Concept Note Occupational Standards (OS)

Transcription

1 Concept Note Occupational Standards (OS) IT-ITES Sector Skills Council, NASSCOM 4E-Vandana Building (4th Floor) 11, Tolstoy Marg,New Delhi T /60 F

2 Table of Contents 1. Introduction About Occupational Standards (OS) Definition Functions of OS OS Benefits The OS Model / Process Flow Overview of the IT Sector IT services sector BPO services sector Engineering Services Packaged Software Skill requirements in the IT and ITES industry

3 1. Introduction Indian IT-ITeS industry has built its reputation in the global arena based on several differentiators-chief among them being manpower. Over the years, organizations across the world have come to recognize the value that India s vast and readily available pool of IT professionals brings to every engagement. Global organizations have found it extremely cost-effective to leverage this significant resource and gain bottomline benefits by harnessing its power and in addition to the harness the quality and innovation benefits, by working with the top of the line. Going forward, however, the scenario is expected to be very different. Instead of just cost arbitrage the world will look to India for highly priced and specialized talent. Ageing western economies are already facing severe skills shortage, and will, in the years ahead, require people with advanced technology skills and domain knowledge. In the near future it would also be an added requirement to nurture mobility between occupations and across labour markets. In terms of sheer numbers India is well positioned to provide this manpower, owing to its growing base of people in the working age group. At the same time a significant amount of work needs to be done to convert this raw resource into employable and more importantly into skilled talent. It is only by making its people future ready that the IT-ITeS industry will be able to sustain its leadership and the global industry during its next growth spiral. If India is to emerge as the skills factory of the world (at all levels of the value chain), the hub that manpower starved nations look to in future, a huge effort will have to be made now, to build for the years ahead. India itself will need people. With the global markets veering towards recovery, IT-ITeS organizations in India are back into hiring mode. In fact, by 2020, the sector is expected to create direct employment of 10 million and indirect employment of about 40 million, touching diverse sections of society. To remain relevant, inclusive and viable, NASSCOM acknowledges that the Sector Skill Council initiative can be the game changer and the way to go. To formalize the above vision NASSCOM in partnership with the National Skill Development (NSDC) has sought and been formally approved as the IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council India, which is set up under the National Skill Development Mission (NSDC) to fulfill the growing need in India for skilled manpower, across sectors and narrow the existing gap between the demand and supply of skills. The objective of NSDC is to contribute significantly (about 30 per cent) to the overall target of skilling / up skilling 500 million people in India by 2022, mainly by fostering private sector initiatives in skill development programmes and providing viability gap funding. 3

4 Sector Skills Councils are tasked with developing an enabling environment for skills development, including support for (i) clarification of sector-specific competencies/skills (ii) capacity development for skills development institutions/ such as curriculum and standards, faculty development, and so forth; (iii) trainee placement mechanisms, and (iv) monitoring and evaluation, supporting systematic collection and analysis of data about skills development, including employer feedback regarding the quality of trainees (V) quality assurance of independent third-party providers etc. The National Skill Development Policy 2009 mandates that NSDC will facilitate in partnership with industry sectors: Setting up Labor Market Information System (LMIS) to assist planning and delivery of training; Identification of skill development needs and preparing a catalogue of skill types in OS; Develop a sector skill development plan and maintain skill inventory; Developing skill competency standards and qualifications; Standardization of affiliation and accreditation process; Participation in affiliation, accreditation, standardization; Plan and execute training of trainers; Promotion of academies of excellence; SSCs are national partnership organizations that bring together all the stakeholders industry, labor, and the academia, for the common purpose of workforce development of particular industry sectors. Sector Skill Councils in India National Council on Skill Development National Skill Development Coordination Board National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) SSCs Formalized Approved SSCs (Sector Skills Councils) National level bodies feeding into development- based on employer needs & industry standards. Automobile and Autocomponents Leather and Leather Goods Textiles and Garments Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Building & Construction Building Hardware & Home Furnishings Electronics Hardware Food Processing Furniture and Furnishings Gem && Jewelry Banking Insurance & Finance Security Handloom & Handicrafts Media, Entertainment, Broadcasting, Content Creation, Animation IT-ITeS Organized Retail Unorganized Sector e.g., Domestic help, Private Security Industry, Plumbing.. Telecommunicati ons Tourism, Hospitality and Travel Trade Transportation Logistics, Warehousing and Packaging Educational and Skill Development Services Healthcare Services Real Estate Services Rubber As on April

