Skilled workers in Middle East TFM

Skilled manpower in the Middle East. Is this a misnomer? Speak to any manager in FM operations and the lack of skilled staff is perhaps among the first points that will come up.

While a skill gap exists in almost every industry, the issue has far reaching consequences in the FM industry particularly. The nature of the job mandates that workers are not minutely supervised, which can lead to a cascading series of errors.

For example, most cleaners working in the Middle East have little prior experience of working in smart premises nor do they have the requisite training. How then would they know the correct dilution for cleaning liquids? Do they even know how to read and respond to alerts?  What happens if they apply the wrong chemical to a surface and it gets damaged? Who bears the cost of errors?

Conversely, a well trained FM worker can spruce-up the image of the FM company. This can also help the FM company attract new business and often at much better paying rates. It is therefore the pressing need for all stakeholders in the FM industry to equip their workers with the correct skills to do their job with pride.

Enter GroupL, a ‘not only for profit’ social enterprise. GroupL is a FM company in India with an extensive training infrastructure to cater to its internal needs. It has exported the training from India to over 10 countries in South Asia, South East Asia and Africa. FM Today spoke with Kabir Luthra on how GroupL can help the Middle East FM industry recruit skilled employees from these countries.

Who is GroupL?

We are a 42 year old company with roots in Kolkata, India. We started life as a security company providing manned guards and gradually expanded to cleaning services and facility management within India only. In the Middle East we are a workforce solutions company which provides training and ethical recruitment services to end employers. We focus on the entry level workers in each organisation who most require a standardised method of learning.

GroupL is associated with various government bodies in the UAE and in India to establish skill development through an entire industry. We believe in ethically recruiting candidates as per laws local to each country. Candidates sourced, trained and recruited through us reach their place of employment completely job-ready.

What are GroupL’s focus areas and target segments?

At GroupL we are concentrating on developing our recruitment and training network across additional countries, building a repository of curriculum and developing technologies to deliver standardised training content across borders. We presently offer training in segments such as security, cleaning, FM, soft skills and retail. Our plan is to roll out this training to the hospitality, fast-food and healthcare industries as well shortly.

What are the top five skills employers look for?

The absolute most important skill that employers look for is presentability. This is not usually pointed out as important factor, but in any interaction the appearance of the other person forms the basis of how the communication will flow.

This is closely followed by communication – verbal, written and body language. Candidates must be able to present their point of view clearly and confidently.

An important aspect of working is being able to get along with others. Hence teamwork will always remain a key skill.

Though difficult to evaluate in a short interview, employers like to see people with drive and who are self-motivated. It makes their job of getting you to do the job so much easier then.

Employers prefer candidates who understand the commercial realities that affect an organisation. In short, how does my work affect the company’s bottom line? Here, technical skills play a major role.

Can you take us through the entire process you follow?

The present system that we follow starts with the end employer (FM company) giving us an order to recruit people from a certain country. Our teams then source and shortlist a pool of candidates. The employer’s representative then conducts the interviews and selects the final candidates. While the selected candidates await their visa, they undergo training appropriate for their job role, thereby making them job ready for final employment in the Middle East.

For some clients we have even conducted additional training once the candidates have arrived in the Middle East and commenced employment.

How are the training programmes developed?

Most of the courses offered by us are aligned to the requirements of the industries. The course curriculum is designed by veterans who are still involved in their respective industry. We have had to be flexible in terms of modifying courses to suit different organisations requirements.

Each of the courses include aspects of life in the middle east, cultural differences with their home country and soft skills like appearance, communication, teamwork, basic English and customer handling.

Where do you see this initiative in a few years from now?

Our dream is to have institutions spread across the source countries where people are up-skilled continually. To put it crudely, it would work like a manpower factory. Students who successfully complete the course are then offered apprenticeship with end employers in the Middle East. The apprenticeship would eventually result in permanent employment. For this to happen, our understanding of the evolving skill gaps would have to remain up-to-date and we would need to work closely with a large number of potential employers.