AI is set to transform hiring requirements: Report

The adoption of AI is creating a tectonic shift in the skills requirement and thereby the hiring needs for companies, according to a report by EY.

According to a poll conducted by EY in March with over 250 industry leaders, half of the participants expect a trend of simultaneous layoffs and hiring as companies grapple with the evolving skillsets required in the AI era.

“The poll finds that 50% of business leaders anticipate a combination of both layoffs and hiring over the next six months as a direct result of AI adoption,” EY said in a report based on the survey.

The report highlights a critical dilemma that technology organizations face these days – while AI offers unparalleled innovation and productivity, at the same time, it reshapes the workforce dynamics. This requires a delicate balance between new hires and layoffs.

“One thing is certain: Companies are reshaping their workforce to be more AI savvy. With this transition, we can anticipate a continuous cycle of strategic workforce realignment, characterized by simultaneous layoffs and hiring, and not necessarily in equal volumes,” Vamsi Duvvuri, EY’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications AI leader, said in a statement. “But it’s not all doom and gloom. Employees and companies alike continue to show enthusiasm around AI, specifically when it comes to opportunities to scale and compete more effectively in the marketplace.”

Amid this transformation, tech leaders are also staring at a daunting task – hiring top tech talent. The report based on the poll, also added that three out of five technology leaders (61%) say that emerging technologies like AI have made it harder to source top talent, particularly those with expertise in cybersecurity, data science, and AI engineering.

“AI is transforming the way we work, creating new opportunities for innovation and growth, while simultaneously posing unprecedented challenges, especially when it comes to talent,” Ken Englund, EY Americas Technology, Media and Telecommunications Leader, said in a statement. “Our recent pulse poll demonstrates that technology companies generally have a positive sentiment toward the next productivity wave. There’s a lot of excitement at these companies in terms of how they will successfully apply their own industry tools to themselves.”

AI’s impact: A double-edged sword for workplace culture

This survey paints a nuanced picture of the impact of AI on workplace culture. While 72% of respondents reported their employees are using AI at least daily in the workplace, with top use cases being coding and software development (51%), data analysis (51%), and internal and external communication (47%), the poll also highlighted many concerns related to regulation.

Nearly half of the respondents said they believe more regulation is needed, particularly regarding potential AI-generated bias (48%), privacy protection (48%), and safeguarding intellectual property rights (47%).

Interestingly, though many leaders report concerns about AI and believe that more regulation is needed around this technology, most technology business leaders (85%) believe that emerging technology has had a positive impact on their workplace culture,” the report added.

The EY report also found that despite these challenges and red flags, AI investment showed no sign of abating, with 82% of tech leaders planning to increase their AI investment next year. “From a hiring standpoint, tech leaders are focused on investing in specific roles, such as cybersecurity analysts (69%), data scientists (68%) and AI engineers (68%),” the statement said.

The report also noted that to help their employees navigate the complexities of the AI landscape, business leaders are deploying multiple strategies to support and upskill them. “Nearly two-thirds of technology business leaders (64%) say their company has put internal development programs in place to help employees keep pace with rapidly changing generative AI (GenAI). Three out of four technology business leaders (76%) say they have implemented internal technical certifications to help employees keep pace with GenAI,” the EY report based on the poll said.