Human skills were found two times more in demand than digital skills, revealed the report…reports Asian Lite News
Demand for human skills such as leadership, communication and emotional intelligence is twice more in demand than the knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), finds a report on Wednesday.
The report by workforce agility solutions maker Cornerstone OnDemand, provides a comprehensive overview of skills demand on the rise, an analysis from the past five years and indicators for future trends and demand forecasting.
The report highlights that AI, ML job postings are on the rise — increasing by 65 per cent since 2019, and GenAI-related job postings have seen a 411 per cent surge.
Yet, the demand for human skills, or soft skills, such as leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence was found to outpace the need for digital skills globally. Human skills were found two times more in demand than digital skills, revealed the report.
Communication, interpersonal collaboration and problem-solving were the top human skills-related job postings, the report said.
“Keeping a close watch on changing skills and workplace trends in real-time across the market is essential for forecasting and staying competitive,” said Mike Bollinger, Global VP, Strategic Initiatives at Cornerstone.
“This report not only reveals the workforce readiness gap, that skills are evolving faster than organisations and individuals can keep pace with, limiting innovation and adaptability, but also emphasizes the importance of retaining critical human or ’soft’ skills within your organisation,” he added.
The report showed that job postings in Augmented Reality (AR)/ Virtual Reality (VR) soared by 154 per cent in the past 5 years.
Further, India was found to lead with 4.1 per cent of its job postings focused on AI/ML, reflecting its growing role in the global AI landscape. Germany and Japan follow with 2.5 per cent and 2.2 per cent respectively.
While GenAI skills are concentrated in industries like software development and IT consulting, there is a rising demand in financial services, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, and banking.
The demand for remote and flexible work has seen a 39 per cent increase. Australia has the highest number of job postings looking for remote or flexible workers (22.8 per cent), followed by Germany (21 per cent), New Zealand (20.3 per cent), the UK (18.8 per cent), the US(15 per cent), Spain (11.6 per cent), Japan (9.7 per cent) and India (6.3 per cent). France (4.9 per cent) and Italy (1.4 per cent) ranked among the lowest.
The report covered data from more than 200 countries and territories, including job postings, resumes, government data, and other data points in 11 languages.
Women’s Presence Steady in India Inc
Women’s representation in India Inc remains stable and the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector leads when it comes to ‘women in leadership’ roles, a report said on Wednesday.
In the BFSI segment, 24.5 per cent of corporate executives are women, followed by FMCG which has 21.5 per cent women at the leadership levels, according to the report by Avtar, a leading workplace culture consulting company. Global capability centres (GCCs) report the lowest attrition rate of women at 10 per cent.
Data showed that average women representation across industries today is at 36.6 per cent and close to 40 per cent at the entry level.
Sectors like professional services are close to gender balance with 46 per cent women while manufacturing reported a gender ratio of 20 per cent, an indication of intensifying efforts.
According to Dr Saundarya Rajesh, Founder and President of Avtar, we are at a unique, paradox and juncture in India with respect to women’s participation in the workforce.
“We have made significant progress in many areas such as the sheer volume of the women workforce, the facilities and flexibilities provided and the benefits to name a few but yet far behind in leveraging the opportunity – of enabling women in leadership positions, of ensuring rise in women participation and distribution across sectors and needless to emphasise women’s safety and well-being at the workplace so that they are encouraged to stay and grow,” Rajesh explained.
The 2024 annual listing established that IT industry as the single largest employer of women with 24 per cent companies. BFSI followed with 11.
Notably, from 58 per cent companies focusing on people with disabilities (PwDs) in 2019, the number has risen significantly to 98 per cent of companies focusing on building inclusive work environments for PwDs.
The index further broadens the understanding of inclusivity in India by evaluating diverse dimensions including gender, disability, age and culture, said the report.
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