There’s no doubt about it: the COVID-19 crisis has amplified the already extreme shortage of intelligent automation (IA) talent. While the number of pandemic-inspired digital transformations soared over the past year so did demand for digitally-abled workers. Unfortunately, supply of such workers has stagnated. 

For example, as of now, there are three job openings per every software engineer. In addition, according to a study by Robert Half, 96% of business leaders say it’s very or somewhat challenging for their company to find skilled technology professionals.

And the problem is only getting worse. According to a recent study by the Everest Group found that 75% of enterprises believe there will be a talent shortage for key roles in IT, analytics, and special skills after COVID and 67% expect new skills gaps to emerge. A different study by the Korn Ferry Institute estimates a worldwide deficit of 4.3 million tech-skilled workers by 2030.

When it comes to finding skilled IA, robotics process engineering (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI) talent, these problems are magnified. Not only do these roles require significant technical expertise, but business and change agent acumen as well. They must be able to translate business problems into mathematical solutions and transform complex data into meaningful stories - none of which are easy feats. 

However, all is not lost. It’s simply time to get creative about IA talent management.

If You Can’t Find Them, Build Them

The first place IA leaders look when mining for internal AI talent is understandably IT and finance. However, with the right training, non-technical workers bring a tremendous amount of value to IA initiatives as they offer fresh perspectives, capabilities and knowledge. 

However, identifying and equipping potential candidates can be difficult. By creating a large-scale data literacy initiative, companies can both instill fundamental data science skill sets into their entire workforce and potentially spark the interest of non-technical workers who might be interested in transitioning to a new role. 

This has become a popular strategy amongst tech companies and larger enterprises. For example, Nationwide recently announced it would be spending $160 million during the next 5 years to offer all of its 28,000 U.S. employees digital literacy and “future capabilities” training. In 2019, Amazon launched Upskilling 2025, a $700 million initiative to provide high tech skills training to 100,000 Amazon employees in the U.S. by 2025.

For upskilling training to succeed, it must be continuous and highly agile given the rapid speed at which technical change now occurs. It also requires a long-term investment in resources and time. 

Embrace Untapped Talent Pools

Given the magnitude of the IA talent shortage, companies need to start looking towards new pools of high potential talent. Military veterans, for example, often thrive in high tech roles. 

Salesforce, for example, actively recruits and upskills military veterans through its Vetforce program. Amazon has also developed a number of veteran-focused training and upskilling initiatives across numerous disciplines. 

Other companies have reinvested in hiring more recent graduates right out of the gate while others, especially those looking to develop AI research projects, are looking towards academia for their next potential hire. In addition to recruiting people with Masters and PHDs in traditional technology disciplines (i.e. AI, computer science, physics, etc.), they’re also pulling talent from other fields such as psychology, biology and chemistry.

Reimagine Employment Package

As competition for skilled workers increases, companies are reimagining employment agreements and benefits packages to entice IA talent into joining their teams. In addition to the standard benefits such as salary increases and health insurance, companies are expanding into new areas such as flexible work arrangements, extended parental leave, mental health/wellness services, education/training stipends and even childcare. 

In fact, according to a recent report by care.com, “98% of the leaders we surveyed plan to newly offer or expand at least one employee benefit, prioritizing the ones workers deem most essential, like child and senior care benefits, flexibility around when and where work gets done, and expanded mental health support.”

As additional training and knowledge is often required and more technical roles, many organizations are offering tuition reimbursements and student loan repayment assistance. 

Maximize the Employee Experience with the right fit technology

Even after IA talent is effectively hired, retaining these workers is a different story. 

For IA talent specifically, ensuring the have the right tools on hand is critical to their success as well as the quality of their work life. In fact, according to McKinsey, 60-80% of a data scientist’s time is spent preparing the data for modeling while 4% is spent on testing and tuning code.

 Low code automation tools, for example, can help them accelerate the painstaking development process and collaborate more effectively with the business. 

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