L&D function is being recognized as a business-enabling function: SpringPeople

Founded in 2009 by IIT alumni, SpringPeople, a thought leader and pioneer of enterprise training, is among the biggest enterprise IT training providers in India. Its training program is powered by LnDCloud, an enterprise training platform, providing enterprise reporting, detailed analytics, customisable workflows, and fully automated end-to-end training orchestration.

Here, Ravi Kaklasaria, CEO & Co Founder of SpringPeople, tells us more. Excerpts from an interview:

Ravi Kaklasaria, CEO & Co Founder of SpringPeople

DQ: How will the workforce shape up in terms of hiring and demand? 

Ravi Kaklasaria:  Following the pandemic, most organizations had to resort to cost-cutting measures such as letting go some of their employees and pausing/freezing their hiring. But, just like how governments all over categorized essential workers, the crisis has taught organizations to narrowdown core roles/workers that are critical to their business operations. So, hiring for these roles will continue.

Additionally, the demand for digital workers has grown and I estimate that they are in the hotlist of every recruiter now and will continue to be so in the post-pandemic era.

DQ: With the pandemic situation in purview, what kind of transition is likely to be seen when it comes to restructuring courses?

Ravi Kaklasaria: I believe that all courses and training content, henceforth, will be adapted to an online audience.  Unlike the pre-pandemic times, when online courses were viewed as supplementary to offline classroom teaching, virtual classrooms are going to be the new paradigm in learning. Virtual learning today has demonstrated its efficacy and there is no going back.

DQ: How has the process of hiring and restructuring has changed in companies and industries across sectors?

Ravi Kaklasaria: Companies have largely put their hiring on hold. But, there are some sectors that have started recruiting more because of the increased demand. For instance, online food delivery platforms and e-commerce have seen an increased demand since the pandemic, so their hiring for delivery personnel, and warehouse workers have increased.

With regard to restructuring, most start-ups and SMEs have started consolidating job roles and fitting them under new job descriptions. Basically, a jack of all trades.

DQ: Which are the industries that are going to witness doldrums in the coming years?

 Ravi Kaklasaria: I think, sectors like Real Estate, Hospitality and Tourism, and Aviation, who bore the brunt of the global slowdown, are going to take more years to recuperate and bounce back.

DQ: What is the kind of hiring trend that will be witnessed in the coming years?

Ravi Kaklasaria: With the global economy in tatters, the future of hiring is going to lean towards a gig economy.

DQ: What kind of shifts has been observed in the landscape of learning and development in IT firms and what are the shifts in training practices which have been observed recently?

Ravi Kaklasaria: Learning and development professionals in general, had to step-up during the pandemic. They are in the forefront guiding their organization in the uncertain terrain, by upskilling their existing employees/reskilling them, as hiring has taken a hit. As a result, L&Ds have become proactive. The L&D function, as such, is being recognized as a business-enabling function.

The most significant change that I have seen in the training space is the complete shift to online. Though we were offering virtual classes much before, to be frank, there were not many takers. This was because many organizations were of the view that online cannot substitute classroom and in-person training. Fortunately, I can see that this traditional view has changed as they experienced the benefits of virtual classrooms.

As a result of this, we have seen a lot of interest in our blended learning solutions and our enterprise learning platform, LnDCloud. Organizations today have become more open to the varied approaches of online learning.