Future Trends Forum experts have analyzed the job environment, made recommendations about learning, re-skilling and up-skilling the workforce and corporate organizational needs. All this, aiming at a future of work that reaches new levels of competitiveness and resilience.

The Future Trends Forum experts group the forces of change into four interconnected groups: More connected and better trained professionals, companies with a purpose in pursuit of the best talent, technology as an enabler of new ways of working and creator of new jobs, and a more socially and environmentally aware society.

These four forces, accelerated by the pandemic, lead us to a future of work where professionals are always learning new social and digital skills, and companies are increasingly aware of the especially important role they play for the wellbeing of society and the planet.

Professionals will need to make an effort to be up to speed with digital, technical and social skills. The ability to learn new things will be particularly relevant. Lifelong learning will be the norm, together with multi-disciplinarity, a highly regarded quality by companies. Having multiple skills and navigating uncertain environments will be more important than being a specialist to be considered as appealing talent for a company.

This trend has accelerated with David Epstein’s thoughtful and conclusive book Range, a non-fiction bestseller in the US in 2019.

For expert Jason Wingard, President at Temple University and well-known CEO and steering committee advisor, retaining and appealing the best talent are top priorities for companies. For this, new organizational designs and leadership styles must be outlined and put in practice, applying innovation and new technologies smartly, redefining and taking to action the corporate purpose, around which culture and values bring together the best.

Public Administrations could accelerate positive change by designing and implementing innovative social, educational and employment policies. NextGenerationEU is a good example, a tool that aims to lay the foundations for a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe, better adapted to current and future challenges. According to expert Thierry Malleret, the countries that are committed to putting an end to economic and social inequalities, by making an effort to develop an increasingly sustainable economy will be the ones that prosper most and best.

If we can join forces to implement the recommendations made by Future Trends Forum experts, gathering, combining and planning cutting-edge innovations here listed, an incredibly positive horizon of inclusive economic growth that is respectful with the planet and offers meaningful employment and human-centered leadership is possible.