Digital Competence & Ability to learn
- the two most vital skills for
future technology-rich work environments

Future of Work

Work is changing in ways that the world has never seen before.

  • On the one hand, artificial intelligence, automation, mobile internet, big data analytics, cloud computing and IoT are bringing in major transitions in occupations and shifting demand for skills.
  • On the other hand, organizational environments are being profoundly impacted by changing models for work and work structure – remote work, independent work, gig economy with short term engagements, and temporary contracts.
digital-competence
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Future of Work

Is your Workforce ready for the Future Workplace?

Work is changing in ways that the world has never seen before.On the one hand,AI & advanced technologies are bringing in major transitions in occupations and shifting demand for skills...

digital-competence-two

EasyTalent Digital Competence &

EasyTalent Digital Competence &

Learning Ability Test (DCAL)

To hire those who possess the necessary digital competence and ability to learn, talent managers will require putting the job applicants through DCAL...

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Role of CHRO and HR leaders

in Digital Transformation

Role of HR and TA leaders

in Digital Transformation

Digital transformation may attempt to change the way work was being done by introducing powerful digital solutions...

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Workplace Skills are Shifting


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Digital Transformations are Failing


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Employees will Work Differently


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Skill Requirements


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The Core Skills


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Getting Right Skills


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EasyTalent Digital Competence &

Ability to learn (DCAL) Test

digital-competence-two

Role of CHRO and HR leaders in

Digital Transformation


Workplace Skills are Shifting

Studies by World Economic Forum and McKinsey indicate that the ongoing workplace dynamics is inexorably replacing job activities with machines and software.

  • On an average about 25% of the activities being done now by humans in 60% of jobs will be replaced by technology.
  • In some jobs this could be as high as 50% of the activities; and in 5% of the jobs, humans would be replaced entirely by technology.

Technology is pervading into physical and low-cognitive occupations and activities, which is forcing employees to rise to higher cognitive activities requiring digital, communication, problem solving and collaborative skills. This is widening the gap in skills required in the workplace vis-à-vis what is available.

Al & Automation

  • Will replace about 30% of the activities within jobs.
  • Will replace 5% of the jobs entirely
  • 65% of the jobs Gen Z will perform do not exist yet!
High-speed mobile internet, artificial intelligence, widespread adoption of big data analytics, and cloud technology is shaping how we work, where we work and when we work
2018 2022
Total task hours across 12 industries 71% by humans
29% by machines
58% by humans
42% by machines
Organization's information & data processing, and information search and transmission tasks 46% by machines 62% by machines
Communicating & interacting tasks 23% by machines 30% by machines
Coordinating, developing, managing, advising tasks 20% by machines 29% by machines
Reasoning & decision-making tasks 18% by machines 27% by machines

Digital Transformations are Failing

Organizations are transforming into digital businesses

  • More than 90% of employers expect their organization to be impacted by digitization in next two years.
  • 78% of business leaders expect their organizations to be a digital business in the next three years.
  • As organizations roll out their digital transformations, 9 out of 10 jobs in those organizations will require digital competencies.

Digital transformation are failing...

  • 77% of business leaders say a lack of digital skills amongst workforce is a key barrier to digital transformation.
  • Forbes estimated that in 2018 out of the $1.3 trillion spent by companies on digital transformation, $900 billion was wasted due to failure.

To be competitive and relevant, most organizations have embarked on digital transformation. This is ushering technologies like artificial intelligence, mobile, big data, cloud, social media and IoT into the daily transactional activities of the organization.

Success hinges on people...

For digital transformations to be successful, employees are the most important, since it is they who have to use the newly introduced digital technologies.

  • Lack of digital skills in employees is the single biggest barrier to digital transformation.

In 2019, Protiviti survey quoted by the Wall Street Journal found that most directors and executives were concerned on success of digital transformation as the biggest risk.

Most digital transformations have failed because employees lack digital skills to transition to the transformed technology-rich environments. This is forcing organizations to seek for new skills, capabilities, mindsets and ways of working.


