Reinventing Jobs: The Future of Work and its impact on HR

Will leaders slow automation to allow their human workers to catch up? That choice is something HR has the opportunity to help articulate for leaders

In its Future of Jobs Report 2018, the World Economic Forum estimated that by 2022 75 million current job roles may be displaced by automation, while in parallel 133 million new job roles may emerge. 

It is perhaps not surprising therefore that the most oft quoted challenge I hear from HR and People Analytics Leaders is that of skills and workforce planning. When it comes to tackling these challenges not many have their finger as much on the pulse as John Boudreau.

I caught up recently with John at the Global Executive Retreat co-hosted by Insight222 and TI People for a group of over 60 forward thinking HR leaders.

John and I also found time to record an episode of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, where we explored some of the themes from the Think Tank as well as the ideas presented in his recent Reinventing Jobs book, co-authored with Ravin Jesuthasan.

You can listen by clicking the image below or by visiting the podcast website here.

In our conversation, John and I discuss:

• The reorganisation of work and the far-reaching implications for HR
• Examples of companies and leaders who are successfully embracing the future of work such as Siemens and IBM
• John's four step framework for reinventing jobs and optimising work
• What the future role of HR will be in 2025

This episode is a must listen for business leaders seeking more from HR as well as any HR leaders and professionals who want to add more value to their organisation, to their workforce, and to their own careers.

Support for this podcast is brought to you by OrgVue to learn more, visit orgvue.com.

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

To listen to the Podcast and read the transcript of my interview with John, head over to myHRfuture by clicking on this link: Reinventing Jobs: The Future of Work and its impact on HR.

WATCH THE VIDEOS

As well as the podcast, there are a couple of videos available on the myHRfuture YouTube channel highlighting two of the topics John and I covered in our conversation.

Firstly, John describes: Reinventing Jobs and Applying Automation at Work.

Then John tackles the question I ask all my guests on the show: What will be the role of HR in 2025?

A SMALL FAVOUR

If you enjoyed listening to and watching the discussion with John, I'd be grateful if you could take the following steps:

1. Please subscribe to the Digital HR Leaders podcast and weekly newsletter to make sure you don’t miss an episode.
2. Please take the time to rate the show on iTunes. We rely on your feedback and support to make the podcast, so this is very helpful!
3. Who would you like to see me interview in future episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
4. Lastly, don’t forget to share on social media with your friends and colleagues, your support is always greatly appreciated!

THANK YOU

A huge thank you to John for sharing her time and expertise. You can connect with John on LinkedIn as well as follow John on Twitter and visit his website at drjohnboudreau.com.

John has authored and co-authored several books during his career. The books either covered in or closely related to the topics discussed in the podcast are Reinventing Jobs and Lead the Work (both co-authored with Ravin Jesuthasan) as well as Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives (co-authored with Wayne Cascio and Alexis Fink), and the free e-book outlining the CHREATE project referred to in our discussion: Black Holes and White Spaces: Reimagining the Future of Work and HR.

I also recommend checking out the following articles penned by John:

• Key Findings: The Gains from Work Automation
• HR as a "Prediction Machine"
• The Future of Work: Can you Answer These Strategic Questions? (with Ravin Jesuthasan, see FIG 1 below).
• HR Must Make People Analytics More User-Friendly
• An evidence-based review of HR Analytics (with Janet Marler)

FIG 1: A framework for optimising human and automated work (Source: Reinventing Jobs, Jesuthasan and Boudreau, Harvard Business Press, 2018)

Thanks also to Ian Bailie, Manpreet Randhawa and the myHRfuture team, and last but not least to OrgVue for sponsoring Series 5 of the Digital HR Leaders podcast and video series.

Next week my guest will be Dawn Klinghoffer, Global Head of People Analytics at Microsoft. So you certainly won't want to miss that one.

CATCH UP WITH ALL THE FIRST 25 EPISODES OF THE DIGITAL HR LEADERS PODCAST

If you haven't listened to some of the other episodes of the Digital HR Leaders Podcast, you can catch up now by clicking on the links below:

• EP 25: Julie Digby - How HR Drives Transformation and Org Design at Mars
• EP 24: RJ Milnor - How McKesson uses ONA to identify what drives high performance in sales
• EP 23: Rupert Morrison - Rethinking Workforce Planning & Organisation Design
• EP 22: Dawn Klinghoffer - The Evolution of People Analytics at Microsoft
• EP 21: John Boudreau - Reinventing Jobs: The Future of Work and it's impact on HR
• EP 20: Tanuj Kapilashrami - How Standard Chartered designed an exceptional Employee Experience
• EP 19: Anna Tavis: What is Agile HR and how are companies adopting it?
• EP 18: Sarah Johnson: How to use employee surveys to create strategic value
• EP 17: Leena Nair - How HR drives business value at Unilever
• EP 16: Keith McNulty - HR 3.0: more data driven, more agile and more business focused
• EP 15: Jason Corsello - The Shift From HR Tech to Work Tech
• EP 14: Jill Larsen - How does the CHRO successfully partner with the CEO
• EP 13: Frida Polli - How AI and Behavioural Science can reduce bias in recruiting
• EP 12: Ian O'Keefe - The Workforce Analytics journey at JP Morgan Chase
• EP 11: Dave Ulrich - The role of HR in the Digital Age
• EP 10: Jordan Pettman - How Nestlé uses People Analytics to measure Gender Pay Gap and Equity
• EP 9: Catalina Schveninger - The Evolution of Corporate Learning at Vodafone
• EP 8: Richard Collins - How is Automation, AI and Analytics changing recruiting?
• EP 7: Katarina Berg - Spotify's CHRO on Leading HR in a digital world
• EP 6: Nick Holley - How HR can become more business relevant 
• EP 5: Eden Britt - How to build a People Analytics team in a global organisation | The People Analytics journey at HSBC 
• EP 4: Yvette Cameron - How Blockchain will disrupt the Future of Work and HR Technology 
• EP 3: Didier Elzinga - How to Create a Culture First Company 
• EP 2: Edward Houghton - The Head of Research at the CIPD on Driving Business Performance with People Data 
• EP 1: Sharon Doherty - How to transform HR to be more digital and building a culture of diversity

PRESS PLAY ON YOUR CAREER: JOIN THE myHRfuture ONLINE ACADEMY

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David is a globally respected writer, speaker, conference chair, and executive consultant on people analytics, data-driven HR and the future of work. As an Executive Director at Insight222, he helps global organisations create more cultural and economic value through the wise and ethical use of people data and analytics. Prior to joining Insight222 and taking up a board advisor role at TrustSphere, David was the Global Director of People Analytics Solutions at IBM Watson Talent. As such, David has extensive experience in helping organisations embark upon and accelerate their people analytics journeys. 

SEE ME SPEAK AT THESE EVENTS IN 2020

Now that my speaking gigs are over for 2019, it’s time to look forward to 2020. I’ll be chairing and/or speaking about people analytics, data-driven HR and the Nine Dimensions for Excellence in People Analytics model at the following events until the end of May 2020.

• 29-31 Jan – PAFOW San Francisco
• 19-21 Feb – Tech HR, Singapore
• 16-17 Mar – HR Core Lab – Leading with Talent Analytics, Barcelona
• 24-25 Mar – UNLEASH Spring, London
• 29-30 Apr – PAFOW London
• 12-13 May – UNLEASH America, Las Vegas