Reformed world of work has drastically altered the prominence of skills across the globe that calls for a highly agile and resilient workforce. during the initial days of the pandemic, unemployment rose high and the second wave in April 2021 has also rendered 1 crore Indians jobless. The workforce was challenged by an unexpected enemy yet, people stood together

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The last 18 months has transformed the work paradigm altogether. Ambiguity and uncertainty still loom over, but people are resilient and courageous enough to sail through. People leaders have successfully navigated the organizations through the downturn and are committed to redefining the conventional strategies to thrive in the new normal.

The young workforce who were looking for new opportunities and professional growth had to deal with a lack of job vacancies, furloughs, never-before like the economic crisis and business disruption. As many businesses witnessed a major halt, the workforce made sure to be resilient, open to adapt and to be together during the pandemic. The United Nations on World Youth Skills Day 2021 pays tribute to the resilience and creativity of youth throughout the crisis. Today, World Youth Skills Day highlights the opportunities and challenges that young people face in employment and how are they required to adapt to the change for a totally different future lying ahead.

It was difficult for the companies and top leaders to remodel the base structure, reframe the policies and redefine the strategies but people leaders did the unthinkable that made organisations not only survive but thrive. Companies have realised the importance of ‘change’ and are investing heavily in skill development and upskilling of the workforce in order to make them future-reedy.

Artificial intelligence, automation, technology advancement has called for a drastic change in the demand for skills and change in the work-system structures as well. Relooking and reframing skilling strategy is the requirement to be able to build a resilient and creative workforce for a highly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world ahead.

Most In-Demand Skills 2021

As we are moving forward in 2021, some business sectors still dealing with much uncertainty, organisations and employees are confronting big questions like what jobs are on the rise. And what skills are needed to excel in these roles?

The skills of the future will look different from the skillsets that are needed today. “As we move towards in an increasingly digital economy, digital fluency will not just be a competitive advantage, but a necessity. This requires a massive effort to skill India’s talent and workforce,” claims Ira Gupta, Head- HR, Microsoft India.

Skilling is central to building organizational resilience, companies are investing heavily in training and skilling the talent. “With the advent of Industry 4.0, technology sectors now require many updated skills in terms of R&D, manufacturing, marketing and sales. Deep technology, software development, automation, IoT, AI, Robotics, innovative communication strategies, analytical thinking, creativity, and social influence are all imperative skills for the hybrid age," mentions Rajiv Bhalla, Managing Director, Barco India. “However, some skills like resilience, flexibility, ability to drive change, a desire to learn and adapt remain relevant across sectors and timelines,” Bhalla adds.

Technology continues to dominate the emerging job market. According to LinkedIn’s emerging jobs in India 2021 report, these five are the top fastest-growing jobs in the Indian talent market and these roles have seen tremendous growth in the last 5 years i.e. BlockChain developer, Artificial intelligence Specialist, JavaScript Developer, Robotic Process Automation Consultant, Back-end developer.

“In fact, we saw an overall growth of 80 per cent in the number of corporate enrolments in the last one year. With the changing industry dynamics, creativity, emotional intelligence, having complex problem-solving skills and having the ability to interpret data and make decisions, have become some of the most important skills,” shares Krishna Kumar, Founder & CEO, Simplilearn.

Most private and public sector organisations have utilised the online learning scenario to implement virtual training sessions that enhance the existing skillsets of their workforce. This trend has evolved over the past 5 years to create more jobs in internet businesses like cloud computing, customer services, business analysis, business process outsourcing, design technology, and marketing.

Focus On Redesigning Skilling Strategy

A recent report reveals that 64 per cent of the Indian workforce are most likely to leave their jobs if their employers don’t invest in their skill development. Relooking at the core learning and development (L&D) strategies is what is required today in order to get the best out of the workforce.

“Innovative methodologies and pedagogy models are needed to be introduced to match the emerging needs of the industry. Anytime-anywhere learning & anytime-anywhere productive working are the new challenges for L&D verticals. We need to provide end-to-end digital skilling solutions for the learners with the right blend of learning modes,” asserts Sunil Dahiya, Executive VP, Wadhwani Foundation. "Even a tea garden worker needs to learn to fly the drone and analyse data to stay in the job and grow in the same,” Dahiya adds.

Witnessing the hybrid work culture, L&D leaders are expected to observe and understand individual’s needs and demands to learn as they are encountering various challenges by being in different circumstances. “Keeping pace with today’s day and age where technology and data science is evolving at a relentless pace, people are growing competitive and upskilling to build skill sets that will continue to remain relevant in future,” says Minaxi Indra, President and Head, upGrad for Business.

"Continuous development of skills and competencies through the democratization of learning through self-learning tools is the mantra," summarises Suraj Chettri - Regional Director -HR, Airbus. "One size will not fit all, it will require a modular approach. Learning will be personalised and learner-centric, where the pace and type will be decided by the person," Chettri adds.

Considering the upsurge in focus on L&D, 64 per cent of L&D professionals globally agrees that L&D has shifted from ‘nice to have' to ‘need to have.' Soft skills can help one overcome any challenge and strategize better to deal with it. Some of the soft skills such as Team Spirit, Interpersonal skills, Communication, Leadership spirit, and adaptability are essential, which can increase your chances for employability. In the current corporate ecosystem, both hard skills as well as soft skills are going to be critical. “Moreover, behavioural skills are also gaining attention as it is that set of your behavioural and attitude traits that determines your approach to work and sustains your position,” upGrads’s Indra points out.

‘Message of Empowerment for YOUth’

The most important ingredient for success in today’s world is to never stop learning. Lifelong learning is no longer an optional attribute, it’s a necessity. Global organisations are investing more time and energy towards upskilling or reskilling their workforce to drive talent readiness, as it creates a significant competitive advantage in our increasingly technology-driven world. The young workforce needs to focus on keeping reinventing skillsets based on their career interests. While it is true that the pandemic has changed the paradigm, change is an opportunity to transform yourself.

“The ability to combine business with creativity, to provide unique solutions will be the way forward. The creation of these new job roles is a clear indicator of a rise in demand in the workforce skilled in new-age technologies,” states Simplilearn’s Kumar.

HR and L&D leaders across the industries are intensively working on the integration of technology with the learning system. Witnessing the criticality of digital, virtual platforms and digital forums are a mostly used way of learning in today’s ‘Phygital World’. Around 49 per cent of the workforce in India have invested their time in learning to be able to perform a different function internally. In this way, skill-building and the internal movement of employees are critical to make talent a renewable resource.

"With flexibility becoming central to how people learn, we have seen a significant benefit coming out of our virtual learning experiences, which are available on-demand for our employees and customized to different role types. Skilling is central to building organizational resilience and Microsoft is deeply committed to enabling skilling for all,’ states Ira Gupta, Head of Human Resources, Microsoft India.

The need of the hour is to understand the demand for specific skills, technology that fits the requirement, identify the area to bridge the gap and elevate the capabilities in order to reach greater heights in terms of individual’s professional growth or organizational success. HR leaders are committed to foster a learning culture by utilising the right technology, to drive skilling programs and infuse relevant talent to cater to the future and current world of work.

Experts are acknowledging the exceptional dedication of the young workforce during turbulent times and are encouraging youth to keep moving ahead with innovation, agile mindset, resilience, constant learning for a brighter future ahead.