While more workplace processes are becoming automated, the majority of North American companies don't believe that digitalization will actually transform their organization—it will just help improve their bottom lines, according to Willis Towers Watson's 2019 Pathways to Digital Enablement Survey.

No matter—they still need to figure out how digitalization will impact workforce planning, experts say.

Over the last three years the proportion of work completed by using automation among North American companies has doubled, and will nearly double again to 23 percent in the next three years to 23 percent, the survey found.

However, only a third (33 percent) of the HR leaders surveyed see digitalization as a way to fundamentally transform their company's business model “and who we are as a business.”

Instead, a majority (60 percent) say that it's a way to enable their business strategy and provide better customer experience, drive innovation and improve productivity — “but we are not changing who we are as a company.”

Far less (6 percent) say the digital part of their business is separate from the physical part of the business, “and we have separate ambitions for both,” and just 1 percent say that digital “is not particularly relevant to our business, currently.”

As such, digital strategies are all over the map: 14 percent have an integrated digital and business strategy enabling new sources of value with digital capabilities embedded in the organization's value chain; 32 percent have a well-developed digital strategy that is clearly aligned with business strategy; 30 percent have a digital strategy, but it is not clear how that is aligned with their business strategy; and 24 have a very basic, reactive digital strategy with rudimentary digital capabilities.

No matter if digitalization will be transformative or enabling, companies still need to make sure their digital and business strategies are integrated – particularly on how it impacts their workforce planning, says Tracey Malcolm, Willis Towers Watson's global leader, Future of Work.

“With such widespread change, companies must address how they'll get work done,” Malcolm says. “Those companies that understand the impact of automation and digitalization on their workforces and organizations will be best positioned to gain competitive advantage.”

A majority (75 percent) of the respondents say that it's going to take leadership development to successfully “breakthrough” the challenges of automation and digitalization.

“Effective leaders develop strategies that integrate workers and automation to change the way work is done. This not only creates new sources of value but also shapes a culture of innovation that will attract and retain talent, and deliver growth,” says Laurie Bienstock, global leader, Talent Management, Willis Towers Watson.

A big part of that is figuring out how contingent workers figure into the equation. Less than half (41 percent) say they are effective at integrating contingent workers with specialized skills into their work teams, while just 14 percent are effective at combining automation with talent. On another note, 45 percent say their companies are effective at retaining employees and contingent workers with needed technology skills.

“As the use of contingent labor continues to evolve, it's critical for companies to proactively address the new mix of workforces to effectively compete for highly skilled talent,” Malcolm says. “We know from our research that organizations that successfully integrate contingent workers with automation and their teams are reaping benefits in the form of cost savings and less disruption in the short term.”

A total of 1,014 companies worldwide, including 124 from the U.S. and Canada, participated in the survey.

Read more:

Instant Insights /

Are businesses underestimating the impact of digitalization?

More From HR Executive

Related Stories

Recommended For You