‘Bridging tech divide pivotal for premium human resource’

LAHORE: By 2030 more than 50 percent of Pakistani workforce would be from the generation born during 1990-2010 period. The point to ponder is would this young workforce be prepared to accept the challenges and opportunities offered by new technology.

The going would become extremely tough for Pakistan if it failed to nurture its young but raw human resource according to the future needs of the economy. The private sectors would have to rise to the occasion as even today future of every enterprise depends upon the quality of human resource it harnesses.

The technology and economic shifts would need innovative, creative and knowledge-based workers that would be more independent than their traditional counterparts operating in the country.

Even today the economic activities are based on creativity the world over and are led by young generations. The young global workforce in developed economies mainly comprises immigrants from emerging economies including Pakistan. It is ironic that there is shortage of skills in Pakistan but large numbers of skilled Pakistanis are employed abroad.

The planners would have to devise a strategy to stop this brain drain and create well-rewarding opportunities and openings for highly skilled Pakistanis in their homeland. With proper planning, Pakistan can not only eliminate skill shortages in the country but can also export extra human resource to countries that badly need high-skilled manpower. This can be done because Pakistan enjoys demographic advantage of having 65 percent of its population below the age of 35.

The products produced through highly skilled workforce would be readily saleable abroad as the demand would increase manifold in next two decades driven by the global middle class, which is expected to double to five billion by then. Work would be chosen and not assigned and rewards would be intrinsic as well as tangible.

The disruptive technologies would impact even the IT sector. We have already seen this happening. Today 60 percent of the videos are transferred through mobile phones and it has already eliminated a sizable number of IT jobs. The numbers of mobile devices now are equivalent to the number of human beings living on this planet.

By 2050 there would be no need for physical presence at the office desk for many jobs in future. Even today, about 40 percent of the knowledge-based workforce doesn’t operate out from their office, but elsewhere. Many highly skilled professional would be doing a favour to corporate employers by offering their part time services.

This is already happening in United States and Europe. The technological transformation first eliminated paper and transferred all records and communications to the computer and now the records and knowledge is embedded in mobile devices.

These changes are occurring in Pakistan as well though at a slow pace. Now the employees are more powerful and to succeed the entrepreneurs would have to earn the trust of their workers. They would have to operate in an open environment, where boss is available to every employee.

Empowering the employees is another step that entrepreneurs should take. Companies would have to share the wealth with their workers that motivate them to perform better. The credit of the performance of the workers should be given to them and acknowledged openly.

Human resource now is as important as a high-tech machine. Successful enterprises challenge conventional hunting of manpower. However in order to maintain their hold on markets they are always on the hunt for future leaders. Keeping in line with the recent trends, good companies create value for the market before thinking of making profits. In this conceptual age the future leaders should go beyond conventional wisdom.