Importance of Workforce's Job Skills
## Adapting to the Future of Work: A Focus on Worker Employability in the Age of Automation
In the face of rapid technological advancements, ensuring the employability of workers has become a pressing concern for organisations such as UNI Global Union. With the World Bank Development Report 2016 predicting substantial job displacements and a shift in the shape of the labour market, the need for proactive policy and strategy changes is more important than ever.
UNI Global Union's approach is centered around **lifelong learning** and **upskilling/reskilling** to help workers adapt to new technologies and prevent obsolescence. This includes encouraging ongoing education and training, especially as industries are transformed by AI and automation. Moreover, it emphasises the importance of inclusive training programs to reach all segments of the workforce, including older workers, women, and youth.
Adapting workplace structures is crucial, and UNI Global Union advocates for **flexible work arrangements** and **job redesign**. Allowing for remote work, part-time opportunities, and flexible hours can help workers balance ongoing learning with employment. Job redesign involves altering job roles to integrate technology effectively while maintaining opportunities for human input, focusing on tasks that require uniquely human skills such as emotional intelligence, creativity, and complex problem-solving.
UNI Global Union also prioritises **organizing and collective bargaining** as a path to address inequality and disruption in the labour market. This approach empowers workers to negotiate for fair wages, skills development opportunities, and job security in the context of automation.
To prevent early labour market exit, particularly for older workers, UNI Global Union emphasises the need for **health and safety programs** and **workplace inclusivity**. Implementing occupational health initiatives and job redesign can help older workers adapt to new technologies, while combating age discrimination and biases ensures that all workers have a fair chance at employability.
Recent initiatives, such as the Human Rights Due Diligence Competence Centre co-led by UNI Global Union, focus on using **human rights due diligence laws** to strengthen workers' rights globally. These frameworks build capacity for unions to protect workers from displacement and rights violations in global supply chains, and advocate for policy implementation that ensures companies act responsibly regarding automation’s impact on jobs and support transition programs.
Lastly, UNI Global Union advocates for **cross-sector collaboration** to address challenges like technological disruption and inequality. This requires coordinated, cross-border efforts among unions, governments, and multinational corporations.
While the methodology used by Frey and Osbourne (2015) in their studies, as referenced in the World Bank Development Report 2016, has been criticized, UNI Global Union does not repeat earlier mentioned studies or reports but instead presents its own perspective on the issue of job displacement due to technological change.
In conclusion, current strategies to ensure employability amid AI and automation-induced displacement centre on lifelong learning, flexible work arrangements, stronger worker representation through unions and collective bargaining, policy advocacy for responsible automation, and cross-sector collaboration. These approaches aim to create resilient, adaptable workforces that can thrive even as technological change accelerates.
- To maintain employability in the age of automation, it's essential to focus on lifelong learning and upskilling/reskilling to adapt to new technologies.
- The importance of inclusive training programs is highlighted in the UNI Global Union's approach, ensuring older workers, women, and youth have access to ongoing education and skills training.
- Adapting workplace structures is vital, with flexible work arrangements and job redesign being advocated for, allowing workers to balance learning with employment effectively.
- UNI Global Union's strategy also includes organizing and collective bargaining, empowering workers to negotiate for fair wages, skills development opportunities, and job security in the context of automation.
