How skills are changing the nature of work
The half-life of skills — the amount of time before a skill loses half its value — is quickly shrinking. In 2017, the measure was about five years. By 2021, that estimate dwindled to four years. The longevity for technical skills is even shorter at just 2.5 years.
For years, AI has been slowly taking over repetitive tasks that don’t require human supervision or expertise. More recent advances in generative AI — AI that creates content based on data, like ChatGPT or Deep Dream — have accelerated what AI can do. A new report by Goldman Sachs predicted the latest advancements in AI could lead to 300 million jobs being lost or degraded.
As a result, jobs that AI can’t perform will become more specialized. Complex human skills, like problem-solving and creativity, will
grow in value, and workers with these skills will likely have more employment opportunities and command higher salaries in the near future — especially if they can easily work with AI-based tools and technologies. But this also means that the competition for top talent, which is already tough, is going to get tougher.
To acquire the skills necessary for a changing economy, organizations will need to adopt a skills-based approach to hiring and upskilling. As industries evolve, reskilled or upskilled workers will be more likely to transition to new jobs, which will help reduce unemployment and mitigate the adverse effects of economic downturns.
Additionally, upskilling helps employees work more efficiently, produce higher quality work, and improve their problem-solving abilities. These outcomes improve morale, with nearly three-quarters of employees with advanced digital skills expressing high job satisfaction and higherconfidence in their job security.
To create a flexible, teachable workforce, organizations must first identify the job requirements of tomorrow and the people with the potential to do them. With skills-based talent planning, leaders can assess and adjust their workforce strategies to changes, internal or external, by proactively upskilling employees full-time or contingent talent for others.
