Future-Proof Your Workforce

Critical combinations of coworkers, contractors, and AI collaborators.

“Today's CEOs will be the last to lead an all-human workforce as businesses look to integrate AI agents” - Salesforce CEO ​Marc Benioff​, Jan. 2025.

Benioff was right—but yesterday’s prediction is today’s pressing reality. The all-human workforce is already history.

The skills needed to find, convert, serve, and grow your customers are evolving fast, accelerated by AI and shifting economic realities. How can your employees, L&D, and recruiters keep up?

Reality check: 63% of employers identify skills gaps as the biggest barrier to business transformation over the next five years. [​WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025​]

The updated equation: Scaling your business is not just about adding AI agents. Your company must have the ability and agility to innovate and iterate. Combine talent and tech resources to cultivate a dynamic and sustainable workforce with a strategic mix of four groups:

‼️ The urgency is real. By 2030:

• 39% of existing skills expected to be transformed/outdated.
• 70% of employers expect to hire staff with new skills.
• 40% of employers plan to reduce staff with less relevant skills.
• 50% of employers plan to transition staff from declining to growing roles [​WEF 2025​].

🇪🇺 The European challenge: The EU workforce is projected to contract by 2 million workers per year by 2040, while 58% of leaders are already concerned about access to talent.

🌐 Global work models are shifting as companies adapt:

• 84% of Asia-Pacific companies outsource to freelancers.
• 42% of UK firms’ workforces include flexible freelancers [KPMG].
• 37% of companies in US, UK, NL, DE, AUS hire freelancers globally  [​Remote 2025​].
• 51% of US workers are expected to be freelancers by 2027 [​Statista 2022​].
• ​12% of the global workforce​ is projected to be freelancers by 2025.
• 16% of global firms are already fully remote [Owl Labs].

✅ New roles, new talent tactics: Companies engaged in workforce innovation are:

• Hiring fractional executives—especially in biotech, tech, healthcare.
• Using Employer of Record (EOR) platforms to access global talent.
• Automating more fulfillment, onboarding, and marketing tasks.
• Training all employees in digitally fluency and data tools.

Examples of companies future-proofing their workforces:

• ​Ocado​ (UK) – this online retailer’s automated warehouses handle 15% of items via robotics—targeting 70% within three years. 1,400 human staff focus on complex tasks with much increased efficiency.
• ​Aviva​ (UK) – an insurer that recognized every employee needed digital fluency and launched company-wide training in data visualization and machine learning. Employees embraced automation, boosting process efficiency by 40%.
• Amazon launched ​Upskilling 2025​ in 2019 pledging to invest $700mn in skills training to 100,000 US employees so they could access in-demand jobs.
• AT&T invested $1bn in ​employee retraining called “Future Ready​” when 40% of their workforce needed to transition roles. Over 140,000 employees participated, leading to measurable increases in innovation and competitiveness.

Issues self-audit:

• Have we completed a current skills audit?
• Have we assessed re-engineering and automation opportunities?
• Is someone accountable for AI implementation?
• Are fractional and freelancer strategies formalized?
• Do we track emerging/declining job functions monthly?

If you can only check three, your workforce is at risk.

PHASE 1: ASSESSMENT (Days 1-30)

Conduct a Workforce Audit -

• Map current skills against future business needs using HR analytics.
• Identify roles/areas at high risk of automation (e.g. admin, accounting).
• Catalog emerging skill needs (e.g. AI collaboration, data interpretation).
• Assess cultural readiness for substantial human-AI collaboration.
• Assign a senior workforce transformation lead.

PHASE 2: STRATEGIC DESIGN (Days 31-60)

Redesign Work Not Jobs - Break down positions into discrete tasks and activities to identify best assignments for humans and AI.

Build Your Talent Pipeline -

• Establish relationships with freelance platforms and fractional executive networks.
• Create clear pathways for contractor-to-employee conversion where applicable (e.g. X% of strategic contractors transition to full-time over YY months).
• Develop AI integration protocols for each department.

Upskilling Financial Planning - Budget for upskilling (min. benchmark: companies previously investing 3-5% of payroll in training) modeling cost savings from automation against retraining investments.

PHASE 3: IMPLEMENTATION (Days 61-90)

Launch Pilot Programs – Starting with one unit, introduce AI tools with clear success metrics running parallel contractor/freelancer projects to test scalability. Measure productivity gains and employee satisfaction.

Establish Governance – Create cross-functional teams to monitor workforce transformation. Set up regular reviews of emerging vs. declining skills, implementing feedback loops from human and AI team members.

Communication Strategy – Be transparent about workforce evolution plan—emphasizing growth opportunities, not just efficiency gains. Share success stories and celebrate early adopters.

Cultural Connectivity - Commit to a continuous learning culture. Focus on learning agility and skills sharing. Ensure employees and non-employees align on values and actively foster cohesive, blended teams.

IMMEDIATE ACTIONS:

• ‍Today: Schedule a 2-hour executive session to review workforce composition. What percentage is full-time, fractional, and contract? Where are critical skill gaps and who/how could you fill them?‍
• This week: Decide the senior leader to champion workforce innovation – initial execution and changing composition over time.‍
• Next week: Draft a workforce transformation communication for your senior team, outlining the business case and initial steps.

Workforce transformation is happening. Companies proactively blending human talent with AI capabilities while building flexible contractor networks can capture disproportionate market share. Don’t wait to be outpaced by your competition.

🗞️ ​Introducing the Periodic Table of Exponentials​ – Illuminating ideas.

📕 ​The Skills-powered Organization​ – Future-proofing workforce reading.

📹 ​Skills for your Future Workforce​ – Core skills every worker needs today.

🎶 ​Work Work Work by Rihanna​ – Transformation needs sustained energy!

Workforce transformation impacts every aspect of your business strategy and growth trajectory. If you are ready to scale through change, let’s talk and I will bring insights from my multinational enterprise and venture background. ​Book one of my limited executive coaching slots here​.

Stay ahead of the curve—see you next week!

Sophie