Dive Brief:

• Over one-third (39%) of Gen Zers and 33% of Gen Xers see job training and career development as a primary reason to interact with HR, slightly more than the number of millennials and baby boomers who answered likewise, according to new data from a survey emailed to HR Dive. The survey of 1,000 U.S. respondents ages 18 to 65 was prepared by the Center for Generational Kinetics for HR technology vendor Ultimate Software.
• Overall, members of Generation X and baby boomers were most likely to contact HR in the event that they needed to understand an existing process or benefit, while millennials and members of Generation Z were more likely to contact HR to correct an error, update their information or ask questions about either leave or time off. A plurality of each cohort preferred to reach out to HR in person, although one-third of the survey's preferred to do so via email.
• The study also measured respondents' views on artificial intelligence in the workplace. AI has a more positive than negative influence on life, respondents said, but slightly less than half (48%) said the tech would be a positive influence for them at work. A majority of adults in each of the survey's generational groupings said AI-assisted analysis of feedback from peers and managers would be either "helpful" or "very helpful" in helping them perform at work.

Dive Insight:

Across the board, industries are experiencing dramatic change as a result of new technologies, processes and societal shifts. Due in part to these changes, workers are increasingly being tasked with adapting old skill sets to new processes. Failure to confront the upskilling challenge could mean the potential loss of millions of existing jobs.

Per Ultimate Software's data, workers may be turning to their employer's HR and L&D personnel in order to find the growth opportunities they'll need to meet the future workforce demand. These efforts might take several forms, from simply investing more in training to enlisting in-house staff to share their expertise.

Predictions have been that technology won't necessarily replace workers, but that emerging forms including AI may force businesses to reinvent the positions they currently have. This is being played out at some companies today, with one recent survey of employers showing robotics and automated processing platforms can perform better than humans at some tasks.