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The key reason seems to be that while India has fewer skilled jobs than needed, there are even fewer qualified workers to fill existing vacancies. If companies do not have or cannot recruit additional employees with the required skills, the existing employees need to work longer hours to meet tight deadlines when clients demand timely completion of projects.
Several reports have noted the low employability of Indian graduates. As a result, on the one hand, there are overworked employees, while on the other hand, India has a high rate of educated unemployment.
Formal education and skill development have not gone hand-in-hand. Hence, skill gaps that measure the extent to which workers lack the skills necessary to perform a specific task remain high.
There may be other equally important factors at play. One of them being inefficient management practices. If managers underestimate the task difficulty or the time needed to complete a project, they may set tighter deadlines, leading to overworked teams. Alternatively, managers may also overpromise their bosses on project deadlines to impress them.
When the tasks are tougher than managers anticipate, it hurts employees two ways. First, employees end up working long hours. Second, their competency level is misjudged, which hurts their promotions and monetary incentives.
Managers may become aggressive with their teams to cover up for their own misjudgement about the time needed for work completion, leading to a toxic work culture.
Managers and human resource departments are crucial in enabling a cooperative work culture where employees feel valued. Employees should feel safe conveying their views and ground realities.
Employees do not mind going the extra mile in companies where employee-employer goodwill is high, especially between employees and the direct line manager.
Why do employees not leave if work involves long hours and intolerable stress, unless they are passionate about their work? First, people may hold mistaken beliefs or feel pressure of social norms about what success means. In societies where success is equated with money and a job profile determines social status, earning more and fast becomes a norm.
Second, as salaries rise, we get used to a better lifestyle, and living expenses rise. Quality education and healthcare, and real estate prices have risen too.
Third, many tend to be overconfident and display the ‘it won’t happen to me’ syndrome. It is always about someone else who cannot handle pressure or say no to unacceptable work demands. Until, of course, it happens to us.
Fourth, and most importantly, no alternative jobs are available where work pressure would be lower while the social status and financial compensation would be the same.
Some employees do leave such high-pressure jobs. Many are married women employees who cannot manage work and family responsibilities.
Noble Laureate in economics Claudia Golding termed such jobs with long work hours and unusual times outside contracted hours in high-paying, high-pressure environments as ‘greedy jobs’ and they penalise women’s careers disproportionately more.
However, technically skilled employees may not have to worry. The fast-paced developments in AI technology are likely to lower the need for manual effort. It could lead to job displacement in industries like information technology, legal and even consulting.
There are already customised AI tools available for each of these industries. For example, a customised AI tool for Indian lawyers has been just launched, updated with all laws, legal procedures and court orders.
The success of such tools will lower demand for junior lawyers and legal assistants. Even for consultants, there are now specific AI tools available for nearly every kind of work, which will reduce demand for trainee consultants.
Companies will be especially quick to adopt new technology if the available workforce displays severe skill gaps. If technology begins to replace skilled workers soon enough, employees’ work pressure will decline, but their salaries will grow slower than before or even stagnate. In addition, even if they are technically skilled, the unemployed young population will face difficulties finding jobs.
Given that technology can now replace technical skills, India’s youth need to focus on developing specific skills, namely the 3As: Articulation, Ability to foresee trend shifts, and Adaptability.
AI may perfect technical work, but clients would still want a human to convey the answers. It’s difficult to imagine a passionate discussion with a robot consultant or a hug from a robot nurse.
The importance of face-to-face interactions is set to rise, and people who are good at that will be in demand. Good articulation also helps manage people and teams because it brings clarity, transparency and purpose.
Identifying when a trend will change helps companies stay ahead of the curve. While past data and its pattern may help somewhat, forecasts based on past data tend to go wrong often.
To correctly anticipate a trend change, one needs to be up-to-date with the happenings in the industry and be able to think analytically, which requires training, keen observation and practice.
Finally, the importance of adaptability cannot be overstated. Today, skills are getting outdated before we finish acquiring them. Those who can adapt fast will have an advantage. It is equally important that government-run skill development programs adapt and be nimble.
Young people with a combination of 3A skills are in short supply. In the future, they will fetch a premium and work long hours instead of today’s technically skilled professionals.
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