HR Seminar London: The Future of Work and Its Impact on HR

On the 6th of June Elliott Scott HR UK held a highly interactive seminar in partnership with Arcadia Consulting and LinkedIn on ‘The Future of Work and Its Impact on HR’ at the LinkedIn offices in London.

Following an introduction from Christopher Adeyeri at LinkedIn, Charlie Curson, Managing Director at Mandarin Associates, led groups of HR professionals through an insightful workshop. In our busy work lives, where the pace of change is increasing, it can be hard to find the time to stop, think about the future of our organisations and develop our strategies accordingly. Moving through various activities Charlie wanted to show participants how to use foresight as a toolkit. To get the conversation going, the groups worked through a selection of cards showing shifts and trends relating to the future of work, such as; Reskilling and Upskilling, The Age of Women, The Nimble Organisation, Re-inventing Roles and Dispersed tribes. They assessed their potential impact on HR over the next 5 years and sorted them into piles of high, medium and low impact. The most common high impact issues from the groups were stuck on the wall and voted on by everyone resulting in the following 5 key areas participants felt will have the greatest impact on HR: The increasing value of data The rise of machines Wellbeing Multi directional leadership Mind-set shift Everyone was then asked to stand next to the one that they felt was of highest importance, with the most popular areas being ‘the increasing value of data’ and ‘multi directional leadership’ and no one choosing ‘mindset shift’.

Discussions on these areas were then held in the groups deciding: what’s changing over the next 5 years, the potential impacts, implications on/for your organisation and HR professionals and what actions can be taken. A key finding from each conversation was then shared with the room: The increasing value of data – the importance of still adding a human touch and response to the decision presented by the data The rise of machines – similarly to above, with the increase in AI, looking at organisational design and what can be done by AI and what areas still need to be led by humans and how technology can assist in upskilling Wellbeing – will have an increasing importance, it will no longer be seen as a perk but a fundamental part of the business and there will be a need for proactivity around this Multi directional leadership – the c-suite needs to change from the traditional hierarchy and inverted to the upside-down triangle where the organisation is empowered and the employees have more autonomy.

This exercise raised some really interesting insights and it aimed to identify the assumptions, challenges and opportunities in the group and that the findings can be different each time this session is run, giving organisations an insight into their culture, potential issues and future impacts. Participants were encouraged to take these findings back to their organisations and consider how they can incorporate them into their strategies and plan for the future of work. The evening closed with further networking over drinks and canapés where the guests mingled with the Arcadia, LinkedIn and Elliott Scott HR teams.

If you would be interested in attending any of our future events, follow us on LinkedIn and keep an eye on our events page.