22 Workforce of the future: The competing forces shaping 2030 Who leads on people strategy? What does the workforce look like? Organisational challenges • The CEO drives the people strategy for the organisation, believing that the people in the organisation, their behaviours and role in society have a direct link to the organisation’s success or failure. • The HR function, renamed ‘People and Society’ embraces a broad mix of HR, marketing, corporate social responsibility and data analytics. • A priority for HR is developing and maintaining a series of virtual social networks across the organisation and client base to encourage communication and minimise the need for travel. • Many people decisions are tightly controlled by regulation, from diversity quotas to, mandatory wellbeing support (eg sleep clinics and ‘digital dieting’), to the number of redundancies companies can make during a downturn. • Workers are attracted to Green World companies by the opportunity to work for an organisation they admire, whose values match their own. • Even so, competition remains intense for the best talent; financial reward is still important. • The incentives package is an essential tool in attracting and retaining workers and has become increasingly inventive. Three weeks’ paid leave a year to work on charity and social projects is standard practice. • Workers are expected to reflect the values of their employer – both at work and at home through ‘organisational pledges’. • Travel is tightly controlled and monitored and there are incentives for inventive and efficient use of resources. • The idea of a ‘job for life’ returns to the workplace lexicon. • Communicating corporate purpose and values effectively, to the right people, is a fundamental requirement. • Building and maintaining trust with employees and wider society, especially when it comes to the use of automation, is essential. • The brand must be protected at all times. The possibility of non ‑ s ocially responsible behaviour within the organisation or anywhere along the supply chain carries huge risks. Quality assurance and vigilance is paramount. • Being compliant is not enough: organisations are under pressure to raise the bar and establish policies and practices which go beyond and even anticipate regulatory requirements. • Organisations have to balance the trade ‑ o ff between short-term financial and long-term societal good. Female manager in the pharmaceutical industry (30), USA “Climate change [will be the biggest impact on the way we work], we are going to have to change our priorities.”