Even as AI becomes more pervasive in business, talent remains a key competitive advantage. But business leaders face many talent challenges, from skills gaps to changing employee expectations to the need for new operating models. A global survey by the IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) reveals.
The global skills gap is real and growing. Surveyed executives estimate that 40% of their workforce will need to be reskilled over the next three years due to the introduction of AI and automation. According to , this could represent his 1.4 billion people out of the world’s 3.4 billion workforce. world bank statistics. Respondents also reported that building new skills for existing employees is their biggest talent challenge.
AI can unlock more opportunities by empowering employees. In fact, 87% of executives surveyed believe that generative AI is more likely to augment employees than replace them. This varies by department. 97% of executives believe generative AI is more likely to enhance rather than replace procurement employees. This compared to 93% of risk and compliance employees, 93% of finance employees, 77% of customer service employees, and 73% of departmental employees. marketing.
Employees value meaningful work over flexibility and growth opportunities, but leaders aren’t always responsive to their needs.. As AI is geared up to take on more manual and repetitive tasks, the employees surveyed are more likely to engage in work that has more impact than compensation or job security, such as flexible work arrangements, Opportunity for growth, more important than equity, is reported to be the most important factor. Almost half of employees surveyed believe their job is far more important than who they work for or with.
But employers seem to have missed the memo about what’s important. Employers surveyed said having impactful work was not the most important thing for employees, but having flexible working arrangements was most important, more than compensation or job security.
The world of work has changed from six months ago. Leaders are beginning to realize that tomorrow’s companies may not operate the way they used to, and that tomorrow’s talent cannot rely on yesterday’s ways of working.
Human resources (HR) leaders can play a critical role in how their organizations adapt to the changes brought about by generative AI.. These leaders can overcome these challenges by redesigning their work and operating models to lead their organizations into the future.
Here are four actions HR leaders should take.
Redesign your work starting with your operating model. Automating a bad process won’t make it better. Instead of automating traditional activities, old processes that may be repetitive, manual, or simply outdated, look for better ways to do it.
Process mining allows you to analyze how work is done and where bottlenecks and other inefficiencies exist. From there, you can rethink and redesign how work gets done, identifying where to apply AI and automation to repetitive or manual tasks, and freeing up employee time and brain power for higher-value tasks. can be released.
IBM’s human resources team Rethinking the highly manual and data-intensive quarterly promotion process and applying a custom watsonx Orchestrate solution to automate data collection, freeing up human staff to spend more time and energy on high-value tasks Now you can pour it.
Invest as much in your people as you do in your technology and prepare your workforce for AI and other technological disruptions. This is a pivotal moment for HR leaders in defining their organization’s transformation strategy and how their workforce will use AI to enable it.
HR leaders improve workforce planning, design, and strategy by defining higher-value jobs, identifying critical roles and skills of the future, and managing recruitment, staffing, and retention in new roles, and more. We will promote These changes in workforce planning, design, and strategy may include identifying and eliminating repetitive tasks that can be handled by AI. You can also review and modify roles, combine roles, create new roles, and extend existing roles to include tasks such as applying and managing AI tools. Using AI, HR leaders can create targeted skill development for higher-level human-driven tasks.
Put skills at the center of your talent strategy, now and in the future. Leaders need to think about how to increase technical acumen across their workforce. This serves as a broad foundation for employees to build new skills, such as how to work creatively and responsibly with AI.
This doesn’t mean every employee has to learn how to code, but most employees will need to get used to new AI solutions. And it’s critical that all employees understand the basics of AI and its capabilities, allowing them to be both critical thinkers and users of the technology. Everyone should be able to ask questions about the model’s training data, how it makes predictions, potential risks, and more.
Technology can also help employees develop their skills and careers. An interactive career roadmap with dynamic prompts helps employees see what is expected of them in their progression. At Delta Air Lines, IBM Consulting introduced a skills infrastructure and talent platform to upskill IT employees in critical new technologies.
Future talent pipeline is also an important consideration. The global AI skills gap is an urgent need across industries, and closing this gap requires strategic investment.
Giving more meaning to work by putting employees in the driver’s seat. AI has the potential to transform the employee experience. It has the potential to automate repetitive tasks and allow people to focus on what they are passionate about. Free up time for skill development and work-life balance. and create exciting new roles and career paths.
It’s important to involve your employees in this process. Use digital channels for continuous, open feedback loops, give your team a forum, and recommend tasks that can be automated to make their work easier and more fulfilling. This openness to feedback and company-wide growth mindset also helps organizations develop the next generation of leaders. Foster an environment that encourages leaders at all levels to bring new ideas and apply technology creatively within their roles.
We are at a pivotal time in the world of work. Huge opportunities lie ahead for HR leaders, but they also come with risks. As enterprises increasingly adopt AI, successful change will only occur if organizations, through their HR leaders, prioritize new approaches to people and operating models that connect talent and technology to improve productivity and drive business value. will be applied.
Keep your business at the forefront of AI innovation. subscribe Receive email updates on AI advances, strategies, how-tos, expert perspectives, and new insights from the AI Academy.
