Job creation has become an important issue, especially in this era of rapid change, because many jobs may no longer meet the requirements for sustainable growth. This is one of the goals of creating sustainability to pass on to our children in the future.
On the challenges and adaptations of organizations amid the COVID-19 crisis, employment that meets both value and economic growth was discussed in a discussion through the perspectives of 3 people from 3 industries under the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth.
- Dr. Phothiwat Paopongchuang, Assistant Managing Director, IRPC Public Company Limited and Licensee of IRPC Technology College
- Dr. Rattiya Phulaor, Deputy Dean of the College of Population Studies, Chulalongkorn University and the National Labor Research Coordination Center, Chulalongkorn University
- Khun Kulwan Supisunthon, Sustainable Business Management Consultant, PWC
All three of them will share their experiences and reflect on this issue so that we can understand each other better.
COVID Crisis – Economy – Labor: The interconnected impacts
Dr. Rattiya Phulaor pointed out to us that the COVID situation has an impact on the whole world, but the extent depends on the situation in each country. As for the impact on Thai workers, it is seen in the structural aspect, which is an existing problem that COVID has revealed more clearly and more, such as workers with high vulnerability, workers who rely heavily on other parts of the economy, or those with low incomes and no savings will be quite severely affected, which will also result in reduced work efficiency.
In addition, we will see the rapid acceleration of the use of technology, with a tendency that in the future, digital or AI will be used to replace groups of workers who do repetitive work, or machines will be used to replace people, causing entrepreneurs and workers who were not prepared in advance to be caught off guard. But on the other hand, it also creates opportunities for new jobs, especially digital jobs.
Dr. Phothiwat Paopongchuang added that the important issue in the COVID situation is
“How do we reduce the labor impact?”
Overall, the current business perspective has 2 important words: Survival and Resilience. We must look to the future and prepare ourselves to create a workforce that will meet the needs of the business sector that will recover. We also provided additional information that the plan for 2019-2023 of the Eastern Economic Corridor Policy Committee or EEC under the Thailand 4.0 policy will use the Eastern Economic Corridor project as a growth engine by planning to create more than 10 S-CURVE industrial groups. This means that if the situation is normal, in the next 5 years, the country will need more than 400,000 workers, half of which, or approximately 200,000 people, will be vocational workers that meet the needs of the aforementioned S-CURVE group. However, investment in the industrial sector has currently slowed down.
Demand Driven Education Development to Support Economic Growth
Dr. Pothiwat shared his experience in creating valuable jobs to meet the needs of a sustainable economy, saying that IRPC has a policy of conducting business towards sustainability, along with taking care of the community, society and the environment. There are projects and activities that are in line with the sustainability goals in promoting the economy and employment.
Which was the origin of the establishment of IRPC Technology College 25 years ago with the intention of being a model of a factory school, producing vocational or technical workers to work in factories in the positions of operator, technician, and surveyor. In the past, the college has created a vocational level workforce for the labor market of more than 7,000 people. In the IRPC factory itself, there are more than 1,000 people who graduated from this college working.
Looking back at the overall picture of educational development to meet employment needs and drive the economy, PTT Group has systematically viewed this issue by establishing the Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology and using IRPC Technology College as a base for creating quality vocational personnel, similar to European countries or Singapore, whose important strategy is Demand Driven, which uses the needs of the business to determine the need for necessary knowledge or skills (Competency Skill). Business operators will work with educational institutions to design and develop curricula that meet the needs, including the factory-school model (work integrated) or what Thailand calls the dual system, which is a strategy for creating truly quality vocational personnel.
IRPC Technology College, a vocational model prototype
At present, IRPC Technological College provides regular courses at the vocational certificate and higher vocational certificate levels, Mini English Program, and English Program for international students from neighboring countries such as Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia. There is also a project under the cooperation of PTT Group companies and the college, which is the Advanced Technical Skills Development Project called i-PEC in 3 fields: Petrochemical Group, Energy Technology Group, Industrial Chemistry Group, and another field called Mechatronics and Robotics & or i-BOT. This project will respond to the ECC Model in creating manpower and creating jobs. It is a model where the business has jointly developed the curriculum called Work Integrated Learning with IRPC Technological College as the prototype.
