A recent global study conducted by the IBM Institute for Business Value reveals that Australian executives anticipate a significant need for workforce reskilling, estimating that approximately 39% of their employees will require new skills within the next three years due to the implementation of AI and automation.
To put this into perspective, considering the World Bank’s data indicating a global workforce of 3.4 billion people, roughly 1.4 billion individuals worldwide may need to undergo reskilling in the near future.
Furthermore, the study titled “Augmented Work for an Automated, AI-Driven World” highlights a key concern among C-suite executives in Australia: the imperative to nurture new skills among their existing workforce is regarded as the most crucial challenge facing their organizations.
As AI becomes increasingly proficient at handling manual and repetitive tasks, Australian employees participating in the survey emphasize their desire for meaningful and impactful work (48%) as their top priority. Following closely, flexible work arrangements (44%) and growth opportunities (41%) rank as their subsequent concerns.
In contrast, when executives were asked about their perception of Australian employees’ priorities, they identified autonomy (54%) as the primary concern, trailed by growth opportunities (52%) and flexible working arrangements (48%).
Ian Abraham, Managing Partner at IBM Consulting Australia & New Zealand, underlines the significance of these findings, stating, “As AI continues to permeate all facets of enterprises, people remain a core competitive advantage for businesses, but leaders face a multitude of talent-related challenges.
“The businesses of tomorrow cannot run with yesterday’s talent – and tomorrow’s talent cannot be plugged into yesterday’s ways of working. Leaders have to be at the helm of navigating these challenges, redesigning work, and shepherding their organizations into the future.”
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