The power of new technology to make your people happier (and stay longer)
Yuval Noah Harari - historian, philosopher, and bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, and 21 Lessons for the 21st Century - observes (and we paraphrase) that the number one job skill of the 21st century will be the ability to continually relearn and reinvent oneself, due to the speed at which technology is evolving.
As technology moves at light speed, says Harari, career lifespans will surely shorten. And to stay relevant, we will all need to adopt new technologies and evolve. For example, while ChatGPT may appear to be a threat to many, it’s the person who masters it who will come out on top – and remain employed.
The same can be said for those who work in organisations who are technology-forward. In adopting technologies like Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform to not only do (much) better business, there’s also the opportunity to equip employees with the knowledge and skills to stay relevant and valuable – and in turn drive even more value. With low-code application platforms within fingertip reach, and employees having a ready path to upskill in these, the old line “don’t dream it, be it” has a whole new meaning. Low-code opens new pathways between business users and technology; Innovation and iterative enhancements reduce in cost, while a lack of old-school coding skills is no barrier to turning ideas into reality.
Today’s CHRO or CPO has the opportunity to foster a technologically empowered workforce – or at the very least – a team with the power to help the business evolve, as well as their own careers. By focusing on employee growth by offering training, certification and opportunity, not only can a business upskill employees, it has the ability to significantly improve retention.
And we’re not just saying that. According to Forbes, “a joint study backed by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and Epignosis found that 76% of employees are likely to stay with a company that offers them meaningful learning and development training. Upskilling your workforce can give companies a competitive edge over organizations that aren’t investing in their employees, financially or otherwise.”
Forbes goes on to observe in this related article, that “55% [of employees] say they need additional training to perform better in their roles, and 44% say they are pursuing training on their own because they want to stay competitive in the job market.”
A low-code trend report (2022) from Microsoft reports that “82% of low- or no-code users agree that the technology helps provide an opportunity for software users to improve their development knowledge and technical skills. In addition, the use of no-code or low-code platforms or apps is shown to have led to an 83% positive impact on work satisfaction and workload by users, and an 80% positive impact on morale by users.” And to top it off, “More than 80% of users and potential users of low-code or no-code platforms report that they would be more willing to work for a company that invests in their technical upskilling.”
While investing in new technology may appear scary, the reality is that it has the potential to empower and engage your employees as they seek to continually reinvent and relearn. While in turn, you live the dream of reduced recruitment and retention costs.
