What Does The ‘Future Of Work’ Look Like? These 4 Experts Will Tell You!

COVID-19 has not just deeply affected the world of work but has also redefined its future in terms of new technology, more access and newer systems in place. To understand these nuances, on the 9th of September, 2020, Youth Ki Awaaz in collaboration with International Labour Organisation (ILO), IFAD, the United Nations in India, YuWaah-Generation Unlimited India, and UNICEF India conducted its second edition of the #UnitedForHope dialogue. The session, which concentrated on the idea of “Future of Work,” aimed to demystify the Indian economy and employment space, especially in a post-COVID-19 world. A joint report released by the ILO and the Asian Development Bank estimated that over 41 lakh jobs were lost in the country, only due to the pandemic.

As a result, a discussion around how the future looked for people just entering the workforce, specifically the country’s youth, is necessary and beneficial. Consequently, the session brought together four individuals from a diverse set of backgrounds to provide some insightful commentary and answer some basic questions regarding employment and entrepreneurship avenues. The entire session can be found here, but here are the most critical takeaways from the event for those who missed it.

Dagmar Walter, Director, ILO, DWT/CO-New Delhi

Representing the ILO at the webinar, Dagmar introduced the participants to the theme of the discussion. Stressing on the international youth day’s theme of “youth engagement for global action,” she highlighted the various ways that COVID-19 had affected this goal’s achievement. While talking about the post-COVID-19 world, Dagmar also mentioned how countries would soon start going back to their older ways, accepting a few new normals.

In such a time, she talked about the need for establishing specific ground measures to ensure a smooth transition into this new, yet old, world. Additionally, building on the need for a human-inclusive approach to growth, she also highlighted the need for collaborative participation between organisations like the ILO, various governments, workers, and employers.

Neil Banerjee, A Recent Graduate, Now Working As An Advertising Professional At Ogilvy & Mather

Neil’s presence in the session as a recent graduate and a young employee helped structure the discussion further from the youth’s perspective. He began by highlighting the fact that in a highly dynamic market like that of India’s, there is an extensive need for the workforce to rethink the skills that it is looking to acquire.

Pivoting on this insight into the quality of skills, he moved on to talk about ways of revamping the existing education and skilling ecosystem. 

Another essential aspect of Neil’s conversation was the need to restructure the societal understanding of entrepreneurship.  He pointed out how there needs to be a better understanding among youth. While government jobs can be stable in the long run, he felt that in a growing economy like India, the youth must look at options in the startup world and think of innovative ways to contribute to its growth.

Sairee Chahal, Founder, And CEO, SHEROES

Sairee Chahal, the CEO, and founder of SHEROES, one of the largest women-only social networking websites, was also one of the panelists who weighed in on the topic. As a growing CEO herself, Sairee’s experience as a woman entrepreneur provided an additional lens to the conversation around the Future of Work. For instance, one of the essential facets that she highlighted centred around the fact that 80% of active users on the internet are men.

In India’s rapidly digitising economy, access to the internet forms one of the most decisive factors behind an individual’s success. In a traditionally patriarchal society like India, women in families generally see delayed access to phones and the internet, further exacerbated by the fact that male and female literacy rates in some states are still not at par.

With this context, Sairee pointed out that to successfully integrate women workers in today’s Indian market, there needs to be an inclusive approach to economic growth.

Similarly, further elaborating on the need for an inclusive approach, she also touched upon the lack of representation that individuals from LGBTQIA communities saw in the Indian economy. Although she mentioned how many MNCs have been interested in working on this phenomenon, Indian society’s history with these groups has made it all the more difficult for small businesses to consider their proper integration.

In her final remarks, Sairee also highlighted that India’s heavy reliance on its consumer base should ideally open up more opportunities for entrepreneurs and startups to innovate and grow.

Shraddha Joshi, Managing Director, Mahila Arthik Vikas Mahamandal (MAVIM)

One of the drastic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Indian economy has been the overwhelming disintegration of supply chains, as witnessed by multiple industries. Shraddha Joshi, MD at MAVIM, managed to introduce the viewers to a range of insights in light of this. MAVIM, a Maharashtra government’s initiative that aims to strengthen women’s economic resilience, works majorly with self-help groups (SHGs) and women co-operatives.

As a result, Shraddha’s presence helped bring a two-fold angle to the discussion: rural supply chains and gender. Building on Sairee’s analysis of women’s lack of access to technology, she also brought in the lens of access to factors like credit and infrastructure. Shraddha pointed out how all forms of entrepreneurship were reliant on the availability of these three factors, and rural women are, unfortunately, short on proper access to them.

Consequently, the role of SHGs and women cooperatives in solving the problem of lack of access was highlighted by Shraddha. For example, while talking about the need for variation in entrepreneurship, she mentioned how many stitching centres quickly transformed their ability to create PPE kits and masks, thus staying in business even after COVID-19 hit with full force. 

Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder, And EVP, TeamLease

Lastly, to throw more light on the aspects of skilling and employment, Rituparna Chakraborty, co-founder of TeamLease, an HR solutions firm, talked about a range of factors. While discussing the pandemic’s impact on the current skilling ecosystem, she spoke about how there has been a rapid shift towards digitisation.

With courses on online certification and skill training seeing a growth of over 50%, she underlined the urgency for tomorrow’s workforce to modernise its learning processes.

Along with this, Rituparna also stressed the need for governments to invest in local skill training and education. Stressing on the importance of revamping the industrial and manufacturing sectors in a large-scale country like India, she further strengthened her argument on India’s formalisation. For example, she pointed out how a wider acceptance of the provision of “work from home,” thanks to COVID-19, has made the market more accepting of female workers, at least in white-collar jobs.

The speakers addressed more crucial issues like lucrative skills in the post-COVID-19 world, the nuanced impact of the pandemic on workers from different socio-economic groups, and the government’s role in ensuring a smooth transition. One common stand, though, was that the pandemic had exposed multiple cracks in our country’s workings, and it is high time that we begin filling them in.