The changing nature of jobs and its effect on the role of the HR practitioner

I've been contemplating on the changing nature of jobs in the 21st century, especially since I'm still transitioning to an HR role. I immediately thought of my recent assignment for my Masters in HR, where I had to discuss this very issue and debate on the key drivers. I had a re-look at my assignment and have taken the liberty of summarizing some aspects in this blog post. 

In the last fifty years, there has been a dramatic shift in the nature of skills, production, performance and competitiveness. Work skills and jobs have been influenced and reshaped by industrialization, lean manufacturing, technology, computing, global competition, connectivity, shifting consumer demand and the economic recession.

Globally, postal workers are out of jobs because of email, book publishers are struggling thanks to e-books and self-publishing, secretaries are out of work as senior executives multi-task on computers; even as CIOs have a less secure future in companies who use cloud computing and software as a service models. Many traditional back-office jobs were outsourced to developing countries years ago, though newer technology models like crowd-sourcing and crowd-funding are bound to affect even these job patterns. We still don’t know what effect the growing popularity of 3D printing will cause, but the very fact that it has been used to demonstrate printing your 3D gun while NASA is exploring using 3D printers to print food from powders and digital recipes for astronauts suggest even more evolution/change in skills, production, performance and competitiveness, because of technology.

How we think about work, what defines work and the skills we need to be productive in the future, continue to evolve. Our very concept of what constitutes skill is changing, along with production, performance and competitiveness. Even as the job landscape shifts, we are seeing traditional skills being downsized, disrupted or dis-intermediated by technology and new consumer demand. Companies and HR practitioners are confused whether they should invest in the skills of their employees for productivity or use deskilled labour for greater profit margins. The economic recession that began in 2009 has led to greater unemployment among low and medium skill jobs around the world and greater appetite for lower cost goods and services.

I too have been personally affected by this changing landscape. For over ten years I have been a Senior Tours Consultant working for a major travel company. In my earlier years, customers came to us for holiday advice and travel booking. Customers took our advice seriously and we formed bonds of friendship. Not any more – now customers come to us with printouts from Booking.com, Expedia, Priceline etc. and demand to know how they are getting better deals and quicker information themselves. They view us with suspicion and refuse to pay a single dirham more than their favourite website. Despite our best efforts to provide a superior customer experience, if we cannot compete on the price front , I can see the writing on the wall.

As HR practitioners, we need to make sense of this shifting landscape. It falls under our mandate that we look at future skills in demand, the key drivers for the changing skills market and whether our organization’s competitiveness should come from investment in the skills of our employees or from deskilled labour. 

I have no doubt that technology has dramatically affected our lives and work skills. It is all pervasive especially for medium and high-skilled workers who use computers, social media, smartphones, tablets and the Internet for their personal and business life, while companies will continue to leverage technology for manufacturing, efficient supply chain and the delivery of more efficient services and products. More than consumer demand or the other three drivers, I think technology is currently the most significant driver for new and high skills in our present day and age.

So that's one more reason for me to be up to speed with my own skills in technology. Thankfully, I've made a start with MyPB (personal branding course) from Leicester and am mastering the necessary skills in social media and networking. I've still got a long way to go, but at least I've started.