Three years on since the pandemic, and against a backdrop of inflation, cost of living crisis, burnouts, walkouts, rapid climate changes, and massive technological advancements, organisations and their people are experiencing a time of significant disruption and unrest as never seen before.
And with a quarter of the UK workforce expected to change jobs in the next 12 months in the midst of all this upheaval, it’s further proof that the Great Resignation and all its many variants are far from over. It signals the need for organisations to rethink their approach to how they retain and retrain their people, and transform workplaces to embrace the potential of new technologies such as AI.
Joining many recent industry reports on the current state of the workplace is PwC’s latest findings from the Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey 2023. It captures the ‘hopes and fears’ of 53,000 employees across 46 countries – with over 2000 in the UK alone – and highlights workplace trends that are both paradoxical and concerning, but perhaps not surprising:
Disparate views about creating a tech-powered workforce:
- Employers are looking externally to fill the latest AI skills gaps instead of scaling up the potential of their existing workforce.
- By 2030 there could be 85 million jobs that go unfilled due to limited or lack of skills.
Disempowerment of experienced employees on the rise:
- 72% indicated their manager does not encourage debate.
- 64% reported their manager does not tolerate small-scale failure.
With skills shortages expected to become one of the biggest barriers to business profitability in a few short years, it goes without saying that workplaces need to act fast to deliver more than lip service in building a truly inclusive and collaborative culture. The secret lies in unlocking the wealth of talent internally to pave the way for a future that is ‘human-led and tech-powered’.
Check out the full report and webcast here.
Author: Binu Jacob – EFS Engagement & Communications Co-lead.
Photo credit: Chiru Clicks
