The future of work is all about skills – but do businesses truly know what skills they ’ ll need and how they can develop them ?
Words : Clare Grist Taylor
Featuring contributors ...
Bob Carruthers , Executive Director , Talent Strategy and Management , Bristol Myers Squibb
Jo-Ann Feely , Global Managing Director , Innovation , AMS
Jonathan Kestenbaum , Managing Director , Technology Strategy & Partnerships , AMS
When it comes to the world of work , we live in interesting times . The World Economic Forum ( WEF ) 2020 Future of Jobs Report reinforces what we already instinctively know : we ’ re facing the “ double disruption ” of fallout from the global pandemic coupled with accelerating technological change and automation .
In the midst of this perfect storm , the report rehearses some key themes that underpin the people challenges leaders face as a result : the ongoing transformation of how , when and where we work ; continuing changes to supply chains and business models ; the prospect of increasing inequality in the jobs market ; the mismatch between the skills we have and the skills we need . It anticipates that half of all employees will need some form of reskilling by 2025 . It ’ s not a business environment for the faint-hearted .
But alongside these challenges , the report also points to some cause for optimism . We still have a window of opportunity for a “ global reset ”, to get “ on top of the pace of change and the direction of travel ”, to move towards a new world of “ good work , good jobs and improved quality of life for all ”, it claims .
This won ’ t happen on its own , of course . While the majority of employers surveyed are fully on board with investment in their people , and those people themselves are increasingly taking the initiative when it comes to developing their own skills , leaders will need to be proactive to equip their people – and their businesses – for the transitions and uncertainty ahead . And that means taking a long , hard look at how we build , buy and borrow the skills we need .
The skills information companies keep is often out of date , with new skills left unacknowledged and unrecorded
That ’ s quite a challenge . It ’ s one highlighted by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott in their book The New Long Life . For Gratton and Scott , human ingenuity has brought us the technological progress and longevity that are driving change . And we ’ re going to need that same ingenuity to help us navigate our way through it . The WEF agrees ; for it , human ingenuity is “ the root of all shared prosperity ”.
How , then , can we harness that ingenuity to meet that skills challenge and reach those sunny WEF uplands of a better world of work for all ?
Navigating a new world
When we talk about skills in this context , it ’ s not just a matter of how we handle shortages or hiring gaps today , urgent though that might be . Instead , we ’ re entering a whole new world where it ’ s increasingly difficult to anticipate precisely what those skills will be even five years down the line .
Jonathan Kestenbaum , MD for Technology Strategy & Partnerships at AMS , believes that our skills needs are changing so rapidly that companies are struggling to keep up . This might be felt most acutely with technology skills right now , but that ’ s just the start . He gives the example of in-store butchers whose meat-packing role has , as a result of improved automation , moved up the supply chain to the meat processors themselves . That means that the stores will need to be creative about keeping that experience on board , assessing the butchers ’ capabilities and skills more widely , finding out what interests them and looking to match those skills and interests to new jobs .
And that ’ s just one example . For Kestenbaum , we ’ re entering a time where we ’ ll need to “ regularly readjust ” the skills of everyone in our organisations , not just with new hires but also with the people we already have on board . To “ get the right people in the right seats ” might mean up to 30 % internal mobility each and every year .
That speaks to another WEF aspiration – that the scale of upskilling and reskilling we ’ re talking about needs to be transformational in a wider sense . It ’ s about “ developing attitudes and aspirations that will equip people with the skills to continually adapt to and take part in the changing world of work ”.
That ’ s an interesting prism through which to consider the much-abused concept of ‘ lifelong learning ’. Increasingly , the idea that we need to keep learning , to constantly refresh and update our skills is less an aspiration than it is a simple modus operandi . Learning mindsets can no longer be the preserve of the self-motivated or those who are already highly educated .
It ’ s a message not lost on one of the world ’ s biggest employers , Amazon , which has a widely varied workforce in terms of background and education levels – from high-end developers and analysts to people working on their warehouse floors . Its Amazon 2025 initiative is a commitment to funding reskilling and upskilling , in order to keep its entire workforce up to speed , ready either to take on future roles at Amazon or move on outside the company .
Writing in Harvard Business Review , Anand Chopra-McGowan and Srinivas B . Reddy remind us of the internet meme that sees the COVID-19 pandemic as one of the most successful chief digital or technology officers of all time . They also agree that the need to reskill is no longer “ a recommendation , but a necessary step to economic recovery ”.
