O
Catalyst | On Topic
T
he phrase “digital
disruption” doesn’t
do justice to the
scale and speed
of technolgical
change. In 2017, the
McKinsey Global
Institute estimated that around half
of all paid human activities globally
could already be automated using
existing technology.
On the flipside, research company
Gartner believes artificial intelligence
(AI) will result in a net gain in human
roles, creating two million new jobs
by 2025. One recent study of talent
acquisition professionals showed
that 77% of companies are now
hiring for roles that didn’t exist
a year ago.
A common perception is that
certain jobs and industries are more
susceptible to new technology: robots
on production lines, simple tasks
being handled by AI and so on.
But no sector is immune to
digitisation: from contactless
payments for street food and
transglobal blue-chip conference
calls to online marketplaces for
craftspeople, everything is touched
by binary.
For employers, the speed and
nature of this change poses many
questions: how can they predict the
skills they’ll need in the future? How
do they add these skills to their talent
pool? Should they recruit externally
or train internally? If the former,
who do they recruit? If the latter,
which skills will be needed and how
can these be instilled? Can all of this
be done in a way that future-proofs
their organisation against further,
unforeseeable change?
In fact, things have changed
so swiftly that there is a constant
sense of looming, unavoidable
and dramatic developments on the
horizon, which are impossible to
foresee with any accuracy.
It only takes a single innovation to
disrupt a business’ five-year vision
overnight. Think what broadband,
and its enabling of streaming, did to
Blockbuster video stores’ DVD sales.
Such constant fluctuation makes it
challenging to focus on recruiting staff
with specific ‘hard skills’. Instead,
many companies are now recruiting
for soft skills and personality traits
that will remain valuable no matter
how the market changes. With the current pace of change,
it’s important to hire people who
are comfortable with uncertainty,
adds John Gotham, director of
talent acquisition at personal care
corporation Kimberly-Clark.
“People with learning agility,
creativity and flexibility; those
who are not afraid of change, but
embrace it.”
Focus on human skills When it comes to sourcing these skills
and qualities, should organisations
focus on external recruits or invest
in training existing employees?
“I see more and more reskilling
across organisations,” notes
Cheryl Allen, HR director at global
technology company Atos.
“Even if you’re staying in the same
role, with the rate of change, you
have to stay current. Organisations
need to think about their people
when introducing things such as
automation. What can they do with
their people?
“We have people with legacy skills;
skills that are in decline,” she admits.
“We really drive internal hiring and
reskilling. From a people perspective,
it’s the right thing to do. We have
lots of great people who understand
how the organisation works, who
are loyal to us, and you can’t buy
that. Our strategy has improved
morale. We’re at 82% internal hiring,
which is a fantastic message to
our people.”
In addition to recruiting new staff
and reskilling existing employees,
organisations can, of course, dip
into the ever-expanding pool of
freelancers in the deconstructed
workforce (see feature, p24),
taking on these individuals as
and when needed. However,
self-employment usually means
self-funded self-improvement, which
can limit learning.
A 2017 study by software company
iCIMS found that the vast majority
(94%) of recruiting professionals
believe “an employee with stronger
soft skills has a better chance of being
promoted to a leadership position
than an employee with more years
of experience but weaker soft skills”.
Their top three most-valued skills in
a candidate were problem solving,
adaptability and time management.
“Motivation is often the
factor that determines
how well people can learn”
“I’d call them human skills,”
says Nishi Shah, talent director at
consultancy firm businessthreezero.
“It’s about people changing faster
than the world around them. I focus
on human skills, because functional
skills are ever-changing. It’s not
that we don’t invest in them, but we
can’t over-invest in them and under-
invest in the human qualities that are
sustaining change; people who have
that curiosity to learn.”
Reskilling
your workforce
Issue 3 - 2019
31