Impact of Emerging Technologies on Employment

The 70th International Conference & HR congress was organized by the university of engineering and management(UEM) on 22nd February 2020 at IISC Bangalore. Although the organizers are based out of Jaipur and Kolkata, they hold the annual conferences in various parts of the country in order to ensure participation  and sharing of thoughts by HR practitioners from diverse geographical and industrial backgrounds. With a theme titled " Impact of emerging technologies on employment", the conference design had two panel discussions (1)  Future of work: Impact of latest technologies on job market and (2) What are the types of jobs expected to be lost and created  which were preceded by a key note address before each discussion.  The conference commenced with a welcome address by Prof.Dr. Sathyajit Chakrabarti, President IEM-UEM Group.

The first keynote speaker Mr Praveen Kamat Kumbla, GM & HR Head, Global delivery & Enablement Wipro Ltd set the tone for the discussion sharing his thoughts on what HR can do to remain relevant at a time of emerging technologies that have quite an impact on employment. He said that HR should be able to ask itself " With the talent I have , how can I ensure that delivery happens at the earliest?' Some of the challenges faced in this connection are -  people have done certifications but are not able to make money out of it, employees don't want to come back after an assignment in the US,  arresting wastage of talent when value is falling from say $60 to $25, prep up and prepare  of one's own HR organization. He said, HR should constantly focus on adding value to the bottom line. 

Talking about recruiting students from premier educational institutions, Praveen said that it would be worthwhile to engage in 'parent connects'. "First sell your brand to parents and teachers. Then take care of HR, managers and other parts of the ecosystem."  As the Geeks of today love to be occupied 24x7 , doing varied and interesting activities ranging from being a techie to a  guitarist, a content writer and Football commentator it would be wise to allow them to do hobby projects. Give them a sabbatical after one year of working. Early boredom and an attention span down to seven minutes is the reality of the day.

The speaker also advised giving  the Gen Y opportunities for acquiring certifications and for personal learning. In order to have an effective, robust work force, he suggested replacing the bottom 20% periodically. The speaker also opined that the mentor- mentee relationship should happen naturally and advised against running a mentorship program as an intervention. He concluded his  address by observing that "application based learning is the only way for success"  and that hungry start ups may be more receptive to this idea.

The members of the Panel for the first  discussion on " Future of work" moderated by Mr Suraj Chettri,  Regional director(HR), Airbus group,  included Mr Adityapal Singh Director Talent acquisition India Informatica, Mr Vishwanadh Raju, Global head Talent Acquisition,Axiscades Engineering Technologies, Mr Indraneil Roy, Associate VP, Global talent acquisition, DMI, Ms M.D. Mohana, Director HR, SAP Labs, Mr Nadeem Pasha, Talent Acquisition Head, Inspirage and Mr C.N. Mahantesh, Head global , Recruitment Tech Mahindra.


The gist of the discussion in which all members participated is given below:

• The mode of recruitment and the tools have changed drastically right from the planning stage with candidates leaving their digital footprints in various places beginning from their student days.
• Engaging with prospective employees through regular chats and  tools like Gamification  is the order of the day.
• While the focus is to bring in the right people, agility is a key factor. As multiple generations of employees are working at the work place today, technology can be used to bridge the gap between employee aspirations and organizational needs.
•  Give employees opportunities for lateral careers encouraging them to acquire skills more relevant to the company.
• Whenever there is a change in the way of life or in technology, there would be disruption but new opportunities emerge. This was true when mankind shifted from being hunters to farmers or when the wheel was invented or when new technologies are emerging and replacing old ones in the modern times.
• Therefore, it is not about lack of jobs but equipping oneself with skills so that a skill set match can happen. There is a need to break the 'Herd mentality' of doing what most people are taking up like say Engineering disregarding one's own interest and emerging requirements of skill sets
•  Matching the SWOT analysis of a candidate with the new jobs being created is the key
• One should aim to be hands on as early as possible taking the help of incubation labs as per need. Candidates/ employees should do courses of natural interest to maintain motivation.
• Today, many cognitive jobs have been taken over by technology. Gig worker is a reality and it is going to be even more in the days to come. 
• The typical resume format has changed drastically with more focus on application and what you have actually accomplished. 
• 90% of students passing out lack social skills as also hands on experience which is expected by industry.Attaching mentors from the industry to students could equip them to bridge the gaps.
• Reinforcement Learning using AI (Artificial intelligence) is being experimented more and more. In this form of machine learning, the machine gives feedback to the learner of what has been done (trial and error)  in say the last three months.  
• The job descriptions have become more gender inclusive and company specific algorithms are available. Constant updating of one's skills is most essential.
• Whatever may be the changes in technology, the basic foundation should be kept strong. If the foundation is strong, anything can be built upon it. 
• It may appear as if computers are killing jobs what with hybrid cars, electric cars and even driver less cars!  But this is not true. although there could be loss of job for the driver, opportunities are created for others in the engineering area.
• There is a big gap between the syllabus of universities and the industry expectations which need to be bridged. It is very necessary that the fundamentals ( Math, statistics, algorithms) of engineers are strong. They should attend seminars and be exposed to live assignments. They should preferably have one patent in their name before passing out of the engineering course. 
• Rather than the conventional jobs changing with the changes in technology, it would be about a transformation of job happening with value addition in the content.
• The extraction technology has altered drastically with higher levels of production with less people. Today the jobs are more cerebral, deeper and diverse with employees being more educated and motivated. Aspirants need to look out deeper and diverse, beyond the basic job choices.
• The talent acquisition process has been revolutionized with availability of Sniper AI  that offers greater agility and hiring accuracy.  However, both 'touch' (Meet ups) and 'touch less' (BOTs handling routine tasks effectively) will be relevant and necessary  in the future as well for an effective recruitment process. 
•  Do not get carried way with what the business may demand. A 70% fit of the candidate to the job requirements is good enough
•  As toxic workplaces do not attract people, care should be taken to ensure that you have a positive environment for retention. 
• Millennials and  Generation Z rank D&I (Diversity and inclusion) high among what they value in employers. Today, technology can help in a big way in this connection for enhancing productivity, engagement and culture. There are daily based solution to training based technologies to create awareness among companies not familiar with D&I issues. Platforms ( such as Pluto and SAP) can help build diverse culture through analytics, to avoid unconscious bias and identify suitable mentors. 
• We should not be under a wrong notion that technology alone is sufficient for effectiveness in the company. Good /talented/ skilled humans are required to get the machine to learn the right things. While jobs are changing, the skills would remain the same.
• If we desire innovation in the work place, we have to adopt to sudden changes. It may be necessary to hit out at the last ball aiming for a six. 
• Mondays and Thursdays being on boarding days can be a nightmare for recruiters with candidates often just not showing up. 
• Engaging with people and getting them to imbibe the objective of the company is the key.   

