Discover more Five Fifties
Take another Five
Back to top
Take a fifty-minute deeper dive
Discussion paper – McKinsey Global Institute
Subscribe
Sign up for timely email briefings from the Five Fifty
Now that you’ve
read the Five …
Social, emotional, and technological skills are becoming more crucial as intelligent machines take over more physical, repetitive, and basic cognitive tasks.
Softies
As workers interact with ever-smarter machines, the demand for soft skills is beginning to surge.
Soft skills for
a hard world
In this edition:
Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce
Discussion paper – McKinsey Global Institute
Dive deeper
Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce
The skills gap 2019
The skills gap 2019
Society for Human Resource Management
Dive deeper
A quick briefing in five—
or a fifty-minute deeper dive
Shorthanded
The mismatch in skills is biggest in the most automated parts of a business.
Discover more Five Fifties
The skills gap 2019
The skills gap 2019
Society for Human Resource Management
Subscribe
Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce
Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce
Missing skills
But HR professionals report difficulty recruiting candidates who have the necessary soft skills for an automating world.
Subscribe
Subscribe
Upskilling
Resolving the mismatch means hiring, retraining, or both.
Academic
One way for companies to bridge the skills gap is to establish an “analytics academy,” blending technical training with a curriculum focused on soft skills.
How to develop soft skills
How to develop soft skills
Blog
The analytics academy
The analytics academy
Article – McKinsey Quarterly
Dive deeper
% change in total hours worked in 2030 vs 2016,
estimate for Europe and United States
Physical and
manual skills
Basic
cognitive skills
Higher
cognitive skills
Social and
emotional skills
Technological
skills
–14
–15
8
24
55
Top three areas of missing soft skills,
% of respondents
Problem solving, critical thinking,
innovation and creativity
37
Ability to deal with complexity and ambiguity
32
Communication
31
Data analytics
R&D
IT, mobile, web design
Sales and marketing operations
HR
Sourcing, procurement, and supply-chain management
Channel management, including e-commerce
Other administration
% of respondents (skills expectations over 3 years, 2019–21)
Expected skills mismatch
35
High
Low
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0
20
40
60
High
Low
Extent of automation and AI adoption today
Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce
Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce
Discussion paper – McKinsey Global Institute
Dive deeper
Best way for company to resolve potential skills mismatch,
% of respondents
Only by retraining
Mainly by retraining
Equal mixture of
hiring and retraining
Mainly by hiring
Only by hiring
United States
Europe
5
30
35
27
4
7
49
45
0
0
Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce
Skill shift: Automation and the future of the workforce
Discussion paper – McKinsey Global Institute
Dive deeper
Evolving
Update curricula frequently, promote internal faculty, and continually integrate new techniques, tools, and supporting technologies.
Engaging
Energize workers by training them for plum roles, applauding achievements, and making training social- and even community-led.
Hands-on
Combine classroom theory and real work. Participants can learn by doing and advance the company’s agenda at the same time.
Soften up
Organizations can keep pace with broad initiatives to build employees’ soft skills.
How to develop soft skills
How to develop soft skills
Blog
Dive deeper
Mix modes
Teach soft skills through employee learning journeys that blend training, digital courses,
job aids, and peer coaching.
Recruit softly
Structure interviews to elicit work–life details
and experiences that have made candidates who they are today.
Size the gap
Codify soft skills and define specific
evaluation criteria.