Employees believe they need new skills to compete with AI
As businesses look to deploy AI across their operations, employees are increasingly afraid that the technology is being deployed to replace them. Almost four-in-five staff believe they need to grow their skillset to safeguard their jobs, according to a new study.
Discourse around AI has long sought to reassure people that the technology is not a threat to their ability to make ends meet. Reports have suggested that rather than replacing workers, AI would simply see them become more efficient in their present roles – or realigned to new roles. But as 2023 has ticked by, the talk has become less conciliary.
One study from KPMG illustrated how, as much as bosses want to suggest AI isn’t going to lead to mass redundancies, its deployment looks specifically angled to making life more miserable for many workers. While claiming AI was not going to steal “many” jobs, KPMG’s researchers also admitted generative AI technology would primarily impact creative roles like authors, translators, graphic designers, along with IT support technicians and legal professionals. Meanwhile, workers whose roles were “significantly impacted” by generative AI would be able to seek employment in the retail, customer services, hospitality, construction, and manufacturing sectors – which will experience ‘minimal impact’ from the technology.
Oddly enough, workers seem to find little comfort in the idea that they could be forced out of ‘creative’ lines of work for the service sector. Throughout the year, this has also seen a rise in the amount of AI-anxiety experienced by workers, who have routinely suggested they are looking to refresh their skillset to try and avoid being thrown on the scrap-heap.
The latest of these comes from GetApp, which spoke to more than 1,000 UK-based employees about the impact AI would have on their role. A 60% majority concluded that to compete with AI generally they must learn new skills, especially analytical and programming skills. Meanwhile, 79% admitted to needing to grow their skillset to “remain an asset to their employer”.
Most commonly, workers believed they needed to boost their analytical skills. A 63% majority said they were looking to boost their data and information analysis, research and problem-solving skills. Meanwhile, 53% were looking to boost their programming skills in a bid to shift into other lines of work.
A sizeable minority were also sure that they would need to learn how to work with generative AI. A 49% portion said they would need to learn prompting skills, to hasten their levels of output in roles where they were expected to produce creative content quickly. Meanwhile 10% thought they needed to adapt their skills – but were not sure how.
David Jani, content analyst at GetApp UK, commented, “The realities of generative AI and its ability to automate tasks could cause concerns among staff about their jobs being replaced. However, these findings suggest an opportunity for workplaces to calm some of these fears and upskill their employees by offering staff appropriate training and development to face these challenges and develop skills complementary to new AI tools.”
To that end, the researchers added that AI could help provide a solution to firms currently struggling to meet the demand for training. The study found that 54% of employees were willing to try AI-driven courses. Moreover, 91% stated that personalised online courses facilitated by AI and based on individual learners' needs are important for the learning process. This is significant, as 70% of workers agreed that the learning and development opportunities provided by their company encouraged them to stay working at that same company.
