India Employer Forum is our attempt to create a platform for collective action that will engage, discuss, debate, advocate the issues and reform agenda impacting Employers in India. We promise to keep the forum agile, active, responsive and informative.
Technology, innovation, urbanization, scarcity of resources, climate change, inequality are only a few of the global megatrends impacting countries, societies, economies and corporations. We are hugely optimistic about the future; the human race has never been healthier, longer living, more educated, better fed and more prosperous than we are today. We are determined to not fall prey to the disease of presentism – a belief that today’s circumstances are unique – but are mindful of the challenges ahead of all of us.
Of the many stakeholders in society and jobs, we recognize that the government has an execution deficit, the private sector has a trust deficit and non-profits have a scale deficit. All of us need to work together to build a future where we survive and thrive. The issues of skills, new world of work, new world of organizations, business models, social equity, national stability and global cohesion are all interconnected and sustainable intersections lie at their intersections.
India is the world’s fastest growing economy, has youngest workforce in the world (50% of its population below 25 years of age and 65% below 35 years of age), abundant natural resources, vibrant democracy, rapid migration to urban areas, globally-linked business economy and is ready for a new tryst with destiny. Much more could have been achieved if the reform agenda over the last few decades would have been pushed more aggressively but we are moving sustainably in the right direction. We intend to reinforce policy debates and thinking around employment, skills and ease of doing business.
Great work done in the recent past by several individuals, corporates, trade bodies, experts and the government has resulted in key reforms in the labor legislations. Four proposed codes of labor reforms – Wages, Industrial Relations, Social Security and Welfare and Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions – is a case in point. Few state governments too have eradicated archaic laws and simplified statutes. Much more needs to be done.
Given our young workforce, we need to make them readily employable. To help the economy grow sustainably, we need more formal jobs. This is not the sole responsibility of the government. The role of the government is not setting things on fire but creating the conditions for spontaneous combustion.
This forum website is designed to feature content satiating needs of the C-suite. A CEO’s worry on the Ease of doing business, World of Work. A CFO’s inquisitiveness around rapidly changing global compliance and regulatory norms. A CHRO’s agenda on the Future of Work, inculcating Culture in multi-gen organizations. A CLO’s mind hovering on developing agile, tech-enabled Learning interventions. A CIO’s excitement around how else to make the organization tech-savvy and Digital. Technology and its impact will be at the core of all that we would cover, whether it’s using technology as the backbone of our portal or keeping it at the core of our coverage.
There is much more in the offing for heads of Recruitment, Procurement, Administration and Marketing. Start-ups now have a medium to share ideas, exchange knowledge and get clarity as they move to the next level on their growth trajectory. And young professionals would get real-time, practical learning from the wisdom shared by the senior professionals of their domain through the content presented by us. Apart from specialists writing on contemporary and futuristic topics of relevance to you, we invite you to share perspectives, through write-ups, interviews, Q&A on issues plaguing your industry, domain in our country and the world over.
Stay tuned as we seek to stimulate discourse around national agenda on employment and ease of doing business.
Editor, India Employer Forum