The authors also provide interesting insight into what it will take to create a “ shared toolkit ” to support reskilling across the board , focusing on : what reskilling looks like , how much it ’ ll cost ( and who should pay ), how long it ’ ll take , and the kind of policy-level input that will help to make it a reality . They are clear that , while reskilling must be learning “ in the service of an outcome ”, that doesn ’ t mean it need only relate to jobspecific technical skills . It ’ s also about developing core competencies around “ adaptability , communication , collaboration and creativity ”.
In a world where the skills we have or need today no longer offer a reliable guide to the skills we ’ ll need tomorrow , leaders must recalibrate their approach . We should encourage and reward people to behave like Google ’ s ‘ learning animals ’
The implication is clear . In a world where the skills we have or need today no longer offer a reliable guide to the skills we ’ ll need tomorrow , leaders must recalibrate their approach . We should encourage and reward people to behave like Google ’ s ‘ learning animals ’ – hired and deployed not just for what they currently know , but for their learnability , how readily they can adapt and learn something new – and to support them on this journey .
Reframing the skills debate
Jo-Ann Feely , Global MD for Innovation at AMS , believes that this new approach to skills can be an important differentiator for organisations , and a real draw for employees , who get the best of both worlds : secure work and opportunities for personal development .
It does , though , mean thinking about skills in terms of “ a lifelong journey based on organisational and individual purpose ”, doubling down on reconfiguring and reusing the skills we already have rather than simply relying on an external jobs market that ’ s already hyper-competitive in some key areas .
For example , Feely reminds us that companies often pay a premium to buy in a specific skill set on a short-term basis . One part of the organisation may only need those skills for a limited time period , but there ’ s often little or no attempt made to think about how that skill might be deployed elsewhere , allowing for an ongoing relationship with that skills provider , even on a contingency basis .
“ The pandemic has laid bare the need for organisations to shift and pivot their business models and practices ,” she says . “ Thinking about skills more widely and longer term is at the heart of people – and organisational – sustainability . Let ’ s say no to ‘ accidental ’ hiring and instead create and build the workforces we want and need .”
Feely also acknowledges that the sheer pace of change is difficult for companies to manage . Skills shortages put enormous pressure on even the most capable and adaptable of teams . Add to this a whole host of wider cultural shifts , with employees increasingly clear about their expectations – whether that ’ s better work-life balance , flexibility of how and where they work , visibility on diversity , equity and inclusion or clear purpose and mission .
And it ’ s all very well to talk about skills as the new currency , of high-functioning internal markets and staff with impeccable learning quotients ( LQ ). But that assumes that we have a clear sense of the skills we already have . Kestenbaum sees talent mapping as one of the toughest challenges companies face . The skills information companies keep is often out of date , with new skills often left unacknowledged and unrecorded . To help companies to “ readjust and reimagine their workforces ” on a rolling basis , we ’ re going to need innovation that will help companies to track , harness and build skills at scale – that ingenuity again .
Fortunately , there are some initiatives underway that offer some much-needed inspiration .
Total talent in action
The phrase “ total talent ” is in danger of overuse but , for Jo-Ann Feely , it ’ s an approach that ’ s fundamental if we ’ re to meet the skills challenge . Talent functions need to mirror individual skills journeys , offering an end-to-end service from pre-hiring to onboarding and ongoing management and development . They should be focused on learning , and have responsibility for contingent workers as well as employees , encouraging organisations to nurture the full range of resources and skills at hand , wherever they come from . She talks of companies rolling out skills training for their regular contractors as a means of keeping their specialisms close .
It ’ s an approach close to the heart of Bob Carruthers , Executive Director , Talent Strategy and Management , at biopharmaceutical company Bristol Myers Squibb ( BMS ). For Carruthers , having talent acquisition and management responsibility in the same team , working across both the company ’ s employed and contingent workforce , means that total talent has become an operational reality . “ It ’ s all about maximising people ’ s experience with the company ,” he says . “ Our total-talent mindset helps us to make the most of the ‘ build , buy , borrow ’ model .”
In a competitive sector where the company has to continue to build its digital as well as its scientific expertise , and where working culture really matters too , BMS needs all the help it can get . Carruthers ’ focus is on inverting a more traditional external-hire-first approach : “ Our preference is to go internal first , while transitioning contingent workers into relevant opportunities and focusing on quality-driven external hiring .” Faced with the need to hire a different type of individual whose skills might not yet even exist , he ’ s clear that he needs to maximise BMS ’ s existing employee base to build for the future .
This clarity has also helped Carruthers to identify where BMS needs to do more . The buy and borrow pieces of the team ’ s total-talent approach are already well enabled by tech . He wants , though , to extend this kind of efficiency to the third piece – build . Back to that old skills-mapping conundrum .
