9 out of 10 India Inc leaders say job-seekers need new skills in AI era; employees say not yet prepared: Microsoft study

More than 3 in 4 Indian leaders said that a lack of innovation or breakthrough ideas on their teams is a concern, as per the findings.

Close to 90 percent of Indian leaders feel employees they hire will need new skills in the age of artificial intelligence (AI), according to a report by Microsoft released on June 1, at a time when there is a fast-paced adoption of AI in companies globally.

There is a need for all employees to build AI aptitude which will include new core competencies such as prompt engineering in their day-to-day, said the report. However, as per the same report, about 78 percent of Indian workers said they do not currently possess the right capabilities.

The study highlighted that the pace of work has accelerated faster than humans can keep up, which, in turn, is impacting innovation. More than 3 in 4 Indian leaders said that a lack of innovation or breakthrough ideas in their teams is a concern, as per the findings.

What employees say

According to Microsoft’s annual Work Trend Index, 76 percent of Indian workers say they lack time and energy to get their work done, and are 3.1 times more likely to say they struggled with being innovative.

About 78 percent of Indian workers agree that they lack uninterrupted focus during their workday. Data from Microsoft 365 shows that the average person spends 57 percent of their time communicating, and only 43 percent creating.

Notably, 46 percent of Indian workers reported feeling that their absence in half or more of their meetings would go unnoticed by colleagues. Such inefficient meetings, employees said, are one of the primary disruptors of productivity.

Richard Lobo, executive vice president and head of human resources at Infosys, believes leaders need to address this issue of the impact of the increased pressure and overload of information on staff’s well-being, at a time when employee burnout has turned out to be a glaring issue.

“Fundamentally, when it comes down to how we work - what do we see as creative work? How much do we get distracted with digital debt and how much deep work do we do?” said Lobo at Microsoft’s annual Future of Work roundtable.

Can AI help?

The survey titled ‘Will AI fix work?’, which was launched during the roundtable, focused on how the burden of work is hindering innovation and how the growing utilisation of AI by employees and leaders in the workplace will boost creativity and productivity.

“As the nature of work evolves, AI promises to be the biggest transformation to work in our lifetimes. The next generation of AI will unlock a new wave of productivity growth, removing the drudgery from our jobs and freeing us to rediscover the joy of creation,” said Bhaskar Basu, country head of modern work, Microsoft India, who launched the report and moderated the panel.

Microsoft, which set up its India operations in 1990, today has over 20,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research, development and customer services and support, across 11 Indian cities.

The report shows India findings from a survey which included 1,000 Indians out of a total sample size of 31,000 people from 31 countries, as well as trillions of signals from emails, meetings, and chats across Microsoft 365, and LinkedIn’s labour trends.

While 74 percent of Indian workers said they are worried AI will replace their jobs, a larger chunk – over three out of every 4 of all Indian respondents – said they are willing to use AI for administrative, analytical, and even creative aspects of their role in an effort to cut down their workload.

AI and IT/ITeS

Another panellist Merlyn Mathew said from an IT/ITeS perspective AI will provide companies with faster outcomes with better quality. Mathew is the head of delivery excellence and talent management at Persistent Systems, which has been experimenting with AI.

“Now that people are not doing mundane jobs of writing code, which can be easily generated, we are thinking a lot from the customer standpoint, better aligning to business outcomes. Within AI-first kind of projects, people are now thinking more about the accuracy levels that they infuse and the outcomes it can provide,” Mathew said.

Interestingly, Indian managers are also 1.6 times more likely to say that AI would provide value in the workplace by boosting productivity rather than cutting headcount.

“The opportunity and responsibility for every organisation and leader are to get AI right—testing and experimenting with new ways of working to build a brighter future of work for everyone. This will require not just investing in AI but also ensuring that every employee has the necessary AI aptitude to thrive in the new world of work,” Microsoft’s Basu added.