The Impact of Industrial Revolution 4.0 and the Future of the Workforce: A Study on Malaysian IT Professionals

With the advent of Industry 4.0, future workspaces are expected to evolve in tandem with technological advances in industry and education. Industry 4.0 calls for transformation and effective talent development is vital in ensuring national aspirations are achieved while eliminating redundancy and ensuring consistency. As such, this study aims to understand the impact of Industry 4.0 on computer engineering-related workforce and skills development within Multinational Companies (MNCs) to Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. In this study, online questionnaires were distributed to evaluate the current and future hiring trends. The study reveals that most of the employees have positive perceptions about the industrial current practice on Industry 4.0 and identified the prospective demands on the professions that will be affected. Five significant areas of required competencies found in this study are adaptability, soft skills, software engineering, data analytics, and technical skills. The findings provide empirical evidence about current and future employment scenarios in Malaysia concerning the possible impact of Industry 4.0 on the companies and issues involved in managing the transition to Industry 4.0. Besides, the emergent skills required by workforces that are previously unaddressed in the literature were identified. Empirical evidence from the analysis contributes to shaping the educational systems of the future and helps to proactively identify specific skills shortages at an early stage.