The second panel discussion on "Types of jobs expected to be lost and created" was preceded by the key note address by Mr Satish Rajaratnam Senior VP & Global Head Strategic Resourcing Mphasis who spoke about the impact of technology on work transition leading to the year 2030. He spoke elaborately of the likely impact in a VUCA world which include disruptions in operation, in the business model (e.g. Ola transportation services) and in technology. This  complexity can be dealt with by better communication. 

The speaker made predictions about changes in competence and agility. Six out of ten jobs will undergo big changes. 15% of activities will change. Globally 800 million jobs will be dis-positioned ( process of informing candidates they are no longer being considered for a particular role) by 2030. There would be changes ranging from  3 to 60% in the way children are educated. The agricultural activities will see a reduction as also activities which are physical in nature. The financial services will see an increase by 9%. 

The second panel was moderated by Mr Surya Prakash Mohapatra, Global Head Wipro Digital Operations and Platforms. The members were Mr Anupam Srivastava, Director Talent Acquisition EMEA/APAC Tivo, Mr Muralidhar Teppala, Founder & CEO Shenzyn, Dr Grace Samson HR Head Informatica, Ms Asha Subramanian Sr Director (HR), Gobibo Pvt Ltd and Prof P.K.Mishra IEM-UEM Group. The gist of the discussion  is indicated below:    

• Unskilled and semi skilled jobs may be lost even as technology would make it possible to work more efficiently. As for example with the introduction of Fastag at toll booths, at least half of those originally employed would lose their jobs. This works out to 20 Lac persons overall in the country losing their jobs
• With the introduction of GST and Fastag, the running time of trucks (that run an annual average of  60,000 Kms)  have reduced considerably. Trips that previously took 10 days to cover are now completed in 7 days. This has also resulted in reduction of the number of commercial vehicles sold. 
• In respect of skilled jobs, where layers can be automated, there is  loss of jobs. Jobs like that of data visualizing expert and latest updating will survive. One has to run faster to stay in the same place. 
• Technology does not make humans irrelevant. Humans are required to effectively utilize the technology available. L'Oreal which has an employee strength of 80,000 in 150 countries receive 2 million unsolicited resumes / applications at a time. They handle it with the help of chat bot Mya  who interacts with applicants, provides clarifications,  screens for qualification & suitability and provides recommendations about the 'best fit' and 'non fit' for the job role. You need to be in control of the technology while focusing on upskilling  and motivating the employees. 
• A National employment policy is most essential which will provide the guidelines for studying trends of demand and supply of workforce in various areas and also inputs on what academics can do in a given scenario. 
• Academic institutions should be in constant touch with industry and be willing to dovetail syllabus to changing requirements. Attention should be given also to developing Spiritual Quotient (SQ)  of students as also to networking with the industry. This will provide inputs on what jobs are required for the future. 
• How can one prepare for the future challenges?  Those working in unskilled areas (Switch board operator, Lift operator,check out cashier, factory worker doing physical labour) should take steps to become semi skilled and skilled. 
• Reskilling and skill replacement is the need of the hour. It is pertinent to note here that there is a 9% increase in the robotics industry. 
• How does one match the pace with technology? -  As technology is impacting all businesses and all areas of the business, You need to ask yourself questions such as " How is it impacting my business?- Manufacturing automation, shop floor manufacturing, the retail. Having understood the impact suitable action is to be taken to meet challenges..  

The Three crisp  tips given at the end of this efficiently managed, rewarding conference organized by the  IEM- UEM Group  were 

1) Don't be scared.

2) Run faster to stay in the same place- Accept  'Reskilling' as the Mantra  of the hour.

3) Don't be complacent.