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A blue-collar worker may be an employee in a manufacturing setup, a processing facility, or a warehouse worker in logistics. The other types of blue-collar work are landscaping, construction, waste removal, etc. Blue-collar jobs are often mistaken for unskilled labor, but the fact of the matter is that they are highly skilled manual labor, some, even certified professionals.
As recruiters, we face several challenges with blue-collar recruitment. Let’s take a look at some of these problems, acknowledge them, and overcome our recruitment struggles.
Lack of Awareness of Opportunities
White-collar jobs have countless admired up job portals, such as LinkedIn, Indeed, Naukri, Shine, Monster, etc., and yes, these cater to blue-collared jobs as well. However, there is still a vast majority of blue-collared workers who are not found on these platforms.
Just to give you a rough estimate, according to LinkedIn statistics, India is its second-largest user base with over 42 million users, and these are only white-collar users. However, India as a country has one of the largest numbers of blue-collar workers in the world, estimated at around 300 million. Now considering these numbers, there are still a huge number of personnel out online platforms. Mostly because they may not have access to computers or the know-how of the conditions of the application process. Additionally, they may also be intimidated by technology as most of them hail from rural areas and face language barriers. If they can converse only in their native language, they cannot use most online platforms, as these may not support multilingual facilities; all of it resulting in a lack of awareness of employment opportunities.
As much as we look into job portals or appropriate niches, the majority of blue-collar jobs, whether we like it or not, are recruited via newspaper ads, and this is something we as recruiters can still make use of until presented with a better alternative. Returning to the old ways isn’t always bad, just like throwing back a classic instead of a new release, can and will result in the desired results.
Temporary Projects vs Intentional Career Building
A major constraint with blue-collar recruitment is that the workers are more task-oriented than gaining momentum. They are focused on acquiring instant temporary projects rather than goal-oriented, career building.
For however understandable reasons, their need for immediate gratification puts a certain time constraint on recruiters. These workers are often ready to pass up a good opportunity which will take time, for a post that starts immediately.
Additionally, blue-collared workers are leaning more and more towards the gig economy, working multiple projects and jobs at a time, wherein, with the lack of benefits, inconsistent income, and the resulting burn-out caused by working various jobs, their career growth dims weaker and weaker.
Lack of Proper Skill Evaluation
Another prevalent challenge about blue-collar recruitment is that there is no proper evaluation of their skills. One goes by their face value or word of mouth. Since it’s impossible to cross-examine a candidate’s skill set in its entirety during an interview, time and resources are wasted on both ends as often the skillset of a blue-collar worker may fail to meet the standard or requirement of the employers, after his/her joining.
To tackle this problem, we may consider promoting employee referrals. Implementing an employee referral program would allow current employees, who’d already be well versed with company requirements, to refer friends, family, and other associates who’d be well suited for the job, thereby boosting recruitment and reducing attrition rates.
Labor Contractors and Middlemen
Blue-collar workers, because of their lack of connections, often depend on labor contractors to find them work opportunities. These contractors in turn register these job seekers in their recruitment agencies and allocate them work. They are not the direct employers but act as a connecting point to companies, who approach them with requirements of human resources. Although these middlemen make it easier for workers to find job opportunities, more often than not, they charge hefty commissions and push aspirants towards taking up low-paying jobs with the harshest working conditions.
With the rise in the number of jobseekers and no corresponding increase in opportunities, blue and grey collar workers register themselves with several contractors, multiplying their chances of exploitation.
What are the Challenges Post Covid-19
The lockdown imposed during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic has devastated the blue-collar worker sector. About 70% to 80% of blue-collar workers, according to the staffing industries in the past months, have been left out without income. While many of us work from home, the men in blue are still strutting around in their boots making sure that industries and organizations keep running smoothly.
The pandemic’s after effects, combined with downsizing markets, have negatively affected the blue-collar workforce. Due to this, a large number of blue-collar workers, specializing in certain industries, have been dispersed across various sectors. As soon as the lockdown began, many of them had to leave and return to their native lands. Blue-collar workers are in a difficult situation. Not only have they lost their insignificant income, but they also have no choice except to contract Covid-19 or starve. So, holding their minimal things, babies on their shoulders, and no meals in their bellies, many of them began to walk hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometers to return to their villages. While some workers continue to work, Organizations are making them work on a much-reduced capacity. That is, instead of being employed for six days a week as before, they are now working for three or four days per week, and that too based on the business requirement. In contrast to permanent employees in industries, blue-collar workers can be hired and removed more easily. Their low skill level coupled with the availability of extra labor to companies further reduces their bargaining power.
The impact of the lockdown and the resultant downsizing efforts have been felt harder by the contractual workforce in the factories and plants. “As the lockdown is relaxed, other, more complex obstacles will emerge. It’s been a constant struggle for blue-collar workers who have been without a job since the lockdown began,” said Chakraborty, co-founder of a major recruitment firm. ‘The rural-to-urban migration is probably at one of its lowest ebbs’, say labor ministry officials. According to the Economic Times, ‘There has been a near-10% decline in blue-collar workforce moving to cities for jobs. This is enough to choke the labor supply lines to major industries.’
Blue-collar employees have been paid next to nothing since they are mainly paid by the hour. In the wake of business closures, drivers, delivery workers, sales personnel, and retail floor executives have received pink slips. With pandemic situations as a pretext, different state governments are eroding what little protection employees have by repealing or weakening numerous laws, in favor of employer organizations. In an effort to attract capital, at least 14 labor legislation implementations in Uttar Pradesh have been reduced to 3 years, including the Minimum Wages Act and the Industrial Disputes Act. Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat are in similar circumstances.
The second wave of Covid-19 will probably affect blue-collar workers even further. According to a survey, the second wave of the pandemic in the country is expected to have a short-term setback, mostly hitting blue-collar jobs, particularly in the sales, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, e-commerce, household workers, and construction industries. As India’s growth attempted to find its ground early this year, the demand for labor increased by 32% from January to March 2021 related to the previous months pointing to an economic transformation in the nation, according to Michael Page. Blue-collar workers continue to work with their employers to reach productivity and economic requirements, even when faced with pandemic obstacles.
“When the first lockdown was imposed last year, many people went back to their villages. In a short span of time, they got jobs closer to their homes,” says DPS Negi, chief labor commissioner (central), Ministry of Labor & Employment. “Many do not want to head back to the cities due to fears around Covid. They are also not very sure of the job situation in cities. So, there is an 8-9% drop in the number of migrant workers heading back to cities for jobs,” he adds. With the gradual easing of Covid-19-related restrictions and an increase in movement, over 50 percent jump in demand for blue-collar workers is likely in the second half of this year across four major industrialized states Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, according to a report. The current scenario is that the market has a lot of demand, but the workforce is much smaller than it was before the recession. Other than the demand for delivery staff, the need for health care services has given rise to the supply chain- and logistics-related jobs, researchers, pharmacists, manufacturing workers, and other related roles, observed human resource analysts. With people staying home because of state lockdowns, there has been a 25 percent rise in demand for delivery staff, health care, and other such high-growth industries. Few companies have begun to upskill blue-collar workers by providing digital training programs in order to meet the norms. The assumption was always that blue-collar workers would be unable to learn successfully through technology. All of these preconceptions have been destroyed by Covid-19. Blue-collar workers have quickly acclimated to their new normal situation.
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