How to Develop a Winning Skills Strategy in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is here. While the opportunities for economic prosperity are enormous, they hinge on the ability of organizations to prepare their most valuable KPI, their people, for the future of work. We speak to PwC’s Workforce of the Future Leader, Carrie Duarte, on how organizations can develop the skills necessary to thrive in the age of disruption.

The world of work is changing. We are in the midst of the Fourth Industrial RevolutionOpens a new window (4IR), and there is no denying that businesses will be affected by the rapid pace of technological advancements. Internet of things, artificial intelligence, and automation are transforming how businesses operate. The line between physical, digital, and biological spheres is getting increasingly blurred. Which makes it crucial that business leaders assess the opportunities, risks, skills, and wider societal implications brought on by this transformation.

HR will play a vital role in helping businesses navigate the new technological terrain. While understanding how to apply these new technologies to improve business outcomes is essential, protecting and preparing your workforce for the future is also critical. It is common knowledge that the current skills gap, especially in high-tech industries, is massive. “A lack of key skills is keeping 79 percent of CEOs awake at night according to PwC’s 22nd Annual Global CEO SurveyOpens a new window , and it’s one of their top 3 worries,” says Carrie Duarte, PwC’s Workforce of the Future Leader.  Lack of skills and knowledge is stifling innovation and increasing labor costs. “Almost half (46 percent) of CEOs say their number-one priority to remedy the issue is reskilling the workers they currently have – far ahead of the 18 percent who will focus on hiring from outside their industry or will look to strengthen ties with education (17 percent),” adds Duarte.

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As the Fourth Industrial Revolution unfolds, corporate training and reskilling initiatives must keep pace with the technological disruption. Businesses need programs that will address both short-term and long-term skills requirements sustainably. “The good news is that employees are willing to reskill, they sayOpens a new window that they’d happily spend two days per month on training to upgrade their digital skills if offered by their employer,” notes Duarte. By making investments in their human capital, organizations will reap the benefits of a productive, innovative and experienced workforce.

Preparing the Workforce of Tomorrow
 

The World Economic Forum predictsOpens a new window that by 2022, no less than 54% of all employees will require significant re- and upskilling. So, how can organizations upskill their workforce at this scale? Duarte believes technology is the answer to making learning accessible and effective for a major segment of the workforce. She says, “Organizations having the most success at upskilling their workforce are leveraging technology so learning can be provided at scale. They’re also focusing on user-friendly, consumer-based experiences that emulate how people are consuming tech in their personal lives. One example is leveraging mobile apps and podcasts to create a dynamic learning ecosystem. This not only allows workers to consume training in short bursts, but makes learning fun, and available at scale.”

“Also, instead of just leveraging computer-based training on a learning management system, leading organizations are gamifying programs using technology. What’s really revolutionary about this approach, is that it’s inspiring employees to learn new skills based on an emotional commitment, rather than the historical top-down approach that results in reluctant compliance and learning that doesn’t ‘stick.’ Plus, managers have more insight into what’s resonating so they can help shape a better tech experience at work.”

Leading telecommunications company, AT&T, has already begun working on a strategy to upskill and reskill its workforce to keep up with evolving technology. Since 2013, the company has spent over $250 million on employee education and professional development programs. AT&T estimates 140,000 employees are actively engaged in acquiring skills for new roles, and in 2016, the company filled half of all technology management jobs with its retrained employees. Retraining efforts are beginning to pay off for the company, with the product-development lifecycle reduced by 40 percent and the development and rollout time down by half.

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PwC has also developed a comprehensive workforce upskilling strategy to build “digital fitness” for all its employees through learning technologies. “We’ve developed a Digital Fitness appOpens a new window for our staff to leverage learning at their fingertips. The app provides a customized learning path while generating valuable information for workforce planning and skill development strategies,” says Duarte. PwC’s Digital Fitness App provides personalized assessment of their employees’ digital acumen and creates customized learning pathways.

Building a Skills Inventory
 

The skills shortage will only get more acute as technology evolves and the war for talent intensifies. Given this reality, it is crucial for organizations and HR leaders to develop a solid understanding of the skills they already have and the skills they will need in the future. “Organizations are faced with rebalancing their workforces. Our ability automate tasks will start an ‘unbundling’ of the tasks required to do a job. So soon, companies are going to need to look at their skills and competency models and what roles they will need. For example, some companies are already doing skills and task inventories and asking — which of these tasks could be automated, and should some tasks be moved out of the roles we have now to make our workforce more productive? CEOs need to be much clearer about the idea that skills (not jobs) become a new sort of currency. Without this understanding, the importance of reskilling to employees will ring hollow. Organizations can’t protect jobs which are made redundant by technology – but they can protect their people and they do have a responsibility to talk about the need for new skills,” opines Duarte.

HR systems like HCM solutions, learning management systems, and workforce management suites are a rich source of data that can help you build a skills inventory. Once you have a skills inventory, people analytics can provide insights into where your employees’ skills are thin, and where they are the strongest. Performing a comprehensive skills inventory will also enable you to recruit better and prepare for 4IR.

Also Read: The Role of HR in Successful Business TransformationOpens a new window

The Future is Here

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution to prepare for the 4IR, developing a skills inventory is a good place to start. “The future isn’t just dictated by technological advancement, there are also political, environmental, and demographic shifts that are affecting how we work and the access to talent.  So, the biggest thing we say— and this is not just for the CHRO but for the full executive team — we say you should plan for a range of scenarios and take the ‘no regrets’ moves that work in any scenario along with some big bets. This ability to scenario plan is an important organizational skill,” Duarte says. “The second thing is to get moving on assessing the skills in your existing workforce so you have a baseline for understanding how to create learning programs and for what skill profiles you need to develop or hire for.”

Sushman Biswas
Sushman Biswas

Former Editor, HR Technologist

Sushman serves up bleeding-edge ways for organizations to harness HR technology to drive growth at HR Technologist. He comes from a B2B content marketing background where he worked closely with global thought leaders across industries including Finance, Marketing, Human Resources and Cyber Security. When not writing, Sushman loves his motorcycling holidays.
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