The way we're working isn't working anymore

1. The Way We're Working Isn't
Working Anymore

2. Contd…
With Indian IT firms focusing on surfing the digital wave, a growing number
of employees are gripped by fears of being washed-up by rapidly evolving
technologies. Although 80% of the industry's business continues to come
from older or legacy technologies, experts say this share is set to shrink and
workers need to upgrade their skills to stay relevant. But a section of the
workforce may not be up to the job. “There will be a small bunch of people
who will either not have the adaptability or learnability to make that
change,“ said Prithvi Shergill, head of human resources at HCL Technologies.
These people will have to look for options within their companies or outside,
where the proportion of legacy skills work is higher, said Shergill. An
anonymous confession on an unofficial Facebook page of an IT company
recently lay bare the frustration of working on old technologies, ending with
the hashtag -get me out of legacy systems.

3. Contd…
An employee with a multinational company told ET on condition of
anonymity: “They are not training anyone on my technology. And they won't
release me from my project because they don't have anyone to replace me.
I'm stuck.“
Wipro had said in April that automation, artificial technology and greater
efficiency through digital technology could reduce the company's headcount
by 30% or nearly 50,000 in three years.
The company said that the reduction was likely to happen through attrition
and redeployment to higher value technologies. But as clients of IT firms look
to move to newer technologies and cut costs on the older systems through
automation, employees realise it is time to reskill themselves. IT companies
are spending crores of rupees on training their employees, but they are
naturally picking those with the talent and aptitude for coding.

4. Contd…
“Companies usually invest in upgrading people who are technically very sound.
Those who have been mediocre at coding and development, have to change roles
into areas like pre-sales, business management or project management, which are
a mix of functional and technical skills,“ said Alka Dhingra, assistant general
manager at Teamlease. She said those with skills in Java, Cobol, Mainframe, C and
Fortran are still heavily used but up to 30% of the employees working with other
legacy technologies will have to upgrade or shift roles within the next three years to
survive the change. Many IT employees are acutely aware of this and are paying for
their own training at thirdparty institutes.
An employee of Tech Mahindra said: “Those who want to upgrade to newer
technology are investing in it themselves, and moving on to better opportunities,
within or outside their current workplace. However, growth in Indian IT compa nies
is often not defined as coding proficiency in a given technology, but whether you
are able to move on from coding to a more management or analysis-based role.“

5. Contd…
Some replacement roles are already in jeopardy, though. “Let's face it, sometimes it is
easier to train someone fresh than multiskill people,“ said the chief executive of an IT
company, requesting not to be identified.
“If you measure your job as per whether you run an offshore centre or just manage
projects and go away from the technology then you are likely to be the first in the line to
be asked to leave,“ the CEO said.
IT companies are nonetheless making valiant attempts to reskill a large number of
employees, given the growing importance of digital technology. TCS' digital busi ness
currently contrib utes a little over 13% to its overall revenue.
“It's normal hu man nature to want to work on the new est technology,“ said Ajoyendra
Mukherjee, execu tive vice president and global head of human resources at TCS. The
challenge lies in strik ng a balance between new and legacy skills, said Mukherjee. “We try
and rotate them from project to pro ect where they can learn more technologies and skills.
But legacy technologies are still a large part of the business and so that has to be
managed,“ he said. IT firms are also ooking at ways to prevent dissent n the initial training
programmes.

6. Contd…
“We will be training freshers and existing employees, but the exist ng
employees will be chosen on merit. That makes it less likely that people will
say, `why him and not me?' and also give them an incentive to perform
better,“ said Saurabh Govil, HR head at Wipro.
But to be truly successful in digital, IT companies are realising that they
cannot leave employees work ng on core projects unmotivated.
“We cannot afford to have anyone stuck in the old. No one has to be
straitjacketed and told you have to stay in the old stuff,“ Infosys chairman R
Seshasayee told ET. While the routine tasks leave little scope or innovation,
companies can find new ways to create value addition or clients. One way to
do this, Seshasayee said, is to improve quality and reduce cost. “That
innovation s what we need to stoke,“ he said.

7. For details and bookings contact:-
Parveen Kumar Chadha… THINK TANK
(Founder and C.E.O of Saxbee Consultants & Other-Mother
marketingandcommunicationconsultants.com)
Email :-saxbeeconsultants@gmail.com
Mobile No. +91-9818308353
Address:-First Floor G-20(A), Kirti Nagar, New Delhi India Postal Code-110015