Korn Ferry: Global Study: Majority of CEOs See More Value in Technology Than Their Workforce

Korn Ferry's global study of CEO perceptions finds a startling lack of top leadership focus on, or confidence in, the value of the people in their organizations, while they instead are putting a higher value on tangible assets. 

For the report, Korn Ferry surveyed 800 leaders from global organizations on their views concerning the value of people in the future of work. The study found when asked to rank what their organization's top five assets will be five years from now, the company's workforce did not make the list.

Among the key findings: 

• Sixty-three percent say that in 5 years, technology will be the firm's greatest source of competitive advantage.
• Sixty-seven percent say that technology will create greater value in the future than people will. 
• Forty-four percent say the prevalence of robotics, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will make people "largely irrelevant" in the future of work.
• Forty percent say they have experienced shareholder pressure to direct investment toward tangible assets like technology. 

"Leaders may be facing what experts call a tangibility bias," said Jean-Marc Laouchez, Global Managing Director, Solutions, Korn Ferry. "Facing uncertainty, they are putting priority in their thinking, planning and execution on the tangibles - what they can see, touch and measure, such as technology investments. Putting an exact value on people is much more difficult, even though people directly influence the value of technology, innovation and products." 

To increase performance and generate optimum value in the future of work, CEOs must change their perception that technology will be a greater value creator in the future than human capital. Enlightened CEOs will partner technology and people to maximize the performance of both assets. 

To view the full report, click here.