Future of Work Masterclass - Developing an agile workforce

Future of Work Masterclass

Join us for a series where we gather the latest insights, trends and knowledge about the future of work from our expert boxxers.

If there’s one thing we know for sure about the future of work, is that tech is forging a new path for us all, and will continue to do so.  Whilst that comes with lots of benefits, there will also be some major challenges as the working world struggles to keep up; Not least accelerating our digital skills. 

According to a report from the World Economic Forum , more than 75% of companies expect to adopt technologies like generative AI, big data, deep learning and cloud computing within the next 5 years.  Combine that with research from Coursera and we’re looking at a workforce of which 60% will need retraining between now and 2027… Yet only 50% of them have access to “adequate training opportunities.”  The need to address the digital skills gap is clear, but the ‘how’ is not so obvious.

After all, our people and their incredible range of skills are our biggest asset. 

We believe tech is bridging the digital divide, having already experienced the massive benefits that hybrid and remote working brought to us during the pandemic.  And now, it’s this ability to work remotely that has really changed our recruitment processes and practices –  not least because we can now recruit from across the whole of the UK. 

We were a York-based business before, but you only have to look at our current team to see that the whole diversity landscape has changed because we’re able to recruit people from all over the country who can work from home.  We have access to a much broader workforce, full of people with diverse skills, backgrounds and perspectives, which makes boxxe all the stronger. 

But we must caveat that; yes, we do have a bigger selection pool, but finding the right candidates for the job is still tricky.  A lot of that is down to the rapid uptake of generative Artificial Intelligence.  In fact, Forbes reports that “the majority (96%) of British employers believe artificial intelligence (AI) will be instrumental in shaping the future jobs market.”

It’s the biggest difference in today’s working world compared to just five years ago – changing the way employees work, and as a result, the way we recruit them. 

The use of generative AI is helping almost everyone to do their jobs better, there’s no denying it.  However, we must remember that AI is still very much human-driven and it can’t do anything without our input – it’s a tool to enhance, rather than replace.  So, as much as we love embracing new and innovative tech at boxxe, we have to remain incredibly discerning; candidates need to have a baseline of relevant knowledge and a strong set of both hard and soft skills (managing interpersonal relations is definitely a human thing!)  But if you’ve got the foundations, then go ahead and make the most out of AI to level up – make tech work for you.

If we want an agile workforce, we have to build one ourselves.  Tech has never just been about hardware or software for us.  It’s about people, people driving innovation and transforming the way we work.  It’s about combining meaningful connections, deep expertise and practical know-how into solutions that make a real difference.

This extends beyond our business oriented goals, and into our vision to use tech to benefit all within the community.  As such, we’ve built charitable partnerships in order to offer our expertise to those who want to upskill and reskill.  Our boxxers have befriended, mentored, advised, offered insight, provided technical support and taught employability skills to our local community, as a Board Member of York Cares and charity members of CITA .

By sharing our skills we are helping to break down the barriers to inclusion and reduce the skills gap at the source – by delivering digital poverty initiatives, acting as employability advisors and offering specialist skilled support to enhance social mobility and improve workplace opportunities. 

So yes, tech is disrupting the working world, but there’s plenty we can do to ensure we have an agile workforce that can keep pace.  It all comes back to human connection – we’ve got to work together, pool our expertise and experience to upskill, reskill and continue to make tech work for us. Because tech works best when you put people front and centre.