digital transformation

A future in which a robot kicks you out of a job won’t likely to happen soon...if you are among the 
techiegenie.com majority of workers who say they are investing in upskilling for their future. According to the Q4 Randstad Workmonitor survey, which gauges the outlook of more than 13,600 working adults in 34 countries, technology is seen as a force that creates opportunity, but most also acknowledge they need a different set of skills to avoid becoming irrelevant in the increasingly digital world.

Even in the most analog industries, workers are coming to the realization that having sufficient digital skills is a key to staying employable in a rapidly evolving economy. After all, so many sectors ranging from retail to professional services, life sciences and even farming have transformed as a result. Workers across all industries have been forced to adapt or truly risk losing their job. And they seem to know that because 80% surveyed say they want to acquire more skills.

Whether they need more training is not in dispute. Who will be leading this effort, however, remains up for debate as no majority of those questioned indicated how the upskilling is done. Among those who say employers are stepping up, only 11% indicated companies are providing much of it; 32% say just a little. A near majority (43%) are engaged in some light development on their own, but only 16% say they are doing so actively.

This will surely become a more critical question for the world of work. With many employers struggling to find talent, should they be investing more in their current workforce or look to hire their way out of the dilemma? If current market estimates are any indicators, companies may want to step up their learning and development budgets. According to Training Industry magazine, global spending on training in the past two years has slowed significantly since reaching double-digit in 2015. In 2016 and 2017, growth was only 1% and .8% respectively, despite the rise in talent scarcity.

So should businesses make more investments in their existing workforce or look externally to meet its resource requirements? Part of the challenge with developing skills is determining what exactly will be needed to support future business needs. Various predictions have indicated that many jobs in demand down the road don’t exist today.