Abstract
The article The Engagement of Lower Segment Employees and Indian Education System is a sincere efforts have been made in highlighting how the lower segment employees in Government and Private sector have been suffering due to lack of practical exposure to the real life situations. This article also shows how the Indian education system has ignored the importance of introducing skill development programs in the curriculum with special emphasis on its consequences. Apt examples have been cited in this article while highlighting different aspects of the mindsets of employees belonging to lower segment. HR related issues have also been highlighted while making up this article. This article shows how the unemployment problem has become rampant issue in developing countries like India for the lack of developed skills amongst the lower segment employees. Through this article the recommended strategies has been developed for improving the productivity of the organizations in private and public sector through ensuring the loyalty of lower segment employees.
Introduction
Of late, Forbes magazine has made prediction that after 150 years the economy of India will surpass that of the United Kingdom. It has also been well predicted by other prominent magazines and scholars that India will surpass United Kingdom by 2020 in terms of economic development and prosperity (Shah, 2016). It will not be an exaggeration in averring that this prediction made by prominent magazines and scholars is quite dramatic and interesting. After the occurrence of Brexit in the 21st century, the dramatic changes have been brought about in the calculated economical prediction of scholars with respect to the economic growth and development of India. Since the economic reform in 1991, India has been able to emerge as a growing economic power with the introduction of several initiatives and existence of its young potential manpower.
Indian education system
The education system was structured in such a way that it does not help the young generation in developing entrepreneurial qualities and risk taking mindset. Indian education system has always been focused on generating salaried employees. They are later transformed into the machine with no existence of creativity and entrepreneurial qualities as well as aptitude. Hence, it can be said that the Indian education system, despite being able in generating young people with educated mindset and culture, does not encourage in producing people with independent mind and risk-taking ability (Sadiqe, 2014). The parents usually do not encourage their children in taking the risk of starting their own ventures thereby resulting in creating the hindrance in the way of the development of entrepreneurial qualities amongst the young people. Therefore, directly and indirectly the education system of India and the society itself can be held responsible for creating the illusion in the young generation’s mind that grabbing Government’s jobs can be the sole way of earning handsome amount of money and respect in society as job security is associated with them (Vij & Sharma, 2014). Even the Government has been put under the intensive pressure for generating jobs for the large number of candidates. However, it is imperative to consider whether the Government will be able to control the situation when need for resources and enough funds to provide jobs will be arising. If the Government shows inability in providing salaries to the employees, the people’s trust on the Government will wither away. The Government will lose its credibility before young generation. It can result in discouraging the society to educate their next generations. As a result, the value of education will be decreased.
Due to the acceleration of development in the field of medical science and technology over the time period, the life expectancy of human being has been increased since the past century. It has helped in reducing the mortality rate of children thereby resulting in the sudden increase of the world population. It directly and indirectly enforced the society and government to explore the unexplored land and resources. This initiative has increased the pollution level thereby resulting in increasing the possibility of the occurrence of global warming. The global warming is considered as a one of the biggest issues at this moment worldwide. The developing countries have been trying to control the fossil fuel burning to reduce the pollution and global warming (Haski‐Leventhal, 2013). However, the developed countries do not show willingness in sharing their technologies, which they have already developed to avoid fossil fuel burning. It implies that the political readiness of the developed countries and all global originations associated with the preservation of environmental balance.
Unmatched skills and unmatched degree production in India and unemployment
Due to the existence of traditional education system, a lot of educated people have been suffering in every part of the India. It is because the traditional Indian education system prefers to ensure the deliverance of theoretical knowledge to the learners rather than laying emphasis on practical exposure to the real life situations. Recently, when I asked one of my cousins after the completion of his MBA from an Indian University to write a business plan, the most astonishing reply came to me “What is Business Plan?” That reply surprised me a lot. In another incident, when I was on my first job few days back, I had seen my other new joinees being scared of their new manager. He was shouting at them as if they are his slaves. I was surprised seeing his attitude. On one side, I was surprised to see how the fresher MBAs were talking without being confident and on the other side; I have experienced how the manager was literally shouting. In the presentable word, I would rather say they were literally being bullied by the manager. Due to the power and authority, the manager forgot manners and the new employees were not enlightened about the real management. They simply passed the exams by memorizing the management theories and models. As a result, they never get exposure to the real life management. Therefore, it will not be an exaggeration in averring that the Indian education system has been failed in fulfilling the need of learners. As a result, the employees fail to generate profits for the organizations due to the lack of exposure to the real life business situations. In this context, it can be said that it does not take an MBA degree for managing the business in a successful manner. It requires real life exposure to the competitive business environment be it external or internal and knowledge for ensuring the effective business management.
