Changing Skills and Attendant Stressors Appraising the Efficacy of Traditional Wellness Programmes in the 4IR: Skills Development

Background

The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) is currently taking place and is changing the way we communicate, live and work. Previous industrial revolutions brought along many benefits that shaped the way people go about their lives (Figure 1). The first revolution saw the introduction of the commercial steam engine which enhanced transportation, the second revolution brought about the telephone which amplified communication, the third revolution saw the internet take the world by storm, and lastly the fourth revolution brought about disruptive technologies and trends such as the Internet of Things (IoT), robotics, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Disruptive technologies are technologies that takes the place of an established technological discovery and either create a new industry or vastly change the current industry it is situated in (Morrar, Arman & Mousa, 2017). Like any industrial revolution, change is imminent and this change is said to be very powerful. Each of the revolutions has attained some benefits as noted in Figure 1, and it can be noted that there has been an increase in the levels of benefits. It all started with steam powered machines, and finally we are dealing with robots which eventually impact on the skills levels required for this revolution.

Figure 1.

Benefits of industrial revolutions

Nkuni (2018)