How businesses can help solve society’s workforce problems

How businesses can help solve society’s workforce problems

COVID-19 has presented major challenges for organizations: adapting workplaces, supporting remote workers, furlough schemes and redundancies.

Society must work collaboratively to build sustainable work solutions for a future where some occupations will cease to exist and others will have to adapt to survive.

HR leaders are uniquely positioned to help steer this model - working with communities, schools and governments - to rebuild the economy.



In the past nine months, I've been proud to see so many businesses stepping up to help their employees and communities. From rolling out new benefits and programmes aimed at helping people navigate the pandemic to making layoffs a last resort, businesses of all types have led with purpose and empathy.

Now, with new vaccines offering hope for an end to the pandemic, business leaders have an opportunity to extend that sense of purpose by helping to find sustainable solutions to society's workforce problems. That includes one of the biggest challenges our economy faces: how can we get the unemployed back to work?



Millions of people have lost their jobs during the pandemic, and many companies are continuing to consider and possibly make layoffs. But getting back to work isn't simply a matter of