Nearly every industry faces challenges around attracting, rapidly upskilling, and retaining highly talented people. Each of these have their own nuances. Equally, there are many potential solutions, and Industry 4.0 offers plenty of tools and technologies that can help employers address these challenges. 

When it comes to retention, the problems—and the solutions—often occur in the realms of communication, recognition, and mutual respect. There are Industry 4.0 technologies that can, for instance, improve lines of communication between managers and production floor workers or between workers on different shifts. But much of the retention challenges related to Industry 4.0 come from the friction between people and technology. For a great overview of retention challenges and examples of what business leaders can do and are doing to respond, check out HR4.0: Shaping People Strategies in the Fourth Industrial Revolution published by the World Economic Forum. 

For the rest of this article, let’s focus on attraction and preparation. 

The 2011 documentary film Miss Representation explored the question of why women are under-represented in positions of power and influence in America. Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, summed it up well when she said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” That sentiment just as readily applies to careers and goes way beyond gender. The “dream jobs” of all young people directly correlate to what they’re exposed to and the pop culture in which they grow up. In the past, if you asked a kid what he or she wanted to be when they grew up, you might get answers like professional athlete, astronaut, teacher, doctor, and nurse.

Read this industry analysis in full here.‍

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