TrueBlue , a leading provider of specialized workforce solutions, announced the results of a comprehensive study from leading recruitment process outsourcing provider PeopleScout, a TrueBlue company, and Spotted Zebra, an award-winning HR tech company. The study’s findings demonstrate the surprising thconclusion at nine out of 10 HR leaders believe that up to 50 percent of their workforce w  ill need to be reskilled in the next five years, with only seven percent reporting an active investment in their reskilling programs.

Global Labor Trends & the Skills Countdown
The pivotal research report, The Skills Crisis Countdown, offers an unprecedented look into the evolving workforce skills landscape and the growing disconnect between employee capabilities and business needs that highlights the importance of adopting a skills-based talent acquisition and management strategy. An estimated 85 million jobs could go unfilled by 2030 that will cost $8.5 trillion in lost revenue, according to The World Economic Forum. The report indicates talent shortages are the most widespread across industries including education, hospitality, healthcare, technology, and manufacturing. Approximately 80 percent of organizations reported their top workforce challenge is recruiting skilled talent, followed by retaining key personnel and upskilling current employees.

Employers are Ill-Prepared for the Future
Global trends like automation, AI adoption, the green economy and workforce demographic shifts are rapidly changing the skills needed for jobs, making skills gaps and shortages more acute. Despite this essential need for skills alignment, companies continue to prioritize degrees and experience over skills when making hiring decisions. This may be rooted in an overall unfamiliarity with skills-based talent strategies, as one in two HR leaders admitted to lacking an understanding of skills-based practices that would support these workforce strategies.

“As a trusted talent advisor to a vast portfolio of clients across almost all industries, we are seeing that the widening skills gap is one of the top challenges facing organizations today,” said Rick Betori, President of PeopleScout & EVP of TrueBlue. “This new research is a critical step in understanding the current disconnect between the demands of the future workforce and traditional hiring practices, ultimately emphasizing why skills-based talent strategies are now mission critical for an organization’s long-term success.”

Technology Accelerates the Skills Conversation
Technology adoption is accelerating the need to evolve skills, with 50 percent of HR leaders anticipating that job roles at their organizations will transform due to shifts in required skill sets. However, the report reveals another disparity regarding perceived importance of technology skills. Despite skyrocketing demand, both employers and employees undervalue skills in technology, ranking it second to last when asked which skills are most important for the future. Furthermore, 34 percent of employers lack any plans for workforce adoption of automation and AI.

“In just a few short months, GAI went from an abstract concept to a tangible force with dramatic impacts worldwide. Skills profiles across industries have already changed dramatically and will continue to evolve rapidly,” said Simon Wright, Global Head of Talent Advisory Consulting of PeopleScout. “This research reveals that many HR leaders are not ready for this transformation. Closing the widening skills gap will require better alignment on the importance of tech literacy.”

Becoming a Skills-Based Organization
“Skills-based talent strategies are essential, and the clock is ticking for employers across all regions and industries,” said Nick Shaw, Founder & Chief Customer Officer of Spotted Zebra. “Without future-focused skills strategies for both hiring and development, organizations will suffer lost revenue and productivity when critical jobs are left unfilled.”

Shaw and Wright will present the research findings in a webinar on Thursday, February 1, 2024, at 11 am CST. Register for the webinar here.

The PeopleScout report combined data from more than 2,000 employees surveyed across Asia-Pacific, Europe and North America and insights from a statistically significant number of senior Human Resources and Talent Acquisition leaders from organizations around the world, across sectors and sizes.