AI will radically change nature of the required skills

Business Bureau, Gulf Today

The 9th edition of FAHR International Conference, which was held by the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources, under the patronage of  Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council, successfully concluded on Thursday.

During the 2-day event, the participants stressed the need for governments and institutions to keep abreast of the rapid technological developments and employ them in the service and development of the corporate work system and investment in human capital through training, development and empowerment, and focusing on the enhancement of the specific skills and competencies required by the labor market in light of the rapid technological development.

The participants confirmed that the more attention is given to the individuals, the more successful the countries will be as humans is the core value of any country and capital. They also pointed out that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will radically change the nature of the required skills as well as the supply and demand of jobs as the employee who does not develop their skills and knowledge will not be on track with the latest in the field. The experts stressed on the importance of the human element, which remains the center of institutional work regardless of the high technological development, where the demand for skilled people increases with every technological development, while the future of human work remains no matter how the technology has developed.

The agenda of the second day of the conference, which was attended by more than 700 specialists and experts in human resources from the region and the world, featured a number of important topics, started with a session for Aisha Al Suwaidi, Executive Director of HR Policies Sector, FAHR, where she discussed the new mechanism set by the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources to measure the level of development and maturity of human resources departments and practices in federal government institutions according to international indicators and models set for this purpose.

She explained that the Authority prepared the new mechanism after consulting with the ministries and federal agencies in accordance with a clear scientific methodology based on the availability of relevant human resources data through electronic human resources systems, in order to support the directives of the federal government and keep pace with the dynamics of the development of government work in the UAE.

She stressed that the results of this mechanism are based on the indicators and results of ministries and federal bodies extracted from the Human Resources Management Information System (Bayanati) and its smart reporting system.

She also said that we have developed this mechanism to achieve the following: (Implementing a unified and objective model to measure the level of development of government human resources practices and improving the performance of HR departments in accordance with the best international standards and practices so that they have a significant impact on the development of employees and at the same time achieve the strategic plans for organizations.)

Al Suwaidi further mentioned that the new mechanism to measure the level of development of human resources departments in the federal government will allow the evaluation of ministries and federal entities according to four main axes: (governance, employment efficiency, integration & engagement and development), explaining that a set of indexes will be linked to each axis  with standards developed according to the importance of each axis.

In a session titled: “Technology and The Brain: Habits for the Brain to Think, Focus and Be Creative When Using Technology”, Dr. Lisa Belanger, Behavior Change Expert & Researcher, said: “Technology is evolving dramatically, so we must work better, as some people and employees spend about 11 hours a day using technology.”

Dr. Belanger also spoke about some habits that stimulate the brain to think, focus and be creative when using technology, noting that the working environment must have «effective breaks» for employees, where they can disconnect from work and communicate with nature and stop using technology or thinking about work.

She also stressed on the importance of avoiding the pressures of work and technology together during the working hours as recent studies have shown that daily walking for only 30 minutes increases productivity from 20 to 30% of the employees. Dr. Lisa Belanger also mentioned that doing charity leads to positive results at work as it increases loyalty and job satisfaction, therefore, institutions shall always encourage their staff to volunteer and do community work. These simple practices have significant returns, including, loyalty to the workplace and reducing the levels of tension. She pointed out that companies have already started doing this and the results are impressive.

From her side, Dr. Kelly Monahan, Talent Research Lead Senior Principal, Accenture Research – USA, said: “the retention of talents at work has become a problem and dilemma facing employers, indicating that understanding the needs of employees and the needs of the labor market, has not developed sufficiently despite the great advances in technology, which has led to a change in the roles of employees.