Human Resources Director, Australia: Director of Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work Says Upskilling and Retraining are the Cornerstone of the Enhanced Job

“With all the talk around automation and robotics changing the way we’ll work in the future, it is important to take stock and understand that working with somebody who has great digital tools on hand is always preferable,” says Benjamin Pring, also the co-author of “What to Do When Machines Do Everything: How to Get Ahead in a World of AI, Algorithms, Bots, and Big Data”. “Enhanced job capabilities through technology such as algorithms, data analytics and mobile technology will enhance a person’s ability to work, making them more valuable to organizations.” Excerpts:

“The very core of enhancement is the idea that nearly every individual’s abilities can be improved by technology. In this way, enhanced jobs are about improving human work, not replacing it. Technologies will serve to increase efficiencies, provide greater accuracies, and lead to greater productivity for employees.

Technology will give people the freedom to deprioritize tedious or repetitive tasks to focus on the big picture, creative thinking and customer service ― allowing organizations to be truly innovative.

There will be some challenges that come with enhanced jobs. However, these can be easily mitigated through organization-wide upskilling and retraining. These retraining strategies will ensure that existing employee talents are enhanced with the addition of technology.

For businesses, this means they will be able to retrain employees on topics such as leadership skills, reasoning and interpreting with logic, applying judgement, and being creative ― all traditional human skills that can be enhanced through technology.

It is a fair assumption to say that upskilling and retraining will become the cornerstone of the enhanced job. This is because it is significantly more effective to integrate technology into organizational processes rather than replacing entire workforces with robots.”

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