FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group

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FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
FU SE

FU.SE
MILANO 2019
13-14 FEBRUARY 2019
FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
FU.SE
MILANO 2019
13-14 FEBRUARY 2019
FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
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FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
KEY STATISTICS

      183 participants and facilitators engaged
      –– C-level Participants from 16 countries
      –– 23 CEOs
      –– 14 institutional leaders
      –– 5 start-up founders

      More than 80 concrete ideas for action
      generated throughout both days

      48 sessions held during FU.SE
      –– 24 action-oriented break-out sessions
        and Action Cafés
      –– 12 inspiring plenaries
      –– 12 reflective dinners

      150 personal commitments made at the
      end of day two

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FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
PREFACE

      Today, we hear much talk about robots            In this new world of work, which aspects of
      and co-bots, outsourcing and in-sourcing,        a renewed social contract are most critical?
      re-skilling and up-skilling, pink-collar work-   How can we protect workforces globally
      ers and the care economy. But amid all the       in an age of increasing mobility? The red
      noise about the future of work, what is ac-      thread linking these many topics is the way
      tually being done on the ground to change        people will ultimately be affected by these
      models, norms and behaviours? Who is,            changes. From this broad array of issues,
      and who should be, taking action?                we will select two or three to take forward
                                                       over the coming year as a continuation of
      From February 13 to 14 2019 in Milan, a          the discussions that took place in Milan.
      group of leaders gathered for an unprec-
      edented forum held not to merely reflect         FU.SE is also a way of interacting to drive
      on and exchange ideas, but also to define        co-creation. In Milan, participants were tak-
      actions that might challenge established         en on an intense two-day journey, shaped
      thinking and shape the future of work. The       by an agenda that mixed formats and
      group included more than 150 C-level busi-       styles to provide a taste of the new types
      ness executives, heads of governmental           of interaction we aim to use. This involved
      and non-governmental institutions, media         a mixture of a few inspiring plenaries to
      leaders, entrepreneurs – young and old.          set the scene, break-out sessions aimed
                                                       at generating ideas for solutions, reflective
      This convening was the first summit of the       Jeffersonian Dinners and Actions Cafés for
      Future Series (FU.SE) platform, which was        testing concepts.
      launched in Davos by the Adecco Group,
      Boston Consulting Group and Microsoft,           To fuel the discussions, we also featured
      with the aim of putting ideas for the future     an exhibition of new technologies that are
      of work into action. Other founding mem-         being applied to talent and skills develop-
      bers include Zurich Insurance, ABB and           ment and that are shaping the workplace
      LinkedIn, as well as institutional partners      of tomorrow. From virtual reality to robot
      such as the International Labour Organi-         baristas, the technologies gave participants
      zation (ILO) and the Organisation for Eco-       a glimpse of what the future may hold.
      nomic Co-operation and Development
      (OECD). Forbes is the official media part-       FU.SE is not a standalone event; it is a plat-
      ner, and Landor and TH_NK are the brand-         form, a community and a movement. Build-
      ing and digital partners, respectively. This     ing on the learnings from Milan, we will con-
      is not just an event, not just a consortium.     tinue to refine this model through a series
      This is the beginning of a movement.             of regional events over the coming year,
                                                       leading to the next FU.SE summit in 2020
      The FU.SE agenda in Milan covered a va-          and beyond.
      riety of topics that will shape the nature
      of tomorrow’s workplaces. For example,           Through FU.SE, leaders from business, gov-
      how can we use artificial intelligence (AI)      ernment, academia and civil society will
      not as a means of making humans re-              have a platform through which to co-cre-
      dundant but as a way of opening up new           ate solutions and drive action to make the
      opportunities for employees to become            future work for everyone.
      more efficient and to develop skills that
      will enable them to work with technology?

