Many of the jobs people will be doing by the end of the decade do not yet exist. Estimates vary but at the top end, a report published in 2018 by Dell Technologies in association with the Institute For The Future and a panel of 20 international technology, business and academic experts from around the world predicted that 85 per cent of the jobs that will exist in 2030 hadn’t been invented at that time.
Even if that quite dramatic forecast doesn’t prove accurate, there is widespread acceptance that a very high proportion of tomorrow’s jobs can’t be found on today’s jobs boards. Examples include quantum programmer, AI ethicist, robot paramedic, metaverse tour guide, personal data broker, and telesurgeon.
And new roles don’t have to be quite as exotic as that. Lidl senior talent management specialist Siobhra Disdale points to the current example of self-service checkouts. “They didn’t exist 20 years ago,” she notes. “They may be self-service, but we still need people to manage them. Instead of managing one, they are managing multiple checkouts. Look at warehousing and forklifts. In 10 years’ time, people may … be controlling the robots that drive them.”
But what about the less predictable changes. How can employers prepare for them? One way is to look at underlying skills, but predictions there can be a little off beam to say the least.
“The World Economic Forum comes out with lists for what skills will be needed in 2025 and so on,” says Maeve Houlihan, associate dean and director of UCD Quinn School of Business. “These predictions are based on keywords in what people are saying will be needed and the skill of active listening is actually going down. That’s clearly bonkers.”
She believes it is people’s uniquely human qualities that will be most important in the years ahead. “Organisations need key people with depth and breadth, who are agile and creative. What gives them breadth is the ability to collaborate and communicate and not only listen to themselves. All those things like critical thinking and the interface skills that allow people to be emotionally intelligent and get things done. The more of them you have, the better.”
Depth is also important. “People need to understand the roots of things despite the technological advances. You don’t necessarily need to understand how a spreadsheet works but you do need to know what it does and how to use it. People will still need the experience of doing an audit in the field to understand the process properly even if it is automated.”
Three director of people development Keavy Gorman also emphasises the human element. “We have to ensure we have people with those human skills. We need resilience, adaptability and critical thinking. We also need leaders with the right skills to develop people. Critical thinking, decision-making skills, how we solve problems, how we apply human skills to AI to make good decisions — these are all very important.”
Fortunately, proving adept at keeping pace with change. “The challenge of reskilling and redeploying the workforce is more long term and complex than adapting to the crisis of the pandemic, but it has shown us there is a greater capacity for change amongst the workforce than was previously expected,” says AIB chief people officer Geraldine Casey.
While forecasting the future is always fraught with difficulty, Dave Flynn, director of business networks with Skillnet Ireland, believes there are things that can be predicted with some confidence.
“We have thriving technology, pharma, medical technology, international financial services, business services, engineering, and food sectors,” he says. “Employment as a result of Foreign Direct Investment reached its highest level ever in 2021, in spite of Brexit. Industry-specific skills for these sectors are likely to remain in demand in the years ahead.”
A turbulent recovery for tourism and air travel
Tourism and air travel have rebounded strongly in 2022 after two years of pandemic restrictions. But both are also facing major issues around pricing, staff and availability of product.Hotelier Lorraine Sweeney and Irish Times Business Affairs Correspondent Mark Paul outline some of the problems faced by the hospitality sector. Ciarán is also joined by aviation expert, Joe Gill of Goodbody, to discuss how airlines across Europe are faring and whether the queuing at Dublin Airport will have a lasting impact on Ireland’s reputation as a tourism destination.
Sustainability and digitalisation are key trends, he adds. “The need for businesses to operate in a more sustainable way, and for business to leverage the power of existing and emerging digital technologies. People with these skillsets are as likely to be in high demand in five years’ time as they are now.”
Continuous learning and development is the best way to deal with uncertainty around future skills needs, according to Keavy Gorman. “We can’t know exactly what skills we will need. The only certainty is change. We are focusing on continuous development of people to help them to become more effective and remain relevant. There are some trends out there and we do a lot of research into them. For example, automation is going to change 50 per cent of roles over the next five to 10 years and people need to be digitally fluent. Digital skills are no longer just for specialists. We have launched our Three Digital Academy which gives everyone in the organisation access to digital skills training.”
Talent management
Siobhra Disdale says one way to prepare is by thinking about how roles are going to evolve with the introduction of technology and automation. “The talent management team works with everyone in the business and supports their development, looking at what skills they have now and what they will need in the future. You need to equip people with transversal and transferrable skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, and so on.”
Leadership skills are also important. “The role of a leader is to get the best out of people and help them reach their full potential. We have a leadership academy in Lidl that covers every level in the organisation from customer assistants right the way up to the board of directors.”
Inclusivity is also key, according to Geraldine Casey. “As organisations adapt and change, identifying and solving skills gaps is key to ensuring strong business performance now and into the future,” she says. “Retraining and upskilling workers and creating career pathways with mobility will have a positive impact on retention and ensure a talent pipeline with the right skills. We are adopting a total workforce approach, moving away from identifying priority skills and roles in a siloed way and focusing on inclusive talent management that encompasses all categories of the workforce. Strategic, proactive and creative resourcing is required to ensure resilience as we expect that there will be more movement in the workforce of the future.”
AIB has its own future-of-work programme. “To ensure we are enabling a fully optimised hybrid operating model, the programme encompasses three key areas — people, technology and property. A key element of our strategy has been to adopt an inclusive approach to leadership development, investing in all leaders so they have the strategic capabilities required in this rapidly changing environment. Along with this, we are enhancing our people analytics capability, giving us the ability to generate insights that support data-led decisions on our workforce.”