Companies and individuals will increasingly have to work in partnership to provide the workforce of the future
In response , BMS has been experimenting with how to interrogate , record and analyse the skills and capabilities of existing staff . A pilot scheme has had encouraging take-up . Initially , some staff were concerned about sharing their data , but the vast majority have been able to see the advantages of a good internal market in skills , supported by the right learning and development . It ’ s given the talent team great insights , the promise of a real uptick in capability and the sense that they will be able to match skills to jobs – not to mention potential positives in terms of retention and even diversity , equity and inclusion .
Now that the methodology has been identified , the scheme will be rolled out more widely , with care taken to position the initiative sensitively and with an eye to a good return on the investment .
“ I want to position what we ’ re doing not just as an HR strategy , but as a business driver , a way to meet ongoing skills needs ,” says Carruthers .
It ’ s also about that learning mindset : “ We ’ re always asking ourselves how we can keep developing our people . Companies and individuals will increasingly have to work in partnership to provide the workforce of the future . We want to make sure that we ’ re ready to make that happen .”
Learning on the job ( s )
Management guru Tom Peters once described a career as “ a portfolio of projects that teach you new skills , gain you new expertise , develop new capabilities , grow your colleague set , and constantly reinvent you as a brand ”.
We ’ re familiar with the idea of a freelance portfolio career , but why not , suggests Jo-Ann Feely , create portfolio careers within organisations to help people to deploy and develop their skills as widely as possible ? In a project economy , we ’ re used to cross-functional teams that draw on a range of talent , but why not allow people to work on a range of projects not just sequentially , but concurrently too ?
It ’ s the kind of thinking that underpins a “ new social contract ” at Unilever , a way of “ preparing people to adapt and thrive in changing times ”, of boosting employability . Chief Human Resources Officer Leena Nair believes that the best way to help people to thrive is by supporting them to identify their purpose and “ equipping them with the skills to pursue it ” – purpose and lifelong learning in action .
Initiatives include Unilever ’ s Flex Experience programme , which allows employees to spend up to 20 % of their time in a different job function , plus flexible working options and a scheme that facilitates job swaps across companies . During the pandemic , for example , Unilever ’ s Argentinian factory experienced increased demand for staff . One solution was to give fixed-term and temporary contracts to workers from the nearby General Motors car factory , where production had slowed .
Then there ’ s U-Work , where people work on specific assignments of their choosing – usually with gaps in between – rather than having fixed roles . U-Work employees receive a basic retainer , regardless of whether they work or not , and , when on assignment , they are paid the rate for the job , plus associated benefits . For Nair , it ’ s like “ having freedom similar to a contractor with security akin to an employee ”. For the business , it helps to retain access to critical skills and experience .
Elsewhere , professional services giant PwC is not just exhorting its clients to take reskilling seriously , but investing in its own people too . Global chairman Bob Moritz sees its $ 3bn New World , New Skills training initiative as a necessity if the company is to retain its competitive advantage .
Interestingly , the pot is not only about paying for fee-earners ’ training time and new digital training tools . It ’ s also designed to give employees the time to spend on community projects and to build on partnerships with the United Nations and the WEF to make sure they can roll out training internationally . There ’ s an understanding there that , to be sustainable – to be , in Moritz ’ s words , “ a talent magnet ” – organisations also need to engage with the environment in which they operate .
Not to be outdone , last year , the US Army unveiled its Quantum Leap project , which aims to take a long-term approach to managing and developing its 15,000-strong cyber and IT civilian workforce . The reskilling and upskilling programme is a recognition that the Army needs to do more to make sure its people can “ meet the emerging requirements of the future ”. And while the project is certainly about boosting its appeal to a new generation of tech talent , it ’ s also about understanding and improving the use of the skills its more seasoned people already have .
Let ’ s think back , then , to that WEF optimism . No one underestimates the skills challenges we face . The question ‘ how and where can I get what I don ’ t have ?’ will continue to exercise many a talent team . And external recruitment , for both employed and contingents , will always be part of the answer .
But talent strategies centred on investing in reskilling and upskilling the people we already have are more crucial than ever , and promise the wider transformation we need to create good , sustainable work for the long term . COVID-19 taught us that we ’ re all more adaptable than we might once have thought . That ’ s a great base to build on . Now , we need to find creative ways to really use what we already have and to equip our people with the skills and mindsets they need , whatever the future might bring .
Reskilling new tech talent
Tech Skilling by AMS launched in 2021 , in partnership with Revature , to help organisations find a new way to remedy the widening tech skills gap . This digital paper explores how business is being impacted by a tightening talent market that is fast becoming a tech skills crisis – and discusses ways talent leaders can begin to remedy the challenge .