompatible with the new business models and technologies. However, it is easier said than done in view of the below-mentioned challenges: The fast-changing nature of tasks Automation of routine jobs like customer service, data entry, and accounting is seeing more people becoming irrelevant. Other manual jobs in manufacturing and agriculture are increasingly done by machines given their precision, time, and cost savings. A large number of jobs involving cognitive tasks such as IT, business consulting, and support services have become available in the past few years. Skill requirement is changing as well Organizations are increasingly looking at employing multi-taskers who can adapt to the new job requirement and grow. Failure to do so shall make the employees redundant and unsuitable. For example, if earlier, a content writer meant having proficiency in language alone, today, he or she is expected to write varied types of content such as case studies, advertisements, webpage content, video scripts, infographics, presentations, blogs, promos, and tweets, among others. As new technologies come in, companies are investing in hiring skilled employees who can fit into the roles that are driven by the usage of these technologies. As per Deloitte, the skills gap shall lead to an estimated 2.4 job positions remaining unfulfilled till 2028. This shortage of skills can impact the economic output worth $2.5 billion in the coming decade. Companies, if they are retrenching a section of their workforce due to the changing business models or the incorporation of new technologies, are hiring new employees to fill the roles that have arisen due to these changes. For example, SAP is expected to remove around 4400 job roles while adding 5000 in AI, blockchain, IoT, and cloud computing. As things stand today, companies are finding a balance between reskilling and recruiting to address the emerging skills gap. While recruiting is supposedly the easy way out, it entails high expenses. On the other hand, reskilling of existing employees can take time and considerable effort on the part of the organization. Besides, reskilled employees may need greater monitoring to see

3. if they are performing as expected. The role of hiring skilled-based employees on a contract or as freelancers has risen in recent years. In fact, this has been seen as a viable solution to bridge the talent gap. Conclusion Surveys have pointed to the fact that organizations are using a mix of options – both recruiting people (mostly on contract) and redeploying their existing workforce after reskilling. In the gig economy where market-driven job roles are going to increase in plenty, employees should look to update their knowledge and skills through skill development training and keep themselves relevant. This is where non-profit organizations like Anudip can play a crucial role in training people in relevant digital skills, so that they can become a part of the new digital economy. Source: https://anudipfoundation.medium.com/closing-the-skill-gap-recruit-or- reskill-c902f4c97c4a Anudip Foundation Email: info@anudip.org Phone No.: +91 33 4062 4187 Visit Us: https://www.anudip.org/ Stay Connected Via: https://twitter.com/anudipf https://www.facebook.com/AnudipFoundation https://www.instagram.com/anudipfoundation https://www.anudip.org/videos/