VMware Gets Industry Support for VMinclusion Taara, as Unique Return to Work Program Reaches a New Milestone

Up-Skilling Program

* 6,000+ women now registered for the free VMware certification courses in digital transformation technologies 

* NTT Ltd. pledges support for the program

VMinclusion Taara, one of India’s largest up-skilling programs, that aims to help women restart their careers after a break has recently reached a new milestone of 6,000+ registrations. The program that trains women in latest digital transformation technologies which include Cloud Management & Automation, Data Center Virtualization, Networking and Digital Workplaces is now supported by more industry partners with the latest addition of NTT Ltd.

As the program is now more than a year old, several women have reached advanced stage of the curriculum and have received employment. Stories of women from the program can be found here.

NTT Ltd., one of VMware’s leading partners in Asia Pacifc and Japan has come forward to support the program in India, and create greater awareness for improving female representation for women in tech. The company will also consider evaluating talent coming from VMinclusion Taara program to help more women return to work.

“India has one of the highest number of STEM graduates globally and yet the number of women dropping out of work is staggering. I am thrilled that industry leaders such as NTT Ltd. are coming forth to help us in supporting these women. The fact that the program has had such a great response in India, reinforces our belief about how most women on career breaks are looking for the training and the right opportunity to rejoin work.” said Duncan Hewett, senior vice president & GM, APJ, VMware.

“We believe that diversity in the technology sector is key to our success. We consider it our responsibility to encourage and ensure women who have had to leave the industry, are given every opportunity to return. We are delighted to be a part of the VMinclusion Taara journey, to help women build skills in the latest technology trends. VMinclusion Taara provides the training for free with flexible timelines. NTT Ltd’s partnership with VMware will reinforce this vision and support more women to return to our industry.” said John Lombard, CEO, Asia Pacific at NTT Ltd.

In October 2018, VMware announced VMinclusion Taara to address the increasing gender gap in the technology sector. The courses listed in this program are free of cost. Keeping in mind that the women participating in Taara may have other life commitments to attend to, all the training is delivered online. Any woman, who is a citizen of India and residing in the territorial jurisdiction of India can join the VMinclusion Taara program to retrain in the latest digital transformation technologies and become a VMware certified professional. Some experience or education in the field of Information Technology (IT) is preferred. However, this is not a limiting criteria for a woman who wants to learn and build a new career in IT. VMinclusion Taara equips women with foundation-level training courses on digital business transformation. Candidates can expect to cover cutting-edge cloud technologies like networking, virtualization, data center, storage and security. Any female citizen of India who has taken a career break of 6 months or more is eligible to apply for this program.  Any woman who has completed her graduation at least 6 months ago, and not found employment yet can also enroll for the VMinclusion Taara program to become a VMware Certified Professional. NTT Ltd. Partners is the latest organisation to offer support to VMware’s VMinclusion Taara.  Several key organizations like State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel and Cognizant have supported this program and will be open to considering women being certified on VMware’s digital transformation solutions for relevant openings within their organisations.

Women who want to register for this program can do so at – VMinclusion Taara page - https://www.vmware.com/taara/  or drop an email to taara_vminclusion@vmware.com

Has the crisis left Dubai migrant workers out in the cold?

Low-paid Asian workers who toil long days to build the skyscrapers of Dubai have become the latest victims of the global financial crisis as companies run short of business and money.

For many years, the Gulf emirate was a magnet for South Asian workers who fed the booming economy with cheap manpower -- from cleaners and gardeners to skilled and unskilled builders.

A report issued earlier this month showed that 582 billion dollars worth of building projects in the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is a part, had been put on hold due to the slowdown. That was 45 percent of the total.

Arnold, a 26-year-old Filipino machine operator, found a job in a small aluminium factory only two months after arriving in Dubai last summer. But in January, he and six others from the 15-strong workforce were laid off.

"I am staying in Dubai trying to find another job," he said, pointing out that his previous employer lost a great deal of business when many construction projects ground to a halt, cutting demand for aluminium products.

Six years of spectacular growth in the UAE construction sector, mainly in Dubai, absorbed hundreds of thousands of workers, mostly from South Asia. That had a knock-on effect, creating further opportunities for migrants.

But the financial crisis, mainly in construction and related industries, is reversing that trend, forcing foreign workers to go home.

"The crisis is worse in the Philippines. We have no future there. We are looking for part-time jobs here, anything," Arnold told AFP as he hung out with two friends who had also lost their jobs.

Christopher, a compatriot, said he has been in Dubai for around nine months working as a welder during the day and a barista in the evening.

He and his wife, who also works in a Dubai coffee shop, used to send 500 dirhams (136 dollars) a month home, where their two kids were left behind.

Migrant workers send billions of dollars home every year. One money transfer firm, UAE Exchange, said its volume last year was 12 billion dollars, most of it to India, Bangladesh and the Philippines.

