This article is part of “Workforce Innovation,” a series exploring the forces shaping enterprise transformation.
“We’ve been on the journey for about 10 years on skills-based HR,” he said.
“It took a while to get it right.”
The roundtable participants were:
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Rebecca Knight: What do you predict will be the single most important change in the workforce in 2025?
And what advice do you have for business leaders to prepare themselves for that change?
This is where the search funnel is providing direct answers as opposed to just a ranked set of results.
I think of it as summary-before-source results.
In this new world, you’re free to bypass all of that and get an answer.
But it might not be the most accurate answer.
Justina Nixon-Saintil:There’s been a lot of talk about AI agents.
I think there are two areas that companies have to really focus on for 2025.
One is how do you balance innovation versus executing some of these AI systems in the most responsible way?
And I think both of them are tied to ethical AI and skills building.
The second thing is the ethical responsibilities that companies have.
Maggie Hulce:There are incremental projects in particular functions that are using AI to make workflows better.
And it cuts across many people’s ownership lines and teams.
Culturally, how do we reward innovation and adaptability and let people embrace change?
Don’t worry that we need to retrain the manual translation team; we will retrain them.
Think about what can and should be changed with AI."
So employers are going to have to adapt by creating age-inclusive workplaces.
They’re going to have to harness the experience and the skills of older workers.
This is also going to mean that we have to rethink traditional career trajectories and offer flexible work arrangements.
Shane Koller:This is a key area where the HR function can and should influence companies going forward.
Nixon-Saintil:Lifelong learning doesn’t just end with AI.
You have to consider the acceleration of technology.
This has to be a complete mindset change for employees and employers from an investment perspective.
How do we build that talent pipeline?
That’s something we are doing through programs like IBM SkillsBuild.
We recruit a lot from underrepresented communities and communities in general where we do not look for degrees.
Sharawn Tipton:I also see skills-based talent management as one of the biggest trends for 2025.
Jack Azagury:Skills-based HR is a very complex area.
It took us years to get the right algorithm to determine what skills somebody had.
The second is to be very transparent about how you’re measuring skills.
The third thing I would say is do not use skills-based HR for cost reduction.
They need to see the positive coming out for their careers in your organization.
Lucrecia Borgonovo:The biggest change is definitely going to be around skills-powered organizations.
We know that there’s not necessarily a playbook and we have to cocreate this playbook together.
I think this requires pretty significant change management in addition to tech enablement.
From an employee standpoint, we were talking about learning agility as a huge currency.
Chen:The best way to prepare for change and transformation is to ensure your fundamentals are in place.
I’ve been thinking about that a lot for AI and skills-based HR.
But if the fundamentals are in place, you’ve got the option to weather those unknowns.