Employees will Work Differently

Digital technologies will transform the way employees work in the next 3 years. Workers in future technology-rich work environments will be expected to set their deliveries, work independently, solve problems and interact in virtual teams for work fulfilment

Workers of today and tomorrow

Today Tomorrow
Today's workers are given set tasks and goals to fulfil Tomorrow's knowledge workers will be given outcomes to achieve, not set tasks to complete
They interact with each other in a fixed, physical environment They will be expected to connect with others and collaborate in different settings, liaising with different stakeholders
They will work in virtual teams, contacting "faceless" support staff when they have a query
They have leaders who tell them what to work on They will often have to source their own information to succeed
They have all the required tools to do their jobs, which are constant and clearly defined The tools they use change rapidly as new technologies, systems and processes are introduced.
Employees will access cloud storage, databases, project management tools
They are dependent on their leaders and environment Employees will be independent

Skill Requirements

The strongest growth in demand in emerging work environments will be for technological skills.

  • This surge will affect demand for basic digital skills as well as advanced technological skills.

While the skills and capabilities required in a digital age will vary based on industry and role, most employees will be expected to be comfortable working with technology.

As more basic tasks are automated, organizations will expect employees to take on higher value roles that require :

  • communication & collaboration,
  • data collection & data analysis, and
  • problem-solving skills.
Fastest-growing category of skills
  • The technological skills are essential for running a highly automated and digitized economy.
  • People with these skills will inevitably be a minority
  • There will be a significant need for everyone to develop basic digital skills for the new age of automation.
  • Employees in all corporate functions are expected to improve their digital literacy over the next three years.

The Core Skills

The basic and advanced technological skills that employees in the future workplace will need can be encapsulated in two core skills:

  • Digital competence and
  • Ability to learn

Digital competence

Digital competence is the technological skill required by employees for workplace activities using digital tools:

  • Managing and processing information
  • Creating digital content
  • Collaborating & communicating using digital tools
  • Decision making and problem solving using technologies, and
  • Ensuring security and privacy of information

Ability to learn

Curiosity and ability to learn has become one of the most important skill in modern workplace because of the rapid pace with which digital tools are continually changing and new ones are being introduced in the social and work environments.

  • Employees have to have the ability to keep in step by learning new digital tools and technical skills and preparing themselves to adapt to the digital advances.

Getting Right Skills

Future strategies for addressing skills gaps widened by adoption of new technologies

Hire Right

Hire only those candidates who already possess the necessary Digital Competencies & Learning Ability

Conduct
  • Digital Competence Test
  • Learning Ability Test

Retrain employees

Retrain existing staff.

(However, as per World Economic Forum survey nearly two-thirds of companies are unlikely to pursue the retraining of existing employees, and expect workers to adapt and pick up skills on their own)

Conduct
  • In-house L&D program
  • Fostered self-learning

Change work model & work structures

  • Use external contractors, temporary staff and freelancers to address skills gaps.
  • Facilitate remote work
  • Create Cross-functional & team-based work - Tribes & Small groups
Adopt
  • Remote working
  • Gig economy
  • Independent work

All employees – not just those currently specialising in IT – will need digital competence to work with new digital technologies.

  • Employees will constantly need to acquire new skills that enable new ways of working, including collaboration with intelligent systems and machines.
  • They will need to be upskilled to use automation to augment their roles and explore more creative styles of working.

To stay competitive, companies will need to address these skill shifts through:

  • Hiring only those who possess the necessary Digital competence and Ability to learn
  • Retraining existing employees with emphasis on continuous learning for workers, and
  • Shifting to a more cross-functional & team-based work, and external contractors and temporary workers.
EasyTalent Digital Competence &
Ability to Learn (DCAL) Test

To hire those who possess the necessary digital competence and ability to learn, talent managers will require putting the job applicants through Digital Competence and Learning Ability Tests.

EasyTalent provides DCAL Test - a comprehensive testing methodology to determine the individual’s Digital Competence and Learning Ability.