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FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
THEMES & INSIGHTS

One of the most important objectives of       Humans are responsible for
FU.SE is to fuel co-creation by providing     designing technologies in
participants with cutting-edge insights on
different topics within the future of work,
                                              line with ethical principles
featuring prominent leaders in their re-      The discussions at FU.SE Milan made clear
spective fields of expertise. By emphasiz-    that humans are no longer the sole pos-
ing the urgent need to take action and by     sessors of skills such as vision, analysis,
raising burning questions that can be tak-    decision-making, language and learning.
en beyond Milan, we can shape co-creation     Recognition of this has, in recent years, led
on the FU.SE platform.                        to increased fears about the impact of AI
                                              on the economy and work, and questions
                                              of whether technology will destroy jobs or
                                              create new ones, and in what proportion. As
                                              seen throughout the Milan event, the need
                                              to keep people at the centre of the tech de-
                                              bate is a recurrent theme, to which there
                                              are no easy answers. It raises questions
                                              about ethics and morality in developing
                                              artificially-intelligent technologies. In addi-
                                              tion, it calls into question jobs and profes-
                                              sions that will cease to exist and how that
                                              will change lives and livelihoods.

The anchor themes discussed at FU.SE in
Milan were:
–– The ethics and morality of AI-driven
   technologies
–– The possible futures of the professions
–– The elements of a renewed social
   contract
–– The delivery of lifelong learning

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FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
The FU.SE discussion challenged the as-          pay attention to ethical issues, to avoid the
      sumptions often heard in the mainstream.         human bias that can be built or trained
      Many people fear robots supplanting car-         into seemingly neutral tools. As with every
      ing human beings, of dependence and              technological advance, it is critical that
      replacement, But speakers at FU.SE re-           humans reflect upon the risks and benefits
      flected on the fact that, both at work and       of the impact new technologies will have on
      at home, people experience a world where         people’s lives.
      technology is actually amplifying human
      ingenuity. The rapid evolution of technolo-
      gies that are impacting every industry and
      sector means that future occupations will
      require different digital skills, ranging from
      basic data literacy in jobs that today may be
      purely manual, to advanced computer sci-
      ence in others. Industry leaders emphasized
      that this will be wide-spread, not focused
      on a particular collar colour. Most jobs will
      be affected by technological change, giving
      rise to an urgent need for up-skilling and
      re-skilling at a higher rate than the current
      education and training systems can deliver.
      Moreover, with a scarcity of talent, organi-
      sational leaders must invest significantly
      more in the training and skilling of their
      current workforce to prepare them for this
      change, rather than assuming that there
      will be a constant stream of new recruits.

      As the spread of AI-driven technologies
      may increase the speed and efficiency of
      work, their rise also increases the need to

                                                       To harness the improvements that AI-ena-
                                                       bled technology can make to people’s lives,
                                                       we must ensure that they are in line with
                                                       human moral principles and governed by
                                                       our ethical values.

                                                       Across all of the AI sessions, industry lead-
                                                       ers stressed the urgent need to ensure that
                                                       AI-driven technologies are designed and
                                                       deployed in a manner that ensures they will
                                                       earn users’ trust and that protects the indi-
                                                       viduals whose data is being collected and
                                                       whose lives are being affected.

                                                       Computers are now able to
                                                       make decisions that through-
                                                       out human history have al-
                                                       ways been made by people.
                                                       - Brad Smith, President of Microsoft -

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FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
Two possible futures of the                     newly required skills and capabilities to tra-
professions                                     ditional professionals, they do not recog-
                                                nise them as part of their jobs today.
What will the future of professions look
like? Will we still have lawyers, doctors and   A key concept with which participants
consultants? The answer is (at least partly)    grappled was the understanding that job
yes, but they will work in a different way.     level is actually an inadequate means of as-
Discussions during FU.SE Milan presented        sessing the implications of technology on
two possible futures of the professions:        the future of work. The real change hap-
                                                pens at the level below. Experts at FU.SE
The first is that technology will enable        Milan revealed that only 5% of jobs are
more efficient ways of working than are         composed of tasks that can be 100% auto-
available today. The topic experts posited      mated. When consider work just at the to-
that professionals will use technology to       tal level, the important difference between
execute their work more effectively and         jobs and tasks often gets lost.
more easily. Examples of this future already
exist, for example, in the way doctors now
use technology to conduct teleconsulta-
tions for patients.

