Last week some banks announced that they would not readily embrace technologies like chat GPT before investigating a bit more.  This announcement is a critical development in the adaption of Open AI.  Nevertheless, automation and its impact will continue.  The automation around this time will align us with more human tasks.  What can be automated will be automated, but humans will be leveraged in complex decision-making, empathy, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking (adapted from the book Future Skills by Bernard Marr).  HR has a significant role in educating business leaders about the role of Skills like creativity in areas like Software Engineering and product management.  Enterprises that focus on creativity as a skill will excel with the arrival of newer technologies.  Such creativity will also help us tap into diverse segments of talent.  From a macro perspective, the timing is ripe to do this as countries are redesigning their Industrial policy.

A critical development from the labor market perspective is that countries across the globe are designing Industrial Policies with the intent to drive innovation.  The primary intent here is to reengage the Industrial base.   In the US, for example, after decades of drop in R&D spending as a percentage of GDP, the CHIPS and Science act alone authorizes some USD 174 billion for research.  The European Union, South Korea, India, and Countries in the Middle East are all looking at Industrial policy changes to drive innovation.  I was part of skills transitioning some coffee baristas into Robotics technicians in a Midwestern enterprise in the US.  It was a phenomenal experience because a coffee barista processes so much data through an IoT platform, the same skill you need in Robotics.  Yes, it takes some time to reskill, but these similarities give you the spark that you need to transition

HR leaders need a framework similar to Carnegie Mellon’s Critical labor and Technology Assessment.  It is an interesting framework that evaluates strategic questions like what parts of domestic battery operations are important for job creation.  From a company lens, having this framework may be revolutionary for Human Resources to run several “what-if” simulations for the board room discussions

Here are the questions/concepts that can be tested through such frameworks

De-Risking: Companies are increasingly exploring new delivery locations to reduce risk and maximize cost savings.  This strategy can include evaluating emerging cities in established countries or even discovering entirely novel locations with a mix of quality and affordability

Staffing Ratios:  As Cloud and AI technology become increasingly prevalent, companies are discovering that the staffing requirements for certain functions can be optimized.  They do not have rapid scaling needs in certain technical functions.  This phenomenon has sparked interest in tier 2 cities across the US, Europe, Nordics, China, and Locations in Latin America and India, offering a talent option.  Additionally, established regions such as Europe and the United States have seen some businesses focus on smaller cities to fulfill these newly-optimized staffing levels.

Skills Specificity:  Within a specific function, specific skills availability is limited.  As a result, companies are hyper-focused on specific skills training

Reskilling:  Several transitions in technology and corporate functions are targeted for reskilling.  Example:

–          Data Analyst                          – Data Engineer

–          Program Manager                – Agile Manager

–          QA Engineer                          – Software Dev Engineer

–          Call Center Associate           – Inside Sales

• Skills Architecture: Companies are increasingly exploring integrating skills-based architecture into their systems.  Rather than spending additional money, the focus is on leveraging existing systems
• Retention: While big tech companies are focused on short-term layoffs, there is a growing concern about losing exceptional talent within the enterprise.  There are specific initiatives around Retention and a deeper understanding of the Employee Value Proposition
• Remote Work: Companies are working on more concrete and clearer global guidelines on Remote work and what flexible work means.  This evaluation is done in conjunction with a reevaluation of the real estate strategy
• Diversity and Inclusion:  There is a global concern about women leaders leaving executive positions in tech companies.  Inclusion challenges across gender, ethnicity, and cognitive abilities continue to dominate boardroom discussions

 Despite the slowdown in hiring in certain areas, our models show that the supply-demand gap will continue to grow across key digital and technology functions.  As a result, such simulation questions modeling for scenarios and their impact will be very crucial