You Must Reskill Employees in the AI Age — or Risk Your Demise

In September, the consulting firm Accenture made headlines when it acknowledged it had “exited” 11,000 employees who couldn’t be retrained to adapt to AI. On a recent earnings call, CEO Julie Sweet explained the decision bluntly, saying that “the workforce needs new skills to use AI, and new talent strategies and related competencies must be developed.”

It’s a tough-but-true reality that thanks to AI, tomorrow’s jobs will look radically different than they do today. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2030, nearly 40% of workers’ core skills will have changed.

This is hardly the first time in history that this has been the case. During the Industrial Revolution, skilled artisans and weavers lost jobs to machines that could produce textiles faster and more cheaply than they could by hand. The new technology was widely protested by people who became known as the Luddites, who weren’t anti-technology as much as they were anti-being left behind. Their real grievance was that the rules of work changed overnight without a path to adapt.

Two centuries later, leaders face a similar turning point: AI will absolutely transform work, but how it plays out depends on not only the willingness of workers to adapt, but the willingness of organizations to help them along.

Why reskilling is a competitive advantage

Many headlines are quick to point to employees’ widespread fear of AI. But there’s more to the story — according to research from Genpact, nearly 60% of workers said they’d be more comfortable with AI if they understood it better; 80% said they’d be willing to learn new skills to take advantage of AI in their current job.

The problem is that employers have not been doing enough to get workers where they need to be. This is a missed opportunity. Hiring is incredibly time-consuming, not to mention pricey. At Jotform, hiring is one of the operational tasks I make sure I always have a direct hand in, for the simple reason that it’s so important. I look for more than just hard tech skills — what I really want in Jotformers are team players who have a growth mindset. Those are the assets that transcend job descriptions.

And that’s why reskilling matters. AI will keep shifting how work gets done, and a necessary skill today may be completely obsolete in six months. But people who can adapt, learn and collaborate are worth investing in. Consider this: When employees are let go, they take years of institutional knowledge with them. Those still on the payroll get nervous they’ll be next, and that anxiety can deal a death blow to productivity, engagement and the culture you’ve worked hard to create.

It can also lead to an exodus of high-quality people. A layoff impacting just 1% of your workforce can prompt a 31% increase in voluntary turnover, which not only creates staffing challenges but can harm your organization’s reputation.

How to build a reskilling system that works

All too often, employers treat reskilling as a pesky box-ticking exercise — a one-off webinar or company-wide tutorial that may never even get seen. This is a mistake, one that can hurt your bottom line in the long run. As the Genpact study shows, employers talk a big game, but few are walking the walk — only 35% of workers say reskilling options are available at their companies, and only 21% say they’ve actually participated.

Instead, leaders should be looking at reskilling as a scalable system that’s core to their organization’s survival.

First, conduct an audit of your staff’s current capabilities, including not just hard skills like AI literacy, but problem-solving abilities, emotional intelligence and other crucial soft skills that can’t be outsourced or easily replaced. This helps identify high-potential learners and tailor training accordingly.

The next step is to develop a comprehensive reskilling program that’s tied to tangible impacts. Remember — there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to AI adoption. Role-based learning tracks should connect directly to company goals, whether that means faster customer support resolution or less time spent on tedious, manual tasks. This not only helps leaders clarify their own objectives, but gives employees a reason to buy in by showing them exactly how AI can make their jobs easier and more meaningful.

Another crucial component? Make learning active, not passive. Everyone has had to sit through a dry training video whose contents they’ve completely forgotten within seconds of finishing it. That’s not going to cut it.

Walmart, for example, has launched a new certification program in partnership with OpenAI that’s designed to help both the corporation’s frontline and office-based employees improve their AI literacy. The professional services network PwC is gamifying its AI curriculum with a live trivia game called “PowerUp,” which quizzes employees on firm strategy and awards prizes to top performers. The more collaborative the experience, the better.

Reskilling shouldn’t be an afterthought, a side-project or an after-hours burden. Good leaders always prioritize continuous learning, and good employees are constantly looking for ways to level up in their roles. But that doesn’t mean AI adoption will happen overnight, or automatically. Big changes are afoot, and smart businesses are taking a proactive approach to preparing employees for what’s to come. If they don’t, they will almost certainly find themselves left behind.

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In September, the consulting firm Accenture made headlines when it acknowledged it had “exited” 11,000 employees who couldn’t be retrained to adapt to AI. On a recent earnings call, CEO Julie Sweet explained the decision bluntly, saying that “the workforce needs new skills to use AI, and new talent strategies and related competencies must be developed.”

It’s a tough-but-true reality that thanks to AI, tomorrow’s jobs will look radically different than they do today. The World Economic Forum estimates that by 2030, nearly 40% of workers’ core skills will have changed.