HRM and skills development – April 2021

The role of digital labour platforms and AI in transforming the world of work
The ILO report World Employment and Social Outlook 2021 (28.91 MB) explores how the contemporary platform economy is transforming the way work is organised. ILO analyses the impact of digital labour platforms on enterprises, workers and society as a whole.
In the recent BCG - Faethm report The Future of Jobs in the era of AI, the authors discuss the potential impact of various technologies on jobs in three countries: the US, Germany, and Australia. Using the underlying demographics in each country, they developed detailed scenarios that model the effects of the new AI technologies.

Flexible working is here to stay – and to be measured
CIPD reports that 63% of participants in their UK employer survey (805 kB) said they planned to introduce or expand the use of hybrid working to some degree, combining time in the workplace with time at home, depending on the needs of the job, the individual and the team, and the team working practices. A McKinsey study indicates though that employees feel they have yet to hear more about their employers’ plans for post-COVID-19 working arrangements. Organisations may have announced a general intent to embrace hybrid virtual work going forward, but too few of them, employees say, have shared detailed guidelines, policies, expectations, and approaches.
Gallup has published an article on three performance domains that comprehensively describe and consistently predict success in three core performance domains (my work, my team, my customer) that every leader can use to evaluate employee productivity, regardless of an employee's location.

Fears, hope and actions in (re)skilling the workforce
No less than 17% of Dutch workers are afraid that they will no longer be relevant in the future labour market, says Lepaya based on a study conducted in collaboration with Panelwizard. While 92% of workers surveyed say they currently have all the necessary skills to perform their current job properly, 42% also fear these skills will no longer be relevant in 20 years. More information can be found here.
The new survey Hopes and fears 2021 by PwC of 32,500 workers in 19 countries paints a picture of a global workforce that sees the shift to remote working as just the tip of the iceberg. More than half of the workforce is worried that automation is putting many jobs at risk; 48% believe 'traditional employment won't be around in the future' and 39% think it is likely that their job will be obsolete within 5 years.
According to new research by DTU executed in eight European countries, six factors play an important role in the well-being and efficiency of European knowledge workers. Three factors represent the main advantages of working from home: work–life balance, improved work efficiency and greater work control. The main disadvantages are home office constraints, work uncertainties and inadequate tools. An article (1.01 MB) about the research is published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
 

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