Talent development: A key initiative for Internet Alliance
According to IA, or the Internet Alliance’s President, TK Tan, the association which champions digital service providers has the vision to empower the digital economy in three main areas. “Firstly, we advocate for our members (made up of digital service providers), secondly we encourage collaboration among our members, and finally, we nurture some of our young members to scale up as quickly and as much, as possible.”
Specifically to talent development, TK has observed that there is an acute problem that the industry faces overall – shortage of skills and talents which is exacerbated by the Great Resignation phase brought about by COVID-19.
“Yes, this is an area amplified during the pandemic and lockdowns, not to mention foreign companies that come into Malaysia to scoop up all our digital talents, because they can pay more.”
As an association, IA has worked out a few initiatives like collaborating with local academia, or government agencies, to address this problem. However, “…the talent issue is not something that only a single party can manage and resolve,” TK said.
Supply-side initiatives
While all of this is happening, there is something else that has come out of the long periods of pandemic lockdowns.
“Yes, this is an area amplified during the pandemic and lockdowns, not to mention foreign companies that come into Malaysia to scoop up all our digital talents, because they can pay more.”
For example, the DE-Rantau program which invites and dangles incentives for foreign talent to come to Malaysia to work for mid- to long-term periods.
This indirectly addresses the supply shortage, but as a platform for Malaysian businesses, IA wants to look into how they can help the local Malaysian talents first, according to Henry Tye, who is Head of Talent Development at IA.
“So, what we are doing right now is setting up a committee to understand the immediate skills and requirements that local digital companies require,” he explained, adding that subsequently they will work with governments agencies and academia to pick up skills via courses.
“They could be unemployed or working in similar industries, but they do not have the right skills, or they are missing one or two, for them to be able to join a digital company, or a technology company.”
Another way that IA is addressing this is via short-term enablement opportunities whereby interns or fresh graduates can work for one of IA’s member companies to acquire skills and experience that are needed to contribute towards the digital economy.
“In a nutshell, we are trying to solve this problem from the supply point of view,” Henry added.
In his opinion there is no way the industry can depend on just education institutions to completely solve this problem “… because they are having problems themselves adopting the latest technologies, at scale.”
Matching local talent to IA members – getting the industry ready
Henry claims IA as having members who are leaders in their own right, in areas like payment gateway services provision, or data centres.
“By joining us early and working with us, I think this can improve the situation.”
Lance Cheang, who is Secretary of IA, also shared his view that companies in Malaysia and specificially IA members can create working environments that are conducive for talents to want to stay in Malaysia.
Besides ample and commensurate salary, there are other incentives to lure and retain local talent, for example learning programs for employees to learn on the job, and HRD Corp programs that can help companies scale up to be attractive to potential employees.
“And yet, you see Singapore losing talent as well,” he said.
TK noted, that his industry counterparts in Singapore would comment that they are able to pay salaries that are three times more what Malaysian companies can offer.
“And yet, you see Singapore losing talent as well,” he said.
“Gone are the days that you can run it like a Chinaman company and you squeeze employees to the maximum. Now, you have ro reinvest your profits into developing new talents.”
He echoed what Henry said, by expressing that each IA member has to work their way to shape and size their company to make it attractive for talents to join them.
“Collectively as an association, we do help our members to make them look attractive.
“That’s where our talent development program comes in. We make it a structured program to draw these talents to come to IA, bring in interns and bring in new employees. So, this is what we are doing right now,” TK said.
This is one of the few ways that IA is also different from other industry associations like the National ICT Association (PIKOM), or ShareGuide.