The future of work

If you’ve been in Geelong in the last few years, there’s no doubt you have witnessed the region change in front of your eyes!

This transformation has seen our economy prosper and Geelong, in regional centre statistics terms, leads the nation in population growth. Our business landscape is on the move as we see the transition form our textile and industrial roots to social insurance and the public sector while tourism, health education and professional services industries continue to grow. We are also one of the biggest incubators for entrepreneurs … exciting times!

I am often asked to provide intelligence on the pulse of the region and our clients and stakeholders want to know where Geelong is heading.

The pace and change has been so frenetic that many chief executives, business owners, divisional directors and HR practitioners are still playing catch up.

The recent HR Index, employment trend data, revealed that Technology IT&T/Business and Data Analysts was the ‘Top Discipline in Demand’ in our region from April to June 2019.

The HR Index also revealed that half of the region’s upcoming data and technology specialists will be hired by the Public Sector.  As many of these organisations have change/transformation on their agenda, there will be substantial growth is in this area.

This led me to think about the demand and take-up of digital and tech related jobs in our region now and into the future. Just where will all our tech experts come from?  Are organisations in sourcing or outsourcing tech projects?  And, what further role can HR play in tech recruitment?

Following the success of the HR Index, Harvest is thrilled to be invited to take part in the Technology for Geelong, Regional Innovation Summit.

Seeing I was giving tech recruitment a lot of thought, this is a timely opportunity and we have decided to delve in a bit further.  The Harvest team has pulled together an expert panel to discuss ‘The Regional Tech Talent Ticking Time-Bomb. It’s a conversation which could well lead to a heated debate – watch this space!

Coincidentally, around the same time as we were approached regarding the summit, I came across an article published by Deloitte on June 10, 2019 titled ‘The future of work in technology’.

Whilst lengthy, the article is a great read. It talks about how the advancements in technology leads to changes in the work, workforce and workplace. It’s the workforce part I am specifically interested in.

Jobs and roles, talent and skills, and organisational structures are evolving. Accessing the technology talent we need may require a mix of traditional full time employees and alternatives including contractors and gig workers.

“According to the global Chief Information Officer (CIO) survey, CIOs are already leaning heavily on the open talent continuum. Fifty-eight percent of survey respondents say they are retraining and retooling current talent.The same percentage report leveraging talent from external partners and service providers,²¹ and in another survey, 73 percent of technology executives said they plan to access needed talent by somewhat or very extensively using gig economy workers.”

The report then goes on to say, a third of leaders surveyed ‘feel unprepared’ to leverage gig workers, freelancers, and crowdsourcing. Scary stuff.

The transition from IT capabilities to technology work outcomes requires a fundamental shift in thinking: Technology is not solely an IT function. Business leaders are equally accountable for the successful design and delivery of technology work.

As technology work changes, so do the skills and proficiencies required to complete the work. Fifty-one percent of CIOs surveyed in Deloitte’s 2019 report on Industry 4.0 readiness cite a significant mismatch between current skill sets and future needs.

Sourcing talent with the right mix of specialised skills, proficiencies, and human soft skills to support business innovation, growth, and transformation is a key factor.

But let’s discuss this further at the Regional Innovation Summit on 5^th September, 2019. Find out more about the Regional Innovation Summit.

You can read the full Deloitte article here:  The future of work in technology by Khalid Kark, Bill Briggs, Atill Terzioglu and Mink Puranik.