How to prepare for AI-enabled workforce

JPMorgan Chase has announced a $350 million investment in reskilling related to AI-related job changes. 

Some human resource leaders of various companies were taking steps to prepare for  the time when the changes begin to happen in the digital era. These HR leaders are helping their employees get ready for  a time when artificial intelligence (AI) will be much more prevalent than it is today. In this article, there are some workforce strategies that many companies are pursuing.

Building digital skills

The first strategy is to build digital skills which will be required for  future jobs in the digital economy. For  example, leaders at Singapore- based DBS Bank provided their employees with seven digital skills, including digital communications, digital business models, digital technologies, and data-driven thinking. While Amazon has committed to spend $700 million on retraining to ensure that its employees have the necessary skills in an increasingly digital job market.

Similarly, Deloitte has focused on improving its professionals’ tech-savvy with the assumption that in an AI-oriented business environment, every employee will need to understand how technology works and fits with their jobs. 

Training adaptations

The second strategy is to predict the nature of future jobs is and to train employees to fit with their jobs. Of course, it is difficult or  impossible to do with precision. Because predictions will probably differ substantially from job to job. However, some businesses have been embarked on approaches that predict the future of either all jobs in the organization or  jobs that are closely tied to future strategies.

JPMorgan Chase is one of the pioneer corporations in this strategy. JPMorgan Chase has announced a $350 million investment in reskilling related to AI-related job changes. It’s working with some researchers to understand which skills and jobs are most likely to be replaced by AI. This will help this bank plan for  changes in those jobs, and help workers gain the skills needed to succeed in their modified jobs or  transition to new ones. While some other companies are making specific job predictions based on their strategies or  products. For  example, General Motors is focused on training its employees to manufacture electric and autonomous vehicles.

The goal of this strategy should not be predicting change for  every job, but rather identifying the jobs most likely to change so that you could proactively drive changes at the pace that is right for  you.

Helping workers choose their future

The third strategy is to plan job orientations to help employees proactively choose their futures. Unilever is taking a different human resource approach to preparing its workers for  future jobs in the digital era. Instead of trying to predict which jobs will change, this company is helping workers take more ownership of their own paths. Therefore, its employees are empowered to make the changes they want to make in their jobs and careers rather than having to wait to react to changes imposed upon them. 

Unilever has been facilitated this process by describing alternative career progressions. This company is helping workers choose target occupations and understand the skills needed to reach them. Then, Uniliver will provide various options, both internal and external training, to help employees get those skills.

While one of the most popular HR tools at GE Digital, a software subsidiary of General Electrics, shows workers which job in the company are natural next steps from their current ones. Employees can look privately at the HR tool to see possible paths they can follow, skills they may need to get, or  even open positions in this company. This helps employees feel that they have more control over their positions in the company to try their best to develop jobs.

Change is happening rapidly to all jobs, whether or  not it’s driven by AI. So, companies need to be more agile in skilling and staffing, and their ability to adjust to change. Instead of waiting and satisfaction with their current job strategy, HR leaders are recommended to choose which strategy is suitable to help employees gain new skills to fit with their jobs as impacted by AI and COVID-19 pandemic. This is a mindset that all HR and talent leaders should have, regardless of whether major  threats are coming soon.