The AI-Powered Workplace Skills Era Needs a Lesson Plan

A.I. will inevitably take over millions of jobs, beginning with mundane to-dos before being promoted. For companies and individuals in A.I.'s path, it will take a lot of work to map out, and then prepare for an AI-driven future.

Artificial intelligence is substituting for human intelligence at concerning speed. A.I. currently writes C+ essays, powers robots with alarming bells and whistles and serves as the plumbing for flashy technological advancements and less glamorous global enterprise solutions. As A.I. envelopes more aspects of American work and life—at increasingly faster speeds—culture, quality of life, careers and the economy hang in the balance. It sounds grandiose, but A.I. taking over tasks, workstreams and, yes, entire jobs currently paying the bills for millions of Americans will happen. It’s inevitable. But that’s not the end of the story.

To curb or at least prepare for impact, we need to invest in recruiting teachers who understand both how A.I. is being applied in today’s workplace and how to help people bridge skill gaps across industries and work cultures. Today’s challenge is more than how to upskill, reskill and skill people for an A.I.-dominated work environment that will materialize sooner than a decade. It involves fixing America’s broken corporate learning system designed for the last decade.

While it’s easy to get caught up in the mass takeover discourse and lost down #RobotFail video rabbit holes, the truth behind A.I.’s rise is not as entertaining. It will replace the mundane to-dos first, then get promoted. For companies and individuals in the path of A.I., it will take a lot of work to map out, and then prepare for an AI-driven future. Companies, for their part, must invest in employee upskilling programs to ensure the American economy can continue to thrive. They must modernize or wholesale replace current programs that are too generalized and two-dimensional in favor of effective programs that are business-specific, foster collaboration and emphasize practical use cases. We need to firmly leave learning for the sake of it in the past.

Upskilling is beneficial for individual employees but also business-imperative for employers. Because organizations are as innovative as their employees, companies must ensure their teams remain on the cutting edge so they don’t become obsolete. Outfitting teachers with resources must be at the heart of this (in some cases, renewed) effort.

In turn, employees understand how valuable training is to their professional development. They are beginning to think of upskilling programs as a crucial benefit, just like vacation days and retirement accounts. A Gallup study found that 48 percent of workers in the U.S. would be willing to switch jobs if the new opportunity offered training programs, and 65 percent of employees believe employer-provided upskilling is very important when evaluating a new job opportunity. Mitigating staff turnover isn’t just important for morale and maintaining a solid reputation; it’s also key to reducing costs, as the cost of replacing an employee can reach twice their annual salary.

Understanding the benefits of upskilling is relatively easy, but successfully implementing them is difficult. While 80 percent of American employers offer upskilling benefits, the job market—especially throughout the tech industry—is in flux. Despite widespread layoffs in the past few years, an alarming 88 percent of tech employers say it is challenging to find skilled technology professionals, and nearly 90 percent of corporate leaders report that recruiting and retaining talent is a moderate or major challenge. This gap indicates a clear mismatch between the skills individuals can supply and the skills companies demand, a gap that effective training programs can fill.

Why are so many upskilling initiatives ineffective? Companies often treat such programs like sterile courses that don’t provide any real-world context. Just like a high schooler gets frustrated when their math teacher can’t explain why learning about quadratic equations is important, employees feel disengaged when participating in a course that’s just broadly about the benefits of A.I. without any examples of how they can use it in their particular role.

Instead, upskilling programs need to be catered to specific businesses, training employees for particular use cases. They also need to be designed for productive rather than performative goals. This means tracking employees’ ability to actually implement learnings instead of simply just taking the time to complete the provided classes. Another thing to leave in the past: a standardized testing approach to learning—corporate or otherwise.

Effective upskilling is also completely integrated with business operations. While different individuals throughout a company may be trained on different skills, upskilling can serve to create a common language throughout organizations, helping to build empathy and eliminate silos, which then encourages companies of any size to think and act as a singular system. This comprehensive approach leads to a sustainable learning culture, naturally cultivating a more collaborative and productive workplace environment.

Companies like mine work with organizations to develop these integrated training programs. In doing so, we’re not just preparing employers for the impending A.I. flood. We’re guiding them toward investing in upskilling that delivers a swift return on investment. Ascending concern surrounding the A.I. incursion exposes many things about American society. Chief among them in the business world: upskilling can’t be treated just as a box to check or a means to achieve a PR win. It’s imperative for the future of business