The transition towards sustainable digitalisation is currently in full swing and will have a significant impact on the labour market. It is clear that the demand for digital and data profiles will grow strongly in the coming years, while, on the other hand, the demand for administrative profiles will decrease and the content of these jobs will change dramatically as a result of automation.
Digital and data skills will be an increasingly important part of a wide range of jobs. No job will completely escape the impact of digitalisation. At least a professional application level of data literacy is expected to be required for 63% of profiles by 2030.
Being able to properly fill the digital and data jobs of the future is crucial, as it will create strong added value and contribute to a financial boost for our economy. However, there is a risk that people with profiles that will be less in demand in the future will move towards unemployment. This evolution could become a heavy burden for the government.
It is therefore crucial to proactively upskill or retrain employees based on digital and data skills so that Belgium can anticipate these developments and avoid unnecessary costs. Now more than ever, the time has come to take your career into your own hands.
Organisations need to develop strategies to upskill all their employees so that they remain sustainably employable. Governments can support this by creating an environment that best supports digitalisation and the skills transition. This can be achieved by offering targeted and flexible training, where training is seen as an investment rather than a rigid obligation.
An example of a position currently sought after in just about all sectors, and in the financial services sector in particular, is that of data steward. These employees have insight into the flow of data a company owns and monitor its quality. Retraining employees – especially administrative staff – into data stewards can give organisations a competitive advantage. This particular example offers a lot of inspiration for other functions and competences, in a variety of sectors.
By switching from a 100% focus on one function to a principle of role diversity in organising work, you create a degree of flexibility. This flexibility in day-to-day functioning can come in handy when people need to fill new roles or be retrained in a rapidly changing economic context. Based on multifunctional teams, organisations can also become more innovative and performant.