Genpact plans to hire, train and support coronavirus-hit workforce

Launches 'Rise Together' to train prospective employees cutting across age groups

Business process management firm Genpact has started a programme as part of which it will recruit people who have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a note to employees on Friday, Tiger Tyagarajan, chief executive officer, Genpact, said, “Today, I take great pride in announcing a new programme called Rise Together, aimed at helping people from communities where families have been severely impacted by Covid-19, enabling long-term resilience and recovery for those who need it most.”

The firm will use its reskilling platform, Genome, to create dedicated modules to train these people for various roles at Genpact. The prime objective of Genome — launched internally by Genpact in November 2018 — is to work on the existing skills of an employee. Based on operating models derived from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Collective Intelligence work, the programme customises the reskilling paths for each employee. Though the module will be implemented globally, Tyagarajan said countries like India that have been “hit hard by Covid” needed such a programme even more.

As India slowly recovers from a devastating second wave, which has had a deep economic impact on many families, Genpact’s plans might bring cheers to many. The company said ‘Rise Together’ will work on three main pillars — hire, train and support.

Genpact will hire through partnerships that will allow it to tap into alternative talent sources. Genpact’s hiring team will drive the outreach, screening, shortlisting, interviewing, and selection of candidates from non-traditional talent pools made up of population directly impacted by the pandemic, such as Covid-19 widows, and families who have lost their main breadwinner. 

Considering that many of these people could be women who might have been outside the workforce for some time, Genpact will help them refresh their skills to take on new roles.

Once hired, the candidates will undergo an onboarding and training process, including an eight-week focused learning journey on Genome, to build specific skills.  “To set people up for long-term resilience, success, and growth within Genpact, we will leverage various employee resources to create an internal support system to ensure this group has the tools they need, including networking and support groups, programmes that foster emotional resilience, and access to our counsellors and wellbeing experts,” Tyagarajan said in the note.  Genpact has provided employee support globally throughout the pandemic. The firm has best-in-class rapid testing, and is a founding member of the US Rapid Action Consortium, which brings the private sector together to provide Covid-19 testing at scale to workplaces across the US.

In India, it has set up contactless drive-through testing for symptomatic employees and their families at various locations throughout the country. It has also been offering testing for employees at various sites in other regions.  It has also either covered the cost of vaccination or has procured vaccines, in accordance with local laws, in different countries. 

In a note last month, Tyagarajan had said Genpact’s operating teams were working with clients to prioritise and redistribute work globally to ensure timely delivery. “Throughout the pandemic, I have been amazed and humbled by the efforts of each and every one of you — at embracing remote work, caring for each other and your loved ones, and ensuring we don’t miss a beat in meeting our client commitments. I know it hasn’t been easy. But through it all, you have shown extraordinary agility in your ability to adapt and rise to meet new challenges that were unimaginable even two short years ago,” he said.