Building new skills for existing employees top talent issue amid gen AI boom: Report

Amidst growing adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI), building new skills for existing employees is the top talent issue for enterprises, reveals a new study by IBM.

The report finds that AI becomes more pervasive in business but people are still a core competitive advantage. Moreover, business leaders are facing a host of talent-related challenges.

Globally, 1.4 billion of 3.4 billion people in the workforce will need to reskill as a consequence of implementing AI and automation over the next three years. The number is about 40% of the total workforce, find IBM.

IBM collected information from two previous investigations: a survey involving 3,000 C-level executives from 28 different countries, and another study encompassing 21,000 workers across 22 nations.

The report indicates that AI has the potential to expand opportunities for workers by boosting their skills. Surprisingly, the survey found that 87% of executives are of the opinion that employees will experience augmentation rather than substitution due to generative AI. These sentiments differ based on different roles — 97% of executives foresee augmentation for employees in procurement, compared to 93% for those in risk and compliance, finance, and 77% for customer service, and 73% for marketing roles.

Workers prioritise meaningful tasks over flexibility and chances for personal development, although management doesn't always completely align with this perspective. As AI becomes ready to handle a larger share of routine and repetitive duties, the surveyed employees emphasise that being involved in significant work ranks as their foremost concern, surpassing even factors like flexible scheduling, potential for advancement, and fairness in treatment. Additionally, close to half of the surveyed employees hold the belief that the nature of their tasks holds greater significance than their specific employer or regular collaborators.

The landscape of work has undergone significant shifts, even in comparison to just half a year ago. Executives are coming to realise that the future business landscape might require a different set of skills compared to the workforce of the past, and upcoming talents might find it difficult to thrive using traditional work methods.

Human Resources (HR) leaders are poised to have a pivotal impact on how companies adjust to the transformations fueled by generative AI. These leaders have the opportunity to take the lead in addressing these challenges, reimagining work structures and operational frameworks to guide their organisations toward the upcoming era.

The HR leaders can redesign the work, leading with the operating model, invest in talent as much as technology, preparing the workforce for AI and other technology disruption, put skills at the centre of workforce strategy, and give jobs more meaning by putting the employee in the driver’s seat, as suggested by the report.

Generative AI is expected to change the work landscape in various ways. According to a report by Goldman Sachs published on March 26 this year, gen AI tools and large language models (LLMs) could put the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs at risk.

Meanwhile, another report by McKinsey published on June 14 stated that gen AI holds the potential to significantly boost overall workforce efficiency, spanning various sectors. However, achieving this outcome will necessitate investments aimed at assisting employees as they transition between work tasks or make career changes.