For as long as there has been modern business, people have had to go somewhere – outside their home to work. For the best part of a century, the office has been the centre of many lives. For some of us, this was the central congregation space we reached before we set off for meetings or calls. It was the place we came back to, after our meetings and calls, to catch up with colleagues, before we went home. It was a place where most of us, with an office job, spent well over a third of our days, and a third of our lives. It was more than where we worked, it was also our social circle – and our professional raison d'être. Often these ties of friendship, and shared experiences, acted as a bond – you stayed on because you liked the people. Going to the office was aspirational. It gave us status. And it gave us belonging. And, one day it was gone.
As the world locked down two years ago, offices shut, and companies scrambled to make work from home possible. For many of us, for the first time in our lives, we had nowhere to go, after we got ready. And we began doing other things with the time we saved on commuting. Some of us moved cities – seeking a better quality of life during the pandemic – till the better quality of life became a habit. Others filled the time saved on the commute with activities they had pushed away – fitness, meditation, hobbies. Suddenly, we didn’t have to choose between work and life. Having both together, thriving in both – became an option. People across ages and ranks began asking a very simple question “Do I really need to go somewhere else to work, every single day of my working career?” And the answer was a resounding no.
But it was not just the disappearance of the office from our lives, that changed our attitude towards work. For many, the pandemic gave time for reflection. And fundamental questions about happiness and purpose began surfacing. A recent article in HBR talked about how close encounters with mass illness and death, had many of us reconsider the role of work in our lives, especially with regards to family and time for oneself. People are retiring earlier. There are people taking time off to reskill for higher earnings.
All this churn has contributed to what is dubbed the Great Resignation. In the USA, 47 million people resigned from their jobs last year. India has not been immune to the great resignation. According to consulting firm Aon, there has been a 24.4% attrition in the IT sector, 20% attrition in digital skills, and 20% attrition at the India Inc level. Over a 5th of the workforce is moving on.
Source: Aon India Salary Increase Survey, 2022 |
Source: Aon India Salary Increase Survey, 2022
According to the CMIE, India is currently facing an 8.8% unemployment rate in urban areas – around 53 million people who can work but don’t have a job. Much of this is educated unemployment. The Vice-Chairman of Niti Aayog, Rajiv Kumar believes that “about 45 per cent of management and 48 per cent of engineering students in the country are unemployed." What makes things worse is that it is believed that a large proportion of these graduates possess skills that have little or no value in the job market. According to the India Skills Report, India has a skills gap problem. It is estimated that the employability of Indian graduates is just around 46%.
Right now, managers in India (like elsewhere), are stuck between the great resignation, and the great skills gap. And throwing money at people to keep them back does not seem to be the answer. The great resignation worldwide is biting, not just because people in large numbers are moving out of the positions they occupied, but also because fresh talent is not available to work under the same conditions, or when they are – they don’t possess the skills.
While managers and companies put their heads together to see how to retain talent, there is the role of the larger industry, academia, and government to nudge the development of more applicable skills. We are stuck with a higher education system that serves the needs of a relatively stable industrial economy well. However, the system is not gearing up to deal with the skill requirements of a rapidly evolving information economy. And, without a plan to get a continuous stream of relevant skills into the workforce, companies are going to find it difficult to meet their goals. The great resignation may be a way of looking at how to implement continuous upskilling as a way of life and work, allowing people flexibility in their careers, and multiple options for growth. In the 22nd century, it is time to redefine what office means to us – and that needs to be built around values, skills, and learning.
(The writer works at the intersection of digital content, technology, and audiences. She is a writer, columnist, visiting faculty, and filmmaker. She tweets at @calamur)
