Can Workforce Development Catch Up To The AI Surge?

Until recently, a solid set of skills could last most of a career. There were occasional pivots—new roles, new tools—but people largely built on what they knew. That’s changing. However, as artificial intelligence reshapes work, the next generation may need to reinvent themselves half a dozen or more times before they retire.

We’re already seeing that seismic shift. A skill that feels current in January might start to fade by September. AI is accelerating everything, reshaping jobs, roles and how success is defined. Yet, most companies are still treating workforce development as something they can get to later.

They can’t.

This moment in American corporate life is a reckoning. The pace of change is accelerating while the available talent pool is shrinking. The companies that thrive won’t necessarily be the ones with the absolute best technology, but those with the most adaptable people. This is about whether leadership teams can turn good intentions around learning and development into real progress. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, employers expect 39 percent of key job skills to change by 2030, a sign of sustained disruption.

And the pressure is everywhere. Across higher education, finance and manufacturing, roles are being reshaped from the top down and the bottom up. Executives are rethinking strategy due to automation. Meanwhile, teams on the ground are adjusting how they execute, sometimes with little guidance from the top. What’s for sure is that AI is changing the process and expectations for nearly every job.

Here’s the catch: In my recent conversations with executives, the same theme comes up repeatedly. Senior leaders are “exploring” AI, taking meetings and attending demos, while mid-level managers and technical staff are already using it. Strategy is lagging reality.

That gap is growing.

What makes this moment especially fragile is the demographic pressure underneath it. More workers are aging out than entering in. The U.S. labor market has fewer people in it than it did before the pandemic, and demand for advanced skills keeps climbing. That leaves companies with a two-part crisis: a shortage of talent, and a shortage of the right kind of talent.

The default systems built to respond—training sessions, learning platforms, coaching programs—feel increasingly out of step. They’re often episodic, focused on compliance or surface-level competence. But workforce development should be a shared responsibility that evolves in real time, alongside the business it serves.

And yet, far too often, it’s still treated subordinate to the business strategy, instead of integral.

To change that, companies need to rethink how they see their employees. Not as cost centers, but as customers. Not as inputs, but as assets that require investment. The most forward-leaning firms are already moving in this direction. At Shopify and Fiverr, AI fluency is now part of every role. Performance reviews reward outcomes and adaptation. Learning isn’t optional. It’s a condition of continued success.

But in most organizations, the gap between aspiration and action is still wide.

Data is part of the problem. Many leaders simply don’t know what skills their workforce currently has or lacks. A McKinsey study found that few companies have even a basic map of their internal capabilities. Tools now exist to fix that, but just seeing the data isn’t enough. Without a strategy, it becomes noise.

Communication is another challenge. HR teams often speak in the language of engagement and retention. Business leaders speak in ROI. The two sides talk past each other, even when they want the same things. What’s missing is translation, the ability to connect workforce investment to clear business results like productivity, agility and time-to-competence.

The upside, though, is clear. A Wharton study found that companies that not only talk about developing employees but actually invest in doing so see a 4 percent higher return on invested capital than those that do neither. That’s a competitive advantage.

So, what does action look like? A few things are becoming clear:

1. Build learning into the core of the business. Employees’ development is part of the infrastructure. Treat it like code: constantly updated, tested and improved. This means continuously assessing capabilities relative to organizational needs; delivering relevant, engaging and effective learning content to fill any gaps; and ensuring strong performers are recognized broadly in the organization. 
   
   
2. Know what people can do and where the gaps are. Many HR departments and supervisors already track employees’ training and other accomplishments, but they—and every worker—need more detail and visibility into their progress, and this information needs to be easily collected and analyzed on an ongoing basis. Leveraging existing data within the organization, from performance reviews to operational data, can not only help track strengths and spot risks, but they can also differentiate between skills proficiency levels.  Additionally, by continuously highlighting personalized learning paths to turn weaker skills into strengths, employees will develop good, continuous learning habits. The tools can serve every business unit, not only HR.
   
   
3. Make managers part of the solution. Adaptability shouldn’t be left to individuals alone. Managers should be held accountable for how their teams grow, and that accountability should show up in compensation as well as performance reviews. Adding a metric accounting for employees’ growth and/or skills proficiency attainment, with visibility available from the top down, is one avenue to be pursued.
   
   
4. Create a culture where agility is expected. The era of fixed job descriptions is over. Movement, reinvention and flexibility should be modeled by leadership and embraced across the organization. Demonstration of continual learning can facilitate this culture and give leaders the tools and insights they need to see where employees can grow, as well as areas where improvements are needed. Most importantly, a company’s culture should celebrate employees who continue to develop themselves, cultivating a space where those most eager to develop themselves are recognized and provided opportunities to grow.
   
   
5. Equip HR to speak the language of the business. Human resources, like every department, have their own KPIs and measurements for return on investment. These metrics need to be clear and transparent, not just for them, but for every employee. And it needs to be readily measurable and communicated in the same terms as other strategic initiatives, both to employees as well as leadership. In many organizations, calculation of ROI is managed by finance teams that typically work across the organization to ensure consistency in the ROI calculation.

None of this is easy. But it’s far easier than trying to catch up once the gap becomes too wide to close. The future of work won’t wait for companies to feel ready. It’s arriving either way.