PPPs the way to go in fostering talent

Governments are now more proactive in skill development.

Public-private partnerships to upgrade the workforce are becoming a reality in some states. Hewitt Associates, for example, has worked with the Chandigarh, Gujarat, Kerala and Rajasthan governments on introducing training initiatives aimed at upgrading the quality of graduates and making them more employable.

Rakesh Malik of Hewitt says the firm has also had preliminary discussions with the University Grants Commission about upgrading university-level courses. Hewitt has been involved in talent development initiatives for the governments of Ghana, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the Philippines.

With education and skill becoming key paths to higher earnings and career growth, governments the world over are no longer viewing workforce development primarily as an extension of social welfare policy, but as an essential part of a state's economic growth strategy.

This is based on a realisation that a skilled workforce drives the knowledge-based economy, says an approach paper by Hewitt on workforce shift strategies in India.

With emerging industries accounting for a larger share of the economic pie in the knowledge economy, the paper says, the life cycle of firms is getting shorter. As a result, economies will see sudden shifts in employment opportunities and this will have a deep impact on the workforce.

The paper says a large chunk of new jobs being created is being generated by newer, smaller ventures. This poses a challenge for economic planners because these ventures tend to be more unstable than the traditional large firms.

According to Hewitt, India's workforce development systems do not reflect market needs. The focus of the country's education sector has been the same for the last half century, even though the agriculture-based economy has given way to a serices-dominated one; and the public education system continues to produce graduates who are unemployable, indicating the need to shift to skill-based education.

The churn in the economy ensures that the concept of lifetime employment is dead, and this, coupled with the fact that most new employment opportunities are being created by small firms, means the onus of skill enhancement lies with employees, the paper says. The government therefore needs to incentivise investment in reskilling.