Page 65 - IBT Sept 2021 (1)
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Corporate Culture                                                                     A ROADMAP
                                                                                                    TO PROGRESS






             Reinventing Workplace Culture and                 Embracing life-long learning                                                Going beyond the metropolitan                    of 20 to 30 years. So Bangladesh, has up to 2040 after which
             People Strategy                                   The concept of continuing to learn new skills and specializing              In alignment with the holistic development of the   there will be an inevitable decline. Currently, the working
             As Bangladeshi organizations are growing,         on one’s own forte, even after graduating – is something that               country, urbanization of Bangladesh is also      population of our country is at 106.1 million, out of which the
             more emphasis is being put into inspecting        is yet to be fully embraced in Bangladesh. But over the last                increasing. Recent statistics show that around   actual labor force is 62.1 million. Out of this 62.1 million,
             the innate needs of the employees. This           few years, several corporate trainers and training institutes               37.41% of Bangladesh’s total population live in   around 59.5 million are employed in the public and private
             includes reshaping the company culture as a       have started to gradually strengthen this concept in                        urban areas and cities. In an article by Dhaka   sector, 2.6 million people are fully unemployed and the
             whole, and looking into diverse areas like –      Bangladesh. Employees now engage in corporate training and                  Tribune, it has been stated that the growth rate is   remaining 44 million are completely unemployed.
             ensuring employee benefits, celebrating global    seminars hosted by subject matter experts and enhance their                 anticipated to be 38 by 2021. With the increasing   Hence, this is the perfect time to increase the economy of
             and national holidays and sending gifts and       professional skill sets accordingly. Md. Sohan Haidear, the                 urbanisation, the growth of the urban population   Bangladesh by engaging this working population in
             privileges to family members. As a collective     Managing Director of Smartifier Training and Consultation                   also has increased to a ratio of 5.83 compared to   productive, highly efficient socio-economic activities.
             society, we in Bangladesh highly value the        shared his thoughts on this, “Corporate training and                        the national growth rate, which is 1.99. But this   Neighboring countries of the region like China, South Korea,
             impact and role of our parents in almost all      management coaching are radically new concepts in                           advancement barely takes into account that a     Vietnam, Taiwan and Thailand, have already taken their
             facets of our lives. So companies now have        Bangladesh. But it’s good to see that many of the veteran                   large chunk of the rural youth is deprived of all   economic position to new heights through the effective use of
             started to initiate a practice, where gifts are   corporate houses as well as the local startups are embracing                the engagement opportunities and job placements   demographic dividends. Yes, a steady, planned approach has
             directly sent to the employees’ parents, along    the idea of developing their employees’ skill sets. And much of             that their urban counterparts are getting. Nazmul   been necessary but that has been done so with utmost rigor
             with intimate letters from the top                the progress has been accelerated due to the COVID-19                       Ahmed, a Project Officer at an INGO shared his   and focus. While RMG still remains a dominant sector, we
             management about their sons’ or daughters’        pandemic; as employers have to virtually engage and equip                   thoughts about this, “It is astounding to see how   need to think beyond our comfort zone and train our youth in
             workplace performance. These accumulate to        their workforce for the challenging future ahead.” In the new               much the youth in rural areas suffer from access   other high-impact sectors, like ICT, Engineering, Agriculture
             strongly motivate the employees to perform at     normal and beyond, it is of utmost importance that employees                to life-changing opportunities. Yes, internet    and Service industries. Only then can we have a diverse youth
             their optimum levels.                             get trained in their relevant fields and beyond, in order to                penetration and smartphone availability of the   population that is able to derive value from multiple avenues.
