• Research*predicts that 85 percent of jobs in 2030 don’t currently exist.
• To adapt, companies need to embrace a skills-based mindset, underpinned by artificial intelligence (AI).
• Leaders need to focus on three factors to keep up with the pace of change:

Shift employment attitudes

Skills-based organisations will shape the future of work as shifting to a skills-based approach helps organisations find and retain the right talent. It also enables the organisation to retain and upskill existing employees to meet the needs of today’s digital world. According to research carried out by Workday in collaboration with the FT, 40% of HR leaders say they believe AI will bring new opportunities to leverage skills across the business.

Many organisations today need to upend the way they look at work as a concept and abandon the idea that jobs can only be a rigid undertaking bound by roles and responsibilities. They should instead consider it a more fluid amalgam of skills and tasks that evolve as the world around us evolves. Skills-based organisations are also more flexible and agile, which is crucial to succeed in today’s increasingly competitive work environment.

Embrace innovation

AI is key to transitioning to a skills-based approach. AI helps organisations manage complex skills data and enables businesses to build effective teams. With this technology, leaders can match the right individuals to particular tasks based on the skills they possess, or upskill them to match opportunities – something that is extremely difficult and time-consuming without AI. This transforms employee data into a strategic advantage that enables companies to boost productivity and better adapt to change. Powered by AI-fueled solutions, employees can get suggestions on how to develop their skills and abilities, thus empowering their career development.

Organisations already prioritise skills around creative thinking and problem solving as well as the ability to identify, anticipate and manage risk. And with the integration of AI, this focus will intensify. These skills will grow more important but so too will skills around the ability to work closely with new technologies as well as data literacy and data-driven decision-making – a combination of all of these will ultimately become the standard in the workforce.

By embracing the way AI can help the organisation hire, match people with work and upskill better, leaders can ensure the employee experience is fully optimised, keeping workers engaged and content with their work.

Build policies that account for all stakeholders

The move towards a skills-based workforce cannot be managed without policies that embrace responsible approaches to AI, factoring in all stakeholders, which includes the companies that produce the technology in question. This is needed to ensure that all parties involved trust and embrace AI – if people don’t trust it they won’t use it.

AI will fundamentally change the way we work and ensure greater equality of opportunity and growth. However, in the face of such profound technological and societal change, it is important that we adopt and commit to ethical principles.

Together, the public and private sectors can work to establish standards and policies which ensure that new technologies, such as AI, drive human progress, create jobs for our future workforce, and generate economic growth.