Employability is the biggest challenge in India: Jeff Gravenhorst, CEO A/S, ISS Group

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The ISS Group, founded in Copenhagen in 1901 is present in over 70 countries today with global revenue amounted to USD 12.3 billion in 2017. Jeff Gravenhorst, CEO A/S, ISS Group speaks to Sreyasi Maity during his India visit.

What is the scope of facility management for Indian workforce? With increased focus on the seamless work-culture and work-life balance, facility management (FM) market in India is growing at a rapid pace and has immense potential. In the developed countries, many from this generation entering the labour market aren’t interested in service industry. In India, we have to create more awareness of advanced technologies in this field. Effective training will enhance opportunities. Looking beyond the purpose, communication plays an important role in employee engagement. In this context, social media is becoming more and more important to communicate all the way through the organisation, independent of distance, time or place.

The digital evolution is speeding up and Indian facility management is on the verge of undertaking a path-breaking route in the next 5 years where India will be seen crossing global technology standards.

What have been the challenges in acquiring skilled workers in India? The main struggle is not to have too far a distance between decision and execution. The best management is where you have shorter communication lines and longer education lines and a lot of support. The solution is to have new technology and latest communication. In India, the market is very big. Choosing the right people and giving them adequate training is a big challenge. The same person cannot be trained to manage multiple facilities. Industry relevant education is another major shortcoming. Moreover, since ‘output’ based contracts are very few, the ability to pay living wages rather than paying minimum wages becomes difficult. We hope more and more corporates will move from input based to outcome-based model which will help improve productivity and also retain talent. We do have tie-ups with NSDC and Sector Skill Council for mobilizing talent through job fairs and training partners to overcome this challenge. ISS India plans to create 40000 jobs in the next 3 years. We are going to leverage our capabilities of volume, concepts and talent to triple our revenue in the next few years,” he said.

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Tags : Interviews Press Room Facility Management Jeff Gravenhorst Jeff Gravenhorst CEO ISS group digital evolution NSDC Copenhagen ISS India skilled workers Facility Management India