The ongoing digital reconfiguration of labour markets and work patterns has created something of a moving target when it comes to optimising productivity and sustaining growth through talent management.

The way in which organisations access, manage and develop talent appears to both stem from- and drive the ongoing expansion of the gig economy. The growing appreciation of work autonomy and work flexibility is forcing HR managers to abandon traditional job descriptions and hiring formats and design new approaches to talent management.

As we continue to envision the final destination of these changes, we think about the variety of pieces that will need to be crafted, defined, understood and positioned for the talent puzzle to be put together to the benefit of all stakeholders: companies, workers and society.

• The anatomy of remote work as driven by increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR);
• Up-skilling and re-skilling including through gamification;
• Credentials and career development;
• Emotional well-being in AI-driven work settings;
• Motivation, purpose and autonomy of work;
• Hiring and retaining talent including by application of AI;
• The interaction of the talent economy and local economic development;
• The regulatory and institutional challenges of transnational workforces

The platform companies’ entrepreneurial approach to digital innovation has disrupted a growing number of economic sectors, unsurprisingly – to the primary benefit of customers and of the platforms.

But they inevitably impact other stakeholders and spheres of influence. With maturity of platforms and our ability to better understand the evidence of their impact to date, comes the growing appreciation of their impact on workers, local communities, cities, national economies as well as international development.

How do we maximise the positive impact of employment platforms and other types of digital platforms on people, economies and the environment whilst safeguarding against the risks of abandoning traditional, well-established patterns of work and their associated impacts like career development, access to social protection, job security etc.

We look for potential answers in:

• Deployment of platform cooperatives and cooperative business models;
• The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in platform governance; 
• Data ownership;
• Algorithmic management;
• Local development potential of platform data;
• Platform companies’ corporate citizenship and approach to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impact models;
• Development and governance of digital platforms for public good, or public service platforms;
• Regulatory challenges to optimising impacts on workers, communities, society, and the environment; 
• eXtended Reality (XR), which encompasses augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR), all set to play a fundamental role in the “metaverse”, a convergence of real, digital, and virtual worlds.

AI and Labour Market 

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the labour market at an unprecedented pace, generating both excitement and uncertainty. AI is expected to impact 40% of global jobs, either by augmenting existing roles or rendering them obsolete. While this transformation has the potential to drive efficiency and productivity gains, it also raises concerns about job displacement and increasing socio-economic inequality.

As we move forward, it is important to design and define the right mechanisms and frameworks in a multistakeholder environment to ensure that AI’s benefits are widely shared and that labour markets remain inclusive and sustainable. 

Areas we are focusing on include:

• Understanding how AI is reshaping job roles and restructuring labour markets;
• Assessing evolving skills requirements and policies to address AI-induced skills gaps while promoting inclusivity (e.g. gender and youth representation);
• Examine the legal and regulatory landscape surrounding AI in the workplace;
• Analysing the role of algorithmic management in platform work and its extension into traditional employment models;
• Exploring the wider implications of algorithmic decision-making for worker autonomy, privacy and workplace dynamics;
• Exploring governance frameworks for the responsible and transparent use of AI;
• Promoting ethical AI practices that contribute to the decent work agenda.

Our cross-cutting themes are additional issues that intersect with all three of our main focus areas and which we aim to integrate into our project designs: 

• Gender equality, diversity and inclusion,
• Livelihoods and poverty reduction,
• Well-being,
• Technology.