40% of the global workforce will need to retrain due to the implementation of AI, according to IBM

The technology company points out that this translates into 1.4 billion of the 3.4 billion workers around the world.

MADRID, 21 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

40% of the global workforce will need to retrain before the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) automation, according to a global study by the IBM Institute for Business Value.

This figure translates to 1.4 billion of the 3.4 billion people who make up the global workforce, according to World Bank statistics.

The information, obtained through two extensive surveys, one with 3,000 global leaders in 28 countries and another with 21,000 workers in 22 countries, reveals that the acquisition of new skills by current employees is one of the main talent problems.

Also that the impact of AI will vary across groups of employees. Workers at all levels will feel the effects of Generative AI, but lower-level employees are expected to see the biggest change.

In this sense, 77% of the executives surveyed affirm that entry-level positions are already being affected by Generative AI and that this will intensify in the coming years. Instead, only 22% of those surveyed affirm that executive or senior management positions are already being affected.

However, IBM stresses that AI can open up more possibilities for employees by enhancing their capabilities. In fact, 87% of executives believe that the number of employees is more likely to grow than to be replaced by Generative AI.

This varies by role: 97% of executives believe purchasing employees are more likely to grow than be replaced, compared to 93% of risk and compliance employees, 93% % of those in finance, 77% of those in customer service and 73% of those in marketing.

Another relevant fact that the study finds is that the employees surveyed are more concerned with doing meaningful work than with flexibility and growth opportunities, but the leaders are not always in tune with their needs.

With AI poised to take on more manual and repetitive tasks, employees surveyed say that doing work that makes an impact is the factor they care about most, beyond pay and safety, more important than job flexibility, career opportunities, growth and equity.

In addition, almost half of the employees surveyed believe that the work they do is much more important than who they work for or with whom they usually work.

However, for the executives surveyed, working with impact is the least important factor for their employees and instead they point to work flexibility as the most important attribute, beyond compensation and security.

One of the conclusions of this IBM study is that "automating poor processes will not improve them." In other words, instead of automating the same old activities, you must find a better way forward.

Process mining can analyze how work gets done and where bottlenecks or other inefficiencies exist. From there, you can rethink and redesign how work gets done, identifying where AI can take the lead and where human experience and contact is critical.

Another conclusion of this study is that "this is a crucial moment for HR leaders to help define the organization's transformation strategy and how to combine people and AI to carry it out."

For this reason, he points out that HR leaders must drive the planning, design and strategy of the workforce, such as the definition of a higher value work, the identification of the functions and critical skills of the future and the management of hiring. , staff transition to new roles, retention and much more.

They will also need to be in charge of reviewing features, identifying and eliminating lower value tasks that can be handled by AI, merging features to create new ones, expanding features to include tasks such as application or management of AI tools and skill development for higher level tasks performed by people.

Finally, IBM's conclusions also include that jobs should be given more meaning by putting the employee "in the driver's seat."

In other words, AI has the potential to transform the employee experience, as it can automate mundane tasks, allowing people to focus on the tasks they are most passionate about, freeing up their time for skill development or balancing work. work and personal life.