800 Brilliant ideas for Skilling

That 800 million jobs will be impacted by 2030 and the Bots are taking away these jobs across 800 occupations is a provocative piece of news!! While automation will bring in the much- needed Agility of operations, it is important to weigh in our blind romance with Technology, with process outcomes we may compromise as we get bedazzled with what Technology can deliver.

The efficiency, precision and productivity that Bots can perhaps repeatedly churn out is undoubtedly attractive.

Think of no Talent hiring shenanigans, no sick leaves, no fluctuating Engagement, boredom and drop in productivity- the Bot will do it all!! No Fast food workers, Machine operators, Back-end workers in the human form- the Bots will deliver- with machine precision- right each time!

While the good news is that the people who get displaced from these back end, repetitive jobs move to do other interesting jobs, it’s important to consider what we seem to be headed for as a Soceity--as part of ongoing evolution millions will now have the opportunity to upgrade to more interesting, engaging and intellectually stimulating jobs (albeit with some investment in Upskilling), which is the shining rainbow in the grey skies of job losses!

-we are presuming these opportunities for Upskilling are available easily and all may be able to afford it?! The truth is this will cause much upheavals for families and individuals/ Organizations before we arrive at that!

-that we are heading for an ecosystem where our children/ grandchildren will be served their burgers and pizzas by Bots and perhaps cringe at human interaction or handling of food going forward!

-that future forward will mean you can’t have that friendly (unfriendly?)chat with the back end staff of any service provider as all that you will receive is a machine response?! It also means that if your question is not programmed - there may not be an answer available?!!

-What’s more, get ready to be interviewed and on boarded into a new job with a Chat bot! Maybe a Performance review with a Chatbot too- he will definitely not be programmed to answer questions on salary expectations and promotions!!

Overall Redefining and upgrading human skills, recasting human potential differently- sounds like a fabulous opportunity with Technology enabling the basics, but balancing this astutely with human presence and interaction will enable the true magic of Technology to prevail.

Time for 800 million new ideas for Upskilling, Recasting our Eco-system to not lose the power of human touch, to make Upskilling affordable, and to create the new jobs as seamlessly without causing human hardships while easing human convenience!

By Dr. Sujaya Banerjee