In an ideal world, jobs would be created to align with employees’ dreams and make the most of their unique skills. However, today’s reality is quite different: employees and candidates are often required to adapt to the needs of companies. These companies are largely driven by efficiency, which, in essence, equates to financial goals. This focus on efficiency often translates to reducing research and production costs while increasing revenue—a straightforward approach to boosting a company’s profitability. One traditional way to increase efficiency was to have the best employees, e.g. through acquisitions or staff training. But this is changing today.
Two other compelling candidates for achieving the vision of high efficiency and profitability within a company—thanks to their immense potential—are Automation and Artificial Intelligence. Automation enables the reduction of manual tasks by utilizing robots, while Artificial Intelligence allows for the automation of complex processes and decision-making by simulating human reasoning. Both technologies are poised to significantly increase efficiency within companies. As a consequence, fewer workers will be needed overall in the future, although demand for a smaller number of highly skilled workers will increase.
Is investment in staff training a worthwhile decision for companies?
The period between now and the future, when Automation and AI become widespread, is a critical time during which highly skilled workers who understand these technologies will be in high demand. Once this future point is reached, fewer workers will be needed. In theory, investing in staff training might seem unnecessary because companies should focus on hiring the most talented and intelligent individuals available today. However, this strategy would only work for companies with a bold vision and, more importantly, substantial financial resources to invest in recruiting top talent—a challenge for most organizations. This approach was, for example, employed by Apple from its early days and continues to be a strategy used by Tesla today.
However, since this strategy can only be implemented by companies with high liquidity and innovation-driven goals, these companies will attract the majority of top talent in the market. This will put pressure on other companies, as the performance gap between the two groups will widen. As a result, investing in staff training will become almost mandatory. The time will come when automation and AI will be ubiquitous across most companies, but due to performance competition, only the best and most innovative will thrive.
During the transition to highly automated and AI-enhanced processes, some companies will move quickly, like leopards, while others will lag behind. It’s possible that, in the future, employees—who have been heavily invested in through training and development—may no longer be needed, but the timing of that shift remains uncertain. In the meantime, companies must address the challenge of acquiring top talent—either by recruiting the best from the market or by investing in the development of their existing staff.
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