TARDEC on panel at Augmented Workforce event

Photo By Kimberly Derryberry | Jennifer Hitchcock, Executive Director of Research, Technology and Integration (RTI) for the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) speaks at the Augmented Workforce: Michigan Designing for the Future event at Oakland University, May 11, 2018.  

AUBURN HILLS, MI, UNITED STATES

05.11.2018

Story by Staff Sgt. Kimberly Derryberry 

DEVCOM Ground Vehicle Systems Center

Also on the panel was Mary Alice McCarthy, Director of the Center on Education and Skills at New America; Louis Chamra, Dean of Oakland University School of Engineering and Computer Science; Kristin Dziczek, Director of Industry, Labor, and Economics Group for the Center for Automotive Research; and Michele Economou Ureste, Executive Director for the Workforce Intelligence Network.
Hitchcock was invited to participate on the New America panel as a subject matter expert of the technology lab workforce. New America is a pioneering civic platform that connects research institutes, solution networks, media hubs, public forums, and technology labs. The think and action tank focuses on talent management and the changing workforce of the future.
“We have to understand the workforce and make sure they’re not bored,” says Dr. Hitchcock, about the upcoming Generation Z, the workforce born after 1996. “It’s difficult in our world. One year we have a project and the next year the project goes away. We have to keep our workforce engaged.”
A skill gap exists in some fields because the skills needed for some positions are not able to be met by the skills learned through education.
“Higher education is not able to evolve fast enough to keep up with innovation,” says Chamra. “We need to train them for the next ten, fifteen, twenty years.”
Hitchcock, this panel, and New America are asking “What does the workforce look like 10 years from now?” Hitchcock states the next generation of workers was raised on the internet and they communicate very differently, so collaboration is inherently different.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 66.0% of adults ages 20 to 24 and 47.7% of 18 to 19 year olds are employed (2017).
“We have to adapt our workplace,” says Hitchcock. “We have to be able to meet their needs, not just meet our needs. There are different types of workers and different ways that people like to work. We need to understand that and train our leaders to adjust to that.”
With technology moving toward autonomy, robotics, and artificial intelligence, Hitchcock feels that training in those skills will still be needed to support these systems. The need now is to plan for retraining career paths. It will not just the science and technology personnel that will be shifted, but also the support personnel.
Is there an easy solution? No, it seems there will need to be a blended shift between education, skilled trade, technology, the current workforce, and the incoming workforce. Dr. Hitchcock and these leaders will continue to engage these topics, research the trends, and take step to change the current workforce toward the future.

Reference:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2017) Labor force statistics from the current population survey. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat03.pdf

• Date Taken: 05.11.2018
• Date Posted: 05.15.2018 08:12
• Story ID: 277030
• Location: AUBURN HILLS, MI, US