Disruptive technologies are transforming the world of work, as multinationals and indigenous firms alike seeking ways to gain a competitive advantage, with many roles becoming outdated in this new age of automation.
Workforce shaping is about aligning company business and human resources needs to ensure that employees with the right skill-sets are in the right place at the right time. The convergence of artificial intelligence, robotic process automation and cognitive platforms is forcing organisations in every industry to explore and understand the advancing integration of humans and machines in the workplace. Cian Kelliher, KPMG Head of Consulting in Munster, sees workforce shaping as a key challenge for the FDI sector in driving business growth and creating a high-performance workforce. “Workforce shaping is being centred on taking a scenario-based approach to defining the required workforce within a 5 to 8-year time frame. It is this combination of understanding how digital disruption and AI will change the overall shape, size, composition, and skills in the workforce and how humans and machines will work together to drive business value and a high-performing workforce.”
It is estimated that 65% of our jobs will not exist or will be done in totally new ways within 10 years.
The impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution - the term used to describe the convergence of AI, Robotic Process Automation, Machine Learning and Cognitive Platforms - is forcing all industries, including the FDI sector, to shape their workforces to consist of all worker types, including permanent, gig, contingent and machine. In the vernacular: ‘buy, build, borrow, and bot.’ This revolution has irreversibly altered the genetic make-up of the modern workforce. “It is estimated that 65% of our jobs will not exist or will be done in totally new ways within 10 years, and the FDI sector will not be any different and must look to adapt accordingly to take advantage of the key business growth opportunities these challenges persist,” Cian underlines. “There is consensus amongst FDI leadership that preparing the workforce for AI and related technologies will be the biggest challenge for their organisations. Yet, while most are prioritising efforts around how to identify the future workforce composition, some may still be uncertain about the best approach to do that.” In KPMG Ireland’s CEO Outlook 2019 report, 38% of Irish CEO’s are planning upskilling half of their workforce while 62% plan to invest in new technologies.
KPMG have set out several questions to help FDI leaders evolve their understanding of their current standing and needs in the area:
These are the types of questions executive leaders and board members should be engaged in trying to solve right now to ensure they are ready for the future of work.
To address these challenges, Cian outlines several key organisational behaviours which will enable FDI’s embrace the opportunities presented by workforce shaping.
Cian anticipates “The FDI organisations who demonstrate agility and pace in embedding these behaviours will be the ones who will emerge best equipped to meet challenges of increasing competitive and volatile global markets over the next decade. The window to embrace this transformational shift is now and the respective pivot towards optimal workforce shaping is going to be key a differentiator for growth in the Irish FDI sector going forward.”
This article originally appeared in The Examiner and is reproduced here with their kind permission.