Companies take steps to woo blue-collar workforce
Realising that the lack of skilled workforce is troubling the new economy, old economy firms are taking new HR initiatives. MBA not enough for lucrative jobs
By Arun Iyer & Sushmita Mohapatra, TNN |
BANGALORE: Realising that the lack of skilled blue-collar workforce is an issue not just restricted to the new economy, companies in the old economy are developing new HR-related initiatives aimed at resolving this vexing issue.
“Availability of personnel is an issue. It has to be resolved at the earliest to ensure that growth opportunities are not missed,” said an industry source. For instance, the big daddy of the engineering/construction sector, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is planning to set up a nationwide chain of 10 institutes to train people who would otherwise find it difficult to get gainful employment.
“We should be looking at training upwards of 30,000 persons annually across a variety of skills like brick-laying and smithy. The aim of such training is to eventually employ them or allow them the opportunity of setting up their own small businesses,” a senior official of L&T told ET.
As these institutes are more of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, L&T charges only a nominal fee for providing the training. Escorts, which has interests in construction and the farm equipment segment, is setting up a training facility in Bangalore.
“Crane operators and construction equipment drivers are difficult to find and therefore we have decided on training 32-60 students every year. We plan to have three batches a year,” said Escorts Construction Equipment associate vice president-marketing & sales Rajesh Sharma.
These initiatives are paying off. Salaries for these heavy-duty equipment drivers have skyrocketed. “Two to three years back their salaries were around Rs 3,000, now it has increased to over Rs 10,000,” Mr Sharma said.
Changing the lifestyle and status of its drivers is also helping companies like Asia MotorWorks in controlling the growing attrition. “We provide them with uniforms, something as basic as that. It makes them feel that their jobs have grown in stature. Our trucks have air-conditioners in the drivers compartment,” said CEO & MD Anirudh Bhuwalka.
To ensure that the umbilical cord between the workers and the company doesn’t break, L&T’s ECC division has built a database of such blue-collar workmen. Each time the construction giant wins a project, it is able to cull out a list of workmen who are then engaged for executing the project. “This kind of database helps in not only matching skills with the jobs to be executed but also helps us in timely completion of projects,” the official said.
“Availability of personnel is an issue. It has to be resolved at the earliest to ensure that growth opportunities are not missed,” said an industry source. For instance, the big daddy of the engineering/construction sector, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), is planning to set up a nationwide chain of 10 institutes to train people who would otherwise find it difficult to get gainful employment.
“We should be looking at training upwards of 30,000 persons annually across a variety of skills like brick-laying and smithy. The aim of such training is to eventually employ them or allow them the opportunity of setting up their own small businesses,” a senior official of L&T told ET.
As these institutes are more of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, L&T charges only a nominal fee for providing the training. Escorts, which has interests in construction and the farm equipment segment, is setting up a training facility in Bangalore.
“Crane operators and construction equipment drivers are difficult to find and therefore we have decided on training 32-60 students every year. We plan to have three batches a year,” said Escorts Construction Equipment associate vice president-marketing & sales Rajesh Sharma.
These initiatives are paying off. Salaries for these heavy-duty equipment drivers have skyrocketed. “Two to three years back their salaries were around Rs 3,000, now it has increased to over Rs 10,000,” Mr Sharma said.
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Changing the lifestyle and status of its drivers is also helping companies like Asia MotorWorks in controlling the growing attrition. “We provide them with uniforms, something as basic as that. It makes them feel that their jobs have grown in stature. Our trucks have air-conditioners in the drivers compartment,” said CEO & MD Anirudh Bhuwalka.
To ensure that the umbilical cord between the workers and the company doesn’t break, L&T’s ECC division has built a database of such blue-collar workmen. Each time the construction giant wins a project, it is able to cull out a list of workmen who are then engaged for executing the project. “This kind of database helps in not only matching skills with the jobs to be executed but also helps us in timely completion of projects,” the official said.
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