Shift big bang education to lifelong training for job security

In the UK, kids start off in primary school to prepare them for the two years of secondary school that culminates in the Big Bang GCSE exams. Then, two years later, those that stay on at sixth form college experience another big bang event.

This time, it’s A Levels and if they choose to go to university, they have three or more years of study and a big reality bang when they look at joining the jobs market.

The idea of having a job for life is a bit of a myth these days. The last government did, to its credit, raise the issue of continuous learning. While someone may well stay employed in an organisation for many years, the work they do changes; their job role changes: the organisation adapts and changes and goes through a process of adapting staff through a change management programme to the new ways of working.

While Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s speech to the Trade Union Convention summit on September 10 used the phrase “pro business and pro workers” to describe Labour’s stance, there is no reference to innovation, technology and – in particular – where innovation and technology are deployed in ways that takes away people’s jobs.

Technology risk to job security

The TUC does recognise the risk and opportunities of technology in the workplace. It has an on-going AI Bill Project, which sets out regulations it wants to see in protecting the rights of workers, against decisions made using AI systems that can impact their rights.

In the document, the TUC calls for urgent action to ensure that people are protected from the risks and harms of AI-powered decision making in the workplace. “The more say workers have in how technology is used at work, the more rewarding and productive the world of work will become for us all,” the TUC said.

People generally want to be seen to be doing a good job. However, technology may very well take away key parts of their current job in years to come.

The problem for line managers in many organisations is that they rely too heavily on employee sentiment metrics and tick-box style appraisal forms churned out by human resources executives keen to capture data about employees in an HCM (human capital management) system.

Workers are very wary about being totally honest on how they really feel, for fear of rocking the boat and potentially being on the shortlist in the next round of redundancies. The appraisal and employee sentiment surveys are mere snapshots.

What we need is an open and honest conversation about where job functions are being replaced by AI and automation and how people must continually train and adapt as the organisation evolves.





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