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Why Reskilling is Essential for Future of Work


Technology is disrupting how we work and live. Several transactional and repetitive tasks are increasingly being supported by robots and algorithms, and in some cases, they are being automated completely. The advent of new age technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, big data, blockchain, and Internet of Things is resulting in massive changes in business models across different industries and subsequently, is giving rise to a variety of new jobs. The combination of above two developments clearly signify that global and regional labor markets are expected to undergo major transformation in the coming years.

For businesses to respond to this dynamic talent environment which requires significantly different skill sets to the ones currently present in the market, there is a need for drastic rethinking of the way enterprises has gone about hiring for new skill sets. The below table from World Economic Forum shows how the skills demand is expected to change in the next 3 years.


It is not only the case that the current skill set requirement that is completely different, these requirements will keep on changing at a pace which has never been seen before.
While hiring externally and contracting contingent workers are options for individual companies, the external labor market can do only so much to address the anticipated shifts in demand, the pace of which will accelerate over the next decade. 

 There will not be enough talent to engage from the external market to take care of the skill set shortage. And even if there is relevant external talent to hire, the number of companies looking to hire this talent will be huge, which will result in skyrocketing salaries and most organizations will find themselves unable to compete in this market on a sustainable basis. As a result, across the talent market, retraining or reskilling will be inescapable. If companies want to grow and sustain their operations in the long term, they need talent with right skill sets which makes it imperative for them to consider upskilling and reskilling. In the next part of this blog series, I will discuss how enterprises can go about reskilling their employees.

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