In the relentless march of progress, the speed at which technological revolutions are reshaping our world is only accelerating.
Let’s take a step back: the Industrial Revolution distilled its mutations over 50 years, while the advent of micro-computing compressed similar transformations into just 20 years. The Internet has since revolutionized our lives in just 8 years. Today, while companies are still grappling with the full integration of digitalization, they find themselves on the brink of an even more daunting challenge: the spread of AI into executives’ everyday lives.
Time to adapt? "We have 5 years ahead of us," says Benoit Serre, VP of ANDRH.
In the face of rapid technological advancement, redeploying talent has gone from a strategic option to a survival imperative. The OECD reports a striking reality: around 27% of jobs are at risk of becoming obsolete due to the rapid progress of AI. This alarming statistic highlights the urgent need for organizations to adapt, not just to keep pace but to proactively harness technological advancements for greater resilience.
Factors behind the ongoing redeployment of talent
A slowdown in recruitment
In 2024, the economic climate continues to be cautious. According to a survey conducted by ResumeBuilder, involving 906 decision-makers, the following statistics were revealed:
38% of business leaders anticipate the possibility of layoffs, with more than half indicating a probable hiring freeze.
Other interesting figures to note: almost 70% of employers cite cost-cutting as the main reason for redundancies, while around 40% attribute it to the substitution of AI technologies for human workers.
AI affects quickly and deeply jobs
Unlike what has been experienced in the past with robotization, for example, AI impacts office workers more than blue-collar workers. The study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania and OpenAI found that white-collar workers, with salaries of up to $80,000 a year, are most at risk of being impacted by workforce automation. Whatever statistics, projections are available, they all lead to the same conclusion: around two-thirds of jobs are potentially exposed to automation by AI to varying degrees, with around a quarter of all jobs being fully automatable by artificial intelligence.
Accelerating the Obsolescence of skills
What proportion of jobs are at risk of obsolescence?
According to the OECD, 47% of today’s jobs are likely to become obsolete within the next five years. With the acceleration of technological advances, the lifespan of a skill in 1987 was thirty years; by 2023, this has been reduced to just two years. This means that over a 40-year career, an employee will have to completely renew his or her skill set at least 8 times.
In 1987, the lifespan of a skill was 30 years, today it's closer to 2 years.
This reality suggests that the faculties needed to implement a company’s strategy may not yet exist, or are likely to be very costly to acquire externally. Consequently, the ability to reduce the time it takes to acquire skill becomes a crucial asset in maintaining an organization’s competitiveness.
Avoiding one-off reorganizations that destroy jobs and the company's brand image requires ongoing reflection and the right tools for ongoing management of skills.
What is talent redeployment?
Talent redeployment is the strategic process of transitioning employees from roles in declining sectors to positions in emerging, growth areas
Is this something new?
This ancestral approach, once episodic and linked to specific transformation projects, has occurred many times in the past.
Examples of past reorientations:
- The rise of the service economy: after the Second World War, many developed countries saw a shift from manufacturing-based economies to service-oriented ones. This transition involved a shift away from manufacturing jobs, which were becoming more automated or offshored, towards service sector jobs in areas such as retail, healthcare and finance.
- COVID-19 pandemic: The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated remote working and digital transformation, leading to a significant reorganization of the workforce. Many companies in sectors such as hospitality, travel and retail had to pivot, shifting their workforce to online operations, delivery services or new roles completely to adapt to changing consumer behavior.
Unlike previous transformations, the current situation combines two simultaneous trends , accelerating the speed required for reallocation:
- A growing shortage of skills . More specifically, France is expected to face a shortfall of 54,000 engineers over the next five years, as well as a need for 800,000 workers in the ecological transition and 1 million in the alternative energy sectors.
- The reconfiguration of 9 million European individuals by 2035 under the impetus of artificial intelligences, particularly generative AI.
Through this continuous adaptation, companies can take advantage of skills transferable in their transition practices. The challenge is to match individuals whose aptitudes and motivations are closest to positions of greater relevance.
An example of a sector where the redeployment of skills is important: the automotive industry.
We'll take a closer look at one specific sector and list others "at risk", while explaining why they need to rapidly transform the skills of their workforce.
Transformations in the automotive industry
The automotive industry is undergoing significant transformation, with innovations in electric vehicles (EVs) and autonomous driving technologies leading the way. But it’s not just product innovation that’s driving change. Indeed, the way in which these products are brought to market, notably through the supply chain, is also evolving. This evolution presents a set of challenges and opportunities, underlining the need for a strategic redeployment of talent to foster resilience and adaptability.
Areas of emergingskills for the automotive industry include:
- Digitalization and Advanced Analytics: Mastery of digital tools, IoT, AI and predictive analytics is crucial. Talent reallocation here could mean transitioning analysts from traditional sectors into roles that support data-driven decision-making in the supply chain.