                                                One of the unhelpful things
                                                we do is when talking about
                                                the future of work, we talk
                                                about jobs. We get trapped
                                                in the way of thinking that
                                                the only way technology
                                                could change and affect the
                                                work we do is by destroying
                                                the entire job.
                                                - Daniel Susskind, Fellow and Economist,
                                                Balliol College, Oxford University -

The second and perhaps more troubling
proposition is that technology could be re-
sponsible for displacing professionals from
their jobs.

During the sessions, participants explored
the idea that in the medium term, these
two futures will develop in parallel and
that the second may well dominate in the
long term. However, discussions at FU.SE
Milan emphasized that both futures call
for changing and upgrading the skills and
capabilities of every professional. The chal-
lenge we see is that, when showing those

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FU.SE MILANO 2019 13-14 FEBRUARY 2019 - The Adecco Group
A new social contract must                      In a fireside chat between Guy Ryder and
       ensure a basic level of pro-                    Alain Dehaze, the two discussed the inter-
                                                       play between work and society; that work
       tection, stability and social                   is part of society, not something separate
       justice                                         or in opposition. A new social contract
       One of the most critical messages to            must address this relationship, and pro-
       emerge during the event was that the            vide concrete solutions to the challenges
       current system and institutions are inad-       we are facing today in order to create
       equate for the future of work. The chal-        a better future workplace. We need to di-
       lenges presented by the changes taking          rectly address issues that are often ignored,
       place in the world of work can only be          for example, the future of job informality.
       met if business leaders, policymakers, re-      The fact that 60% of people from rural ar-
       searchers, academics, civil society leaders,    eas pursue informal occupations, provides
       and individuals work together, support-         ample evidence that a core element of a
       ed by a new social contract. What actions       renewed social contract must address the
       do we need to take to move from a gen-          support of informal workers. This will re-
       eral agreement on people’s needs to the         quire changes to the definitions and forms
       creation and implementation of this new         of employment, which will in turn drive
       contract?                                       adaptation among the institutions that
                                                       govern work.
       An important part of the agenda at the
       FU.SE summit was the introduction of the
       findings of the ILO’s Global Commission on
       the Future of Work, led by Guy Ryder, Di-
       rector General of the ILO. Among the key
       speakers at FU.SE Milan who served on this
       commission, were Alain Dehaze, CEO of the
       Adecco Group, and Philip Jennings, General
                                                       To get the future of work we
       Secretary emeritus of UNI Global Union. The     want, we need a human-cen-
       Global Commission on the Future of Work         tred agenda that invests in
       has produced an independent report on           people – in their learning,
       how to achieve a future of work that provides
       decent and sustainable opportunities for all.
                                                       in their protection and in a
                                                       renewed social contract for
                                                       the 21st century. We must
                                                       re-engineer our systems and
       .
                                                       strategies so that we pro-ac-
                                                       tively shape a future of work
                                                       that is stable and equitable
                                                       for all.
                                                       - Guy Ryder, Director General, International
                                                       Labour Office -

                                                       The ILO report stresses that these ele-
                                                       ments are not yet given. There is a strong
                                                       need to drive actions and policies to ensure
                                                       that reforms benefit people, providing the
                                                       social license to operate, which is a precon-
                                                       dition of sustainable growth. FU.SE Milan
                                                       underlined the importance of understand-
                                                       ing that the future of work will not, contra-
                                                       ry to common opinion, be driven autono-
                                                       mously by technology but by humans and
                                                       their ideas about how work should evolve
                                                       to serve people.

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Life-long learning must be                         FU.SE Milan highlighted the fact that life-
a top investment priority for                      long learning will be critical in enabling
                                                   workers to adapt to the multiple transitions
the public and private sectors                     they will experience in the changing world
We hear again and again that today’s em-           of work. However, this key enabler will only
ployees will go through multiple career            be effective if governments and compa-
transitions, driven by economic, techno-           nies invest sufficiently in the tools and pol-
logical and social changes and the evolu-          icies needed to support life-long learning.
tion of the nature of work. What does this
mean in practicality? Country leaders said
that this would require not only extensive
re-skilling and up-skilling, but a funda-
mentally different approach to profession-
al development and career path planning.

This is why life-long learning, is a top
priority for the ILO’s Global Commission
on the Future of Work (it calls for “a univer-
sal entitlement to life-long learning and
the establishment of an effective life-long
learning system”).

