The global pandemic has been brutal to employees working in certain industries. The authors-consultants with the Boston Consulting Group and The Network-show how disruption to professional lives and incomes has had many questioning what type of work they will do in the future. Indeed, in their survey, almost seven in ten people said they are open to switching to completely different job roles. The authors show that automation, new careers that people favour and individual learning habits have implications for organizations everywhere. They outline six of them and warn that embracing these principles could become a key point of differentiation for companies seeking to attract and retain the best talent.

In developed nations, the workforce is aging rapidly. That trend has serious implications. Companies could face severe labor shortages in a few years as workers retire, taking critical knowledge with them. Businesses may also see productivity decline among older employees, especially in physically demanding jobs. The authors, partners at Boston Consulting Group, offer managers a systematic way to assess these dual threats - capacity risk and productivity risk - at their companies. It involves studying the age distribution of their employees to see if large percentages fall within high age brackets and then projecting - by location, unit, and job category - how the distribution will change over the next 15 years. Managers must also factor in both the impact of strategic moves on personnel needs and the future supply of workers in the market. When RWE Power analyzed its trends, the company learned that in 2018 almost 80% of its workers would be over 50. What's more, in certain critical areas its labor surplus was about to become a sizable shortfall. For instance, a shortage of specialized engineers would develop in the company just as their ranks in the job market thinned and competition to hire them intensified. Reversing its downsizing course, RWE Power took steps to increase its supply of workers in those key positions. The authors show how companies that face talent gaps, as RWE Power did, can close them through training, transfers, recruitment, retention, productivity improvements, and outsourcing. They also describe measures that companies can take to keep older workers productive, including workplace accommodations, revised compensation structures, performance incentives, and targeted health care management. The key is to identify and address potential problems early. Firms that do so will gain an edge on rivals that are still relentlessly focused on reducing head count.