In addition, there is a promotion of a vocational training center, providing accounting services for commercial students, and air conditioning maintenance services for technicians. This creates opportunities for learning, employment, and a wider variety of careers. There is also a project to develop the college into a Green College , i.e. the iGreen project, which produces electricity from solar energy for use within the college, and the development of an alternative energy learning center to encourage interested youth to learn about clean energy in the future.
Create a Growth Mindset for the New Generation to Create Sustainable Jobs
Khun Kulwan Supisunthon , a new generation in today’s discussion, shared her perspective that sustainability is a big issue for the country, which each country can do only when considering the population of that country and how to make “people sustainable” in order for the country to be sustainable. In SDGs 8, employment and economic growth may seem like statistical figures, but these figures are the result of people in the country who have the knowledge and skills to be able to work to drive the economy, whether through academic work or vocational education, both of which are necessary for sustainable development. She sees that the current challenging issues are:
“How to make people knowledgeable enough to work and find themselves?”
Because sustainable growth must come from the desire to do that thing and want to continuously develop. In some jobs, salary may not be motivating. So there must be something that comes from within the worker. After giving knowledge and teaching skills, we must motivate them to find out what they like and what the reason is for wanting to do it. If they find what they want to do or work that is meaningful and valuable, they will want to develop their knowledge and skills to continue to advance their work. Therefore, it is seen that a very important point in the future for new-generation workers is the Growth Mindset.
Social Innovation integrates all sectors
Dr. Rattiya added an academic perspective that promoting sustainability is an integration issue that requires all sectors to work together, and it is considered a social innovation. For example, Chulalongkorn University has signed an MOU with the Ministry of Labor to establish the National Labor Research Center, including the Labor Coordination and Research Center of Chulalongkorn University. This is a collaboration of academics from many faculties because labor is related to technology, society, and law, as well as coordinating with agencies outside the university, including the government sector, private sector, employer organizations, employee organizations, and non-profit organizations at the national and international levels to work together.
And I think that in the future, the integration of cross-disciplinary fields will be important because working to achieve sustainable efficiency requires a variety of expertise, which may be difficult at times, but we must try to link them together and work more in an integrated way, such as the project that helps increase regional resilience by creating spatial business continuity management in cooperation with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) working in industrial areas in Thailand. It is an integration between technical and labor in the area to distribute employment to communities in sub-units.
Distribute opportunities to develop Future Skills without leaving anyone behind
Dr. Pothiwat stated that creating people to create jobs in the community is also one of IRPC’s efforts. At present, IRPC has distributed opportunities for youth to study at IRPC Technological College by providing scholarships. At present, approximately 300 students are produced for the labor market per year, with 100 scholarships provided. A high proportion of Rayong children come to study at the college.
In addition, it supports students from all regions of the country in advanced vocational and industrial courses. And what we are proud of is that we have a policy to support marginalized students who are poor and far away to have the opportunity to study at the college as well. In order to keep up with the knowledge and skills needed in the future, especially in the current situation that we have to prepare to develop future skill sets such as modern automotive courses, future alternative energy, including helping the current workforce.
For example, the establishment of a Training Center that will develop short-term courses to support up-skill or re-skill training, called the Jump Start Academy project , and the collaboration with PTT Group companies, Business Services Alliance Co., Ltd. (BSA), a labor supply company, to jointly develop the WE JOB platform to support the demand/supply of vocational labor, and the collaboration with GC Maintenance and Engineering (GCME) to improve the curriculum to equip technicians to keep up with current production technology, as well as the collaboration with businesses outside the PTT Group, such as Schneider Electric (Thailand) to develop learning centers for various electrical system technologies, and the plan to collaborate with Energy Absolute to jointly develop vocational manpower to support the EV field in the future. In addition, there is also the promotion and support of vocational training centers to encourage vocational students who want to be entrepreneurs to have the opportunity to own a business in the future.
