Future-Proof Your Talent Strategy
Overview
The universe of skills is expanding rapidly, and required skills are changing at an unprecedented pace. Artificial intelligence (AI) is driving this evolution by replacing repetitive tasks and enhancing human capabilities. However, the deployment of AI is uneven, making certain skills more future-stable than others. Organizations need to adapt by focusing on cultivating social-creative and digital dexterity skills across various talent segments.
Key Findings
- Skill Changes: Nearly three-quarters of jobs had more than 40% of their required skills change between 2016 and 2019, indicating that static skill sets are ineffective for future workforce planning.
- Future-Stable Skills: Social-creative and digital dexterity skills are more likely to be required in the future workforce and are at lower risk of AI impact, positioning them as future-stable skills.
- Risk of AI Impact: The risk of AI impact on a talent profile is determined by the amount and importance of social-creative skills in the profile.
- Options for Talent Segments: Organizations have multiple options beyond simply eliminating impacted talent segments. HR leaders can choose to focus, acquire, broaden, redeploy, or downsize based on the risk of AI impact and the proportion of digital dexterity skills.
Recommendations
- Map AI Impact: Determine the importance of social-creative skills and the proportion of digital dexterity skills in each talent segment.
- Regular Check-Ins: Hold regular meetings with IT and business leaders to assess AI deployment and its potential impact on the workforce.
- Assess Role Risk: Evaluate the role’s risk of AI impact and choose the most appropriate option for role redesign (focus, acquire, broaden, redeploy, or downsize).
Changing Universe of Skills
- Skill Evolution: In just three years, 43% of employees learned new skills, up from 34% the previous year.
- Job Descriptions: Many skills considered critical four years ago are no longer relevant, highlighting the need for dynamic skill needs rather than static job descriptions.
- AI’s Role: AI technologies are reshaping work, enhancing human capabilities while automating some tasks.
AI Effectiveness Varies by Task Type
- Perception: Tasks involving identifying specific elements (e.g., text, images) are becoming increasingly automated.
- Judgment: Tasks requiring pattern recognition and recommendation (e.g., content recommendations, medical diagnostics) are seeing significant AI impact, but human collaboration remains crucial.
- Social and Creative: Tasks involving prediction, creation, and interaction (e.g., job performance predictions, artistic projects) remain challenging for AI, increasing demand for social-creative skills.
Creating a Future-Stable Workforce
- Focus on Future-Stable Skills: Social-creative and digital dexterity skills are more stable and in higher demand as technology advances.
- Build Future-Stable Workforce: HR leaders should focus on cultivating these skills rather than static roles.
By understanding and adapting to these trends, organizations can future-proof their talent strategies and build a resilient workforce.