Despite the general agreement on its im-
portance, life-long learning is currently only
an aspiration in many countries. It is time
to rethink how it is delivered and by whom.
Life-long learning requires a holistic, mul-
ti-stakeholder approach, with a strong role
to be played by the business sector.

Many point to Singapore as an example of
best practice, since life-long learning is well
established in both Singaporean policy and
practice. What can we learn about con-
crete actions that governments can take?

Singapore’s Minister of State, Zaqi Mohamad,
stressed that life-long learning is a policy
responsibility. Governments need to think
strategically and to subsidize the retrain-
ing and up-skilling of their workforce
based on industry needs and talent seg-            Singapore is a small island
ments. This will require substantial finan-        with very few natural re-
cial investments. But these are likely to          sources. The whole economy
pay off in the future, since they will result
in a workforce that is able to adapt to new
                                                   is powered by people, just
technologies and changes in the nature of          like the majority of compa-
work. The minister emphasized that in Sin-         nies. If you really believe that
gapore the government pays citizens $500           the human-resource is your
each so that they can undertake a train-
ing of their choice that will enable them
                                                   ultimate asset, it certainly
to acquire skills in a new field. This self-       requires a significant invest-
driven, personalised approach is one way           ment in life-long learning.
to engage employees directly. And accord-          - Zaqi Mohamad, Minister of State, Ministry
ing to the recent study on skilling, workers       of National Development and Ministry of
at all levels are less fearful of change than is   Manpower, Singapore -
often portrayed and are deeply interested
in their own advancement.

                                                                                                    | 11
TECH EXHIBITION

       Allowing participants to ex-                        engaging and grounded in behaviour-based
       perience the future directly                        assessments. During FU.SE Milan, Arctic
                                                           Shores, which designs gamified psychomet-
       The best way to understand the future,              ric assessments, introduced participants to
       and all its challenges and opportunities, is        a new way of recruiting top talent through
       to experience it at first hand. This is what        its data-driven technology. This technology
       FU.SE Milan offered participants. Through           offers a more positive experience for both
       an immersive tech exhibition with interac-          candidates and firms by reducing subjective
       tive showcases by both leading technology           biases as well as time and cost to hire.
       companies and disruptive start-ups, partici-
       pants were able to get a close look at a wide       In addition, companies such as Adia, Yoss,
       range of the technologies that are likely to        Wonderkind, LinkedIn, UiPath, Penna and
       change the way we work in the short, medi-          Workonomix presented a range of immer-
       um and long term.                                   sive technologies that could dramatically
                                                           change the way we work.
       The Future of Industry: One highlight of the
       tech exhibition was ABB’s YuMi, a collabora-
       tive robot. YuMi has the potential to usher in
       a new era of human-machine collaboration
       by combining the human ability to adapt to
       change with a robot’s ability to undertake
       precise, repetitive tasks continuously over
       long periods of time. Because FU.SE took
       place in Italy, known for its excellent coffee,
       the ABB robotic barista served FU.SE par-
       ticipants exquisite espresso.

       Future of Learning: Uptale, which has de-
       veloped an immersive learning solution, in-
       troduced an innovative way of up-skilling
       workers through virtual reality and on-the-
       job learning. Uptale’s solution highlights the
       fact that passive learning and memoriza-
       tion is outdated and that tomorrow’s work-
       force needs an active form of training that is
       based on practical experience. With the help
       of the company’s virtual reality technology,
       participants were able to experience differ-
       ent scenarios (from manufacturing and re-
       tail to soft skills) and find out how easy it can
       be to create and share immersive learning
       experiences.

