Growth Agency
NC, USA
During 2025, Amazon and many other companies have been steadily replacing human workers with automated systems and robots.
While critics argue that traditional jobs are disappearing, the new economy, focused on skills-based work, is rapidly growing. At Amazon, the reduction of unskilled positions has led to higher pay and greater access to education. This marks a transition from a role-based workforce to a skills-based organization.
In traditional role-based work, which developed from apprenticeships and transformed into specific job titles during the Industrial Revolution, workers are given a limited set of responsibilities within which to carry out their duties. Consequently, universities and trade schools concentrated on providing specialized training to prepare candidates for these positions.
A new operating model known as the Skills-Based Organization (SBO) has emerged. In this model, skills are the primary currency of value. Work is being restructured from fixed jobs into a portfolio of projects, tasks, and gigs.
The main driver behind this change is artificial intelligence (AI). AI-powered automation is disrupting traditional jobs by automating routine tasks, prompting a reevaluation of the division of labor between humans and machines.
The SBO develops an internal system similar to Upwork or Fiverr, where work is rated, skills are ranked, and employees compete against one another. These AI-driven talent intelligence platforms provide the necessary infrastructure to make a skills-based model operationally effective. As a result, office politics will become less significant, and delivering value will be the primary measure of future success.
Organizations now need to fundamentally restructure their talent strategies, organizational design, and corporate culture based on a skills-first principle. For workers, the traditional linear career ladder is becoming obsolete, giving way to portfolio careers where continuous learning and adaptability are essential for job security. This transition creates a paradox: while it offers greater empowerment, it also requires constant upskilling to remain relevant in the workforce.
In a Skills-Based Organization (SBO), the organization develops a comprehensive understanding of the skills required to meet its strategic objectives and inventories the skills present in its workforce. This "skills intelligence" becomes the foundation for all decisions regarding talent deployment, development, and compensation. Rather than viewing work through the lens of static job descriptions, an SBO "unboxes" work, allowing it to be seen in a more dynamic light.
By moving away from the traditional "job" structure, employers can no longer guarantee employment security. Instead, they offer a new value proposition: a platform for continuous employability through a steady stream of opportunities, including projects, gigs, mentoring, and training, with some employers even covering the costs for new skill development.
In this new model, employees take greater responsibility for their career development and embrace a mindset of lifelong learning. This shift transforms the employee lifecycle from a linear approach—"attract, develop, retain"—to a more dynamic cycle of "access, grow, connect."
The concept of a "job" as a fixed bundle of tasks and responsibilities is a foundational element of modern organizational theory. It provides a simple and scalable framework for defining work, assigning accountability, and managing career progression. This "job role mindset" emphasizes defining and managing the position rather than recognizing the unique skills and potential of the individual in that role.
A prominent example of codifying job roles within organizations can be seen in the history of computer science, particularly in the development of Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). Early forms of RBAC appeared in commercial computer applications in the 1970s, implementing limited access controls based on a user's function within an organization.
Currently, systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), human capital management (HCM), and security systems that support modern corporations are designed around stable, hierarchical roles. This design creates a significant, often hidden, technological and cultural barrier to adopting a more flexible, skills-based approach. Typically, the "legacy mindsets and practices" cited as the primary obstacles to transformation are deeply ingrained in the software used to manage the workforce.
Research from Deloitte indicates that organizations adopting a skills-based approach (SBA) are 57% more likely to be agile, 107% more likely to allocate talent effectively, and 98% more likely to retain high-performing employees. By removing arbitrary barriers such as degree requirements, SBAs can tap into a much broader and more diverse talent pool, which is crucial in a tight labor market. Moreover, this approach promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) by creating opportunities for skilled individuals who may not have had access to traditional education, something that has been evident in the software development world for decades.
At the core of this transformation is the process of work deconstruction. This strategic practice involves breaking down traditional jobs into their component tasks, activities, and skill requirements. The goal is to gain a detailed understanding of how work is currently performed, enabling the optimization of task reconstruction and redistribution across a hybrid workforce comprising humans and technology. This shift allows organizations to surpass the limitations of rigid job roles and adopt a more dynamic system, where tasks can be assigned and optimized based on both human and machine capabilities.
Traditional organizations maintain their advantage by optimizing well-defined, repeatable processes that fall within static job roles. However, AI and automation excel at handling these repetitive, process-based tasks. Work deconstruction empowers companies to ascend the value chain by reorganizing tasks in innovative ways. This creates a new division of labor where machines handle routine and analytical components, freeing human workers to focus on higher-value activities.
Skills-based pay represents a shift from traditional salary compensation based on job title and level within the organization to compensation models that directly reward employees for the skills they possess and acquire. In this model, an employee's pay increases as they demonstrate mastery of new capabilities.
As a result, the conventional annual performance review becomes inadequate for measuring performance in a skills-based environment. The focus must shift to a system of continuous coaching centered on skill development. In this approach, performance measures are automated, prioritizing the delivery of value and achieving future goals.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) predicts that AI and automation may displace 85 million jobs by 2025. However, these technologies will also serve as strong catalysts for job creation. The WEF anticipates the creation of 97 million new roles by 2025, and their report from the same year predicts a total of 170 million new jobs by 2030.
