Humans Wanted, Robots Need You

Robot workers replacing human jobs — the debateof the decade. In reality, however, the opposite lookstrue. ManpowerGroup’s report “Humans Wanted:Robots Need You” found that more employers thanever — 87 percent — plan to increase or maintainheadcount as a result of automation for the thirdconsecutive year. ManpowerGroup surveyed19,000 employers in 44 countries on the impact ofautomation on job growth in the next two years.

Companies that are digitizing are growing, andthat growth is producing more and new kinds ofjobs. Organizations that are already automatingtasks and progressing their digital transformationare most confident of increasing headcount. Globaltalent shortages are at a 12-year high and new skillsare appearing as fast as others disappear. Morecompanies are planning to build talent than everbefore, and this trend shows no sign of slowing.Eighty-four percent of employers plan to upskilltheir workforce by 2020.

“The focus on robots eliminating jobs isdistracting us from the real issue,” says Jonas Prising,ManpowerGroup chairman and CEO. “More and morerobots are being added to the workforce, but humansare, too. Tech is here to stay, and it’s our responsibilityas leaders to become Chief Learning Officers andwork out how we integrate humans with machines.Learning today cannot be done as it was in the past.”

The “Humans Wanted” report also found thatdemand for IT skills is growing significantly andwith speed; 16 percent of companies expect toincrease headcount in IT, five times more thanthose expecting a decrease. Growth will come infront-line and customer-facing roles, too — allrequiring human skills such as communication,negotiation, leadership and adaptability.

The report provides practical recommendationsand best practice examples from around the worldto help organizations upskill their people andbecome more agile with the right combination ofbuilding, buying, borrowing and bridging talent.

http://manpowergroup.com