Increased focus on hiring talent with right skills rather than internally training

Wednesday, 7 August 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Dinesh Weerakkody Chairman Commercial Bank of Ceylon speaking at the University MBA Alumni Association 16th AGM observed that the accelerating pace of change has affected all industries and is changing the nature of work. Shifting demographic patterns, the rapid pace of technological advancements, the shift to knowledge-based economies and increasing pressures for innovation, productivity and cost-containment will set the pace for work of the future. The large population cluster of Baby Boomers has begun entering its retirement cycle.

These changes have been projected to result in significant reductions in the availability of critical skills and experience in the workplace. In addition, with the entry of millennial generation into the workforce, it is expected that multi-generational issues will create new internal challenges, which will impact organisations. Today, he pointed out HR has gone from the traditional hire and fire role to a strategic partner at the table with finance, marketing and other business centres that are not centres of profit for the organisation. The job of HR, as is the job of all such departments, is to ensure that the business gets the most out of its employees. Another way to put this is that the human resource management needs to provide a high return on the business’s investment in its people. This makes HR a highly complex function – because it deals with not just management issues but human ones as well. Also it is not so difficult for anyone to understand why productive employees are needed for any business to succeed. Then, finding them, managing them, motivating them and retaining them are key responsibilities of HR. Weerakkody observed that the workforce of the future would prefer organisations with strong performance-based systems, which incentivise both high performance and alignment to company strategies, values and work practices. Hiring will focus on attracting top talent that fits the organisation culture. Cost-containment pressures may increase the focus on hiring talent with the right skill sets rather than internally training staff. Commenting on the education sector, Weerakkody observed that jobs are the cornerstone of development. Jobs boost living standards, raise productivity and foster social cohesion. One of the main forces behind increases in an economy’s per capita output is by making people more productive. Weerakkody said the private sector plays a key role in creating new jobs needed and fostering economic growth. Perhaps one of the key challenges for us would be to address the skills mismatch. Therefore, he said it is vitally important to align the skills taught with the skills needed. This would require bringing together various stakeholders to assess the current and future skills needs to sustain economic growth. Weerakkody also pointed out that our learning institutions both public and private need to be mindful of the growing prevalence of technology and the free online courses from the world’s leading universities. The impact of all this will be everywhere and will continue to challenge the way we deliver knowledge and jobs and also create a lot of new industries and opportunities. One area in which Sri Lanka can make some headway in the short term to accelerate our economic development is in the business services outsourcing area. Therefore, the industry and the Government should look to leverage on the available opportunities by investing heavily to get our work force ready to exploit the large and growing Asian market.