       Future of Recruiting: Today’s recruitment ap-
       proaches are experience-based and can be
       biased. Future recruitment practices may be

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COLLABORATION

       Collaborative breakout sessions are a core      leaders have the mind-set needed to adopt
       element of the FU.SE model, as they ena-        the necessary new working models. Moreo-
       ble leaders from different industries and       ver, participants agreed that the practice of
       sectors to work together on framing the         mindfulness could go a long way towards
       key issues and starting to create solutions.    cultivating a willingness to take risks, exper-
       In the break-out sessions, participants had     iment, collaborate and share knowledge.
       the opportunity to iterate the themes and
       insights from the plenaries and generate        Another insightful session during FU.SE
       ideas for real action. The break-outs were      Milan explored the use of digitalization in
       loosely grouped around three themes: re-        engaging and empowering employees in
       sponding to technological change, society       the workplaces of the future. Industry lead-
       and leadership, and learning and training.      ers stressed the fact that while technolo-
                                                       gy-driven transformation of the workforce
                                                       is what executives, managers and employ-
       How should we respond to                        ees are most worried about, it is the thing
       technological changes dis-                      they are least prepared for.
       rupting tomorrow’s work-
       places?
       Technological disruption will not only
       be seen in automation or digitalization.
       Technology will have far-reaching effects
       on the make-up of the workforce and will
       have implications for diversity and inclu-
       sion, the way companies retain and devel-
       op talent, and what the employee of the
       future will expect of a company.

       During a number of breakout sessions fo-
       cusing on the effects of AI on models of
       work, FU.SE Milan participants discussed
       intelligent applications that might have a
       positive impact on companies. For exam-
       ple, participants identified a promising ap-
       plication of AI to childcare, in which robots
       would take on routine administrative work,
       giving parents more high-quality time to
       spend with their children. However, while
       this could contribute to social and eco-
       nomic goals, it also raises conflicts regard-
       ing trust in robots to shape the care-taking
       and education of children.                      Participants pointed to three key barriers
                                                       to technology adoption: technical, or “hard”
       Participants concluded that a key barrier       barriers (such as lack of infrastructure), cul-
       to the development of promising AI appli-       tural barriers (such as lack of transparency,
       cations is the fact that few employees and      limited feedback and low levels of collabora-

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tion) and a general resistance to change. Of      Participants reiterated that diversity and in-
these, participants agreed that cultural bar-     clusion is not an end in itself, but rather a tool
riers were the most important to overcome.        to drive effectiveness. As such, many of the
                                                  qualitative assessments around the topic of
Although many people already use tech-            diversity make its application and impact
nology extensively in their daily lives, this     hard to measure, and therefore difficult to
does not yet extend into the corporate en-        justify in terms of investment. They con-
vironment. Solutions addressing these chal-       cluded that supporting the development
lenges that resulted from the FU.SE Milan         and adoption of better quantitative meas-
sessions included role modelling and en-          urements to evaluate the effectiveness of
couraging engagement among the work-              interventions could be a promising solution.
force to personalize technology for every         Such tools could replace or complement
employee.                                         qualitative statements and shift away from
                                                  the “tick-box” approach to diversity and in-
                                                  clusion that often fails to deliver tangible re-
What are the effects of chang-                    sults, leading to underinvestment.
ing work dynamics on society
and leadership?
As the nature of work and the workforce
changes, societal stresses will shift and new
styles of leadership will be required,

In one of the sessions focusing on the role
of leaders in creating diverse and inclusive
workplaces, it emerged that at least two-
thirds of job candidates want to join a diverse
team. This means that, to compete for talent,
leaders will need to transform their organi-
zations by creating an authentic culture of
diversity and inclusion.

                                                  In many of the breakout sessions, it also
                                                  became clear that in terms of shifting de-
                                                  mographics, aging populations will be the
                                                  most significant driver of change in the fu-
                                                  ture of work. One session revealed the sur-
                                                  prising fact that, contrary to popular belief,
                                                  older people remain in work not to increase
                                                  their personal satisfaction or to contribute
                                                  to society but primarily from financial ne-
                                                  cessity. Participants agreed that a more ho-
                                                  listic approach is needed, involving policies,
                                                  incentives and practices. For example, older
                                                  workers do not necessarily need to be kept
                                                  in traditional employment. Data was shared
                                                  showing the older entrepreneurs have a

                                                                                                       | 17
higher success rate; thus, they could be en-     Moreover, participants agreed that com-
       couraged to create their own companies           panies should look for other ways, such as
       through tax incentives.                          incentivising job rotations, to ensure that
                                                        employees can acquire diverse skills and
                                                        to add new experiences to their job profiles.
       How can we equip the work-
       force with the skills and edu-
       cation needed to thrive in the
       future of work?
       If how we work will change radically, a ma-
       jor challenge lies in knowing how to the
       workforce for the transformations that will
       take place in their occupations. To do so, it
       is critical to understand which skills and ed-
       ucational backgrounds workers will need in
       order to succeed in their new roles, and the
       variety of actors who should be involved in
       re-skilling.

