KUALA LUMPUR: The digital disruption manifesting in traditional economies is bound to eliminate traditional jobs across the board.

Malaysian Digital Economy Corp chief executive officer Datuk Yasmin Mahmood said the threat of jobs being eliminated will be overcome by new jobs that will be created.

“There was a survey that I came across recently, which said that for children who currently attend school right now, by the time they graduate, there’s a 65% chance that they will get a job that doesn’t exist [now],” she said during a panel discussion on “Digital Disruption in Traditional Economies” at the three-day EO Taipan Masterclass 2017 conference yesterday.

Yasmin noted that the survey also pointed to the legal profession, where 39% of legal jobs will be eliminated in the next 10 years.

“Jobs will be eliminated [by digital disruption] for sure, but there will be new jobs that will be created,” she added.

She cited future jobs like drone traffic controller, drone traffic optimizer, digital privacy consultant, as well as material design economist.

Yasmin stressed the need to ensure local universities offer more relevant courses for students to meet the needs of the changing workforce.

Another panelist, Uber Malaysia general manager Leon Foong, said there is a need to invest more in human resources (HR).

“I think we really need to invest in the way we think about talent. A lot of companies, especially in Asia, underinvest in HR,” he added.

Foong also believes that companies ought to think more about their HR policies.

“Are your compensation [and] your performance management policies aligned with the company goals? I think that’s something important to think about.

“You need training, you need to write feedback mechanisms, compensation and performance management philosophies because without that you’re not going to have a sustainable business,” he said.

“You can be a company like Amazon, where they hire a lot of people and after a few years they leave and the company hires more people. Or you could be like Google, which hires people, trains and retains them and grows a positive culture,” added Foong.

The 14th edition of EO Taipan Masterclass 2017 was organised by EO Malaysia, a non-profit organisation which engages leading entrepreneurs to learn and grow.