Human skills are x2 more sought after than digital skills, finds Cornerstone
Gen AI skills are up 411% over the past five years, but the key to reaping the reward of this technology is leaning into the human skills too, according to new data from Cornerstone OnDemand.
News In Brief
Skills need to be top of organizations' priority lists if they want to thrive now and into the future.
But what skills should they be focusing on?
Cornerstone's new report, powered by its new acquisition SkyHive, unveils the balance between digital and human skills. UNLEASH dug into the report with SkyHive by Cornerstone's Founder Sean Hinton.
Learning and development is not just a nice to have – prioritizing skills is a financial necessity in today’s world.
Employers with strong learning cultures are 92% more likely to stay ahead of the competition, and they see 24% higher profit margins.
Plus, strong learning cultures help employees be 2.5 times more equipped to deal with changes at work, and, by 2026, four in ten need to learn new skills because of advancement in AI and automation.
New data from Cornerstone OnDemand’s SkyHive’s Knowledge Graph, which analyses 40 TB of data from 200 countries in 11 languages, argued that educational institutions can’t keep up with this skills demands, so there is a need for organizations to step up too.
The question that remains is what skills do organizations and employees need to prioritize?
It’s not all about digital skills
Of course, digital skills are essential to organizations’ future readiness. This explains why demand for skills like data analytics, AI and ML, AR and VR and automation robotics have increased over the past five years.
Job postings about data analytics have grown 52% since 2019, the figure jumps to 64% for AI and ML and 154% for AR and VR.
All of this shows that data is essential for business strategies (but the key is moving from just data for data’s sake and actually turning it into insights), while AR and VR are on the brink of broader adoption because of their potential to transformation traditional workplaces.
Unsurprisingly, the skill that saw the biggest increase in demand since 2019 was gen AI with 411%. Cornerstone’s research found that this demand surge wasn’t just in tech sectors, but also in the financial services, healthcare, pharmaceutical and banking sectors.
The report is clear that gen AI is not here to replace humans, instead diverse skills are needed to get the most of out the technology.
This explains why the data shows that the demand for human skills outpace digital more than two-fold – there is 2.4 times more demand in North America, and 2.9 time more in Europe.
For SkyHive by Cornestone’s Founder and General Manager, Sean Hinton, this is “one of the most compelling and unexpected insights from this data”.
“This finding serves as a vital reminder that, even in an era dominated by AI, the necessity for technical expertise must go hand in hand with the value of authentic human connections in the workplace.
As we advance in an increasingly technology-driven world, it is essential for individuals and organizations alike to not only cultivate their digital competencies but also to nurture the essential human qualities – such as problem-solving, mentorship, empathy, and effective leadership – that set us apart.”
The standout human skills that complement gen AI, according to Cornerstone’s data, are demonstrating responsibility, communication, interpersonal collaboration, problem solving, leadership and adaptability.
Cornerstone’s report concluded that true innovation requires both gen AI and human skills.
“While AI makes us more efficient, it’s the human qualities of leadership, creativity, and ethical judgment that turn technological potential into real-world success.”
