The Experience Gap: A Strategic Imperative for Finnish Leaders​

Why it matters

• Talent risk is a strategic risk: Finland's drop from 16th to 51st in talent attractiveness is a clear warning sign for national and corporate competitiveness.​
• National competitiveness is at stake: A significant mismatch exists between rapid AI adoption and the current pace of skills training. When fast-forwarding 5 years, a high-risk of a systemic vulnerability due to skillset gap needed to remain competitive in the market canemerge.​
• High youth unemployment (23%) signals broken pathways from education to employment, indicating a failure in the broader ecosystem that boards must acknowledge.​
• The talent and skills gap is a strategic risk that matches Organizational Resilience threat and exacerbates all primary threats, hindering the organization's ability to adapt and respond effectively.​

What it means to me as a board member

As a chairman or member of the board, I must lead board's primary duty of ensuring the organization is strategically prepared for fundamental labour market shifts and has robust mitigation plans.​

At the board, we are accountable not only to shareholders but also to society for addressing systemic problems that impact long-term sustainability, our organisation and brand reputation.​

Proactively leading on the talent and competitiveness issue is not just risk management or operational issue belonged sole to HR; it is a direct path to creating a sustainable competitive advantage and the board should direct.​

An organization's ability to respond effectivelyto primary threats is directly determined by the competence, experience, and adaptability of its combined workforce.​
​

Potential areas to act on

• Establish a 'Talent & Competitiveness' board committee with clear KPIs to ensure focusedoversight.​
• Align the organization's talent strategy with the national competitiveness agenda, fostering public-private partnership.​
• Mandate the measurement and reporting of 'experience gap' metrics to track progress andensure accountability.​
• Approve and oversee long-term investments in talent transformation initiatives, signalling commitment to sustainable growth.​
• Enhance board education: Schedule dedicated board-level workshops and deep-dive sessions focused on AI Governance and AI’s opportunities and threats.​
  ​
  

Why it matters

Finland's competitive edge is at risk. The gap between AI adoption (38%) and daily utilization(16%) signals a failure to translate investment into productivity. This, combined with a structural disconnect between education and employment needs and a sharp decline in talent attraction (from 16th to 51st globally),threatens our access to innovation, resilience and long-term growth.​

CEOs face unprecedented external threats with geopolitical instability, supply chain disruptions concern and economic uncertainty. Within this crisis environment, the experience gap and AI adoption gaps compound the challenge:organizations lack the talent and skills to navigate rapid change, seize the AI benefits togrow, and build resilience.

What it means to me as a CEO

As a CEO, I understand this more than an operational issue; it is a strategic leadership challenge. It presents an opportunity to position our organisation as a 'learning leader,' setting the industry standard. Addressing this requires systemic change that only me as a CEO can champion, directly impacting the long-term competitiveness of both our company and the nation.​

My immediate priority is maintaining organizational resilience and stakeholder confidence amid geopolitical instability, supply chain disruption, and economic uncertainty. The experience gap and talent shortage needs priority efforts as I cannot navigate rapid change without a skilled, adaptable hybridworkforce (Human+AI). Additionally, my company won’t remain significantly competitive or grow with the skill and AI Adoption gaps.​

Potential areas to act on

• Lead an internal transformation to embed a culture of continuous learning and innovation.​
• Convene relevant players in your ecosystem, alliances and technology suppliers, to establish new standards for recruitment and continuous learning. Position your organization as a leaderin workforce resilience and adaptability.​
• Launch a 'Learning Leadership' initiative in partnership with leading universities to co-develop future-ready talent. Identify and develop adaptable, resilient talent. Implement rapid upskilling programs for critical skills gaps and focus on retaining high-potential employees who can navigate change.​'
• Advocate for national policy changes to align education and immigration with economic needs.​

Why it matters

• Finland's per-student tertiary education spending has declined by 14%, while the OECD average increased by 9%.​
• A significant gap exists between AI adoption (38% of enterprises) and comprehensive digital training (only 22% of businesses).​
• Foreign graduates are placed in expert roles at a lower rate (63%) compared to experienced workers (77%), indicating inefficient talent placement.​
• 70.6% Finnish CFOs invest <1% revenue in AI skilling, and rank skill shortage only as a 5th priority issue. CFOs need to find the right balance of investment in technology (AI) and people (AI related skill training).​
• The more AI automates entry-level accountingwork (invoice  processing, GL reconciliation, debit/credit validation), the less junior staff learn why these controls exist or how to validate AI outputs. CFOs are Essentially trading operational efficiency for control visibility.​

What it means to me as a CFO

As CFO, I face a critical dilemma: ​

Constrained national education investment clashes with the urgent need for AI upskilling. We risk a low ROI on both talent acquisition and technology investment as I need further training investments to compensate government decline spending in education. ​

The productivity gap is stark—only 16% of employees use AI daily despite 38% enterprise adoption. This isn't just a cost; it's a talent cost optimization opportunity waiting to be seized.​

As hiring and economy are softening, I may need to consider my workforce’s capability to be productive and efficient using data, analytics and AI tools.​

Further, without entry-level practitioners and AI taking basic tasks, there's no internal expertise to audit AI-generated accounting entries, detect anomalies, or challenge incorrect outputs. Centralized shared services centers (SSCs) rely on tiered expertise, juniors handle routine work, seniors validate and escalate. By removing the junior layer, the entire governance model breaks.​

