Jobs and the Future of Work

Solving for human connection in the Intelligent Age

Three women smiling and working on laptops at a table.

As technology continues to simplify work, we must protect the human moments that make work better. Image: Unsplash/Brooke Cagle

Maria Black
President and Chief Executive Officer, ADP
This article is part of: World Economic Forum Annual Meeting
  • We must protect the human moments that make work better. If we do, the future world of work will be more able to fulfil the ultimate promise of innovation – elevating human potential and increasing well-being.
  • Generative AI is the next step change that can unleash the productive capacity of the workforce and help us solve for human connection.
  • Growing human connection means developing technology and processes that help employers understand, engage and upskill workers faster and better.

The world of work is on the verge of a technology-driven productivity revolution. Large Language Models, chatbots and generative AI will reorient workers towards creative and productive tasks with the promise of increasing output.

This dynamic environment has brought the human capital management (HCM) industry to a powerful moment, one in which we can improve the well-being of employees, businesses and the communities they serve.

But change comes with a cost and we must be intentional. As technology continues to simplify work, we must protect the human moments that make work better. If we do, the future world of work will be more able to fulfil the ultimate promise of innovation – elevating human potential and increasing well-being.

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The human connection

In the beginning, HCM was about organizing people. Over time, the industry grew more sophisticated.

We studied human behaviour to help people thrive and advance in their careers. By the 1980s, the industry had adopted a strategic and global approach to finding and cultivating talent. For the last decade, human resource leaders have used advanced AI and machine learning techniques to help companies manage their people and reduce labour costs.

Generative AI is the next step change that can unleash the productive capacity of the workforce and help us solve for human connection.

It’s important for companies to think about how to deploy frontier innovations to enable and empower workers and in turn increase productivity – to ask questions like:

  • How can we solve for better mental health and reduced stress at work?
  • How can we solve for more collaboration and creativity?
  • How can we solve for empowered problem-solving?

Behind each of these questions is the opportunity to keep people at the centre of work. People-centred innovation will help us meet – and drive – technological change. The industry must design for people in a way that unlocks human potential to collaborate, create and problem-solve.

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Demographic forces

Technological advances aren’t happening in a vacuum. We are also witnessing a demographic sea change. Working populations are ageing into retirement in advanced economies and younger talent, notably people who have never experienced work without generative AI, are rising in developing African and South Asian nations.

By 2080, people 65 and older will outnumber those younger than 18, according to the United Nations. The prime age working populace, between 25 and 55, will shift from wealthy economies to developing ones over the next three decades.

The labour market of the future – of now – is global. We must build a skilled global workforce.

Preparing the workforce

To solve for people, the first step is understanding how workers worldwide are responding to the change brought about by artificial intelligence and other disruptive innovations. ADP data shows that they feel unprepared.

As part of a continuing effort to measure worker sentiment, ADP Research asked people in 34 countries this year if they feel prepared for the next era of work. ADP’s report reveals that only 24% feel strongly that they have the skills needed to advance in three years. Only 17% feel strongly that their employers invest in the skills they need to advance.

This is a tremendous opportunity for employers to use technology to engage workers and make them more productive. ADP research shows that less than 4% of US employers upskill their workers within the first two years of employment.

People working on computers at a table.
Upskilling not only increases pay it also contributes to a more engaged and productive workforce. Image: Unsplash/Annie Spratt

The returns from upskilling are enormous. ADP payroll data analysed through the lens of the US Occupation Information Network, which describes the level of preparation necessary to fulfil certain jobs, found that wages for a typical worker increase 37% when that person is upskilled.

Upskilling not only increases pay it also contributes to a more engaged and productive workforce. When people have the opportunity to reach their full potential, when they’re free to be curious or explore their passions and when they feel purposeful and excited about their jobs, employees and employers both benefit.

When asked what they valued most from their employer, opportunities for career advancement and skills training ranked high among workers worldwide. Workers younger than 40 cited opportunities for career advancement, pay for performance and skills development.

When innovation in HCM is people-centric, companies can deliver what workers want on a global scale.

Solving for people

Labour markets are healthier than they’ve been in years and it would be easy for the HCM industry and HR divisions worldwide to grow complacent.

Labour-force participation rates in the world’s 38 largest economies are at their highest since 2008 and unemployment is below 5% according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

But time is of the essence. Since we emerged from the coronavirus pandemic, work has grown more digital, flexible and global. We cannot take for granted that those advances will automatically lead to better, more productive and more engaging work.

In the Intelligent Age, human resource leaders must not only anticipate change but drive it. We must evolve alongside the young adults who are now entering the workforce. Growing human connection means developing technology and processes that help employers understand, engage and upskill workers faster and better.

The ideal workplace of the future isn’t just productive, it’s filled with human moments. We must make work better and more connected. We must solve for connection.

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