If the idea of artificial intelligence (AI) conjures visions of robots taking over human jobs, this is not surprising. It is a widespread image. Countless media stories paint a picture of technology irrevocably altering employment realities. Yet, the truth is, technology is not the sole driver of this change. Shifting demographics and changing societal expectations are also fundamentally transforming the workforce.<\/p>\n
Longer lifespans mean longer careers, which heightens intergenerational competition for jobs, with people constantly having to reinvent themselves. As well, we are seeing a more diverse workforce. At the same time, we see the rise of the social enterprise, with organizations pursuing profit with purpose and adding social impact as an objective. With all these changes already occurring, supporting employees to transition to what the future of work will bring is the smart and right thing to do.<\/p>\n
Combined, these disruptive technological and social forces signal that there needs to be a shift in the way we think about work and about jobs. Businesses, governments and employees alike must re-envision what the future of work will bring. So what actions can be taken?<\/p>\n
Recognize that new approaches are needed<\/strong><\/p>\n In laying the foundation for the future of work, employers will need to find a new type of workforce equilibrium. This means balancing the tasks best completed by humans and those best completed by machines. It also means changes in where and by whom that work is completed \u2014 onsite, offsite, by full-time employees or by people who are part of an open talent market, such as contractors, freelancers and crowdsourcing.<\/p>\n There needs to be a shift in businesses\u2019 organizational structures and cultures, and in their talent strategies. They need to change their approach to learning to one that values employees\u2019 individual capabilities and fosters their capacity to broaden their expertise beyond today\u2019s rigid job definitions and functions.<\/p>\n Businesses have to partner with their employees so they can build new skills. And employees will need to invest in themselves and become lifelong learners to thrive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Businesses also need to be transparent with their employees, and to partner with them so they can build new skills. And employees must recognize that the future of work requires a different approach to personal growth, meaning they will need to invest in themselves and become lifelong learners to thrive.<\/p>\n To do all this, businesses, governments, educational institutions and workers will have to co-create solutions and collaborate in new ways.<\/p>\n Foster essential human skills <\/strong><\/p>\n Historically, most workers prepare to enter the workforce by learning the skills and knowledge required to succeed at a single job or job stream. Now, when the half-life of technical skills is between two-and-a-half and five years, this model no longer works.<\/p>\n Instead, educational institutions need to equip youth with broader skillsets, helping them develop the human skills that complement technology \u2014 skills like communication, collaboration, complex problem solving, creativity, empathy and rapid learning. And because these skills are more enduring and transferable, they will increase job mobility.<\/p>\n Building these essential skills is not just the domain of educational institutions. Businesses must communicate which capabilities are most important to them and implement practices, tools and funding support to help employees develop those skills through on-the-job experience and work-integrated learning. And when recruiting for a role, businesses should clearly identify the soft-skills-development possibilities that go with that role and take steps to enable that development.<\/p>\n To enable more job mobility, we need common definitions for human skills along with assessment and credentialing methodologies that can be used across all sectors \u2014 business, government and education.<\/p>\n Turbo-charge internal talent mobility<\/strong><\/p>\n In many organizations, employees are hired for a tightly defined role and, while they may advance within that domain of work, they rarely move laterally across the organization. Improved mobility, mindsets and practices will better prepare employees for the future by helping them build fundamental human skills, adjacent technical skills, personal resilience and, importantly, the muscle to learn.<\/p>\n This would also allow the organization to benefit from greater diversity of thought and experience, allowing it to brainstorm and innovate faster and better serve clients. Organizations will need to measure internal mobility rates and set ambitious growth targets, and then encourage employees to embrace new roles \u2014 roles they might not be formally trained for. They will also need to make it easier for them by investing in consumer-grade technologies.<\/p>\n Build an adaptable organization<\/strong><\/p>\n Laying the foundation for the future of work also requires organizations to alter workplace culture. This means adopting a growth mindset where employees are encouraged and supported to be constantly learning. It means enabling greater collaboration and incorporating more inclusive practices to benefit from diversity. And it means empowering people to take smart risks, to experiment and to see failure as a path to learning. We are already seeing organizations flattening hierarchies and moving to networks of teams and agile teaming approaches.<\/p>\n Collaborate and co-create across sectors to enable rapid \u201cnew-skilling\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Canadian leaders across all sectors will need to work together to articulate a common vision for building inclusive prosperity through the future of work. Then they must make harmonized and coordinated changes to business, public policy and post-secondary education models to turn that vision into reality. They will need to listen to and learn from one another, build trusted relationships and experiment together to develop and implement new-skilling solutions at scale \u2014 to think big, start small and scale fast.<\/p>\n One idea is to introduce a \u201clearning fund\u201d\u2014 a registered learning investment program for individuals. This scheme would be similar to the Registered Education Savings Program, but it would see business, government and individuals jointly making contributions to invest in the future.<\/p>\n Another approach is for all post-secondary programs to require work-integrated learning opportunities, such as co-ops and internships, to help students accelerate their learning through experience and develop essential human skills. At the same time, academic curricula may need to expand from a once-and-done structure to include programs that encourage students to return every few years to gain new skills. This would require supportive business policies, such as \u201clearning sabbaticals,\u201d as well as government funding support.<\/p>\n In addition, because automation is likely to disproportionately affect under-represented groups, businesses and governments will need to work together and proactively introduce special programs with support systems to help these workers new-skill and prepare them to transition to new roles.<\/p>\n The time to act is now<\/strong><\/p>\n There is one thing about the moniker \u201cthe future of work\u201d that isn\u2019t entirely accurate. The changes heralded by this future are already here, so it is imperative for businesses, governments and educational institutions to act now to lay a foundation that will support Canada\u2019s workforce in the years to come.<\/p>\n Consider this possibility: A workforce of broad, highly mobile workers who excel at learning new skills just in time challenges the concept of \u201cexpertise\u201d in fundamental ways. Indeed, some employees are likely already pushing these boundaries, but they might be facing resistance. Are we ready to accept these learners of the future? We might not be ready if we do not take steps to lay the foundation for the future of work today.<\/p>\n This article is part of the\u00a0Preparing Citizens for the Future of Work<\/a>\u00a0special feature.<\/strong><\/p>\n Photo: Shutterstock, by Rawpixel.com<\/span><\/p>\n Do you have something to say about the article you just read? Be part of the\u00a0<\/em>Policy Options\u00a0discussion, and send in your own submission.\u00a0Here is a\u00a0<\/em>link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0on how to do it.\u00a0<\/em>|\u00a0Souhaitez-vous r\u00e9agir \u00e0 cet article ?\u00a0<\/em>Joignez-vous aux d\u00e9bats d\u2019<\/em>Options politiques\u00a0et soumettez-nous votre texte en suivant ces\u00a0<\/em>directives<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If the idea of artificial intelligence (AI) conjures visions of robots taking over human jobs, this is not surprising. It is a widespread image. Countless media stories paint a picture of technology irrevocably altering employment realities. Yet, the truth is, technology is not the sole driver of this change. Shifting demographics and changing societal expectations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":274929,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-10-08T02:19:56Z","apple_news_api_id":"2410d1c6-f2ee-425f-90db-9976ef642e71","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-10-08T02:19:56Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AJBDRxvLuQl-Q25l272QucQ","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false},"categories":[9362,9379,9372],"tags":[9202,9205],"article-status":[],"irpp-category":[4245,4209],"section":[],"irpp-tag":[],"class_list":["post-266771","issues","type-issues","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economie","category-education","category-recent-stories-fr","tag-avenir-du-travail","tag-emploi","irpp-category-economie","irpp-category-education"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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