Opinion: Companies are firing the wrong people

Consider, for example, automation: As executives face difficult decisions about what to do with their workforces, might they opt for more machines over humans? And what will be the longer-term effect on employment, business and overall prosperity?

How does this crisis affect how companies think about which problems to solve with talent, and which to solve with technology?Recessions cause companies to pay much closer attention to their costs. Chief executives become zealots for reducing spending, and labour is no exception. The unemployment claims we’ve seen over the past weeks show clearly that there are, tragically, a lot of layoffs with the Covid recession.

The thing a lot of executives are struggling with right now – as we all grapple with the human side of this tragedy – is how to cut costs without jeopardising their companies’ futures. How does technology affect which people they need to keep?We're seeing a slow-rolling catastrophe right now as trillions of dollars of human capital is being cut loose. Many of those laid off have exactly the skills that will be desperately needed when the economy rebounds.

A lot of people that have 80% to 90% of the skills their employers will need. And then it's only a matter of topping them off with the right new skills. That’s a lot easier and less expensive than starting from scratch.Take a moment and look at the work you need done at the task level, not the occupation level. A typical occupation has 20 to 30 distinct tasks. Virtually every occupation has some tasks that you can replace with technology, but almost no occupation can be entirely automated.

Source: News Formal (newsformal.com)

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