This report is intended as a call to action for companies and organisations globally to update and reset their future of work preparedness agendas, in light of Covid-19, for a more relevant and inclusive post-pandemic “new” future of work.
Over the past 10 years, the discussion on the future of work has predominantly been linked to job automation. However, while this trend and its ramifications will undoubtedly remain a relevant strand of the discussion, the rapidly evolving nature of our economies and societies – accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis – has brought about a broader range of shifts in how and where we work, the ways in which work, workplaces and workforces are organised, and the employee-employer relationship.
The COVID-19 pandemic will have profound, long-term consequences for our economies and societies, including for the future of work. As part of The Great Reset needed to support the transition to a fairer, more sustainable post-COVID world, companies have a responsibility, and a rare opportunity, to rethink their organisational and workplace structures to invest in their workforces as core drivers of long-term resilience and future success. Having recognised the COVID-19 crisis as a defining leadership and transformation moment, chief people officers and other human resources (HR) and business leaders are now called on to build on what they have learned from the immediate crisis response to reset their organisations’ future of work agendas and lead the way towards better and more human-centric work, workplaces and workforces.