5 In the national context, India's transition to a knowledge-based economy requires a new generation of educated and skilled manpower. The competitive edge will be determined by the ability to create, share and use knowledge effectively. A knowledge economy requires India to develop knowledge workers and technologists who are flexible and analytical and can be the driving force for innovation and growth. To achieve the same, we need a flexible education system that can help facilitate the development of a workforce in capabilities and technical skills across the pipeline. The challenge of skilling/up-skilling millions by 2020 will require both fundamental education reform across primary, secondary and higher education and significant enhancement of supplementary skill development. In the near term, IT-ITeS Sector Skill Council (SSC) will focus primarily on supplementary skill development and strive to facilitate seamless tracks within the education system. The purpose of this proposal is to identify ways and means for the development of scalable quality capacity that is sustainable. Research will offer a dipstick regarding employment opportunities, related job rolls with profiles, and relevant skills and competencies required, present and future. It will also: - Identify and validate skill gaps and successful training models to bridge the gaps; - Provide direction with reference to employment trends, at all levels in this sector; - Shape projects and programs aimed at enhancing India s competitiveness in the global IT-BPO human resource (HR) market; - Maximize the impact of employment and skills policies and employer behavior to support jobs growth and secure an internationally competitive base; - Enable industry, government and the education sector to develop the strategies needed to handle future human resource challenges; IT-ITeS SSC NASSCOM (SSC) aims to: Fulfil industry sector talent needs for quality and quantity to enable a sustainable pipeline that is industry ready Research labour market information and intelligence to provide industry with accurate real time inputs to assist in planning and delivery of training. Provide certification information and access to all stakeholders in this ecosystem, thus reducing skill gaps and shortages Develop a delivery mechanism for industry relevant training w.r.t. occupations identified in career paths Set up standards to bring global best practices in industry 5

6 NASSCOM via it role as the IT-ITeS Sector Skill Council envisions scaling quality capacity leading to enhanced employability across the pipeline. IT-ITeS Sector Skills Council NASSCOM (SSC) is this industry s skill development and standard setting body. The SSC proposes to complement the existing education system and address the skill gaps through the following broad activities that are not exhaustive: 1. Conducting research Building up skill inventory database for the industry sector, skill-wise, region-wise, reviewing international trends in skill development and identifying skill gaps and technology to be taken up for teaching. 2. Develop Foundation and Specialization courses and the relevant metrics to measure skill transference- Industry members under all the sub-sectors /service lines are collating best practices and publishing the necessary programs of skilling with an aim to increase the pipeline of industry ready individuals. Faculty development programs, student training, and employment assessments (NAC, NAC-- Tech) are the delivery mechanisms being implemented in a structured way. 3.Improving the delivery mechanism Partnering with educational institutions to train trainers and upgrade skill sets of existing industry employees, and those in the industry value chain, e.g., dealer and service networks. 4. Building quality assurance Setting up a robust and stringent certification and accreditation process for industry sector facing skill development institutes to ensure consistency and acceptability of standard In this context internal SSC Skill Development Councils / Education & Talent Development Councils, in the Technology, Business Process Management (BPM), Infrastructure Management Services (IMS), Engineering R&D Services space etc. are backed by NASSCOM and its members. NASSCOM via the IT-ITeS Sector Skill Council (SSC) will strive to facilitate a strong, well prepared and highly educated workforce. IT-ITeS Sector Skill Council will aim to be a catalyst for change, pushing for innovations that will provide: - Career awareness; - Professional development; - Skills definitions; - Work-force market intelligence; for the India IT-ITeS industry, educators and governments and tried and tested models for other industry sectors to emulate. Provide Work Force Management Information (WFMI) researches and reports on workforce market issues facing the IT-BPO industry to build a deeper understanding of India s IT-BPO sector. IT-ITeS career awareness will provide programs and tools to explore the career possibilities, short, medium and long term in India s IT-ITeS sector. As an overview, IT-ITeS SSC NASSCOM will aim to address, in mission mode, the following: - Identify and validate skill gaps, generic and domain (Industry- Academia); 6

