The skills gap is becoming an abyss

- I'm not going to tell you the robots are coming because they're already here and they're here to stay. AI and automation are already part of our everyday lives. They're the new mobile, the new default. As a result of the fourth industrial revolution, jobs in the workplace are being transformed, and COVID-19 has only accelerated this. According to the World Economic Forum, and this was back in January, 2020 before the pandemic hit, 42% of the core skills required to perform existing jobs are expected to change in the next two years. And more than half of all employees will need re-skilling and up-skilling. In short, the skills gap has become an abyss. We're facing a re-skilling emergency here. What does that mean? Well first of all, what you learned at school will no longer get you through your career. The average life span of a skill is just three to five years and shrinking fast. No one is immune to this, not even you. Lifelong learning has become an imperative, whether or not your company provides opportunities for this. It also means that organizations are competing for a smaller and smaller pool of talent. Take cybersecurity, for example. According to Forbes, there will be a shortage of 3.5 million cybersecurity jobs by next year. So even if your company has the hiring budget, you might not find people to fill those critical skills gaps. That's why it's time to break the vicious cycle of hire, fire and hire because one, it's extremely expensive, two, candidates to fill key roles such as cybersecurity simply might not be available, or they won't want to work for you, and three, your company culture will suffer. Knowledge of your products, services, and processes is also lost when your employees turnover every few years. So no matter how you look at it, workplace learning is no longer a nice to have, it's a must have, and we've got to get it right.