Gig economy growth and shortage of H-1B visas to solve tech talent crunch

HIRING managers and business leaders know that finding talent in today’s day and age, especially in the field of technology, is hard.

Unfortunately, businesses have no option but to find a way around this problem because as Ohmyhome Co-Founder Race Wong puts it, technology is ever evolving and there are many possible solutions to many of our business problems.

Speaking to Tech Wire Asia ahead of her session at e27’s Echelon Asia Summit 2019 (free tickets for readers till stocks last), Wong explained that her biggest pain point lies in using new technologies effectively and efficiently with a limited talent pool.

“We have to prioritize meticulously in order to achieve a balance between the limited resources that we have and providing our customers the best service and experience.”

Wong’s concerns about talent are shared by many in the world of business, especially in Asia.

Recently, Pomelo Fashion’s Regional VP of Production Lloyd Lin too agreed that talent in the technology space is scarce which throws a spanner in the works when it comes to conceiving and delivering on ambitious technology projects.

“For Pomelo, we have had to bring in data professionals from more mature digital markets like the US and Europe to fulfill leadership roles, while simultaneously recruiting younger associates locally who have a fundamental understanding of data science and training them up to become future leaders within the business,” Lin revealed.

While Pomelo’s strategy serves the company, it might not be right for everyone.

Ohmyhome’s Wong, for instance, might feel the need to prioritize her technology projects, but she’s racing past competitors with exciting customer-centric innovations at record speeds.

“We are consistently upgrading the team’s skill sets to improve on the technological stack that we are using. Better sprints, retrospectives, feedback, QA, data analysis, and research have helped us make better decisions,” said a proud Wong.

“Our web team explored modern framework to improve on performance significantly, the app team rebuilt and enhanced features to support better UX.

“Today, Ohmyhome is at the forefront of online real estate transactions, where our tech team is constantly innovating and building features to simplify the way users transact their properties.”

Truth be told, every business has its own way to overcome challenges based on their needs and the resources available to them. However, according to Deloitte’s latest 2019 Global Human Capital Trends report, the industry is evolving in ways that might just help bridge the technology talent gap effectively — at least for some organizations.

Deloitte’s study finds that employees and businesses are both beginning to make the transition from full-time roles to alternative work — including contract, freelance, and gig employment.

Alternative work is appealing to many kinds of candidates because of the flexibility it offers, but in light of the talent crunch and the growing demand for flexible working hours, companies seem to be coming around and warming up to the idea of enlisting the help of alternative workers to plug in for holes in talent on key digital projects.

In fact, Deloitte believes that best practices to access and deploy alternative workers are just now being invented. These are expected to help organizations fast-track their transition to models that put full-time staffers together with alternative workers quickly and effectively.

Recent news about the US H-1B visa cap filling up and technology talent looking elsewhere aligns well with Deloitte’s findings, promising a steady supply of talent from a group that might now find it quite rewarding — benefiting Asia just as much as any other region in the world.

In the future, it seems as though the technology talent crunch might finally stop being a deterrent to Asia’s digital transformations.

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