Multiskilling- The way forward or an existential Crisis?
skilling helps employees attain job security by always
being on top of the job-requisites. Also by being
skilled in more than one domain, employees find it
easier to ask for reallocation to jobs that they are interested in thus exploiting more growth opportunities
within the organization (this obviously has constraints in the form
of scope for the
same within the
organization).
It
helps
employs
cross the chasm
between
knowledge workers and boundaryless workers.
Examples
from
across industries
show increased inclination towards developing a multi
-skilled workforce. From frontline managers in the
Hospitality Industry, to customer service agents in
Business Process Outsourcing Industry to engineers in
manufacturing setups to health practitioners, most
organisations today are looking to have employees
who can juggle between different tasks. An interesting
multiskilling initiative in the Indian context is the Indradhanush Initiative by ACC Cement. The Indradhanush initiative aimed at multi-dimensional
growth of functional competencies of its human capital at the plant level. ACCCL came up with a multi-skill
roll. This helped the organization challenge the theory
of one person to perform one role. It also helped
them overcome workforce challenges arising from
absenteeism. The company created a skill matrix for
each plant. It aimed to train people and make them
deliver on multiple competencies. By creating multiskilled individuals within the existing employee pool,
the company was also able to successfully bring down
the number of po ͥѥ