       During many of the breakout sessions,
       participants agreed that the private sector
       must play a key role in shaping the educa-
       tion system, either by advising schools on
       the skills that will be needed or by providing
       complementary training programmes that
       can fill the emerging skills and capabilities
       gaps. In fact, throughout the event, many
       participants advocated that it is one of a
       company’s responsibilities to society to help
       re-skill people and give them the abilities
       needed to work with technology.

                                                        In complement to private sector solu-
                                                        tions and traditional education reform,
                                                        participants strongly advocated that gov-
                                                        ernments should create tax regimes that
                                                        incentivise investment in employee re-skill-
                                                        ing (as demonstrated by Singapore). This
                                                        recognizes the fact that although re-and
                                                        up-skilling are priorities for the private sec-
                                                        tor, their investments may not always gener-
                                                        ate short-term financial gains and therefore
                                                        companies need to look at the long-term
                                                        economic impact to see that the return on
                                                        investment in training is substantial.

                                                        How can we protect workers
                                                        around the world during a
                                                        time of profound change?
                                                        The future of work will require businesses
                                                        and governments to create solutions that
                                                        are more flexible, secure and fair and to sup-
                                                        port people in every sector throughout their
                                                        working lives, regardless of how, where and
                                                        when they choose to work.

18 |
During the breakout sessions, participants
brainstormed ideas for priorities that gov-
ernments should embrace when working
to renew the social contract. Participants
learned that some 85% of the world’s pop-
ulation want to see the rules of the glob-
al economy rewritten, protecting children
and the elderly, enshrining democratic
freedoms and promoting shared prosperi-
ty. Given that more than 50% of people are
vulnerable at work and 800 million peo-
ple worldwide survive on less than $3 a day,
clearly job creation and labour protection are
among the most important elements in a re-
newed social contract.

Yet, implementation often remains the
stumbling block, the place that needs con-
crete action. Participants discussed how
social protection could operate better in
practice. After intense discussions, they
concluded that companies must educate
employees about the long-term benefits of
social protection and should adjust benefits
according to employees’ needs. While there
is no one-size-fits-all approach to social
protection, measures include investments
in healthcare and pensions and increased
funding for childcare.

                                                 | 19
JEFFERSONIAN DINNERS

       Jeffersonian Dinners connect small groups        Leading yourself to lead oth-
       of people in a more intimate way than            ers: How mindfulness can
       a large discussion. The aim is to identify
       a topic of interest and have a single, itera-
                                                        drive change in organizations
       tive conversation around the table on that       Another dinner focused on the impact of
       topic. During FU.SE, 12 Jeffersonian Dinners     leadership development, mindfulness and
       were hosted, taking participants on a cu-        neuroscience on the culture of many or-
       linary journey of Milan’s most prestigious       ganizations, and how leaders can imple-
       restaurants.                                     ment mindfulness in a skilful way. Partic-
                                                        ipants explored the world of mindfulness,
       Beyond blue collar: How to                       learning that it has moved beyond stress
       envision the future of the pro-                  reduction to become an essential skill for
                                                        future leaders, building their mental and
       fessions                                         cognitive capabilities. Given that many
       One of the dinners continued the earlier         traditional ways of innovating and trans-
       discussion about the future of professions.      forming companies are no longer working,
       Until recently, much attention has been          mindfulness provides a new way of accel-
       focused on the impact automation will            erating change and creating a culture in
       have on blue-collar jobs. However, the dis-      which innovation can thrive.
       ruptions are going to go beyond blue-col-
       lar workers. Participants grappled with the
       idea that in the future a number of jobs will
       disappear and that for those that remain,
       jobs will face a polarisation in terms of re-
       wards. It was suggested that one way to
       respond to this shift is to better reward
       lower paid jobs (e.g. gardening, cleaning,
       nursing), given that they will require differ-
       ent and more advanced skills compared to
       today.