Due to the lack of willingness for ensuring skill development of learners, the unemployment in India has become rampant (Cowan, 2017). The organizations do not prefer to consider the score cards of job applicants during hiring process. They prefer skills over the academic scores. Unfortunately in our education system, the academic score has been given utmost importance. It has been seen that despite being able to score high marks in examinations, a person cannot be great performer in the organization. It occurs due to the lack of developed skills and training. The lack of skills can create hindrance in acquiring job opportunities. It may lead to the unemployment. Hence, it will not be difficult to conclude that the unemployment problem has become rampant in India due to the Government’s procrastination in the context of developing skills along with knowledge. The co-existence of skill and knowledge is necessary for ensuring the overall development of a person. A person cannot stay in job for longer period if he/she does not utilize its skills for contributing to the development of organization in terms of financial profitability and business development.
Lower segment employees and their mindsets
Apart from the government employees, no other employees belonging to lower segment were secured. For this, only the government job seems lucrative for any low educated citizen. Even in the government class, 4 employees were deprived financially by the class 1 and class 2 types of employees. It has been done by taking the advantage of the low level of education possessed by the class 4 employees.
One of such example one Smt Saraswati Pal DRAW was engaged in the office of DRDA(Dhalai)during 1999 by ADAM & Collector cum P.D.DRDA (Dhalai) but she was paid Rs 500.00/- per month though she was entitled to get RS 1680.00/- per month according to finance department approved wages for draws of that time. The subsequent PD with approval of the Governing Body of DRDA allowed the legitimate entitlement of her wages Rs 1680.00/- per month.
But the Government blocked the promotion of the officer to IAS 2007 of MT cadre charging that the increase of wages from RS 500/- to RS 1680/- was illegal though in inquiry the charge was not proved.
Again one Jamuna Das DRW appeared for Madhyamik examination in 1999 with due permission from the BDO Amarpur under different plea her promotion was denied though she cleared her Madhyamik Examination in 1999 until 2017 when the then BDO clarified that her prayer was genuine one. These kinds of things occur for the insensitive attitude of officers in handling such issues or for their ignorance in the subject matter while dealing with them. She has been given promotion very recently. Things happened for insensitive attitude officers handling such issues or for their ignorance in the subject matter dealing with.
The situation of the class 4 employees clearly shows how the low-level employees are ignored even in the government sectors, though Government jobs are always regarded as lucrative because of job security. On the other hand, the low-level employees working in private sector do not have job security and they are totally dependent on the mercy of the origination’s’ owners or the superiors associated with the originations (Bhuvanaiah & Raya, 2015). On account of that, the job satisfaction of the lower segment employees has always been less for which the frequency of leaving the job in lower segment employees has always been higher than any other segments of the employees in the hierarchy (timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 2016). The unmatched skills and unmatched degree production in India have been contributing to making unemployment issues in India rampant.
HR management Issues with Lower segment employees
Even the HR management hardly focuses on any managerial decisions covering the lower segment of the employees. Most of the job satisfaction and employee motivation related decisions are made for the white collar employees. The blue collar employees always face the discriminations and are forced to work beyond their physical limitations. The HR managers and management face challenges while ensuring the retention of blue-collar employees thereby resulting in hampering the organizational productivity (Bhattacharya, 2015). That is why it has become imperative for the management to ensure that the employee can be retained and attrition rate can be controlled. However, it cannot be denied that the employee retention can be ensured only when the management will be giving serious thoughts in motivating employees through providing them monetary and non-monetary rewards in a proper manner.
