Panel, Conference Presentation
The Future of Leadership and the Workforce in the Age of Prediction
Milken InstituteCaroline Fairchild, Dave McKay, Mike McNamara, Igor Tulchinsky, Jeff Wong, Serena Ross, Nina Reese, Kathleen McCabe, Jeff Madgen
- By 2030, over one-third of the global workforce is projected to change jobs, with nearly 800 million workers potentially displaced entirely by automation, while 25% to 50% of jobs in Canada will face significant or material disruption in required skills.
- Automation is deemed necessary to manage complex products and regulatory environments, with plans to automate 2.1 million hours of worker time next year and deploy 2,000 bots, though some experts predict automation may replace fewer workers than anticipated due to structural demand drivers like aging populations and emerging middle classes in China and India.
- Social media platforms are identified as a competitive threat capable of brokering customer needs directly, potentially disrupting traditional banking models, prompting strategies to build proprietary platforms with unique insights to ensure future customer relevance.
- Companies plan to lead industry transformation through significant investment in workforce development, including $500 million annually on learning and development, $2 million training hours per year, and the creation of employee funding pools to facilitate return to school and skills bridging.
- Future workforce strategies emphasize flexibility, with educational reform efforts focused on integrating work-integrated learning for 100% of Canadian undergraduates, tailoring the final two years of degrees to job markets, and partnering with university deans to enhance data analytic and technology proficiency in curriculums.
- Organizational agility is identified as a critical success factor, leading to recruitment focus on traits such as grit and adaptability, alongside the implementation of badge programs to certify future skills and address the difficulty of retraining every employee in a rapidly evolving landscape.