7 - Collate and standardize existing programs to bridge skill gaps, across the pipeline; - Develop necessary programs to bridge generic skill gaps for the teacher and the taught; - Pilot, faculty development and skill transference programs (IT-ITeS), from teacher to taught; - Analyze impact of student training with metrics towards increased employability; - Facilitate Scale w.r.t quality capacity across the pipeline (post the Pilot ); - Promote 3 rd party providers w.r.t. IT-ITeS skill development at entry level; - Monitor change for quality and sustainability; - Provide outstanding labour/workforce market intelligence which helps business and people; - Validated IT-ITeS skill development models, are made available to other skill sectors; - Engage and collaborate with other Sector Skill Councils to develop employment skill standards and best market solutions which leverage greater investment in skills; IT-ITeS SSC in partnership with the Indian industry and the education sector, IT-ITeS SSC will strive to improve standards, education and employment within the sector and assist in facilitating the design of a National Qualification Framework (NQF) for India. Ultimately, the key purpose would be to scale quality capacity, (faculty and students to start with); to have a larger talent pool that is industry ready; to have greater alignment between industry (vertical) occupational competencies and aptitude increasing employee satisfaction and performance and finally to also reduce attrition, all with the active involvement of this industry. It is in this background IT-ITeS SSC NASSCOM now wants to engage consultants to assist in defining and development of Occupational Standards that include: Analysis of the Demand side w.r.t. Skills for Entry Level Jobs; Conduct functional analysis and development of sample Occupational Standards from the job roles identified in various service verticals, such as BPM, IT, Engg, IMS, Product and Software development, Cyber-Security, and E-Governance; It would be necessary to accompany the above requirement with Analysis of the Supply Chain w.r.t Academic Outcomes Database of available Supply-Demand stakeholders and their requirements Analysis of Supply- Demand employment requirements & skill deficiencies and analytics thereof; Identification of existing Occupational Standards relevant to identified entry level occupations across industry sub-sectors and a sample OS for this industry sector Development of 100% OS at entry level Approach and methodology for the maintenance of the currency of the Occupational Standards developed The research will lead to occupational standards that will define the training needs of both the formal and nonformal sector for lifelong employment in the industry. The detailed scope of work is provided in section 2. The scope of this project will also include the development of certification for various job roles/occupations. 7

8 However the scope of this project outcome is NOT limited to this document. 8

9 2. About Occupational Standards (OS) Occupational Standards (OS) are performance standards that individuals must achieve when carrying out functions in the workplace, together with specifications of the underpinning knowledge and understanding. OS describe what an individual needs to do, know and understand in order to carry out a particular job role or function Definition OS are Standards set by the industry, which consists of all employers in the sector; they are statements of effective performance, which have been agreed by a major representative sample of employers and other stakeholders. OS are Occupational / Job because they describe the performance required of an individual when carrying out functions in the workplace (occupation/job). OS can be an independent job role or be representative of a set / pack comprising of other OS at various levels. OS are NOT training courses or programmes of study, but state what are considered to be critical aspects of competence at work, and balance innovation and established best practice. Competence includes skills, knowledge and understanding. Standards must be flexible enough to accommodate changes in future skills needs. All relevant partners should work with the key stakeholders to ensure that the occupational standards meet the needs of employers, businesses, employees and individuals within our sector. The standards benchmark the required competence to ensure that people who use services receive the best support from the people who work with them. OS are developed by employers and other stakeholders to describe the competencies required in an occupational area. The SSC or other standards setting organizations are responsible for working with employers and other stakeholders to develop, maintain and help implement OS. A key part of the process is employer and stakeholder engagement across the nation and SSCs are required to carry out appropriate consultation across the nation. SSCs are responsible for ensuring that the OS are up to date and reflect changes in legislation and industry practices. This will mean that OS will be reviewed as appropriate to the sector. OS are not mandatory, however, they are nationally recognized standards developed by employers, and are an important benchmark of best practice that can be used by employers to ensure that they are meeting the standards set by their industry Functions of OS In brief, the functions of OS are: Helps assess one s skills levels 9

