Reuters / Denis Balibouse
- Workforce "upskilling" was a major topic at discussion at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos.
- The word popped up during most of Business Insider's conversations with executives, investors, and strategists.
- We compiled comments made by six high-ranking individuals - five of which are adamant that upskilling is the future of business growth, and one that vehemently disagrees.
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DAVOS, Switzerland - During most conversations at the World Economic Forum in Davos, it was only a matter of time before the discussion shifted to a single hot-button topic: retraining our workforce to embrace new technologies - a process known as upskilling.
While upskilling is not necessarily a new theme, the 2020 WEF marked the first year it was firmly mainstream - at least by many accounts. Executives, investors, and strategists alike gravitated towards it when asked about the global landscape, and how businesses and economies can keep growing amid mounting uncertainty.
Much of the discussion around upskilling has been a direct result of fears that technological innovation and the rise of artificial intelligence will displace a portion of the current workforce - concerns that the vast majority of experts interviewed by Business Insider quickly dismissed.
The general idea espoused by these leaders was that the workforce simply needs to be adapted to complement new technologies. If workers are trained to understand these tools, they can develop fresh skills and find new applications for existing ones.
To hear some executives say it, upskilling is also a way to retain employees and keep morale high. They say most workers want to challenge themselves and evolve their skill sets, which is an outcome that upskilling enables.
Others argue that technological innovation - combined with upskilling - will create even more jobs and boost overall corporate profitability.
Below are comments collected from six experts interviewed by Business Insider, each of which weighed in on upskilling. Five of them were effusive in their praise for the practice, while one was far more cynical about the future it offers.