Paperjam is continuing its exploration of the , released on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, which opened in Davos on Monday 20 January and runs until Friday 24 January. , we now turn to the transformation of companies and the workforce, as envisaged by employers for the period 2025-2030. We have selected six questions to focus on.

1. What are the obstacles to transformation?

Mastery of new technologies, creativity, resilience, flexibility, agility, curiosity... You name it. When employers are asked about the skills they will need by 2030, the list is long. And with good reason: they say that the lack of employee skills is the main obstacle to business transformation over the next five years.

This explanation was cited by 63% of the thousand employers (representing more than 50 countries) approached for the survey, compared with 60% in 2023.

2. What response to artificial intelligence?

The first factor of transformation: AI. More than eight out of 10 employers (86%) anticipate that artificial intelligence will change the day-to-day running of their business. But there are many obstacles to its integration, such as the lack of necessary skills (50%), once again, or the lack of vision on the part of leaders and managers (43%).

As a result, reskilling the existing workforce is seen as the number one strategy by 77% of employers. At the same time, 69% are planning to recruit specialist AI talent. And 41% are planning to reduce their workforce, as AI could replace certain roles.

The same survey also concludes that more than a third (39%) of current skills in the global workforce will be transformed over the period 2025-2030. They may even become obsolete altogether.

Beyond skills, the second biggest barrier to transformation is organisational culture and resistance to change, mentioned by 46% of respondents. This is followed by regulatory concerns (39%) and the lack of data and technical infrastructure (32%).

3. What are the prospects for talent?

Employers’ confidence in the availability of talent is down on 2023. 29% of companies expect an improvement between now and 2025-2030, compared with 39% two years ago. This is due to increased pressure on the recruitment market, as well as difficulties in stemming staff turnover. “It’s two sides of the same challenge,” say HR professionals.

Despite this, 70% of employers remain optimistic about the development of talent, although this figure is down on the figure for 2023 (77%).

When it comes to retention, only 44% of employers expect improvements. This compares with 53% two years ago, and it is clear from the report--produced prior to the forum in Davos--that it is European employers who are the most pessimistic about this issue, citing increasing competition.

4. What strategy should companies adopt?

Employers most often mentioned upgrading the skills of their teams, with 85% of them saying they have upskilling projects within their organisations. Automation comes in second place (mentioned by 73% of companies), although this is down from 80% in 2023.

Seventy percent of employers plan to recruit new talent, 51% plan to reclassify their staff internally and 41% plan to reduce their workforce. Finally, 10% of companies are not ruling out the idea of relocating their operations, while 8% plan to relocate part of their workforce.

5. What are the levers for retention?

Efforts in the area of employee health and well-being are the top priority this year in order to prevent talent from leaving one company for another. Two-thirds (64%) of employers agree on this. Employee retraining and development are a close second, cited by 63% of organisations.

Diversity is also a concern for half of the respondents. Eighty-three percent of employers are implementing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, compared to 67% in 2023. Training in this area is the most common in companies, followed by programmes for recruiting, retaining and developing talent. The place of women in companies is a priority for 76% of employers, ahead of disabled employees (56%) and the integration of young people from Gen Z (52%).

The need for flexibility, such as teleworking, is also gaining in importance throughout the world.

6. What about salaries?

By 2030, more than half (52%) of employers expect the proportion of revenue allocated to salaries to increase. Smaller companies anticipate more pronounced growth (57%) than larger entities (45% for those with between 10,000 and 50,000 employees).

Overall, pay policies will focus on productivity (77%) and employee performance, as well as competition to retain talent (71%).

This article was originally published in .