Ravi Kaklasaria, Chief Executive Office, SpringPeople

In terms of investment in technology in US, Indian IT industry is predicted to see an upturn in the upcoming year. NASSCOM also is standing by their previous assessment regarding 7 to 8 per cent export growth for the Indian IT industry as a whole. But in this era of automation, artificial intelligence and big data, what is the future of IT jobs? While opportunities abound, the face of Human Capital Management rapidly has to evolve to keep pace.

Today, human capital management is the source of competitive advantage for all organizations. Therefore, the training industry in India has revolutionized to create a smarter workforce and precedes the best termination. Brought on by changes in skills gap, values, technology, organizational structure, generational differences, and more, there are three major challenges the HR industry is facing. In a recent survey done by the Society for Human Resource Management, HR professionals stated the below mentioned challenges as the biggest one.

• Retaining and rewarding the best employees (59%)

• Developing the next generation of corporate leaders (52%)

• Creating a corporate culture that attracts the best employees (36%)

One of the main challenges an organization or the human resource management faces is the skills gap, which is only going to become wider. Organizations expect skills like big data, data analysis, artificial intelligence, machine learning to embrace innovation, but most universities’ academic programs are outdated and fail to teach the latest technologies. As new technologies and processes are the need of the hour, it is up to the tech companies themselves to train their new and experienced workforce. In addition to these HRM challenges, training & development teams face roadblocks of their own.

Challenges Faced by Corporate Training Teams on boarding New Employees

In a survey conducted by Bamboo HR, 45% of HR managers accepted that over $10,000 a year is wasted on ineffective on boarding. This mainly happens because 90% of new hires decide whether or not to stay in the organization for more than 6 months. Today's workforce wants to fit into the organization's culture and start contributing to the company, which certainly does not work well with the traditional employee orientation programs.

Stagnant Skillsets

It is a fact that half of an individual’s digital skill set becomes obsolete in 2.5 years, as existing tools are continuously replaced by new versions. L&D teams needs to constantly train employees to upgrade skills.

Emphasis on Continuous Learning

For an effective workforce engagement, long term development for employees is a key factor. Employees need managerial and leadership skills to take up new roles and responsibilities within the organization. Certain set of millennial also ranks training and development as their desired job perk. In order to promote employee growth, Corporate Training and L&D teams make sure that continuous learning is a top priority.

87% of organizations are revamping, restructuring or considering a redesign of their human resource function. In addition to the above mentioned challenges and developments, HRM is evolving with other emerging trends that are likely to test the mettle of even the best talent management programs.

Trends in Human Capital Management

The Digital Revolution - sometimes called the fourth Industrial Revolution - will not require scientists to focus on data and A.I. alone but also on the human mind in order to equip people to be the key drivers of innovation. It's imperative that with this revolution, talent development as an industry is reinvented to meet changing demands. Human Talent Management should develop their “ability to adapt” as the core skill that will allow to thrive in a context of constant transformation.

According to Kristin Williams, Vice President of Human Resources at Ultra Mobile, there are two specific shifts happening that are shaping the future of the HR industry –

1. Alternative solutions to how companies staff/support traditional HR functions, and

2. Talent retention in an environment where tenure is not the goal of employees.

Upskilling - The Only Way Forward for the Industry?

Hiring prospects across industry is expected to see a slide in 2018, with a lot of job insecurity in the IT/ITes industry currently. According to industry body NASSCOM, up to 40% of the estimated four-million Indian workforces will need reskilling over the next five years if they are to keep pace with the changing face and automation of the IT industry.

Interestingly, while the outlook looks bleak on the supply side, the demand for skilled professionals in emerging technologies is on the rise. Big Data, SMAC, App Integration, DevOps and Agile are all areas witnessing a surge in number of jobs.

And executives point to the widening skills gap as accounting for this disparity. Investing into upskilling appears to be the only solution to tackle the twin crisis facing the IT sector in India. With the number of working professionals choosing ed-tech programs to skill up set to grow from 1.6 million to nearly 10 million by 2021, organizations across the board are ramping up investment into quality training programs from established players. Modern enterprise training providers are gearing up to meet this challenge head on, with hybrid training delivery models like LMS, online and e-learning channels.