10 Helps improve one s performance Set professional objectives Develop personal training plans Benchmark one s performance against one s future progress Scope out opportunities for a change in career based on one s skills Motivate oneself to develop new skills Gain credit for one s performance and achievement Improve the quality of goods and services Develop qualifications Provide greater employee satisfaction regarding the job concerned and reduce attrition and increase industry ROI 2.3. OS Benefits The use of OS has many benefits for the employers and their businesses. Some of them are listed below. 1. Increase business productivity improve the quality of goods and services improve the skills of your current and future workforce describe the skills you need in your workforce assess the skills your workforce currently has set objectives for performance and appraisal develop training and recruitment plans to fill any identified gaps and shortages support the development of procedures and systems for carrying out specific tasks 2. Selection and recruitment reduce the costs for recruitment by facilitating the selection of new employees develop job descriptions/person specifications identifying the key skills for a particular job/role develop job advertisements help retain staff 3. Staff development and training identify the skills needs for your staff develop training plans and courses to meet both organizational and individual learning needs develop induction programmes support the development of in-house training and competency frameworks as OS specify in detail what constitutes good practice evaluate the benefits of external training courses by defining the expected outcomes 10

11 link to the requirements of professional bodies 4. Benchmarking provide an excellent basis from which to develop benchmarking exercises either internally or to compare with other similar organizations meet the indicators for external accreditation, such as Investors in People ensure common standards of performance and quality when partnering with other organizations/agencies demonstrate the competence of the organization when tendering for projects or applying for funding The educational training providers can use the OS for the following purposes. 1. Mapping provision Mapping of current provision of courses and workshops against the relevant OS. This will enable identification of gaps in provision, and can highlight where there is a need to update material to include new areas or to remove materials which are out of date. 2. New provision Developing entirely new courses, basing the syllabus on the areas of competence which make up the OS 2.4. The OS Model / Process Flow Performance Indicators & Performance Ensuring measures 11

12 3. Overview of the IT Sector The major segments of the IT Industry are IT Services, BPO, and Engineering Services, and Packaged Software. Much of the activity is centered on service offerings in Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI), Hi-Tech and Telecom, Manufacturing, and Retail. There has been an inorganic growth observed in the IT sector of India during the last decade. This growth has been observed both in the revenues as well as the number of people employed in the sector. India s acceptance as a preferred off-shoring destination in the world is evidenced by the fact that it was ranked at the top (first place) in AT Kearney s Global Services Location Index. The IT and ITES Industry has been mainly based in the metros and tier-1 cities in India. This is expected to span out to certain tier-2 cities in the future along with the growth of the industry IT services sector The IT Services segment is the largest contributor to the IT industry, accounting for more than half of industry revenues. IT services involve a full range of engagement types that include consulting, system integration, IT outsourcing, and managed services. Following are the core activities of IT services sector: IT Consulting; Systems Integration; Custom Application Development (CAD); Software Deployment and Support; Infrastructure Management Consulting and Integration; Infrastructure Management Operations; Software Testing; IT Education and Training; Services Oriented Architecture (SOA); Application Management; Information System Outsourcing; Hardware deployment and support; Web Services; 3.2. BPO services sector BPO includes processes that may be IT-enabled, do not necessitate on-shore presence and are hence, offshore-able. Customer interaction, and Finance and Accounting services account for a significant portion of BPO revenues. Most leading IT companies have BPO divisions/subsidiaries. The growing area in this segment is what is called as Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO). Some of the KPO services already outsourced to India include data analytics, content management, research and information services, animation, biotech and pharmaceutical research, medical and health services. A substantial amount of growth is expected to be in the areas of Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO), and Financial and Market Research. Domestic GDP growth and increasing domestic IT spends will also fuel growth of the BPO sector in the domestic context. 12

