Constant learning as a skill: making the most of workplace disruption

After all the upheaval we’ve faced in the last year, we hardly need more workplace disruption. But it’s happening: WEF’s latest Future of Jobs report predicts that machines and AI technologies will take over half of all work tasks by 2025. So where does that leave us humans? A pessimist might say that our role in business is coming to an end – more sophisticated automation and AI could put paid to that. 

It’s difficult to take that view seriously following the pandemic, however. Where machine learning models struggled to adapt to sudden market changes, and algorithms failed to predict school grades, human workers stepped in and saved the day. What businesses needed more than ever was common sense and humanity – and only humans could deliver. 

True, we’ve only scratched the surface of what AI is capable of. But nothing can beat the adaptability and creativity of human minds. It is the HR leaders who are charged with unleashing and harnessing that potential, nurturing it and giving it space in the business to grow. Yet adaptability is like a muscle – you use it or lose it. That’s why HR leaders must ensure their business is geared towards encouraging constant learning and training, in a way that’s sustainable and brings success for everyone. 

What new skills pay the bills?

There’s no magic formula for success. Every business and industry is changing in its own way, and each requires its own new skills and competencies. In the supply chain, the focus is on resiliency and the integration of self-healing capabilities to guard against future shocks. For customer experience, the emphasis is on embedding data-driven customer understanding that creates more tailored ‘human’ experiences digitally. Novel roles and job titles – whether it’s chief happiness officer, chief energy officer, or cybrarian – are popping up to satisfy the urgent needs of the business.

However, despite the supposed chaos, there are strong similarities beneath the surface. Organizations are rapidly embracing an enormous depth and breadth of different business applications. These cloud apps rely on AI to help people integrate, orchestrate and automate, helping organizations adapt and transform when they need to. 

We’re at the point where AI not only automates mundane and repetitive tasks, but can also perform highly complex tasks, like business forecasting, accurately and reliably. This doesn’t mean AI is about to replace us – in fact, the inverse is true. Almost every worker, whatever their role, could benefit from the use of a cobot or digital twin. But few organizations are providing their people with these tools today. Delivering modern AI-led business applications should be a top priority for organizations who intend to succeed in the future.

Resetting the workplace culture

There are clear gaps in potential, if many workers are denied access to the latest cloud and AI tools, meaning businesses can’t reap the rewards either. To level up this learning across a business, HR leaders must think differently – but they’ll also need to be more targeted in their approach. They not only need an understanding of what skills are lacking right now, but what talents will be commodities in the future. 

So how does a company know what skills to teach, and which employees are best able to take the business forward? These decisions have to be guided by human resources data from all lines of business. Everything from payroll information to messaging and sentiment analysis should be considered to understand where employees may be struggling, and what they need to improve. This doesn’t have to be a manual process, with cloud-based HR platforms automating much of the hard work. They can integrate data from across a business, collate the relevant information, and analyze it quickly and simply. An HR leader then has the insight they need to make the best hiring, retraining and upskilling decisions, quickly and accurately.

The larger the organization, the more complex it becomes to maintain a program of constant learning. That said, during the pandemic, low-carbon energy leader Engie extended its cloud-based HCM platform to maintain business transformation across its global 170,000-strong workforce. By integrating data from across the business and using the latest AI tools, Engie is able to streamline and standardize a global policy of continuous improvement, career development and best practice sharing across the business. 

Humans make a company’s culture – but helping them learn and grow with the right tech can make it even better. HR plays a crucial role, and when aided by the right AI tools and data-driven insight, they can make the best decisions for the business and its people. No matter what shape the next great disruption takes, HR leaders can lay the groundwork now to ensure employees can meet the challenge head on.

Yazad Dalal, EMEA HCM Strategy Leader, Oracle