ADECCO, headquartered in Zurich, is a merger of Ecco (France) and Adea (Switzerland). Present in seventy countries, it provides end to end HR solutions for banking, finance, IT, engineering processes, consumer retail and services. The conference was a part of initiative called ATLMRI (ADECCO-TISS Labour Market Research Initiative) which is an alliance (established in Sept, 2006) of TISS and ADECCO. The objective of the alliance to study the labor market scenario in India, analyze the trends and then take requisite steps in order to develop the necessary steps in order to tackle the skills gap problem. The decrease in the labor workforce across the rural and urban social verticals is a cause for concern. Studies show a slight increase in the participation of women from the ‘city lights’ but otherwise the numbers have fallen overall, notwithstanding the gender angle.

Mr. Sudhakar Balkrishnan kicked off the conference with emphasizing the role of demographic divide in compounding labor market issues. “An ageing workforce in Canada, Spain and Netherlands would lead to a major pull from the Indian work-pool. The soft skill, business skill and life skill gaps should be the areas of focus”, he contended. Ms Murfi highlighted the importance of life-long learning and knowledge economy. She also touched upon age diversity, stress management and talent honing as necessary steps towards a healthy work-group. “The transition from school to work would be facilitated by industry engagement. Industry, academia and the government, like three legs of a tripod, would facilitate and propagate the labor force dynamics”, she said.

Prof. Bhowmik mentioned that the TISS-ADECCO report had been appreciated by the National Commission on Enterprises in India. Currently the team is working on district-wise data on employability. “Industry doesn’t look at the basis or root-cause of a problem”, said Mr. Anand Sudarshan. He spoke about industry giving a cold shoulder to the responsibilities towards the academic domain and that 93% of the employment force had an employability gap. He also found disconnect between the educational institutes and the industry, even at the grass-root levels.

Considering the skill gap to be addressed, he too agreed on the concept of the Finishing school, but differed on the nomenclature for the venture, preferring to call it a ‘Starting Schools’. Post discussions, there were paper presentations from students’ and working professionals relating to the work-force concerns and their solutions. The session ended with a question answer session.

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