Potential areas to act on

• Establish a 'Skills ROI' framework to justify targeted onboarding and upskilling investments.​
• Create a 'Learning Infrastructure Fund' by allocating 2-3% of payroll to strategic training.
• ​Pilot a 'Potential-Based Hiring' cost analysis to quantify the value of investing in high-potential talent.
• Negotiate public-private training partnerships to share costs and reduce organizational burden.​
   

Instead of eliminating entry-level roles, consider repurposing them as "AI Validators" and "Control Monitors." For example, consider creating a new job category such as "Accounting Control Analyst" at the entry level, whose primary responsibilities would include spot-checking AI-generated entries, validating high-risk transactions (such as largesums, general ledger codes, and intercompany transactions), and documenting and escalating any anomalies. Additionally, rethink the Shared ServicesModel and its tier structure by incorporating these repurposed roles: position analysts-validators and controllers at tier 1, process specialists at tier 2, and control experts at tier 3.​

Why it matters

A critical technology-skills mismatch is emerging that poses a significant challenge for CIOs aiming to maximise AI’s potential. While AI adoption is advancing rapidly, with 38% of organisations implementing AI solutions, only 16% of employees are applying these skills in their daily work, highlighting a substantial gap between adoption and practical application.​

This skills shortfall is a major barrier to progress, with one-third of businesses citing alack of in-house expertise as a key constraint. Compounding this issue, legacy systems continue to restrict the full realisation of AI’s benefits, underscoring the urgent need for strategic investment in both skills development and modernising IT infrastructure. ​

The skills gap is a symptom of a deeper problem: organizations lack the capability to redesign business operations and processes for AI and around AI, not just train employees touse AI tools.​

What it means to me as a CIO

As CIO, I must transform IT whilst partnering with the business to redesign operations for AI. As 99% of IT leaders recognise the need for operational model changes, my role is to restructure IT to be leaner and more strategic. Meanwhile I need to help the business redesigning their organisations and value streams too, leveraging AI effectively.​

Three competing imperatives needs balancing: Scaling AI from pilots to production (closing the execution gap), Redesigning processes for AI (not just automating existing ones), and Transforming IT organizational structures (moving from costcentre to strategic partner).​

My role is expanding beyond AI enablement to include AI governance, cybersecurity, infrastructure strategy, and organizational transformation. I may be accountable for Responsible and Ethical AI.​

Potential areas to act on

• Integrated Learning: partner with HR to Implement a modern Learning Management System (LMS) to deliver personalized, scalable life-long training. Ensure to establish responsible AI mandate by implementing governance frameworks covering AI transparency, explainability, biasmitigation, and compliance across entire AI lifecycle.​

• AI-Powered Analytics: Use AI/ML for precise skill assessment and matching talent to needs.​

• Collaboration Tools: Foster knowledge sharing and mentorship through dedicated digital collaboration tools.​

• Establish agentic AI governance: enabling a functional hybrid workforce by implement decision logs, role-based controls, audit trails, and human oversight for autonomous agents; focus on multi-agent orchestration according to new talent strategy.​

• Lead IT and Business Redesign: CIOs and IT teams pioneer organisational restructuring on AI implications. CIOs should partner with business to bridge their own internal capabilities where they exist or bring external expertise where they don’t, helping the business redesign operations and close critical skill gaps.​
  

Why it matters

• Readiness Gap: New graduates in expert roles are 14 points less ready than experienced hires (63% vs. 77%). But the experience gap is not just about readiness—it's about how we redefine work, roles, and career pathways in an AI-augmented environment.​
• Recruitment Impact: Current practices contribute to Finland's declining attractiveness, with only 15% of tech professionals recommending it.​
• Knowledge Bottle neck: Insufficient mentoring and low formal AI training (21%) hinder knowledge transfer.​

Integrating Technology and Workforce in the AI Era is now a strategic imperative, not a HR initiative. Success requires redesigning roles, fostering continuous AI literacy, transforming culture to embrace AI as team members, and attracting talent through leadership in human-AI integration forming the hybrid workforce.​

What it means to me as a CHRO

For CHROs, this translates into a significant talent acquisition, retention and workforce design challenge. It is worsening as high-potential candidates are filtered out. ​

It also increases the onboarding and development burden and creates an organizational learning deficit, with critical AI expertise remaining siloed.​

As CHRO, I must navigate complex tensions: How much should we augment human work with AI vs. automate it? How do we empower workers to collaborate with AI while maintaining organizational control and quality? How do we maintain stability while adapting rapidly to AI-driven role changes? How should I set my hiring choices?​

These are not either/or choices—they require strategic balance and deliberate trade-offs.​

Potential areas to act on

• Redesign Jobs and Hiring Practices: Focus job descriptions on skills and potential rather than years of experience or academic degrees. Many degrees and experiences might become outdated as technology evolves, redefine roles to emphasize human-AI collaboration and adaptive capabilities, moving beyond traditional job requirements.​
• Structured Mentoring and evolved manager roles: Establish formal mentoring for all new hires to accelerate integration. Reposition managers as enablers rather than evaluators—equipping them to facilitate human-AI collaboration, foster psychological safety, and coach for adaptability.​
• Continuous Learning: Launch personalized 'Learning Pathways' with dedicated time for life-long upskilling, driven by individual motivation and AI-powered skill assessments. Avoid standardized, one-size-fits-all programs.​
• Internal Mobility: Implement a 'Potential-Based Talent Pipeline' to foster growth from within roles must be flexible and skills-based.​