How will you change, build, and add programs for today's labor force?

In the United States, we recently celebrated Labor Day, a federal holiday founded in the 1880s to honor the social and economic achievements of American workers. For present day Americans, the holiday has come to represent a day off from work and the unofficial start of the fall season.

In reflection of this holiday, let’s look at the forces influencing—and being influenced by – our labor force today:

• Gross Domestic Product (GDP): The significant increases in the GDP (the total value of goods produced and services provided) in the U.S. and many other countries today are a result of automation, technology, process improvements, and innovation that allow us to generate larger amounts of revenue.
• Value of Labor: In virtually every country, we see labor shortages and skills shortages. With forecasts pointing to continual declines in birth rates, the shortages will likely increase drastically over time. This trend emphasizes the importance of human labor and demonstrates an increase in the value of labor.
• Artificial Intelligence: The counterbalance to the labor and skills shortages is automation. The power and potential of automation and AI is vast. In the coming years we’ll continue to see and experience its influence on all types of jobs, no matter the field or industry, including the creation of this weekly newsletter. The very nature of the workforce will begin to look different soon, with improved and accelerated job processes.?
• Education: The long-held narrative that a college degree is important may need to be tempered given the types of roles we need filled by humans. These roles may require special training, apprenticeships, certifications, or licensure. For example, technicians and mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, teacher assistants, and several medical services jobs including, CNAs, LPNs, pharmacy technicians, opticians, and medical assistants.

To work through these forces with your organization, we encourage you to strategize how you attract and develop talent, establish equitable pay standards, provide flexibility, and meet expectations for gender, racial, generational, and even cognitive diversity of employees. These considerations have become a necessity, and a pragmatic way of doing business with today’s labor force and the impact of productivity, AI, automation, education and more.

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If you are interested in learning more, two Academy Courses that might be helpful include The Strategic HR Business Partner and People as Competitive Advantage.