India becoming hub for technology workforce of GCCs: Sarah Pearse

Insurance giant Marsh McLennan is expanding its team in the country, say senior executive of the group

Global captive centres (GCCs), used by companies for around-the-clock offshore operations, will likely add 364,000 jobs in India in 2023 as new hiring declines in the information technology (IT) services sector, estimates say. Global insurance giant Marsh McLennan will continue expanding its technology workforce in the country, Sarah Pearse, chief people officer at Mercer and MMC International, a global professional services firm, told Sourabh Lele. Mercer is the human resource consulting arm of Marsh McLennan

Edited excerpts from an interview conducted virtually.

Why is India attractive for hiring technology talent?

As a global company, we do have options for investing in technology talent around the world. But India is still the number one choice because of the diversity of talent. We have got more people coming into the workforce, and we have got more women coming into the workforce.

It used to be just labour arbitrage. It's more than that now, more about the diversity of the skills and more of the innovation side coming in. And of course with digital technology, we are seeing that India can offer us that skilled talent as well, which is pretty scarce around the world. We very much want to continue to invest in the country and see it as somewhere where we can continue to get that scarce talent.

Industry estimates say India is likely to have around 1,900 global capability centres (GCCs). You work with many GCC clients. What are their demands?

It's the same for everyone: 'Where's the talent going to come from? Should we buy or build? Should we look at acquisitions to buy in talent? Or should we build our own? Where do you put your investment? How fast can you do it?'

And then can you see another area that is growing – you might have India as the hub of that kind of talent, and then satellite areas around the world, but it's organised from India. So if you can't get all the talent at the time you need here and now, which countries can offer it, you need that expertise in India, to be able to recognise that. India is the kind of central hub for these operations.

What are the technology skills in shortage and how have skills in demand changed since the pandemic?

It is less connected with the pandemic and more because of the technology change. Of course, we have got changes in AI, which we are investing in. And we would see a lot of that coming to India in terms of how we execute, grow and develop it. Data analytics is something that we have always done in India. We have always done quite high-level data work. We have our actuarial valuation work that has been done here for many years.

We have always had that tradition of having high-end data analytics in India. And we see that now continuing, as data becomes so much more important with all of our products and services, all of our lines of business are looking for talent to do more work in that area. We see that as a skill that we will continue to develop on the digital side.

The Indian technology sector has seen new work models. Freelancing in the IT sector is emerging as a model. How do you see the future of work in India?

We had a great roundtable with various HR, and senior HR people from the area, and this came up as a topic. I think we should look at it more as portfolio careers, different works. People working in different areas use their skills in different ways. We have got the gig economy, we have got more part-time working, and with a more diverse workforce, that's perhaps going to continue. But the most important thing is that people are transparent and honest with their employers and engagements.

It might be a challenge from an HR and compliance standpoint because there is always a risk of conflict. So I think as long as we can get through that conflict risk, have a proper conversation and recognize that it is an opportunity for our people to learn more skills, then I think we can look at it positively, we have to find a way to embrace that, within the way that we operate.

Is there a positive side to this from employers’ perspective?

It is perhaps the future of work and India has a lot of young people in the working population. That's what they are going to look for. They want more, they want it faster, and they want more variety. We all know that younger people find it difficult to focus and concentrate more. That's a growing trend. Using your skills in different ways, and continuing to grow your skills, is something that we are working on here in India and trying to get people to learn new skills as old skills disappear. Maybe that second area that they are working in is going to come back and help us in different ways.