                                                               induce more value in their respective organizations. Local                  country did rise, but youth living in small cities   Joint collaborating among the Public and Private entities are
             Automating recruitment processes                  edtech platforms like Ghoori Learning and 10 Minute School                  and villages of Bangladesh still do not have much   required; backed by a systematic approach to upskill and
             While recruitment has long been known to be       are playing an instrumental role in upskilling the young                    access to internship opportunities, co-curricular   develop the country’s youth. If Bangladesh’s functional youth
             a long and tedious task, visionary thinkers in    population of the country. Interactive, self-paced courses on               activities and other avenues that might have                               group can be trained through
             Bangladesh have started to integrate              Career grooming, Leadership, Emotional Intelligence and many                helped in enhancing their skillsets. Thus, they                            long-term planned training,
             technology into this and are coming up with       others are helping students and young professionals to learn                have no other option but to either stick to blue                           then these trained youth
             solutions that automate the entire recruitment    new skills and add more into their resumes. While countries                 collar jobs or remain unemployed. The hyper                                groups will be able to
             process for a company. Not only is this           like Malaysia and Singapore emphasize on skill development                  competitive job market is of no match to their                             establish their position in the
             removing any human bias or error, but it also     as a core part of their national employment strategy,                       skillsets; so they have no other option but to lag                         country and in the
             increases the organizations’ efficiency – thus    Bangladesh also needs to step up in the upcoming years and                  behind. The disparity across the region is                                 international arena. And thus
             leading to business growth. To talk in detail     train the youth population to transform them into future                    astounding. We need more inclusive training and                            in the near future,
             about this issue, we recently got in touch with   business leaders.                                                           skill development opportunities for the youth.                             Bangladesh will be a
             Samuel Mursalin, the Founder and Chief                                                                                        Only then can we ensure proper economic growth                             middle-income country and
             Strategy Officer of Bolstar. Bolstar is a Human   Bridging the Corporate and Classroom gap                                    from all parts of the country”                                             will be far ahead in the list of
             Resource (HR) Technology Firm that                While students still rely mostly on theoretical learnings,                                                                                             developed countries in 2041.
             automates manual candidate recruitment            organizations are now slowly focusing on collaborating with                 The road ahead                                                             For any country, the youth is
             processes and ensures companies get the           universities and shaping up the undergraduate students. This                If we closely inspect Bangladesh’s economic                                at the center of its
             best-fit talent to boost their recruitment return   involves a panel of veteran professionals engaging with                   growth of the last decade, we can deduce that the                          development. It is the youth
             on investment (ROI). With the help of             students via mentorship sessions and outreach programs.                     country is in a growth momentum in terms of                                who will challenge the norm,
             cutting-edge technology, they streamline          Students get to have a glimpse of how organizations operate,                holistic development. With the median age of     embrace new technologies and introduce radical changes in
             candidate sourcing, shortlisting, and             the various roles they can aspire to be in and most                         Bangladesh being 27.6 years, the country is on   how we live our everyday lives. Thus, it is also up to us in how
             assessment processes and assist our clientele     importantly, the numerous skill sets that they need to acquire              the verge of utilizing the benefits of demographic   we nurture our young population from the very beginning,
             with a comprehensive evaluation of the            in order to thrive in these roles going forward. Organizations              dividend. Theoretically, the demographic dividend   ensure good employment opportunities for them and develop
             unique capabilities of potential candidates.      ranging from a diverse set of industries have set up their own              is the difference between the number of          them accordingly. Only then can we derive the most out of our
             While such a global practice is quite new in      skill development and internship programs that help the                     working-age people aged 15 to 64 and the         human capital and witness exponential growth as a nation.
             Bangladesh, the response has been mixed.          students in this regard. Salwa Khan, an HR professional who                 number of non-working-age people under 14 and    The Bangladesh in the last 50 years has been a narrative of
             “Some of the managers have embraced our           works at a telecommunication company said, “Our mentorship                  over 65. So, properly harnessing the potential of   strengthening the backbone, setting up its deep pillars and
             platform wholeheartedly, while some are           program is a core part of our HR strategy. By properly utilizing            the youth of Bangladesh can lead to the following   slowly becoming self-reliant. Let us all hope that the next 50
             reluctant. They are afraid that our platform      this platform, we intend to pinpoint high potential candidates,             improvements – improved labor supply for both    years will be a story of harnessing the full potential of today’s
             might replace them; not knowing that our          train them in some capacity while they are still in their                   the local and the global market, growth of       digital first generation, exploring nascent industries and
             solution is designed in such a way that it        undergraduate programs and recruit them when it’s about                     savings as the human capital earns and increases   leading the globe from the very front. That is how we can live
             takes up the tedious task from the hands of       time. It’s a long, steady process but surely pays its dividends             monetary savings, increased quality of human     up to the aspirations and hopes of a truly independent nation,
             these managers – so that they are free to         in the long run as we get to onboard candidates who already                 capital and expansion of the domestic market.    one where we make the most out of our resources and build
             tackle the more complex workplace problems”,      have a solid idea about the purpose and function of our                     However, there is a catch – demographic dividend   our own future. Let us hope for a better, more trained and
             says Samuel.                                      organization”.                                                              period of any country lasts only for a maximum   future-ready Bangladesh.




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