Talent challenges for Sri Lankan business

•  Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region successfully  concludes its first Breakfast Forum for 2014

The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region (CIMSLR) recently concluded its Breakfast Forum titled ‘Talent Challenges for Sri Lankan Business’ at the Cinnamon Lakeside, Colombo.
Honorary President Stuart Chapman and Chairman Shantha Katipearachchi of The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region graced the occasion. The speaker of the forum was Dinesh Weerakkody, Chairman – Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC.
Weerakkody in his presentation spoke about the employment value proposition and the key elements that need to be taken into consideration, namely; perks and benefits, training and development and creating a great place to work.
In the present context BPOs focus a lot on perks and benefits whilst multinationals more on culture and work practices. During his presentation he spoke about what a CEO needs to look when hiring an employee; whilst 40% is concentrated on qualifications the rest needs to be focused whether the person hiring is technology driven, keen to learn and grow, ability to communicate effectively and self-confidence are some of the main aspects that should be taken into consideration.

 

 

 
Is the private sector doing enough?
Weerakkody added: “The big worry which we need to look at is that 250,000 sit for their GCE Advance Level Examinations; only 9% get admission to university. What happens to the rest? As organisations do we help the rest get employed or become employable? Out of this percentage there is a probability that 10% will do professional examinations and courses or go overseas. What about the rest? As a private sector are we doing enough?”
He shared statistics taken off a survey conducted by a professional organisation out of a pool of 2,000 people. The statistics presented were based on 2010 vs 2014. The survey was to evaluate the sectors that are mostly in demand. The banking sector topped the list whilst apparel and the public sector climbed up in comparison to 2010. The construction sector made a new entry to the list making it an area of interest. BPOs too had gained popularity amongst the younger audience due to the perks and benefits offered by a business of this nature.
Weerakkody stated: “In the present context people do not only join for the money, the reputation of the company, respect from your superior are also some other factors that are taken into consideration by an employee.”

 

 

 
Working with generation ‘Y’
Weerakkody spoke about the challenges organisations have to face working with generation ‘Y’ he said: “The expectations will be very different to ours and we will have to work with this generation in the future, if we do not know how to manage them we will have conflicts in the workplace.”
Weerakkody also spoke about growing skills, the issues we face and why countries find a mismatch of finding the right skills. He stated that good HR means “managing the performance of your employee, developing them and ensuring that your employee has a proper career path”.
He further took the audience through employer engagement, rewards and how rewards should be structured. He described the importance of having a compensation rewarding policy as there is a huge impact on your employee’s performance. He spoke about the importance and the mechanism adopted by companies on this rewarding policy.
The forum concluded creating a more interactive platform with a question and answer session with the enthusiastic audience. Over 70 managing directors, chief marketing officers and top corporate executives attended the forum.

 

 

 
Platform to learn key insights and exchange ideas
The Chartered Institute of Marketing Sri Lanka Region Chairman Katipearachchi Shantha said: “As you all know the CEO’s Breakfast Forum is targeted at the decision makers of organisations. Our goal is to provide a platform to learn key insights and exchange ideas amongst seniors by engaging with an eminent speaker who will add value to these decision makers strategic thinking and implementation process. Dinesh Weerakkody through his presentation shared valuable insights which I am sure added great value to all who were present. We look forward to presenting such programs in the future adding more value to our stakeholders.”
The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the largest community of professional marketers in the world with 100 years of heritage delivering education, membership and insight offerings to the marketing and sales profession. As the world’s largest institute for professional marketers with over 35,000 members globally, CIM places great emphasis in maintaining high standards of quality and integrity and as such, develops and sets standards within marketing landscapes of UK and other regional countries in which it operates. The CIM qualification is the only international qualification recognised by the Royal Charter in United Kingdom.
The CIM Sri Lanka Region is the first international branch of CIM UK and comprises of the largest number of members, both professional and students, of CIM outside the UK; 1,800 student members and over 1,000 professional members, respectively. The Regional Institute has always campaigned for greater recognition and excellence in the marketing profession in Sri Lanka, through education, training and development.