13 Following are the core activities of BPO sector: Customer Interaction & Support (CIS); Customer Care; Finance & Accounting (F&A); Research and Analytics; Human Resource Management (HRM); Procurement Services / Supply Chain Management; Knowledge Services (KPO / Knowledge Process Outsourcing); Legal Services (LPO / Legal Process Outsourcing); 3.3. Engineering Services Several product-based multinational companies are known to be outsourcing part of their product development requirements from their captive offshore centres in India. Range of services outsourced include engineering and designing solutions across diverse industry verticals like research and development, telecommunications, automotive, aerospace, construction, and industrial design. Following are the core activities of Engineering Services sector: Research and Development (R&D) services; Hardware and software technologies; Development of software running on embedded systems; Computer-aided design (CAD); 3.4. Packaged Software Packaged software are programs or code sets of any type, commercially available through sale, lease, rental, or as a service. Packaged software revenues typically include fees for initial and continued right-to-use packaged software licenses. Following are the core activities of Software sector: Software Products; Offshore Product Development; 3.5. Skill requirements in the IT and ITES industry The Indian IT and ITES industry currently employs about 2.2 million 1 persons in comparison to 0.8 million in In the context of growth forecasted for the industry, availability of skilled human resource supported by appropriate skill building initiatives will be the key to this growth. Major trends impacting skill requirements for the IT Industry Continuous demand for skilled workforce; Demand for skilled workforce in IT consulting; Demand for skilled workforce in specific industries like BFSI, Healthcare, and Education; 1 Source: National Skill Development Corporation Report 13

14 Inability to Innovate in skill development; Increased share of other business verticals; Increased opportunities in the Indian market from other markets like Europe; Evolution of newer pricing models; Evolution of new technologies like Cloud Computing; Major trends impacting skill requirements for the ITES Industry Increasing share of business from KPOs; High-end research and analytics, online market research, and legal advisory; Increasing demand of end-to-end service offerings in the domestic market; Increasing confidence of clients on Indian outsourcing vendors; This unprecedented growth in the IT-ITES sector can be much more with markets opening up further and supported by large investments in innovation, skill building, IP creation, and development of IT infrastructure in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. At the same time, risks such as protectionism, security, poor infrastructure, and lack of skill development can dampen the growth. For this growth to materialize, India needs to develop its talent pool and serve as a hub for end-to-end services, and innovation in business models and technology offerings. Expansion of IT and ITES Industry to tier-2 and tier-3 cities is also critical towards this end towards achieving cost competitiveness and inclusive growth. As enunciated by NASSCOM s Perspective 2020, the success story of the industry would rely on the following: Catalyzing growth beyond today s core markets Establishing India as a trusted global hub for professional services Harnessing ICT (Information and Communication Technology) for inclusive growth Developing a high caliber talent pool Building a pre-eminent innovation hub in India Based on the trends witnessed in productivity and the likely growth potential of the IT and ITES industry, it is expected that the industry would employ about 7.5 million 2 persons directly by A large portion of this employment is expected to occur in the ITES (BPO/KPO) exports sector, followed by IT exports and then in the domestic market. The incremental human resource requirement in the IT and ITES sector is expected to be about 5.3 million persons till To become globally competitive it is imperative for the IT-ITES companies to adopt international standards and best practices. This alone can help them optimize their quality, services and costs. The frameworks to 2 Source: National Skill Development Corporation Report 14

15 follow should be the ones that make the organization data-driven, instill process discipline and help achieve sustained excellence. Some important steps that companies need to take are: The design and deployment of the right processes during the formative stages of the organization; The creation of a robust and streamlined training plan, a foolproof but scalable recruitment process and efficient HR activities to create a motivating work environment and a performance management system; Continuous efforts in improving service and quality levels while lowering costs and creating a highly performance driven culture. Emphasizing on continuously improving talent, developing effective teams, and successfully managing the people assets of the organization *** 15