Employment regulations: Full-time jobs will be a thing of the past; it's time to hail the one-man corporation

It is only a matter of time. A very short time, before the comfort of stable, secure, full-time jobs comes to an end.

The latest amendment to the employment rules enabling fixed-term employment across all industry sectors is just one more pointer to that end. Long suffering Kerala endured yet another day-long strike and total shutdown called by 19 trade unions to protest the amendment. Unfortunately for the blinkered trade unions who are unable or unwilling to recognise the changing job market realities, the amendment is a pointer to their inevitable extinction, at least in their current form and mindset and obsession with dearness allowance.

There really is nothing new in this amendment, except that it legalises contractual employment, which has become the norm in many sectors, including in media, in recent years. All that it means is that employers can take on people with specific skills for specific assignments/projects, and say goodbye at the end of that assignment/project. Even governments and public sector units, those darlings and sacred cows of the trade unions, are now doing this.

And since state governments can make their own amendments to these rules, one little fact that has gone largely unnoticed is that states like Maharashtra have increased the number of employees a company can employ under such fixed-term contracts. In fact some recent figures show that even among the paltry employment generated in the organised sector in recent years, contractual employment is as high as 85 percent.

Lets face it. The job market is changing and the sooner job seekers recognise the changes and adapt to it, the better. The concept of life time employment is over, in the private sector definitely, maybe soon in the public sector too.

For today’s generation entering the job market, the only certainty is uncertainty. As technology rapidly transforms the way work is organised and carried out, the opportunities for earnings and growth are by definition vastly different than in the past, but mainly for the skilled, the trained and qualified and specialist college graduate.

But the risks are great too, given that the skills and college degrees have a limited value in time as newer technologies and even younger people who are able to master them overtake the middle-aged, a life stage which now probably starts at 35, if not 30.

So how does one cope, grow, survive? Obviously, be good and what you do and keep learning new skills. Second, invent for yourself new roles in the office or wherever you work from (like aspire to be the Chief Compulsion Officer, rather than just a Manager). Three, always remember, you have only your own wit, vision and resources to rely upon.

Today’s and tomorrow’s job seekers can no longer expect a career path like their parents. As technology now allows companies to accomplish more with fewer people, and outsource more routine functions which were earlier done in house, more and more job entrants, victims of downsizing and lean and mean managements will do better to seriously think of striking out on their own.

One worthwhile option: Making yourself into a one-man corporation. Studies bear out that this is most likely to be the fastest growing employment segment in the economy in the coming years. One labour study shows that in the case of the unorganised sector, which in India is the main source of employment especially outside the urban areas, the only segment that recorded growth in employment is what the study calls the Own Account Manufacturing Enterprises (OAMEs), which are basically one person enterprises, meaning self-employed, who do not hire any outside labour and mostly rely on family help. In other words, the one-man corporation.

Some available research shows why this earning route can be a good option for you, given that employment growth in the organised, capital intensive sectors will continue to be very low, if not negative in numbers. There is a greater dynamism playing out in this informal segment of the self-employed that produces goods and services for the local market that do not require the same level of higher learning and other high-level domain skills demanded by employers in the organised manufacturing sector. That means keeping a sharp eye out to identify opportunities that new technology and products create. And investing in one’s personal development.

The ones who will be left behind are those who lack the education, technical skills, resources and emotional strength to go it alone. The government’s skilling programme has had little success and employers bemoan the lack of connect between what schools and colleges teach and what the job market needs. Entrepreneurs offering courses and services that try to bridge that gap is a growing segment these days. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness and our inherent preference to depend on mai baap to help us out leave many unprepared for the future

Once the bulwark of the company and lifelong employment is withdrawn, there is really no other support system available except one’s own talent, skills, courage and self-confidence.

The successful ones will be those who have grown up with the image of Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Elong Musk, Bill Gates and other entrepreneurs as their role models (a few local role models are badly needed here) and have the chutzpah to strike out on their own. For those who lack an entrepreneurial bent of mind, the answer lies in looking for qualified guidance to customise their careers. In itself perhaps a new area of learning and work.

The time may not be far off when instead of corporations or the state, the workers themselves, perhaps in the form of trade and professional associations, will need to provide security for bad times. Not the least of their services will be floating psychological support groups – for the out-of-work worker and the lonely worker who no longer has the emotional support of an office or colleagues.

(The author is former Editor-in-Charge of The Week)