- Sustainability practices: With a push towards eco-friendly materials and circular economy principles, professionals with a background in environmental science or sustainability can find new paths in supply chain management, focusing on green logistics and sustainable sourcing.
- Risk Management and Global Strategy: The complexity of global supply chains requires expertise in risk assessment, international regulations and strategic planning. Professionals with experience in these areas could move into roles that strengthen supply chain resilience and adaptability.
- Agile Manufacturing Processes: The demand for vehicle customization and on-demand manufacturing calls for skills in agile production techniques. This could create career opportunities for people skilled in lean manufacturing techniques, logistics and customer relationship management to innovate within supply chain operations.
By focusing on these areas at skills, the automotive industry can effectively redeploy talent, offering employees career paths aligned with the industry’s future needs. This strategic approach not only ensures the industry’s competitive edge, but also enhances employee engagement and retention by offering significant growth opportunities.
Technological advances, regulatory changes and evolving consumer preferences are crucial to anticipating trends. Here are several sectors that are expected to undergo significant transformations, requiring a strategic realignment of their workforce:
- Banking and Financial Services: Innovations in financial technologies (fintech), digital banking and blockchain technologies require new skills in software development, data analysis and digital customer service, disrupting traditional banking roles.
- Industrial manufacturing: The advent of Industry 4.0, with automation, robotics and 3D printing, will transform manufacturing jobs, requiring workers to adapt to more technologically advanced roles.
- Healthcare: Digital health technologies, telemedicine and personalized medicine are changing the landscape, requiring healthcare professionals to acquire skills in digital health records, remote patient monitoring and data analysis.
- Energy sector: Beyond the transition to renewable energies, the energy sector as a whole, including oil and gas, must navigate towards sustainable energy sources, requiring expertise in renewable technologies, energy storage and sustainable practices.
The benefits of continuous redeployment of resources
Superior return on investment
Adopting a continuous approach to resource allocation delivers a rapid return on investment (ROI), often in less than 12 months.
Let’s visualize ROI with a picture based on customers data:
What is the financial impact of continuous redeployment?
In essence, the continuous redeployment of resources helps to reduce recruitment costs, lay-offs and, more broadly, absenteeism. Let's take a closer look:
- Reduced recruitment costs: Assigning one out of every two positions to an internal candidate, as opposed to one out of every four with a traditional approach, enables companies to significantly reduce recruitment costs.
- Reduced redundancy costs: Ongoing training and the redeployment of 50% of employees internally, compared with 10% using traditional methods, significantly reduce the costs associated with redundancies.
- Reduced absenteeism: Adopting a responsible approach to restructuring can lead to an average 0.26% reduction in absenteeism, compared with traditional transformation methods.
By building bridges between declining and developing employment sectors, companies can not only make substantial savings but also strengthen their financial viability.
Strengthening the collaborative culture
This continuous talent planning is a strategic response to contemporary workplace challenges, such as quiet quitting and work devaluation. This approach, which focuses on the enhancement and development of internal skills , offers numerous opportunities to boost employability.
More than a simple reassignment of roles, this organizational philosophy is a strong commitment by employers to create an environment conducive to professional and personal growth. When employees are shared or transferred to new functional units, they bring with them the knowledge gained from previous team experiences. This cross-pollination of ideas and practices enriches the new environment, creating a more integrated and innovative organizational culture.
A chance to unlock new career opportunities
Companies that opt for talent redeployment rather than redundancy plans for redundant positions are making a clear statement of their willingness to adapt employees’ know-how. This not only fosters a culture of continuous learning, but also reinforces the company’s employer brand as a place where careers flourish.
Conclusion and outlook
In conclusion, the current gap crisis at skills highlights the urgent need for adaptive strategies in both initial training and on-the-job learning.
Public-Private Partnerships in Education Reform
Collaboration between the private sector, educational institutions and government agencies is emerging as a critical path to aligning educational curricula with the real demands of the evolving job market. Such partnerships can facilitate the development of training programs directly relevant to the needs of industries facing digital transformation and automation.
Revamping the company’s approach to employee skills development.
Learning & Development faces two challenges.
- First of all, we need to make training opportunities more visible (42% of employees say they don’t know what training is available).
- Then adapt content to the age of generative AI (50% of employees are not satisfied with their company’s support (Edflex 2023 survey of 1,021 employees).
In addition, the aim is both to cover the massive needs for cross-functional employee training, such as that provided by the Singapore administration for employees aged 40 and over, and to tailor training courses to specific needs.
As we move forward, the dialogue must also extend to how we can collectively contribute to a more resilient, skilled and adaptable workforce. This means rethinking our approaches from initial training to lifelong learning. How can we combine a reactive approach to the immediate skills gapswith proactive preparation for the future of skills over a broader horizon?
