SLASSCOM holds roundtable discussion on retaining employees during the “Great Resignation”

SLASSCOM Vice Chairman Ashique M. Ali (LEFT) and SLASSCOM Board Director Nishan Mendis

The search and competition for individuals of extreme skills, original creativity, and considerable talent is on-going worldwide and is showing no tendency of diminishing. If anything, the search for talents—or key players—for the global knowledge economy is becoming increasingly fiercer. Sri Lanka is of particular interest in this development, as it is at a stage where further economic growth can only be achieved through building a knowledge-based industry.

In line with this vision, SLASSCOM who has been the key catalyst for the country’s IT/BPM industry, recently held a discussion headed by their Capacity Forum on the topic of “seeking solutions for challenges related to talent management”, that was attended by some of the leading personalities in the Tech and IT/ BPM industry.  

SLASSCOM Board Director Nishan Mendis opened the discussion by bringing to light the key challenges currently faced by employers across the industry, stemming from unprecedented staff resignations, contributing towards the brain drain happening in the country at present.

Several initiatives were looked at being launched, with the intention of creating knowledge-intensive economies at home, to prevent brain drain. This included promoting positive sentiments of the Sri Lanka IT/BPM industry among existing employees and the next generation and in establishing new working models to improve employee retention, encompassing working from anywhere (WFA), working from home (WFH), offering flexi hours and the benefit of part time and multiple employment. 

Upskilling existing employees and the next generation of talent from Millennials to Gen Z’s through the creation of a “learning-by-doing environment” was another key point of consideration. Further discussed were attractive and applicable training and mentorship models. This ranged from building industry readiness schools to designing interactive programs that allow Gen Z employees to develop both technical and interpersonal skills, to using career progression as a key motivational driver of learning.

Utilising alternate talent acquisition models to attract regional talent, encouraging the return of females who have stopped work due to their responsibilities at home and in building a pipeline of activities at every entry level, as well as recruiting talent from other industries that have seen retrenchment of staff during recent times and in reskilling them to be potential tech innovators and leaders was also discussed.

The Chamber debated the possibilities of offering short term job opportunities via Digital Nomad Visas to encourage diaspora to return to Sri Lanka to work over short periods of time and in employing them as credible influencers who have “walked the talk” to be ideal brand ambassadors to promote the concept of returning to the countries of their ancestry to contribute to the local economy and start businesses. 

SLASSCOM also launched a Code of Ethics for HR best practices at this event, that sets out the ethical standards that employers are expected to meet. These standards provide principles and details about how those principles should be applied in practice and could be utilised as a comprehensive guideline by companies and businesses in the Tech and BPM space.  

The objective of this event was to map the supply demand gap in Sri Lanka with respect to the future talent required by the tech and IT/BPM industry in the country. The points discussed will be prioritised and executed with the support of industry volunteers added SLASSCOM Vice Chairman Ashique M. Ali.

From driving digital talent growth and talent supply to reskilling opportunities, SLASSCOM will work closely with other industry bodies and the government to develop, produce and retain ready-to-deploy talent across the IT-BPM Industry.