Strategy to engage and retain the lower segment employees
According to the human tendency, employees think to leave the job in every 3 to 4 months. So if the HR management can be able to ensure employee engagement in a positive manner, employees can be able to show utmost level of loyalty towards organizations. In addition, they can be loyal towards the employers for a longer period, which can result in the employee retention in the organizations.
Few steps can be taken by the HR management to engage the employee positively and make them loyal for ensuring employee retention for a longer period.
- Introducing better incentive system for lower segment employees
- Awarding them in every 3 months considering their last 3 months performance level.
- Not depriving the lower segment employees of their rewards while providing them with incentives.
- Giving the lower segment employees better allowances for their house rents.
- Introducing better feedback system for them.
- Ensuring better communication in between the higher level employees.
- Giving enough respect and importance to them and make them feel they are important as well for the organizational growth.
- Allocating the lower segment employees with responsibilities and empowering them while devising decision-making process in organisations.
- Training the higher level employees to behave well and developing their interpersonal skill so that they do not behave badly with lower segment employees.
- Making the lower segment employees feel secure in their jobs and motivating them to perform better while performing their job related responsibilities.
It has always been observed that when the employees feel secured and their needs and requirements are taken care of, then employees can be transformed into loyal employees. It has also been observed that employees don’t leave the organization. They leave the manager or their immediate superior (Lipman, 2015). It can be rectified by introducing better training and development system for developing interpersonal skill amongst the higher level employees so that they can communicate with their subordinates through gaining understanding on their issues.
Psychological effect on the employees
When the organizations provide a better incentive scheme in every 3 months, the employees do not think of leaving their present companies because of the better compensation package. On the other hand, when the superiors treat the subordinates with respect and well-behavior, it makes a direct impact on the lower segment employees (Ali, 2013). If they are allocated with the right role and responsibilities, they will get the feeling of being important with respect to their tasks and positions. As a result, they will be motivated to perform their task related activities. It will make them feel important and will bring the sense of loyalty amongst the employees who are mostly ignored in the private organizations including the government bodies.
Conclusion
The loyal employees will always be beneficiary for the organizations, as they know their responsibilities towards the organizations. They work for the organizations which also look after its employees as valuable assets. It will directly put impact on the financial growth of the organizations. The experienced employees’ performance always makes the difference compared to that of new arrivals and unskilled employees for the organization.
Reference List
Ali, M. (2013). Socio-economic analysis of rickshaw pullers in urban centres: A case study of Uttar Pradesh, India. International Journal of Advanced Research in Management and Social Sciences, 2(1), 98-109.
Bhattacharya, Y. (2015). Employee engagement in the shipping industry: a study of engagement among Indian officers. WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs, 14(2), 267-292.
Bhuvanaiah, T., & Raya, R. P. (2015). Mechanism of improved performance: intrinsic motivation and employee engagement. SCMS Journal of Indian Management, 12(4), 92.
Cowan, D. (2017). Strategic internal communication: how to build employee engagement and performance. London: Kogan Page Publishers.
Haski‐Leventhal, D. (2013). Employee engagement in CSR: The case of payroll giving in Australia. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 20(2), 113-128.
Lipman, V. (2015). People Leave Managers, Not Companies. Retrieved 19 June 2017, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2015/08/04/people-leave-managers-not-companies/#37ac06116f3a
Sadiqe, M. (2014). Employee Engagement in Hospitality Industry in India: An Overview. Global Journal of Finance and Management, 6(4), 375-378.
Shah, A. (2016). India’s Economy Surpasses That Of Great Britain. Retrieved 19 June 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/12/16/indias-economy-surpasses-that-of-great-britain/#4d55574139eb
The Times of India. (2016). BTechs and MBAs in UP line up for sweepers’ jobs. Retrieved 19 June 2017, from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/BTechs-and-MBAs-in-UP-line-up-for-sweepers-jobs/articleshow/55884377.cms
Vij, P., & Sharma, M. (2014). The effect of human capital management practices on employee positive behavioral outcomes. International Journal of Management Practice, 7(3), 204-221.
This article was first published in printed version in Journal of Cross-Functional Business Research (Maiden Edition) Fall 2017
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