Digital and tech transformation is one of the top priorities for firms in Dubai, Singapore, Mumbai and Sydney — and many of those firms expect to expand their workforce.
Data presented by Christopher Abraham, CEO and Head of the Dubai Campus of SP Jain School of Global Management (SPJ), at his school’s annual HR Conclave at the Taj Hotel, Dubai, are among the clearest indicators that the growing use of technology and automation may not spark the much-feared job losses, but could create jobs.
In Dubai, 44 percent of HR executives the business school surveyed said their organisation planned to expand its workforce; the figures were higher in Singapore and Mumbai.
Abraham pointed out that while automation would take all the jobs it could, machines were very far from emulating core human attributes — a capacity for love, empathy, creativity and critical thinking. “These will become the critical skills of the 21st century,” he said.
“In our business, we do predict much more jobs. We predict different jobs,” said Henrik Chirstensen, Head of HR at logistics firm Kuehne and Nagel, Dubai, said during a panel discussion on the future of digital enterprises.
It was a position most panellists at the conclave agreed with, though on a second panel, Sanjay Bhattacharya, Managing Director of Homan Capital Advisory, Protiviti, Dubai, said recent research suggested digital transformation and digitisation would see 3 to 5 percent of existing jobs vanishing, and the rest being completely transformed.
Changing job roles and business models was a major theme of the conclave, but as panel moderator Marko Selakovic, Senior Manager — Institutional Development at SPJ, pointed out exactly what changes would come was very hard to predict.
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