MIT Sloan Management Review Article on What Employees Tell Us About Automation and Re-skilling

Confronting sizable skills gaps, companies have stopped waiting for higher education to meet their rapidly shifting competitive needs.

Employers are confronting sizable skills gaps in all parts of their operations, at all levels, and they can’t seem to fill them by simply hiring new people. In today’s tight labor market, there are about 7 million open jobs for which companies are struggling to find qualified candidates because applicants routinely lack the digital and soft skills required to succeed. In the face of rapid technological changes like automation and artificial intelligence, helping employees keep pace is challenging. Companies are wrestling with how to retain top talent — a critical differentiator in a hypercompetitive environment.

The biggest challenge for companies that want to invest sustainably and heavily in human capital may lie in figuring out what kinds of people they need.

About the Author

Lynda Gratton is a professor of management practice at London Business School and director of the school’s Human Resource Strategy in Transforming Companies program. She is coauthor of The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity (Bloomsbury, 2016). She tweets @lyndagratton.

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