Canadian Workers, Organizations, and Communities Getting Ready for the Future of Work
First-of-its-kind partnership aims to future-proof Canadian workplaces and help communities adapt amid technological change
- A community of practice to help future-proof the workplace
- The coalition brings together key stakeholders from government, industry and academia
- Partnership to help ensure Canadian firms and people continue to succeed while technology transforms the workplace
Communitech and a group of community partners have joined forces to help ensure Canadian workers, organizations and communities continue to succeed as technology transforms the workplace. This new group, formed as the Waterloo Region Future of Work and Learning Coalition, began informal conversations in January 2019 on what employers, employees, educators and government can do to build a community of practice to help future-proof the workplace.
HR Technology News: HR Leaders Still Unsure How to Create an Organizational Culture Barring Workplace Harassment
The coalition brings together key stakeholders from government, industry and academia to collaborate on strategies to prepare the region for the future of work – a future already being shaped by advances in demographic shifts as well as artificial intelligence, automation and other technologies.
“We’ve recognized that the challenges presented by the future of work cannot be tackled by any one organizational entity,” said Simon Chan, Vice President of Talent, Academy and Future of Work at Communitech. “We are stronger together than apart, so have formed an adaptive coalition to research and test solutions that will help us to meet these challenges in our community.”
Rapid technological change means Canadian workers need new skills to succeed. This is especially true for mid-career employees aged 37 to 54, who make up 57 per cent of the Canadian workforce, according to research by Deloitte Bersin. The Waterloo Region Future of Work and Learning Coalition will tackle topics such as skills adoption, employee training and building healthy workplaces in addition to running pilot programs around issues such as continuous learning, the rise of the freelance workplace and evolving workplace expectations.
HR Technology News: OpenSesame Presents Machine Learning-Driven Curation Tools at OEB Global