Vast majority (98 percent) of companies in India admit they have plan to create innovation on their core agenda while preparing for organisation design changes this year. This initiative is attributed by recent trend showing that artificial intelligence is changing the future workplace, a study by conducted by Mercer found.

According to the study report entitled Global Talent Trends Study – Unlocking Growth in the Human Age, ‘human skills’ has increasingly become the new focus for employers nowadays as the combination of these skills and advanced digital technology is expected to be the driving force of future business landscape.

Regarding the findings, President of Mercer’s career business Ilya Bonic said, “This year we saw palpable excitement from executives about shifting to the new world of work. They are pursuing an agenda of continuous evolution – rather than episodic transformation – to remain competitive.”

Further, the report revealed that about 30 percent executives predicted that owing to the coming of artificial intelligence, at least two in five roles in their respective organisations will no longer exist in the next five years. At such challenging time like this, they saw that upgrading skills becomes critical for organisational survival in the near future, The Economic Times reports.

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Unfortunately, only less than half firms in India have taken real measures to address this issue. The study noted that only 46 percent companies have increased their access to online learning courses, and even fewer (33 percent) are actively rotating talent within the business to see their full potentials.

While great number of Indian employees said that they are satisfied with their current job, 53 percent respondents said they still plan to make a career switch owing to a perceived lack of career opportunities. This figure was significantly higher than the global level, which was at 39 percent.

The survey also found that more and more employees are seeking for more flexible work options. As much as 92 percent executives view flexible work arrangement as a core part of their value proposition. Meanwhile, 57 percent companies plan to hire more free agents in 2018, in line with the finding that suggested 79 percent employees would consider working on a freelance basis.

Interestingly, Indian companies are the most ahead when it comes to delivering a consumer-grade experience for employees, with 32 percent considering themselves a digital organisation today. This percentage marked the highest of any market, as compared to a global average of 15 per cent.

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