With electric vehicles (EV) fast gaining popularity, skilled workers who can operate EV production lines are in high demand. Tata Motors, the electric passenger vehicle segment market leader, is not only designing ways to fend off competition and retain its talent pool, it is investing in the upskilling of its employees too.
“There is a huge shortage of EV workforce,” Sitaram Kandi, Vice President – HR, passenger vehicle and EV business, Tata Motors said while adding, “Software, AI (artificial intelligence) are areas that have shortages. It will take a few more years to bridge that gap but till that time there is a war on talent for these specific areas.”
Tata Motors has partnered with organisations to provide its employees with professional certification programmes in connected, electric, shared and safe (CESS). This includes domain expert level modules on advanced driver assistance Systems (ADAS), battery technology, V2X connectivity, blockchain and cybersecurity, big data analytics, and more.
During FY23, Tata Motors spent Rs 25 crore on upskilling its workforce. While a company official could not provide a guidance for the spend for the coming years, the figure could rise given that demand for skilled EV manpower far outpaces the supply.
Tata Motors’ training modules are curated to address the requisite developmental needs for shop floor technicians to line engineers, and plant management. These modules deliver relevant technical skills, functional skills, as well as managerial and leadership capabilities. Tata Motors has set an ambitious aspiration of equipping over 50% of its workforce with new age auto tech capabilities within 5-years.
Tata Motors has about 12,000 shop floor workers and a further 13,000 apprentices across eight manufacturing plants directly owned by the company. There are two other plants in the country which are not fully owned by the company and are treated separately.
“Our attrition rate is well within the industry average which is 10-12%. There are attempts to poach from us but the products we have for the future and the opportunity we are thus giving them is the biggest driver for them to stay back,” Kandi added.
Having a market share of more than 75% of the passenger EV segment, Tata Motors is preparing to launch fully ground-up new EVs which will debut in the next 1-2 years. Its present generation EVs such as Nexon, Tiago and Tigor are essentially petrol/diesel vehicles which have been modified to be powered by batteries.
Tata Motors has lined up around Rs 15,000 crore for the EV company until 2027 for developing EV capabilities and 10 new products. The company recently acquired Ford’s plant in Gujarat which would also subsequently produce EVs
Tata Motors is witnessing strong demand for BTech and MTech scholarship programs across its workforce. According to Kandi, even workers who are closer to their retirement age are applying for higher education.
“All our mechanical workforce, right from shop floor to the leadership, most have mechanical background. Now we are making a switch. So, all our existing people have an opportunity to transit from mechanical to electric/electronic. Someone who has done a BTech 20 years back, we are giving them an opportunity to do MTech,” Kandi said.
