Using Creativity and AI to Combat the Skills Shortage?
At the TUM Talk network format at the Heilbronn Education Campus, experts will explore how the world of work is changing in times of demographic change and technological progress.
Thousands of computer science students at the Technical University of Munich regularly have to complete exercises. The team of tutors is now relieved by an artificial intelligence (AI): "Iris" gives immediate feedback on how the task was solved or where there could still be a problem. Stephan Krusche, Professor of Software Development at the TUM School of Computation, Information and Technology, reports that "Iris" already receives around 200 queries per day.
AI-based systems are just one of many aspects of the discussion about the shortage of skilled workers. After the turmoil of the coronavirus pandemic, the labor market has reorganized itself. In many cases, employees expect equality instead of hierarchy and flexibility instead of rigid structures. At the same time, demographic change is reducing the number of people entering the labor market. And last but not least, technological advances mean that some jobs may become superfluous in the future.
Experts Untangle Fact and Fiction
"You really have to come up with something to keep things going," says Albert Berger, Chancellor of the Technical University of Munich. The TUM Talk, the networking format of the TUM Campus Heilbronn at Bildungscampus Heilbronn campus with representatives from science and industry, provided a framework for differentiating between fact and fiction when it comes to personnel issues. The challenging task certainly holds potential, said Professor Dr. Helmut Krcmar, Presidential Representative for the TUM Campus Heilbronn. For example, for "committed entrepreneurs who have a good chance of setting themselves apart from the competition with clever concepts."
"It's clearly an employee market," says Angela Todisco, Head of Human Resources EMEA North at software company SAP. New approaches are being tested both in recruiting and in the challenge of retaining qualified employees, which in many cases allow for more flexibility. For example, bonus payments can now be converted into a pension allowance or a credit for the time account, depending on the phase of life, reports Todisco.
Some things will change – but that will give us security.
"Change is everywhere," states Roland Hehn, Head of Human Resources at Schwarz Dienstleistungen. Questions of further training or even retraining are likely to become more relevant because job profiles are changing significantly. Stefan Wolf, President of the German metalworkers' association Gesamtmetall, expects this to be the case in the automotive industry, for example. "We have to take people with us and show them that there will be change processes," says Wolf.
Jutta Balletshofer, HR Lead for Europe and Canada at the pharmaceutical company Organon, says that a willingness to change is the basis for all positions. Stefanie Leiterholt, President Human Resources & Legal at household goods manufacturer WMF, communicates this cultural change in many conversations with worried employees: "Some things will change – but that will give us security."
Limiting Factors for Engagement
However, politics and bureaucracy make it difficult to reach all potentially available workers. Wolf warns that there are not enough solutions, for example, to deal with the high number of early school leavers and the lack of support for working mothers.
In the more than 30 countries in which the Schwarz Group is active, various meaningful activities are being observed, reports Hehn. But it is always about a mixture of different measures. It is also important to retain the existing workforce – and to "close a gap here and there" through digitalization.
Currently, digital technology cannot replace the vast majority of jobs. Too overzealous in its results, too inexperienced in making decisions, says Chris Russell, Dieter Schwarz Assistant Professor of Artificial Intelligence, Governance and Policy Making at the University of Oxford: "Artificial intelligence is currently behaving like an intern on their first day at work: very enthusiastic, very eager – and very hesitant to say 'no'."