       Talent: How to disrupt disrup-
       tion through culture
       In another dinner, participants explored
       what drives culture in the digital age and
       what might be innovative ways of attract-
       ing and retaining talent at a time of disrup-
       tion. Participants looked at how companies
       could create stories, rituals and symbols of
       their brands in order to build their culture
       and the fact that a change in behaviours is
       required before changing mind-sets. More-
       over, creating a unique corporate culture is
       only possible if the company is able to drive
       and to measure the change.

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ACTION CAFÉS

Action Cafés were used to test solutions created during
the breakout sessions

Which ideas for interventions are feasible and realistic? The Action Café is a format for
action-oriented conversation where participants are invited to take the most promising
intervention ideas from the breakout groups and present them for an external opinion.
This makes the Action Café a dynamic way of testing ideas and challenging insights
generated earlier.

The insights included:
–– The importance of purpose in an organization
–– The challenges and opportunities provided by a remote and thus broader talent pool
–– The design of competitive hiring and progression strategies
–– The benefits of new models of accelerating and promoting access to training
–– The means of achieving equity and economic mobility
–– The re-definition of learning through technology and ways of creating digital skills
   maps in organizations

From the sessions came a set of proposed actions for the public and private sector. In
the continuing dialogue over the coming year, these will be fleshed out into possible
interventions.

Key actions for the private sector:
–– Focus hiring processes on skills instead of on education, experience or credentials
–– Apply similar interventions when employing older workers as when employing women,
   including setting quotas, training against bias and promoting sensitive and objective
   recruiting
–– Create individual, portable training accounts that provide a fixed amount of financial
   support for each employee, to be used for a training of their choice
–– Create an industry-wide system to define, assess and score people based on 10-12 key
   skills. Then apply this to the hiring process and the reform of education policies

Key actions for the public sector:
–– Restructure policy to incentivise shared public and private investment in training
   through tools such as portable, individual training accounts
–– Reinvigorate societal mechanisms to support those working after pensionable age, us-
   ing interventions such as new tax systems, subsidy models and new forms of regulation
–– Design social protection policy based on the different income levels of employees and
   prioritize those who most need protection
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THE WAY FORWARD

FU.SE Milan revealed a strong appetite among
decision-makers for a peer-level platform where
ideas can be exchanged in a trusting and neutral
space, with a focus on the co-creation of practical
solutions. We will continue to fine-tune the for-
mat and approach based on input from the par-
ticipants, to truly make this a unique experience.

As FU.SE is a platform, community and move-
ment, we will continue these discussions both
online and in person through an interactive plat-
form and a series of regional events. While the
community is brought together by invitation
only, we intend the insights and solutions it de-
velops to be available to everyone.

Throughout the year, the FU.SE website will con-
tinue to share new ideas, as well as iterations of
the conversation and insights generated from
them. We invite you to join the dialogue and be-
come part of making the future work for everyone.
www.futureseriesfuse.com

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS &
       CONTRIBUTORS

       We would like to thank the Adecco Group,
       Boston Consulting Group and Microsoft as co-or-
       ganizers of FU.SE Milan for their contributions.
       Moreover, we would also like to acknowledge
       the official FU.SE partners, Zurich Insurance,
       ABB, LinkedIn, the International Labour Organi-
       zation (ILO), the OECD, Forbes, Landor and Think
       for their overall support to make the inaugural
       FU.SE summit a success.

       ORGANISING TEAM

       THE ADECCO GROUP
       Alain Dehaze
       Chief Executive Officer
       Cynthia Hansen
       Head of the Adecco Group Foundation
       Bettina Schaller
       Director Group Public Affairs
       Delia Fischer
       Global Head of Corporate Communications
       Diana Mussetti
       Event Coordinator

       BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP
       Judith Wallenstein
       Senior Partner and Managing Director, BCG Munich
       Andreas Liedtke
       Partner and Managing Director, BCG Zurich
       Theodore Roos
       Principal, BCG London
       Laura Niculae
       Associate, BCG Zurich
       Agathe Renard
       Associate, BCG Geneva

       MICROSOFT
       Stephane Jordan
       Global Business Manager for The Adecco Group, Microsoft
       Luba Manolova
       Senior Business Group Lead, Microsoft

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