- The Josh Bersin Company’s latest research, Automotive Manufacturing in Turmoil – Navigating the EV Metamorphosis, tells the story of how the auto industry is navigating a digital transformation.
- Hiring to grow is an outdated practice. AI-driven talent intelligence platforms can identify skill gaps and adjacent skills within your workforce so you can develop talent from within.
- Investing in reskilling your current talent can reactivate their excitement for the work, encouraging innovation in the field.
The automotive industry is currently at a critical juncture, facing one of its most urgent and significant transformations in history.
The growing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) and the need for new business models are forcing the industry to transition from hands-on manufacturing to finding tech talent. Automakers must now be staffed with digital, mechanical, and energy experts who build highly interconnected systems.
All industries can draw inspiration from this metamorphosis, particularly in the realm of innovative talent solutions. The demand for such solutions, the rewards of prioritizing quality and technology, and the shift toward skills over roles all point to a future full of potential and promise.
Recently, we co-hosted a webinar with The Josh Bersin Company in which Kathi Enderes, Senior Vice President, Research and Global Industry Analyst, and Stella Ioannidou, Senior Research Director, discussed findings from their company’s report, “GWI Project: Automotive Manufacturing in Turmoil — Navigating the EV Metamorphosis.” Here are the top five takeaways from that conversation.
Related content: Watch “Global Workforce Intelligence Project — Automotive Manufacturing in Turmoil: Navigating the EV Metamorphosis” on demand now.
1. Labor shortages demand innovative talent solutions
Labor shortages have escalated across industries, and the automotive sector is no exception. Organizations are now more challenged than ever to find the right people with the right skills.
Adding to that challenge is that traditional hiring practices are not enough to meet this need.
“Hiring to grow the company and to do what you need to do in the company just doesn’t work anymore,” Enderes said. “You have to think much more about how we focus on productivity, work, redesign, and different ways of thinking about everything that we’re doing in HR.”
This shift is particularly evident in the transition to building EVs—a lesson other industries can study and learn from to evolve hiring practices.
For example, it’s clear that skills, especially tech skills, are the essential building blocks needed to keep car manufacturers relevant and thriving in this transition.
“When the team started working on automotive, I thought, ‘Oh, this is like a STEM talent discussion, right?’” Ioannidou said. “What we actually found was it’s turning into a more complex and nuanced story … they’re actually transitioning the whole business model. It’s more about how do we create excellent driving and transportation experiences for consumers … that also means additional digitally enabled experiences.”
Stella Ioannidou, Senior Research Director at The Josh Bersin Company, explains how she saw the automotive industry successfully shift into focusing on skills.
2. Pacesetters lead by prioritizing quality and technology
The Josh Bersin Company is monitoring what they call “pacesetters” across all industries. These are organizations excelling in financial performance, innovation, and talent practices. Theiresearch says these organizations have 23 times more employees in quality-focused roles than their competitors.
“We saw that these automotive manufacturers who are forward-looking have solved it, and they are in a better place in the market right now,” Ioannidou said of those who have adapted well to building EVs. “They understand two things: one, they need specific talent and skills to be on point that is clearly connected to gaining that competitive edge in the market. And the second thing is that you cannot make these types of decisions [based] on gut feeling or based on the skills that we used to have five or 10 years ago. You actually need the data.”
3. Skills, not roles, are the future of talent strategy
Talent intelligence platforms are poised to deliver data and skills insights to leaders in every industry.
“The Eightfold Talent Intelligence Platform actually gives us this type of data,” Ioannidou said. “You’ll see, for example, that in tech talent, in automotive manufacturing, most of the skills there are actually declining. What does that mean for your organization? It means that these skills that people have are not going to be relevant to you or the organization or the industry in the next three to five years.”
With that level of insight, focusing on becoming a leader and adopting a skills-based approach can give your organization a competitive advantage. Leading firms focus on advanced technology skills, like AI, robotics, and computer vision, while automating manufacturing processes to stay competitive.
“This isn’t just about building great cars; it’s about creating great computers on wheels,” Ioannidou said of the automotive industry’s transformation.
Pacesetters use AI-driven talent intelligence platforms to identify skill gaps and develop adjacent skills within their workforces. They also integrate systemic HR strategies to foster agility and cross-functional collaboration.
Kathi Enderes, Senior Vice President, Research and Global Industry Analyst at the Josh Bersin Company, says how changing employee expectations is an opportunity for growth.
4. Investment in reskilling creates employee activation
It isn’t all about finding new talent to meet today’s demands. The shift to EVs and advanced automotive technologies has also created a pressing need for reskilling within the industry.
As traditional roles evolve or phase out, organizations must equip existing workforces with the capabilities required to succeed in this new environment. Reskilling allows them to address skill shortages without relying solely on external hiring, which is becoming increasingly competitive and costly.
“You have to change your talent mix in a way,” Enderes said. “You have to think about how do we not just recruit and retain, reskill, and redesign differently, but do we need to change what skills and what people we have in the organization?”
Similarly, technical roles now require expertise in data engineering, artificial intelligence, and software development—skills many current employees may lack but can learn with targeted training.
Investing in reskilling also boosts employee retention and engagement. By providing clear pathways for career growth and skill development, organizations can reduce turnover and ensure workforces remain aligned with long-term business goals.
“Employee expectations are changing a lot,” Enderes said“They want to be much more engaged, much more involved, and much deeper into the organizational decisions on anything, from how they work, where they work, and what tools they use but then also what skills they can apply, what skills they amplify, and even strategic decisions on what products do we bring to the market or how do we support our customers in the best way. We call this moving from employee experience to employee activation.”
For the automotive industry, where talent gaps are significant, reskilling isn’t just a strategy—it’s a necessity for sustained growth and innovation.
5. Change agility is the goal
Successfully navigating change requires collaboration across all levels.. As the transition to EVs and digital-first business models reshapes the automotive industry’s landscape, no single function can tackle the complexities alone.
Cross-functional collaboration ensures alignment between business strategy and talent needs. For instance, CHROs must work with CIOs and CFOs to design and implement workforce strategies that address emerging skill gaps.
“When we’re talking about transformations at this scale, we’re talking about C-suite collaboration,” Ioannidou said. “The CHRO is building and carving out strategy alongside others to ensure that they’re hiring for the right talent and the right skills, but they’re also retaining the talent and the skills that are needed.”
Operations teams and leadership must also align on adopting new technologies, streamlining production, and maintaining quality standards in an increasingly competitive market.
Collaboration also fosters a shared vision for change. When HR teams partner with leadership and operations, they can effectively identify areas for talent development, work redesign, and skills mobility, ensuring that every decision—from automation initiatives to upskilling programs—contributes to long-term success.
“We see this different to change management—it’s really what we call change agility,” Enderes said. “[We’re] thinking about change, not as, here’s the big change, and then you’re through it, and then you manage the status quo, but really thinking about how we constantly change and support this ongoing transformation. Because it’s never going to end, right? It’s not going to be like, ‘Wow, we’re through it, and now we’re going to be this transformed company.’ Now it has to constantly change because the skills evolve, the technology evolves, the customer requirements evolve.”
By embedding collaboration into their transformation strategies, any organization can build resilient, agile organizations capable of meeting the challenges of an ever-evolving market.
Watch “Global Workforce Intelligence Project — Automotive Manufacturing in Turmoil: Navigating the EV Metamorphosis” on demand now.