Keeping Talent in The Age of Automation

There is a fine line between Automation and AI. Dave Evans simplifies their true meaning in his article (“So What’s the Real Difference Between AI and Automation?), and helps us to understand the fundamental difference between Automation and AI.

Automation is software that follows pre-programmed ‘rules’.

Artificial intelligence is designed to simulate human thinking.

In the age of automation and artificial intelligence, companies’ attention is being directed more intensively towards the labor market.  Many businesses will be forced to boost employees’ salaries and benefits in an attempt to keep their talent in the “house”.

There are many different opinions on how to approach these “bogies” in the competitive talent marketplace. Some companies think the smart move is to re-skill their employees rather than downsizing and rehiring new talents and to focus their priority on retaining employees; other companies lean towards the opposite.

Although retrenching and rehiring might seem like a good cost-saving strategy, it could be quite the contrary. Scaling down and rehiring process is expensive and cost ads up quickly (severance pay, advertising for jobs, time for interviewing, training services and materials, decreased productivity without a trained employee in the position, losing knowledge, experience, loyalty and established client relationships, extra bonuses, etc.).

To keep and gain talented workers, companies will have to become more competitive as far as the compensations go and keep improving employees' experience and satisfaction (flexible hours/home office, career growth, opportunity to learn, extra benefits, etc.).

To learn more about this topic, I would like to suggest reading the following article.

https://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/future-of-organizations-and-work/what-the-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages

What is your company’s preference?