In the second episode of the “On Aon Insights” podcast series, series host Sheena Singh, senior vice president in Aon’s healthcare industry vertical, explores the fundamental changes in today’s workplace and the importance of adapting to remain both relevant and resilient.
While both pose unique challenges, reskilling and upskilling are essential components of organizational growth, and employers that make learning new skills part of their culture also make themselves more resilient. Sheena highlights the expertise of Tarandeep Singh, global head of assessments for Aon’s Talent Solutions (formerly Human Capital Solutions), who shares his insights on the importance of reskilling and upskilling, the role AI will play in future learning and what employers can expect when increasing their focus on these areas.
Additional Resources:
How Reskilling and Upskilling Can Help Close Future Skills Gaps
The Great Resignation? Retaining Talent in a Job-Hopping World
Navigating the Future of Work with AI
50 percent of all employees would need reskilling by 2025
Aon Insights: Workforce Resilience
On Aon Insights Ep 1: Workforce Resilience as a Concept
Aon’s website
Tweetables:
Sheena Singh:
Welcome to the On Aon Insights podcast, where we explore the hot topics surrounding the issues that matter to you. Today, our world is more volatile than ever, overloaded by data and compounded by complexity and uncertainty. Important decisions are often being made without the right information, the right insight, and, more importantly, the right advice. This is where we come in. From traditional areas like managing volatility, retirement and health to new challenges like environmental, social and governance factors, technological and digital disruption, we'll bring together Aon thought leaders, industry subject matter experts, and senior business professionals to give you the clarity and confidence to make better decisions.
I'm Sheena Singh, senior vice president in our healthcare industry vertical, and it's great to be with you for this, the first season of On Aon Insights, where we take a deep dive into the issues that matter to the world's business leaders. This season, we're exploring workforce resilience, with episodes featuring insights from Aon experts about the new world of work and the ways organizations can take action now to create an empowering work culture.
The workplace has changed fundamentally in the last few years. From the hangover of the COVID-19 pandemic to hybrid work environments and new AI tools like ChatGPT, it's safe to say that change is the new normal. So, how can we adapt? What new skills will the world's workforce need to learn? Consider this: in its 2020 Future of Jobs Report, the World Economic Forum estimated that 50 percent of all employees would need reskilling by 2025. Plus, Aon data shows that women are four times more likely to need upskilling. Jobs held by women are at greater risk of elimination due to technological advances than those held by men, according to the WEF. It's no wonder that employers are facing increasing pressure to close skill gaps. We ask Tarandeep Singh, global head of assessments, Human Capital Solutions at Aon, how employers that make learning new skills part of their culture are also making themselves more resilient.
Tarandeep Singh:
What is resilience? As Aon defines it, it is persistence, it's adaptability to change, while at the same time maintaining composure, calmness, emotional stability and learning new skills. That's what it does. It creates that whole element of positivity for an individual. It strengthens one's ability to change and react, as well as grow faster. So, in some sense, I would say learning new skills is not only making the culture more resilient, but it's actually making it more successful as well.
Sheena Singh:
There are two areas of focus in learning new skills: upskilling and reskilling. Think of upskilling like continuing education, adding skills to improve performance in an employee's current role. Reskilling, however, is more intensive. It involves learning new skills to adapt to a changing role or even a different job. In that same World Economic Forum report, employers expect to offer reskilling and upskilling to approximately 70 percent of their employees by 2025. This could foreshadow some fundamental changes for companies in the coming years. Here's Tarandeep again to explore this idea further.
Tarandeep Singh:
Any new skill that needs to be acquired could also mean a redesign of job and roles. Now, this is a big shift, both from an organization design as well as from a cultural perspective, and one needs to be quite measured and deliberate about it. So, a reskilling requires organizations to behave very differently in future state than probably upskilling does.
Sheena Singh:
Today, it looks like the hybrid workplace is here to stay, becoming a standard for many industries and regions. This mix of remote and onsite work can be extremely helpful for employees, enabling them to take care of mental health, caregiving obligations and much more. But working remotely does pose challenges for learning. Online guides and videos may be effective for upskilling, but when an organization asks employees to reskill, remote learning may not do the trick. This, as Tarandeep explains, may pose major challenges for organizations and raise critical questions around hiring and staffing.
Tarandeep Singh:
Reskilling is definitely more demanding than upskilling, and it requires an element of nurturing by a mentor or by a manager. One can expect employees to definitely learn online. They can self-tutor. YouTube is a good way through which I always see employees and some of the youth also engaging and learning. But this, in my view, will get increasingly augmented through gig workers who are specialists for those subject areas but are more readily available. So, in some sense, it's a function of timing, and hybrid working, or remote working, will actually strengthen more contracting, more working away from offices through freelancers, and despite some of the intellectual property or some of the cost concerns that organizations may have. So, I think, in some way, it'll feed onto itself, and that's where the workforce will continue to evolve and become more and more resilient.
Sheena Singh:
One question on the mind of many organizations when facing this new push for learning, how does AI fit into all of this? As the public gains increased access to generative AI tools like ChatGPT, the work world is thinking about reskilling and upskilling more than ever. While it's too early to know the full impact of the technology, it's safe to say AI poses massive opportunities and risks for the future of work. Here's what Tarandeep has to say about the opportunities and risks surrounding AI.
Tarandeep Singh:
With the generative AI, there will be rapid change to skills and jobs. Which skill does one train on will become an evolving challenge. So, what will therefore become important is skill with pace because you want these business goals to be achieved, and at the same time, continue building a learning mindset and agility because new technology will change the landscape again. So, therefore, that fine balance of trying to achieve both will be critical.
Sheena Singh:
With the known and unknown challenges, what can companies do about reskilling and upskilling? Tarandeep recommends focusing on culture, and that starts with buy-in from the top.
Tarandeep Singh:
All of us have, as one says, predisposition to certain behaviors, and these could be in either contrast or they could be aligned with what the organization is trying to achieve. So, assess individuals, help, coach, mentor and then provide them with learning experiences that allow them to experiment and work with their mentors and managers on this journey. I would say, in terms of tools and resources, performance is the biggest tool, learning ecosystem, the assessments, all there. But if one wants to drive inclusion, then it has to be part of the score and the goal sheet of the leaders and the managers. Similarly, if one wants to drive a culture which is inbuilt with learning, then it needs to be, at least initially, before it starts to become a muscle memory, be part of individual leaders' and managers' goals as well.
Sheena Singh:
Let's summarize: at least half of all employees will need reskilling in the next few years. Remote and hybrid work will make this a challenge, as will economic conditions. The growth of AI tools has shown the need for quick learning and adaptation on the job. Employers can expect to see increases in healthcare costs as this impact grows. Companies that help their employees with reskilling and upskilling will not only create a resilient workforce but promise to be attractive for recruitment and retention. And finally, promoting a culture of learning starts at the top and is a continuing process that will be part of work now and in the future.
Thanks for joining us at On Aon Insights, and thanks to Aon's Tarandeep Singh for his expert take on the topic. We'll be back in two weeks with another episode, exploring workforce resilience. Remember to check our show notes for recommended reading and places to learn more. And don't forget to rate, review and subscribe to the podcast. Until next time.