Expert underscores importance of redesigning jobs with AI in mind
A major workforce gap is on the horizon in Australia, and artificial intelligence might be just the key to help businesses get through it.
Recent research from ServiceNow found that Australia's labour market would see a 1.68-million jobs boom by 2028, which is much higher than the expected rate of workforce growth.
"Our research shows that more jobs will be added to the economy, but we don't have enough people to fill them," Danielle Magnusson, ServiceNow Emerging Technology Director, told HRD. "One in three new roles could be left vacant."
The healthcare sector will see the biggest growth in overall headcount, which will see 348,000 new roles that will need to be filled by 2028. A workforce surge is also in store for sectors such as the government (54,900) and education (49,600).
Redesigning work with artificial intelligence (AI) in mind will be crucial in preparing for this looming workforce shortage, according to Magnusson.
"So redesigning work for the future means breaking down the jobs into tasks and skills and redesigning it with AI and people," she said.
Magnusson made the remarks as she pointed out that a major problem with critical industries, such as healthcare, education, and government, in how they are held back by repetitive manual work.
This is where AI can support workforce growth, according to the director.
"This is where AI is in service of people, taking away manual admin so that people can get back to doing what they're trained to do," she stated.
For business leaders, Magnusson said redesigning work involves getting the skills that they have in the right places at scale.
"But here's what I'm seeing today: Most business leaders that I'm speaking with don't have a solid grasp on the skills that they have within their workforce," she said.
"They understand their workforce based on job codes, and as people, we are much more than our job code."
According to Magnusson, business leaders need visibility into the current skills of the workforce, and they need to know the kinds of skills that they will need in the future so they can build roadmaps and training pathways for these new jobs.
"So smart leaders are using AI to understand the skills that they have within their organization so that they can build programs and empower employees to take charge of their careers," she said.
She used Griffith University as an example, where they decided to upskill their functional teams in tech skills to power their digital transformation.
"They did this instead of going out to market and hiring multiple IT specialists," Magnusson said. "They used their internal talent."
One critical move by Griffith that Magnusson underscored is how it established a culture where employees felt comfortable experimenting and playing around with AI tools.
"What's really important there is the culture that you're embedding into the organization, so building a culture where employees feel empowered to experiment and play around with AI," she said.
"Everyone has the potential to have their own assistant at work, so you can delegate certain tasks to AI so that you can focus on the things that make the biggest impact in your day, and this applies across every industry, whether you're a teacher, or a nurse, or a finance professional."
Involving practitioners in the design and implementation of AI tools is also critical, according to the director.
"The reality for critical industries is that they're under strain. There is already a worker shortage, and they're suffering from huge amounts of burnout and fatigue," she said. "So, AI in service of critical industry workers is key. So, they can get back to doing what they're trained to do."