Valuable work with a mindset of knowledge and education
When the conversation reached this point, all three agreed that vocational work played an important role in driving the economy and had many opportunities to expand further. Unfortunately, Thai society is still trapped in the mindset of valuing educational qualifications and academic knowledge, while overlooking valuable work in other dimensions. Khun Kulwan clearly reflected this idea that Thai society still has a rather limited mindset regarding educational qualifications, such as the definition that if you don’t have a master’s degree, you don’t have the potential to work in a high position, or if you have a bachelor’s degree, you have to continue on to a master’s degree, or the value of vocational education, which views it as someone who is not smart enough to study, but in fact, if you study and can work right away, you don’t need to have a degree. For example, in Germany, there is the idea that if you want to work in a factory, you can study something that allows you to work right away. However, Thai society still doesn’t see vocational education as equal to a degree.
Dr. Pothiwat pointed out the overall picture of the workforce. The ratio between vocational students and degree students in Thailand is 40:60, while in European countries such as Germany, Austria or Singapore, which are mainly developed with vocational workforce, the ratio is reversed to 60:40. In Austria, it is as high as 70:30. Therefore, the country’s big problem from the perspective of vocational workers is to review the plan to increase the amount of workers, especially in the industrial technician field in many fields that are in short supply, and to fill in the quality. Quality vocational education must be a dual curriculum called Work Integrated Learning or factory school, which we can manage at about 20%. In addition, it will be an internship in the regular curriculum, which is short-term and not intensive enough to create expertise. He would like to invite both small and large entrepreneurs, if there is an opportunity, to support vocational students to have intensive internships.
Unlocking policy to promote Life Counseling for the new generation
Dr. Pothiwat also commented on the future push for this issue that in terms of policy, the government must encourage business establishments to cooperate in creating vocational personnel, that is, create incentives for business establishments to create personnel because this operation has costs. Therefore, it must be viewed in terms of policy. However, at present, it is a form of support called “volunteering”. In Germany, it is “mandatory”, meaning it cannot be ignored. It is the responsibility of business establishments to jointly create personnel to create the nation together. Another issue is the values of Thai parents who want their children to work for the government and graduate with a degree. The Ministry of Education has unlocked this issue by developing a new curriculum called “Bachelor of Practical Education” or “Bachelor of Technology” to support vocational graduates who are already working, giving them the opportunity to continue their studies to enhance their knowledge and skills in management and help develop their career paths in their working lives. Therefore, HR should promote vocational graduates to be able to continue their studies while working until they receive a degree.
Dr. Rattiya added that the inconsistency between the market demand and the supply side of students is because in life, we don’t just need career counseling or career counseling, but also life counseling, life planning counseling. If the new generation sees a picture of their whole life, not just when they graduate, they might plan to work first and then come back to study more. In the current situation, it should be like that because nowadays, there are new skills all the time for us to learn throughout our lives. Therefore, there must be two systems that are consistent: seeing the big picture, planning for the whole life, and workplaces that allow people who are already working to continuously develop themselves by creating a learning system that allows them to enter and exit freely in the future at a low cost.
Adaptation, integration and learning are essential for the future.
Khun Kulwan looks to the future that for example in the past year, the COVID situation has caused a huge adjustment. When there is a disruption, there is a need to do new things. She believes that in the future, we will see less work in the same profession, but more collaboration in various professions, especially in terms of sustainability. Because knowledge about this does not come from a single profession.
There are many issues that need to be integrated, such as the environment, society, or labor, which can be further divided. Therefore, one person cannot know everything. We need to work with others and communicate more. This is what the future of work, which is more flexible, including having a passion for lifelong learning, is necessary for the future. She concluded that sustainability must end with the word empathy, which means understanding, caring, and putting yourself in other people’s shoes more, because everything is connected and affects each other.
And these are the perspectives and experiences of the three panelists on creating jobs that meet both value and worth for sustainable growth.
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