EMPLOYER EXPECTATIONS ARE BETTER MET BY APPRENTICES THAN FRESHERS STATES TEAMLEASE REPORT

~ India Inc felt apprentices offered them 100% - 150% returns on their investment and their productivity was as high as 90% ~

TeamLease Services, India’s largest composite staffing company, today released the findings of its latest survey, “MOOC in Apprenticeship for employment and employability” a detailed study about the effectiveness of apprenticeship in conjunction with MOOCs in bridging the employability gap. According to the report, employers felt that apprentices did exceedingly well on all the three key parameters –productivity, time to turn and return on investment, that they look for in a talent. More than 50% of the employers reported apprentices to be giving them more than 100-150% return on their investment. Further, from a productivity point of view also employers found apprentices to be efficient. Around 50% of the respondents mentioned that apprentices turned productive within 45 days of joining work which is much faster than an average employee. India Inc also felt that the productivity of apprentices is around 90% indicating learning by doing to be an effective formula to create productive workforce.

According to the report while apprentices perceived their employability quotient to be a modest 5.3 on a scale of 10, employers gave them a rating of 8 indicating high ability to perform a job. From a region wise perspective, though apprentices from the northern region felt they were better equipped for job, corporates had a difference of opinion. They rated apprentices from the eastern region to be better suited for work.

A detailed drill down on employability and the solutions to improve the scenario, as per the report apprenticeship is only one side of the coin. Converting our demographic dividend into a pool of productive workforce will require an overhaul of our approach towards education and skill development. It will call for both learning by doing and learning while doing. According the report investing in apprenticeship and promoting learning by MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) is the most ideal solution for superior skill development and employability.

Elaborating about the findings, Mr. Sumit Kumar, Vice President- NETAP (National Employability Through Apprenticeship Program), TeamLease Services, said, “Apprenticeships is the most effective skilling / employability / employment tool which could help India get closer to its ambitious targets of skilling 500 million and filling 120 million jobs in 24 key sectors (including construction, retail, transportation logistics, automobile, and handloom) over the next 6 years. While we may be able to create jobs, the biggest challenge is matching the jobs to our talent. Though we add millions of youth every year to the workforce, they are not equipped to take advantage of the possibilities. Corporates are constantly posed with matching and employability challenge. The only optimal solution to bridge this gap and allow both corporate as well as talent to leverage the growth is by adopting learning while doing or earning while learning in a massive way. Apprenticeship and MOOCs can not only positively impact the employment scenario; it can give a boost to the overall growth of the country.”

An in-depth analysis, as per the report, apprentices or apprenticeship programs seems to be well received by the western states rather than the southern states. While western region topped the list in terms of availability of apprentices, southern region was at the bottom indicating a lack of enthusiasm in the southern states to undertake apprenticeship programs. From a qualification perspective, technicians with a vocational education constituted the largest pool of apprentices.

TeamLease MOOC in Apprenticeship for Employability and Employment Report is a comprehensive study that attempts to unravel how the combination of MOOCS and apprenticeship can bring about a change in the employment and employability landscape of our country. The respondent base of the study consisted of both apprentices as well as corporates.