HRM CHRONICLES
Lingering Uncertainties At Workplace
By Samson Osero
Recently on Saturday afternoon at a joint near my home office , I had an arranged meeting with Daudi Ringo and Angela Mauka . Daudi is a don who lectures political science at a local university . Angela is a seasoned HR professional who works with a multinational drug-manufacturing company . After exchanging pleasantries , we ordered drinks and updated each other on our personal undertakings including the simmering effects emanating from the never-ceasing Covid-19 pandemic . I told them : " It will take a long time to reverse the negative HR implications of coronavirus . Yet some organizations may be sleeping on their laurel wishing that some unseen hand will turn things around ." Promising employees have lost their jobs at the peak of their careers . Others are assuming duties and responsibilities with limited skills or none . Employers have slashed down the training budget because it is regarded as an investment without immediate returns .
In supporting my concerns , Angela said : " My nightmare is on the talent pipeline that has been offloaded to the jobless market . We have had to go back to the drawing board several times because the future looks oblique ." At the pick of the coronavirus pandemic her company released employees whom they had trained for the short-term future . The company had requested some employees in upper and middle management levels to work from home . But productivity nosedived because of poor or lack of preparations to undertake the new mode of working . Daudi who had been following the conversation without interrupting finally spoke : " As individual organizations were struggling those with keys to turnaround the economy were on their heels chasing people who purportedly imported face masks and personal protective equipment which had evaporated into thin air . More time was spent on chasing the goose thieves than allocating the economic stimulus package to sectors that would have resuscitated the economy in record time ." I agreed with his sentiments because time was wasted copying what developed countries were doing without taking into account our local conditions .
Back to the workplace , Angela said ; " Signs of business normalcy have been seen in the horizon . My challenge now is how to recall those workers whom we " let go " during the bad times . Some may return with new expectations . Others could decline our offers because of fearing that they might again become a target in case another redundancy arises ." I suggested to Angela that to confirm or dismiss her fears , she can call a prereturning-back-to-work meeting with the target employees . In such a meeting , she can provide the potential returneeemployees with information on new terms and conditions of employment . If the employees are offered the previous terms , they are likely to decline the returning initiative . On the assurance of job security , it is important not to make any guarantees to the employees because the economic situation is like a windvane whose direction can change anytime .
Daudi who had been waiting to make his contribution to the discussion said : " Universities are likely to churn out halfbaked graduates because of the possible rush to complete course contents to meet graduation schedules . Students would like the course content covered as if in a crash program while the lecturers may not budge on the speed of content coverage and the number of examinations to be administered ." I pitied the universities and said : " Lecturers need to seize this opportunity to introduce online classes to complement face to face teaching . The future of learning at universities shall be online which is being resisted by lecturers . They need to curve out their role in online transfer of knowledge . Otherwise , they would become redundant in the oncoming wave of digital learning and testing of students .
Angela chipped in : " Employers would face challenges bringing on board halfbaked graduates . I think there will be need for graduates to undergo pre-employment programs to equip them with working skills . There is also need for universities to interface with the industry to ensure that they produce graduates with demanded skills ." I added that some universities were running degree courses which were a topic in a subject . For instance , a first degree in project management is too limited to enable its graduates find jobs in the competitive labor market . Universities have opportunities to broaden their degree offerings to meet workplace expectations . For instance , instead of a Bachelor of Computer Science , the degree can be enriched and retitled as Bachelor of Computer Science with Human Resource Management . Graduates of the latter degree would be marketable in workplace that promotes multi-skilling .
We ordered our last drinks when Daudi said : " At national level , we need to identify the skills that our country needs so that graduates do not enter the labor market with obsolete skills . National skills gaps need to identified so that the education and training systems can offer relevant programs to bridge the gaps ." These remarks reminded me of telecommunications engineering graduates who entered the labor market with " landlines technology " only to find that G technology was headed to G4 . The same shock would be suffered by graduates being prepared for work in economic sectors that have been fully digitized . One of my great worries have been on a degree in pharmacy where graduates are trained to dispense medicine . Yet robots have been invented to dispense medicine with 100 % accuracy . Both Daudi and Angela were so surprised that they advocated for a total overhaul of our education system to catch up with the oncoming robotic technologies . I retorted : " Graduates who will be prepared to repair and service robots shall be in high demand ." As we stood up to leave I said : " Thanks for sparing your weekend time for our meeting . Next time we can discuss topics like Big Data and AI that are poised to revolutionize the future workplace .
Samson Osero is an Independent Human Resource Development Consultant and Author of the book ‘ Transition Into Retirement ’. You can commune with him on this or related matters via email at : Samsonosero @ gmail . com .
48 MAL41 / 21 ISSUE