Seventy-four per cent of UAE employees agree that AI is the biggest opportunity for the future of the workforce, ServiceNow revealed.
ServiceNow released the findings of a study that explored employee sentiment on the impact of technology and digital skills on their career and the future of the workplace. Out of the surveyed UAE employees, 79% of them agreed that digital skills give people an edge in business and an almost equal number 84% of them said new technologies help them to reach their potential.
The study surveyed 5,500 working adults (18+) in the UAE, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK. It also highlighted that UAE employees are far more positive about the impact of AI on their jobs, compared to their EMEA peers.
Almost 74% of them agreed that AI is the biggest opportunity for the future of the workforce. An equal number agreed that AI will boost productivity in the workforce, while only 52% of EMEA employees shared the same sentiment.
Although UAE employees are largely optimistic about the value of tech and digital skills, half of workers (54%) acknowledged that their formal education did not prepare them for today’s working world and 82% also noted that additional education on technology/digital skills would help them feel more confident about their career prospects. As a consequence, seven in ten workers in the UAE (72%) recommended that formal education on AI should be mandatory before the age of 18, and a similar proportion (71%) think the same about coding. 72% also agreed that there needs to be a standardised qualification for digital skills that employers can recognise. Speaking of employers, 81% of UAE employees said businesses are responsible for promoting AI skills in the workforce.
