Future Jobs and Skills Figure 8: ‘Soft’ and ‘Hard’ Skills for the Future New Jobs Within Future Operating Models Soft Skills Hard Skills As the market refocuses on living services and the delivery of holistic consumer experiences, individual roles will change. Interpersonal & Digital In 2016, OECD analysis showed that 65% of children would Human Intelligence • Digital Fluency 20 • Collaboration • Interaction & work in jobs that do not yet exist, underscoring the need for Connectedness a highly adaptive workforce, career-long continuous learning • Communication • Digital Design and educational reform. In consumer-centric industries, roles • Creativity • Critical Thinking such as retail sales associates or manufacturing machine • Empathy operators will be redefined around human activities – for instance, providing a creative, personalized in-store consumer experience or applying complex problem-solving to optimize Growth Data robotic production. • Data Literacy • Adaptability • Resilience • Data Science • Global Mindset • Insights to Action Case Study: Amazon – The Evolution of Warehouse Jobs • Learning Agility Seattle-based online retail giant Amazon has been at the forefront of automation, with more than 100,000 robots working in its facilities around the world. In addition to efficiency gains, the company intends to have machines perform monotonous or physically strenuous tasks, refocusing humans on more engaging roles such as managing a group Between now and 2020, the World Economic Forum of robots and troubleshooting issues. To aid this transition, the anticipates growth in demand for cognitive abilities (52%), company provides courses in robot operation. Making workers systems skills (42%) and complex problem-solving skills more efficient through the use of technology ultimately boosts 23 employee productivity, generating almost $400,000 in revenue (40%). Looking ahead, organizations will need to seek out per employee in 2016 – nearly twice that of leading traditional individuals with strengths in learning agility and adaptability. 24 With the half-life of a learned skill at five years and the half- retailers.21 25 life of a developer’s skillset at two years, the accelerating pace of change requires constant reskilling, putting a New Skills for Employment premium on individuals who drive their own development paths and embrace continual learning, as well as a premium Future operating models will require a broad range of new on organizations that encourage this type of learning. roles, significantly altering the composition and structure of Incumbent companies face an additional challenge, with the workforce. The nature of the skills in these new roles workforces designed for a different market. These workers will be significantly more multidisciplinary. This will open frequently lack the critical skills for the digital age – as many as up a broad range of career paths for workers. Rather than 20% of adults in developed countries are considered “digitally following linear career paths, workers will increasingly move illiterate”.26 For example, in a recent digital skills analysis, New fluidly across organizations. York-based education technology company General Assembly Historically, companies targeted individuals with specific found that “digital-native marketers” (e.g.-marketers working at experience and knowledge. In recent years, the balance has companies that were founded during the digital age) outscored tipped to demand for “hard skills” such as coding or data “corporate marketers” (e.g. marketers at traditional companies, science. Looking ahead to an era of continuous change and CPG brand managers) by 72%. The distinctions were even flexible careers, human skills will be an increasingly important more profound when examining the very top performers who 27 complement. For a company to remain viable, it must enable were clustered in digital-native companies. Because of the its employees to build both soft and hard skills. speed with which skill needs will change, organizations must continually assess the digital skills of employees and address development gaps. This will require HR to fundamentally rethink the role of the hiring function within the company. Case Study: Digital Skills Create Job Opportunities In 2017, a global study exploring the current and future landscape of jobs conducted by Boston-based labour market analytics company Burning Glass Technologies found that 82% of jobs that pay a living wage and do not require a bachelor’s degree, currently also known as middle-skill jobs, require digital skills. The share of these jobs is increasing rapidly, providing improved economic opportunities for workers, commanding 17% higher salaries than non-digital roles.22 Operating Models for the Future of Consumption 17