Makeover for Beauty and wellness sector post-COVID-19

India is the 10th fastest growing Beauty and Wellness market globally. According to an official survey by an international agency, the Beauty and Wellness sector will be the largest job puller by 2022 with a substantial contribution of grassroots entrepreneurship. This calls for qualified, skilled, and trained professionals who are well-versed with the safety and hygiene norms of the sector. In this Skill Talk, Ms. Monica Bahl, CEO, Beauty and Wellness Sector Skill Council (B&WSSC), talks about reskilling and upskilling the professionals, the new safety norms in the industry, the possible changes in the future and the steps that industry needs to take to cope with the changes. Read on to know more.

Q: Beauty and wellness industry, is largely unorganized and informal. What are the steps taken by the B&WSSC to transform this into an organized setup with the help of skills and education, upskilling, reskilling, and research?

A: Beauty and Wellness industry as rightly understood, is a highly unorganized sector with outfits at every corner of the country and still counting. This realization, well before time to have many more formally trained professionals to furnish the mammoth growth of this sector, leads to firstly setting standards, which is instrumental in developing the qualification packs of assorted job roles created for the domain.

Walking the designated way ahead, employability enhancement of the trained resources by organizing job fairs for active participation by the larger players of the industry is an important foray under consideration. Another facet of deliverance is the faculty development, which supplements capacity building which is undertaken by way of training of trainers as an ongoing program. This would serve as a supply chain for producing enough faculty members to suffice the current and future faculty requirements, which in turn will support skill competitions such as India Skills competitions, which is a step-up to WorldSkills competitions.

B&WSSC has also initiated the development of online content in the form of demo workshops for engaging the women and youth to consider this sector as their preferred choice of career.

Q: What are the new safety and hygiene instructions that beauty and wellness professionals must know and practice in order to cope with the changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic?

A: Understanding the intensity of the COVID-19 Pandemic and recognising the fact of knowledge and awareness as the only tool to tackle the virus affecting the human lives, B&WSSC has developed guidelines on health, safety and hygiene of the Beauty and Wellness industry, duly vetted by the medical fraternity to propagate social distancing and many such critical precautionary measures to keep the workforce safeguarded, post the lockdown. This initiative was even more imperative since the Beauty and Wellness industry is all about dealing in close proximity with humans while rendering services to their clientele and for the walk-ins as well as availing these services. In order to reach out to mass recipients for better understanding, B&WSSC translated these guidelines in two National and nine Regional languages namely, English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Punjabi, Oriya, and Assamese.

The aim of developing these medically certified guidelines is to provide the required knowledge on health, safety, and hygiene so as to enable the Beauty and Wellness workforce to orient themselves on the new standards required to deal with the situation post-COVID-19 Lockdown, as and when the Industry opens.

Q: How should the industry prepare itself for the increased demand for home services and skilled professional’s services at the doorstep?

A: It is skills and knowledge that are the driving forces of economic and social development of any country. The challenge is not merely of preparing more skilled manpower, but also of ensuring employable skills with a view to filling the skill gaps in the industry. Being a young nation, we are getting ready to reap the benefits of our demographic dividend. Thus, B&WSSC can foresee an urgent need of skill sets enhancement of the potential workforce by moderating and facilitating their transition from an academic to professional life, so as to make ready, competent and confident professionals forming a part of Indian and global workforce.

Q: What are the changes you foresee in the industry during/after the COVID-19 crisis? What needs to be done to revive it?

A: Beauty and Wellness industry in India is growing at a pace almost twice as that of the US and European markets and India is the 10th fastest growing Beauty and Wellness market globally, wherein the wellness sector as a whole is expected to double by 2022.

As per an official survey conducted by an international agency, Beauty and Wellness will be the largest job puller by 2022 with a substantial contribution of grassroots entrepreneurship and related aspiration. Only 45% of the trained resources in the industry resort to organized employment, rest 55% go in for entrepreneurial opportunities.

Post COVID-19 scenario, we at B&WSSC, in a systematic and sustained manner, will redefine and develop the model curriculum with the right know-how and information on maintaining higher levels of hygiene and safety, as a part of skilling the upcoming talent. On similar lines, training curriculum for training partners, assessment agencies, and master trainers and assessors would also undergo a paradigm shift keeping the concept of making the industry grow and build a healthier, safer, and sustainable business environment at the forefront.

Related Article: Health, safety and hygiene guideline for the Beauty and Wellness industry by B&WSSC – Read More: https://nationalskillsnetwork.in/health-safety-and-hygiene-guideline-for-the-beauty-and-wellness-industry/

Q: Beauty and wellness industry is one of the sectors which majorly employs migrant workforce, especially women. With ongoing migrant crisis in India, what steps should be taken to ensure employment and entrepreneurial opportunities for them?

A: The Beauty and Wellness industry is always in need of qualified and trained professionals and even more now, with the COVID-19 pandemic widening the gap by forcing the migrant workforce leading back to their place of origin. There is also low female participation in the Indian economy which is one of the major challenges. This could be due to a lack of education and other socio-economic barriers limiting the opportunities for women.

Nowadays, there is an emerging need to transform India’s women and youth into a skilled workforce. skilling the women will empower them and help us as a nation achieve gender equality. However, this needs concerted efforts of all stakeholders. A policy framework, encouraging and enabling women’s participation, should be constructed with an active awareness of the “gender-specific” constraints that women face the most.