There’s a lot of buzz these days about the outlook for tomorrow’s talent. Global businesses and higher education institutions acknowledge that change is happening and they need to adapt, but don’t know where to start.
We talk about the skills gap, and why so many jobs go unfilled even as millions of people can’t find work. We discuss intelligent technologies and how they’re changing jobs. We talk about college graduates with staggering loan debts struggling to enter the workforce.
Yet too much of this talk is occurring at the 50,000-foot level when we need to hit the ground running. People are the heart of our businesses, and talent should be at the forefront of business strategy.
Think of it this way: when an organization faces a new threat, what does it do? It prepares. If a competitor starts to take away market share, it develops an aggressive plan to get it back. If a business models shifts in its industry, it creates a strategy to adapt. We must recognize that lack of insight and preparedness around tomorrow’s talent is a threat to the success of our organizations and the health of our society.
Rather than talking about it at such a high level, let’s get more specific. For example, here are some areas all business leaders need to better understand and communicate:
Some leaders are very in touch with these areas because their companies have had to reskill significant portions of their workforces to support new business models or adapt to new technologies. But the reality is many of us are still in the early stages of understanding the problem.
At Workday, we’re in a unique position. We don’t just care about the future of talent; we’re also building technologies that will meet the needs of the current and future workforce, and help organizations attract and retain that workforce.
We’re also bringing together leaders from our different customer communities—from leading higher ed institutions to emerging disruptors to some of the largest global organizations—for conversations with non-profit organizations and policymakers on how to collaborate.
Here’s how we see a path forward:
Now is the time to join forces and take action on behalf of tomorrow’s talent. We’re delighted to be a part of this movement at Workday, and hope you’ll join us in establishing a clear path forward.
Are you a senior leader in HR, IT, finance, or higher education? Request an invite to join Leighanne Levensaler and others for Bloomberg Next’s Tomorrow’s Talent: A Forum for Business and Education Leaders, a full-day symposium on June 28 in New York.
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