Human Resource Community

As part of the “Inclusion To Action” initiative, Microsoft and EnAble have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) under which they would work together to create about one lakh job opportunities for persons with disabilities (PwDs). This collaboration will assist in bringing together different stakeholders from different sectors to transform career prospects for PwDs and make this enormous untapped talent pool significantly productive. The partnership between Microsoft and EnAble India is the result of the former’s five-year global commitment to close the global gap in PwDs’ access to technology, employment, and education. EnAble India, a non-profit organisation, has been working to help PwDs become economically independent as well as to help them maintain their dignity and command respect for more than 20 years. With Microsoft joining its mission, more than 100 Indian organisations from a variety of industries, including financial services, manufacturing, retail, and technology, will now work together to provide PwDs with tech skilling, mentorship, internship, and job initiatives. PwD candidates will be able to improve their grasp of digital accessibility, which is becoming more and more crucial in the current hybrid work environment, due to the technical skilling programmes. Increased PwD representation will inevitably lead to inclusive product development, which will benefit people with disabilities who use technology. PwDs will also have access to training programmes on modern office tools, which will increase their efficiency.

E-commerce companies in India are rapidly increasing their delivery staff numbers out of concern that they may suffer during one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year, which starts in earnest next month. The decisions were made as the job market became tighter – India’s unemployment rate fell below 7% in July for the first time since January – and inflation remained high, which complicated the outlook for the sector, which has long struggled with chronically high employee turnover. TK Balakumar, chief operating officer at online grocery seller BigBasket, told Reuters, “Overall demand for the gig workforce has seen a sharp increase and that is not completely supported by the increase in pool size of delivery people… It is not a free flowing pool.” The company, sponsored by the Tata group conglomerate, increased the number of delivery partners in its instant delivery section BB Now from 500 in the March quarter to 2,200 in the quarter that ended in June. By March 2023, it hopes to increase that number even more, to roughly 6,000. BigBasket and other e-commerce companies, like Dunzo, employ their own delivery staff, but others, like cosmetics-to-fashion retailer Nykaa, rely on outside vendors. According to a report released in June by think tank NITI Aayog, the number of people employed in gig work—of which delivery workers and salesmen make up a sizable portion—is predicted to increase to 9.9 million in India in 2022–23, an increase of roughly 45% from 2019–20. Sekhar Garisa, strategy chief at business services provider Quess Corp., stated that “People… look at a delivery job as a job in transit, they move off to something else, you’ll always have shortages and then in cases where there is a specific event or festival, there’s definitely a challenge that the delivery requirement goes up.” Companies like Quess and TeamLease function as middlemen between e-commerce businesses and job seekers in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities across the nation. Some companies were hopeful that the labour shortage scenario would improve. “There’s a constant churn and movement that has existed for 4-5 years. It can cause a temporary crunch but we don’t think it is a long term thing because supply and demand will match,” Reuters was told by Kabeer Biswas, the CEO of Dunzo. Dunzo presently has 75,000 delivery partners and is supported by Reliance, a company owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

In collaboration with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), a knowledge partner of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), has launched a project to identify the prior skills of 75,000 people in the 18-45 age group and upskill them. Through Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) and the training companies they have appointed, this initiative for previous learning recognition (RPL) and upskilling will be implemented in three stages. There will be two methods of implementation: RPL through camps, which will focus on traditional and industrial clusters, and RPL at employers’ premises, which will work with businesses and employers to provide orientation and training on-site. In addition to having their technical skills improved, the trainees will learn about digital literacy and entrepreneurial potential. These trainees will also receive two years of accidental insurance during the programme. The trainees will receive certification through the project, making them more marketable in the volatile job market and able to actively participate in nation-building. The project will be implemented by NSDC and funded by NDMC and SANKALP (a World Bank Project under MSDE). Aiming to upskill 25,000 individuals in a variety of industries, including plumbing, electrical work, construction, pottery, and so forth, the first part of the programme has already started. PMKVY, the flagship programme of Skill India, has a component called prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR). A person’s existing skill sets, knowledge, and experience acquired through formal, non-formal, or informal learning are evaluated through this procedure. The procedure aids in bringing the nation’s unregulated workforce’s competencies into line with the standardised National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF), which improves employment prospects and reduces the skill gap.