90% of India’s workforce believe skill advancements will impact future job prospects: City and Guilds

The study measures the confidence levels of the working population with reference to their skills and jobs today. It examines the role of vocational training and skill development and its impact on their professional performances.

Today, the Indian government has over 70 schemes for skill development and organisations are taking steps to upscale the skill levels of workforce.  Digital India, Start-up India, Skill India, amongst others are some of the key initiatives to boost India’s workforce and over 90% of the workforce agrees that programs like Skill India will provide the next generation with the right set of skills to support India’s growing economy.

The emphasis on the need for skill development is not only identified in India but globally as well. The C&G report highlights that all markets have single-mindedly observed that CEOs, middle managers and the general employees have attributed skill development to be a major contributor to their organisation’s success. Today 46% of Indians & 45% of South African respondents believe that working in a multi-national environment is a key skill for their future career, vis a vis 21% of UK and 25% of US respondents.

Rajesh Kaimal, Head of Manipal City & Guilds said: “We today live in a global economy and are no longer divided by boundaries, states or nations. We have Indians m migrating overseas for employment and multinationals operating in India and both require highly skilled labour. To broaden the horizons of our future generation it is important that the skills imparted should be benchmarked to national and international standards.”

According to the report, skill gaps can impact an organisation in various ways and lead to wastage of time, loss of revenue and the workforce being less productive. One third of the CEOs feel that companies with less skilled workforce lose out to their competitors. Vocational training, learning and development programs are the key requirements to upscale today’s workforce.  96% respondents in India agree there is a need for formal skills training and most prefer learning on the job while some prefer learning from colleagues. Apart from these the other common methods of learning were events and online modules.

The research was conducted by Censuswide, with 2055 respondents in India, including 272 CEOs/Senior leaders, 532 middle managers, and 1251 general employees during May 2016. The survey was conducted from a random sample of Indian adults. Censuswide abide by and employ members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles.