Unilever : The future of skills

In search of answers, we recently embarked on a three-month research project with our taskforce partner Walmart.

To assist with the research process, we brought on consultancy firm Accenture and Canadian start-up SkyHive, an expert in workplace analytics.

Two propositions framed our approach. First, that jobs might be better viewed as a combination of multiple skills, rather than singular roles. Second, that data could potentially augment human perceptions about the skills required for specific roles.

The second idea came from SkyHive. When the AI specialist used its data-driven technology to analyse job-specific skills, it identified an average of 34 skills per person in a role. However, employees often downplay the number of skills they have, typically putting the figure at 11.

There's another intrinsic benefit of a more data-driven approach to reskilling and redeployment: the elimination of preconceptions, reports Nicholas Whittall, Accenture's Managing Director of Talent & Organisation/Human Potential.

As he notes: 'AI eliminates human bias that recruiters or managers often hold in terms of who's truly capable of doing which job.'