Guernsey Press

Business panel: Transforming workforce requires a response from HR and business

Why are we so slow off the blocks? Is it a skill or will challenge we are facing?

Published
Susie Crowder, managing director of Bright Futures. (22981344)

Susie Crowder, managing director of Bright Futures, replies:

HUB or spoke, we are all part of an ecosystem. Who will stand to benefit most from the rapid technological advancements and subsequent business practice changes will depend on human capital capability within the organisation and local community. Work is not binary any more. The employment relationship is changing. The plurality of work is already here and is likely to get more complex as we navigate our way through the next few years. Is our employment legislative framework and culture ready for such change?

Perpetual obsolescence requires agility, a phenomenon with which we wrestle to manage. Automation has raised the pace, we need to keep learning. But let’s be clear, automation benefits the economy. Providing our human capital continues to develop, our jobs should, in most cases, be safe and new opportunities will open up. We will all require a degree of technological literacy as we venture into the era of the fourth industrial revolution. Optimising human/automation combinations which are more efficient will also generate higher returns and improved performance.

Leaders will need to deconstruct, optimise, automate and reconfigure roles and the use of human capital to help create optimal human/IT/machine combinations.

The question is no longer if, or even when, the workforce will be transformed. It is happening now. The key point is how quickly business and HR leaders can gauge and respond to the implications in order to prepare their organisations for the future.

n Bright Futures LBG is a Guernsey-based not for profit organisation that aims to support individuals, organisations and policy makers to prepare for the future of work as well as all matters relating to human capital. On 14 March 2019 we are hosting the first CI Human Capital Summit: The Future of Work. Be in good company with our speakers from the OECD, FT, CBI and other business institutions. Book your tickets today on Eventbrite.

Stay ahead. Stay competitive.

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