Wipro’s Rishad Premji bats for hybrid work amid churn in tech talent

Employees need to communicate and connect with each other in order to foster a sense of belonging with their organisations, said Premji, speaking at the Microsoft Future Ready event.

With a large share of the workforce connecting with the organisation remotely, it becomes essential for the organisation to foster engagement similar to what they would have in the real world. This becomes especially relevant when the technology ecosystem is facing massive demand for talent and companies are working hard to retain them, he said.

Earlier, Rekha Menon, chairperson, Accenture India had said that the demand for tech talent in India is currently eight times more than the current supply. A key reason for this is the rise in demand for digital skills globally, along with an expansion of the technology ecosystem beyond just tech companies.

“I think this is a universal shortage of talent and a universal demand for talent. And so, everybody, I think, is struggling a little bit,” said Premji. “We’ve got to focus certainly on ensuring that people have great opportunities to grow and learn inside the organisation for a better experience.”

At the same time, there’s a shift in the kind of skills that companies will look for.

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“As we work remotely, you need very different leadership skills. As we work with machines, we need different human skills like critical thinking and reasoning,” said Menon. Accenture, she said, has already started to hire people from liberal arts and anthropology backgrounds because a creative and multidisciplinary approach is what the industry needs.

It is equally important to focus on soft skills, said Ronnie Screwvala, chairman, upGrad.com. “We’re missing the balance that everyone is looking for and that’s adding a lot of stress. There’s no point being a data scientist if you can’t get through the interview,” he said. While communication is the most visible, it is the overall ability to present your ideas and participate in meetings and having a point of view, which requires self-confidence.

While we have redefined a lot of things, we are still to redefine the way in which we think, communicate and execute, and here, being strong on soft skills can help create a new kind of competitive advantage, and this would need a shift in mindset.

.Menon said that bringing about the kind of change that is needed would require a collaborative approach across industry and government. Screwvala said that this would also require a mindset change from being process driven to driving innovation. Menon pointed out that a lot of innovation was already being done from the centres of excellence that operate in India, and a lot of which was being driven locally and being sent to the rest of the world.