The last few years have produced rapid change in all areas of life. As 2024 dawns, business leaders in all industries face unprecedented opportunities and significant risks. Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly changing how businesses work - and which skills their workers need.

To maximize your company's ability to embrace opportunity while managing risk, start 2024 by providing your managers and leadership with a clear vision and roadmap to success. Here are several best practices to include as you explore anticipating future talent requirements, addressing skill gaps, and aligning your workforce strategies with your long-term business goals. 

What Talent Will You Need in the Future?

AI stands to change the global economy – and the skills workers will need within that economy. Studies estimate that up to 300 million jobs worldwide could be disrupted by AI, adding up to $26 trillion to the global economy but resulting in a net loss of 14 million jobs in five years. 

How will AI impact your team? CornerStone Staffing can help you analyze how work gets done in your business – and prepare for the future.

Along the way:

• Knowledge work will change significantly as AI takes on many of the tasks knowledge workers currently perform.
• AI can do many simple tasks more quickly and efficiently than humans, which means businesses will need to ensure their workers have the higher-order skills to take on the jobs AI cannot do. 
• The opportunities created by AI can only be embraced by companies with the workers and skill sets ready to make the shift. 

This means that between 2024 and 2029, businesses will need to rethink how they're staffing each position. Workers with skill sets adequate for the job in 2024 may find themselves in over their heads by 2029 unless their employers devote intentional time, effort, and resources to upskilling, reskilling, and cross-skilling their teams. 

Skills You Have, Skills You Need

AI isn’t the first technology to bring automation to the workforce, changing key jobs. Yet previous forays into automation typically changed the work done by low-skilled workers. AI stands to change the way workers at every level of an organization – from entry-level workers to those in the executive suite. 

Essential skills for businesses and teams facing AI disruption include:

• Understanding systems and thinking holistically. Merely automating bad processes won't improve them. In fact, automating inefficient or confusing processes will cement them further into a company, undermining all the work based upon them. Workers facing the automation of key job tasks will need to understand how those processes affect the overall company. They'll also need the resources and power to create new, better systems when necessary. 
• Communicating and connecting with others. AI can do a number of basic tasks – but it cannot ever replace human beings or human connection. Workers with outstanding communication skills will find those skills more essential than ever, and so will their employers. 
• Engaging with the tech – but not in the same old ways. Workers in the AI area won't all require top-notch coding skills. (Coding, like many knowledge tasks, can be automated with AI). Rather, workers will need to understand how tech intersects with the business's overall goals so they can put their AI to its best use – and free themselves to work on projects that AI cannot handle. 

Does Your Workforce Strategy Support or Undermine Your Business Goals?

AI stands to change the way we work. Meanwhile, US education and employment training programs aren’t keeping up with the expected disruption of AI. The US spends less on employment training for the size of its labor market than many of its global economic competitors. 

Employers can’t rely on government entities to provide access to the education and retraining workers will need. Instead, companies that want to seize AI opportunities while minimizing risk will need to take on skill growth themselves. 

Creating a workforce strategy that supports your business goals is a must. By looking for workers with the skills, engagement, and drive to mesh well with AI, companies equip themselves to use AI to drive productivity and gain a much-needed competitive edge in today’s work world. 

Artificial intelligence could mean significant disruption in the world of work – but it could also lead to significant benefits. Working with a reputable staffing firm can help businesses ensure their teams have the skills to ride the waves of disruption and emerge triumphant.

Now is the time to prepare for AI's impact on your workforce, – and  CornerStone Staffing is here to help with your company's planning and problem-solving your long-term talent needs.