[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]India’s blue-collar job market witnessed the strongest growth in the first half of 2022, with the falling number of Covid infections, lifting of restrictions and a pickup in economic activity. Due to the higher demand for manpower, February 2022 clocked more than 1 million active blue-collar jobs, which includes 800,000 new jobs as per an ET survey.
The numbers speak volumes about why businesses today want to thoroughly verify different aspects of a person’s past faster and safeguard against reputational risks.
Blue collar employees are an integral part of the workforce to run critical processes like manufacturing, warehousing, construction, retail, logistics etc. that directly influence revenues of any organisation. That makes thorough blue-collar background verification even more important. Businesses today are heavily investing their resources to evaluate staff in a bias-free and quicker way. This is a significant step to reduce per-hire costs and time-to-hire new blue-collar employees but most importantly to reduce serious reputational risks.
Businesses do want to conduct blue-collar background verification however, it can be a bit challenging for the HR teams. Following up on manual processes can be cumbersome and time-consuming, delaying employee onboarding. How would it be if the entire background screening activity could be automated, ensuring only reliable blue-collar employees are hired with speed, accuracy, and cost efficiency? Different processes could be easily accessed to make informed decisions and set up internal policies to reinforce them too? So, what are the top ways to verify blue-collar employees?
Technological advancement has transformed the way we carry out everyday tasks. But those who make the connection between people and services like food delivery, delivery of online shopping of products, or packers and movers possible are the blue-collar workers. Aren’t they the ones who actually deliver the services on the ground, even though technology as a medium has augmented the offerings?
Companies like Urban Clap, Ola and Swiggy provide the workers with basic training to give them a better understanding of using the app and ensure service quality and legal compliance. The easy availability of everyday services has fueled the demand in urban India as well as tier 2 and tier 3 cities, which, in turn, is contributing to the expansion of the blue-collar workforce.
Technological disruptions in the labor market and the need for upskilling
This is because these jobs generally entail labor-intensive work, which can be easily carried out by intelligent machines. Some examples are self-driving cars, automated cleaning devices and food delivering drones which can replace workers from their current roles.
This does not necessarily mean that blue-collar workers will find themselves without jobs. A WEF report states that automation is also likely to create millions of new job opportunities in the future. However, these jobs will require professionals, even in the blue-collar capacity, to have at least a working knowledge of innovative technologies such as AI, ML, and data analytics. As the nature of jobs will transform and become more tech-led, professionals will need to undergo significant and continuous upskilling.
Numerous organisations have identified the need for upskilling their workforce and have already started training employees on higher organisational levels. However, they are still a few. More organisations must aim at aligning such employees at all levels with futuristic technologies, changing customer needs, and market shifts.
In doing so, companies can make all their employees competent enough to adapt to tech-led disruption within the organisation and the industry at large. Also, it helps blue-collar employees gain expertise and competencies to take on disruption head-on.
How can companies efficiently upskill blue-collar employees
To enable efficient learning and ensure a smooth transition for employees, companies need to communicate the ongoing changes to their workers. They should put in extra effort to make sure their people understand the entire cycle of digitalisation and how their role will evolve in the company. This will not only reduce anxiety and build trust among the employees but also help them realise the importance of upskilling.
Leaders might look at training blue-collar workers as a bigger challenge as they might not be well-versed or even introduced to a majority of the forward-looking technologies. However, it is still possible to carve out an up-graded workforce if leaders keep the following in mind:
Map skill-gap: Organisations have to create a map of skill-gap to ascertain where their blue-collar workforce stands in terms of industry-specific skill-sets and what competencies are required in the market for a successful transition. The information about skill gaps will essentially lay down the data and metrics to plan the future road-map for the creation of development programs and mitigate any consequences of skill-gaps on the larger community.
Comprehensible and engaging modules: Companies should use engaging learning modules that are comprehensible for the employees, preferably in the form of videos and audios. These should be translated into local languages to engage employees across different regions. The course should familiarise employees with the basics and then, build on it to increase their knowledge about more industry-specific concepts.
Soft skills to reinforce their role: Even though technical knowledge can help streamline business operations, soft skills act as an add-on to improve overall process efficiencies. People need to be equipped with soft skills such as communication and critical thinking, which can be used to steer the company through change strategically.
Use of technology in blue collar workforce management
The term “blue-collar workers” is frequently used interchangeably with “low skilled workers,” however this is only one side of the story, since their employment can range from simple rubbish disposal loading-unloading to strategic moves at the production line. Without a doubt, blue-collar employees constitute the backbone of every industry, whether production or services.
Prevailing Conditions
According to various sources, the number of blue-collar workers in India ranges between 30 and 45 crores. To find work, a blue-collar worker will typically resort to mass recruiters or contractors. The bulk of these jobs are filled by small businesses that rely on staffing agencies or contractors. They must pay large commissions to locate a worker when engaging with either of them, which may vary from 5 to 10%. Even employees are sometimes required to pay commissions in order to obtain these positions.
This old approach is inefficient, benefiting middlemen rather than active players (workers or businesses). It is time-consuming, costly, and unstructured. There is no assistance for employees after they are put up in a particular position or after they leave that job.
These organizations or companies keep no records (digital or otherwise) of the jobs completed by such blue-collar workers, which could help these workers find other jobs in the future. Workers have little to no flexibility when it comes to geography or working hours, and no coaching or guidance is provided to help them enhance their level of skill or performance.
The current system has flaws
Despite being a socioeconomically rich country, India has the highest unemployment rates in the world. One explanation for all of this is that there is no effective mechanism in the Labor ecosystem to connect supply and demand. Even if we have a great number of workers available, they are distributed unevenly around the country, therefore there will be a region or locality where there is an excess of labor supply, while another may be inadequate in this regard. Another issue is that workers’ competencies are more biased toward the sort of employment that is usually accessible to them in their local area.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