Like Arnold, Christopher was working illegally in the hope that an employer would get him a work permit. Now he is searching desperately for anything.

But even for labourers who were brought to the UAE on a work visa to satisfy the needs of the once-booming economy, many are receiving the pink slip.

"Some 200 gardeners were sacked recently from our company" out of about 10,000 workers, said an Indian as he planted saplings in the garden of an elegant office building in Dubai.

"They told us the company does not have much work and is short of money," said the man in his mid-40s, refusing to give his name.

Two other colleagues, an Indian and a Bangladeshi, carried on trimming the hedge, appearing hesitant to say anything that might jeopardise their jobs.

"We are expecting to lose our jobs," said the man, who earns a meager 500 dirhams (136 dollars) a month in return for 48 hours a week.

He lamented that two years ago he had to pay what was for him a fortune of around 10,000 dirhams (2,725 dollars) to Indian intermediaries to get a job in Dubai.

Murukesan, an Indian cleaner, said his employer, a large cleaning and maintenance company, last week told workers who had completed at least two years of work to go home on four-month unpaid vacations.

"They said do not come back until we call you," he said with a faint smile, appearing content as he has completed only 18 months of his contract.

"In the past, workers were not taking vacations, even after four years of continuous work," he said, highlighting a huge work load in the immediate past.

It appears some of the unpaid "vacations" are simply a way of getting rid of people without having to pay them off. Under UAE law, workers laid off must be paid 21 days' salary for each of the first five years worked and a month's salary for every year after that.

"They are trying to find excuses to bypass the rules of terminating a contract," said Monir al-Zaman, labour attache at the Bangladeshi embassy.

"Compensation should be paid if workers are being fired," he told the media, adding that companies should resort to cutting overtime work and even reduce salaries before laying off workers.

In December, Khalfan al-Kaabi, a member of the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce board of directors, said up to 45 percent of construction workers could be laid off this year if private sector projects in the UAE were delayed or cancelled.

Zaman said he could not provide a figure on Bangladeshi workers having lost their jobs in the UAE, because the process is not done "formally".

He also pointed out that he noticed, during inspection visits to labour camps, that many workers stayed in the UAE even if they were not being paid, in hope of finding work.

But poor unemployed workers cannot linger for long if jobs remain rare.

"Maybe this month I have to decide to stay or go ... because I don't have any money. Now I'm borrowing from friends," said Arnold.

Agencies

Severe shortage; Canada woos skilled Indian workers!

Here's good news for engineers, technicians and other skilled workers wanting to work abroad. Canada is trying to attract young talent from countries like India by relaxing norms for visas in this category, says a Canadian immigration expert.

'There is an acute shortage of skilled workers in Canada and the situation will worsen in the next 5-10 years unless the government makes an effort to attract talent from a young country like India,' said Curtis Panke, director of global operations for the Ontario-based Global Placement Services.

Pointing out that the retirement age for most occupations in Canada is 55 years, he said in the next five years, more than 20 percent of the country's engineers, doctors, professors and geologists would retire.

'This huge void cannot be filled with domestic talent alone. If we do not attract the talent from outside, there will be a talent vacuum of up to 70 percent in the next 10 to 15 years,' Panke told the media.

Keeping all this in mind, he said, the Canadian government has made vital changes in its immigration policy and relaxed certain norms for a Canadian visa in the skilled worker category.
The latest fast track processing of visa applications in the federal skilled worker category ensures a Canadian visa in a shorter period of just 6-12 months, pointed out Panke.

The Canadian government has issued a list of 38 high-demand occupational categories, including health, finance, engineers, heavy-duty mechanics, industrial technicians, food service managers and other skilled trades.

Panke is in Punjab to gauge the talent pool available and to conduct seminars all over the state in collaboration with the city-based World Wide Immigration Consultancy Services (WWICS), which has sent over 60,000 families and around 250,000 individuals to Canada till date.

'There are thousands of Punjabis in Canada, who are doing extremely well in their professions and contributing to the country's economy. Comparatively, we have more applicants from this region if we compare it with other states in India,' stated Panke.

Asked about the impact of global recession on the Canadian economy, Panke said a majority of the organisations and companies there would be unaffected in the long run. 'There is some impact but all this is a temporary phase and will pass very soon. Moreover, there is no impact on the openings available under skilled category there and Canada is looking forward to employ skilled workers in a big way.'

Talking about Canada's federal investor category for permanent residency in the country, Lt Col (retd) B.S. Sandhu, chief managing director of WWICS, said: 'An investor is only needed to invest Rs.5 million in some flourishing trade in Canada and can relocate there under the Canadian Investor Program.'

The applicant, under this category, only needs to have a work experience of two years and no language proficiency test like IELTS is required, he added.

Source: Agencies