A new survey by Adecco points to massive changes in the workplace because of AI technologies. This includes short-term hiring as well as long-term workforce size changes.
Adecco released its “Leading Through the Great Disruption” survey of 2,000 executives on March 5. The results of the survey paint a picture of tremendous change over the next five years due to the influence of Artificial Intelligence. In the short term, corporations will take their focus off of their existing employees, and in the longer term, will reduce headcount because of the technology.
An AI skills rush, not a retraining rush
Adecco found that more companies foresaw hiring new AI-savvy talent than nurturing employees on hand. Only 34% planned to cultivate their update their current workforce, while 66% preferred bringing in new hires. Moreover, 37% of the executives polled said that pay for those working with AI would see “significant” pay raises. By comparison, 24% of execs saw pay rising for white collar and only 9% for blue collar roles in general.
Adecco Group CEO Denis Machuel warned against taking short cuts in accommodating AI in the workplace: “Buying your way out of disruption should not be the only approach companies take."
AI clouds on the horizon
Looking at the longer term, the general job market is going to undergo a tremendous change. Workforces are likely to shrink, with 41% of execs expecting headcount drops over the next five years. At the same time, 46% of business leaders claim that they will retrain their existing cohort of employees.
Investing in the human side of AI is lacking, with only 43% claiming they had formal training programs for raising AI skills, and only half had formal guidance for how to use AI at work.
Executive-level employees are not exempt from the disruption. The results of the survey show that 57% of companies are unconfident in their C-suite employees’ capacity to wrap their heads around the changes, in terms of both opportunities and risks, that AI holds.
Still, for all the transformation that AI is likely to bring, business leaders say human skills will continue to play a critical role in the success of any company. A majority of companies, 57%, say the “human touch” is still more influential than AI in the workplace, while creativity and innovation are still the greatest lack in the workforce.
Human touch required
Despite the disruption, one thing that a majority of companies see a “human touch” as more important than AI for their companies.
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