A business development leader with Mercer South Africa, Deon De Swart has urged employers to as a matter of urgency, prioritise the development of their employees to adapt to the changing work environment.
According to him the country’s recent banking crisis which led to the collapse of nine banks, as well as the loss of hundreds of jobs, should serve as a wakeup call to other industries to improve upon the skills of their human resources for the growth of their respective industries.
Ghana like most parts of the globe is experiencing a massive change in its work environment with the advent of technology alongside many other factors.
Making reference to the country’s recent banking crisis in an interview with Citi Business News at the sidelines of the 2019 Ghana HR Summit, Mr. De Swart said the survival of the various industries in the country is highly dependent on the investment of employers in their employees.
“You have to think far ahead and look at what some of the economic and technological trends are. You also have to start preparing your organization and employees for change and know how to manage the change”.
“ I firmly believe that you need to be engaging and talking to employees all the time to understand what their needs are and when you are going through a big change like what went on in the banking industry you should also try and look at how you can accommodate people and upskill them to fill different jobs”.
Another speaker, Siphiwe Moyo outlined the importance of organizations to equip their employees with skills that may be needed in the future.
He again encouraged individuals who fall within the labor force to own their own training to remain relevant in the job market.
“It is important to build skills required for the future and know which jobs are coming in the future Don’t panic about the robots and artificial intelligence but rather try and adapt. So the idea of reskilling is important in this day”.
For the 2019 Ghana HR Summit, Mercer has partnered with Learning Organization.
Through the partnership, Mercer and Learning Organization will be able to bring leading talent management, consulting, and data-driven solutions and insights to the local market, which will benefit both current and prospective new Mercer and Learning Organization clients in Ghana.
Clients will have access to a range of best practice Mercer solutions, driven by the global thought leadership