Tel Ganesan // Courtesy photo

Prior to the arrival of COVID-19, major shifts were taking place in hiring needs and workforce development. With the economic impacts brought by the virus, things will now change even more. Tel K. Ganesan is founder and executive chairman at Kyyba Inc. — a global staffing, innovations and technology solutions firm headquartered in Farmington Hills. Here, he answers key questions about how to maintain a successful job market going forward.

Q: What are the biggest issues facing the job market?

A: As many as 375 million workers globally may need to switch occupational categories as digitization, automation, and artificial intelligence fundamentally change how we work. Businesses in Michigan must step up training, enact organizational changes and bring technological advances to stay relevant. Tens of millions of workers will need re-training. But only 16 percent of private-sector business leaders feel “very prepared” to address skills gaps. Retraining often goes off the rails because it delivers no clear pathway to new work, relies too heavily on theory versus practice, and fails to show a return on investment. A focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education will be essential for current workers and the upcoming generation: As current workers retire, new advancements require unique skill sets that must be taught.

Q: What impact will proper training of workers have?

A: The better we align job-training efforts with lucrative fields where there are openings, there will be less need to import talent from overseas for high-paying jobs. My team at Kyyba and our partners support all efforts to properly train job-seekers here in the United States, which sets workers up for long-term success in the jobs of the future.

Q: How can businesses improve re-training?

A: The best-case scenario is an end-to-end solution: Training employees and graduates to placements and recruitments, paired with additional on-the-job training to help with career advancements. Also, there must be recognition of racial, ethnic and gender equity. Growing occupations at the higher end of the pay scale tend to employ more men and fewer people of color, and efforts must be made to address this. Roughly 35% of STEM jobs do not require a bachelor’s degree, which can help eliminate these inequalities.

Q: What business innovation can come from the COVID-19 crisis?

A: During times of difficulty, our talents for finding innovation shine through – retooling factories for PPE creation, repurposing empty buildings into hospitals, remote work becoming accessible for millions of people who never had the option. Collaboration during this time of crisis also shows how businesses can work together, and those partnerships (many done in the name of charity) may lead to longer-lasting business relationships. Kyyba is proud to be among the organizations stepping up to gather PPE for medical professionals on the front lines, and we applaud all businesses doing their part during this crisis to contribute. The remote work aspect amplified by this crisis, in particular, may have long-term impacts as businesses consider whether to use this option more often in the long-term, or at least offer more flexible policies to workers. And the rise of virtual events as we self-distance are showing options we did not consider before.

Tel Ganesan is the managing director at Kyyba Innovations, executive chairman of Kyyba Inc., and a board member of the Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce. All three organizations are based in Farmington Hills.