As we settle into the new year, the challenges and opportunities presented by AI, automation, and evolving labor market trends continue to reshape the way we work. Whether you’re in HR or hold a leadership position, you are probably thinking about the crucial initiatives to prioritize in 2024 to ensure your employees are prepared to thrive in this dynamic environment.
That’s why we reached out to industry experts and leaders, seeking their advice and insights through a single, straightforward question: “What do you hope, or would advise, organizations to do in 2024 to prepare their workforce for ongoing disruptions from AI, automation, changes in labor market demands, etc?”
In addition to their organizational advice, we also explored insights on what both organizations and individuals can do to handle these challenges and seize opportunities in this evolving environment.
Here’s what the experts advised:
“While the hyperbole about generative AI has deepened HR’s engagement with AI, research from Gartner finds that only 22% of HR leaders are highly engaged in enterprise-wide discussions on the topic.
HR should seek to play a leading role as early studies find that AI doesn’t just boost operational performance and productivity but can be used to build better organizations too.“
David Green | Managing Partner and Director, Insights222
What we can do as Organizations
- Aligning the workforce transformation that will be required due to AI in line with company strategy and vision
- Leading on the development of responsible AI policies and enablement programs
- Prioritising high-impact use cases for deploying AI across HR programs and the employee lifecycle
- Reimagining the work of key HR roles including the automation of repetitive tasks and increasing the focus on high-value strategic work
- Building upskilling programs for leaders, managers, employees, and HR professionals
What we can do as Individuals
- Proactively seek out where AI can help you be more effective in your role
- Find individuals who are passionate about AI and have ongoing conversations with them as a way of keeping your knowledge and skills more up to date
“Upskilling and reskilling the workforce will be critical. Also, analyzing workforce planning to understand major impacts properly and with enough time to re-train people.“
Guadalupe González Menichelli | CEO, Allumé
What we can do as Organizations
- Identify the most important skills for your organization
- Make microlearning available for various subject areas (e.g, sales, marketing, product)
- Offer training on AI (programs or workshops)
- Set goals around learning in performance reviews
What we can do as Individuals
- Don’t wait for your employer to offer training on AI, take the initiative and seek out courses yourself
- Be proactive/initiate conversations to better understand the skill sets that are required in your organization, and consider whether those are paths interesting you to acquire necessary skills to step into those roles
“The more organizations can educate their workforce about what external disruptors are impacting the world of work the better the workforce will be to help navigate what comes.”
Andrea O’Leary, PhD | VP, Talent Development & Inclusion, ModMed
What we can do as Organizations
- Bringing in experts to discuss what they are seeing
- Sharing articles
- Having focus groups internally to understand what employees believe to be true to dispel inaccurate info or myths can help inform employees about external disruptions
What we can do as Individuals
- Seek out expert video content like TED talks
- Subscribe to publications such as Harvard Business Review, Economist etc
- Make it a goal to spend at least 2 hours weekly looking at external information to stay better informed on market changes
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