How the Discussions at Davos will Impact Recruitment
While the World Economic Forum had to postpone this year's annual Davos gathering until May 2022, it was replaced in January with the Davos Agenda 2022, a virtual meeting of world leaders and executives. Davos Agenda 2022 brought together CEO's and leaders from across the globe to propose solutions to pressing global issues. In typical Davos fashion, ground-breaking ideas were not in short supply.
Space Executive followed January's Davos Agenda discussions with interest, knowing that the forum will inevitably influence future actions in several industries.
The conversations focused on the COVID-19 pandemic response, the global economic recovery, climate action, technological innovation and global collaboration.
Our Key Highlights and Takeaways from Davos Agenda 2022
1. A New Social Contract
With close to 1.6 billion of the most vulnerable workers in global labour markets losing their capacity to earn a decent living in the context of the pandemic, the emerging features of a new social contract between governments, businesses and citizens were discussed.
One Davos Panel focused on the need for ‘a new social contract'. This is significant in our ever-changing world, with the pandemic forcing an acceleration of change when it comes to the tripartite relations between the public sector, the private sector and employees. Amongst other things, a new social contract will inevitably lead to a call for renewed rights in a world where employment is changing by the day.
2. Hitting Closer to Home
Studies show that the percentage of people working remotely almost doubled from November 2020 to November 2021, with numbers showing a jump from 6.5% to 12.6% in a single year.[1]
As Hans Vestberg stated in another Davos panel (Technology Cooperation in the Fourth Industrial Revolution), it is 'a human right to be connected’ and seeing that similar calls have also been made elsewhere, including in the European Parliament,[2] it is expected that there ought to be more investment by both the public and private sector in connectivity infrastructure to address this.
As a result of this investment, companies working in Consultancy, Technology, Change Management, Governance, and Sales and Marketing will gain access to a larger talent pool that will enable them to be more productive and competitive by utilising remote work.
3. Climate and ESG
As stated by U.S. Climate Tzar John Kerry in the ‘Accelerating and Scaling Up Climate Innovation’ panel, private investment is a must if climate objectives are to be reached. The private sector is clearly up for the task, with companies operating in areas such as financial services, venture capital, insurance and governance also ramping up their corporate sustainability and ESG efforts.
Given that activists and global leaders are pushing for more sustainable and climate-conscious investment, new rules and regulations will inevitably come into play. These regulations have already been implemented in some parts of the world and will continue to encourage or make it mandatory for, companies to ramp up their ESG efforts. However, for these efforts to succeed, new workforces will be needed to keep up with the increasing amount of work that comes with ESG due diligence.
The demand for ESG investment has increased significantly, and the new personnel requirements to meet these demands will result in the need for a higher salary bill.[3] ESG helps with asset optimization, cost reductions and employee productivity uplift, meaning that despite the increased requirements, businesses investing in ESG should continue to see a profitable return on investment.
Conclusion
The world is changing and changing fast, and the job and recruitment market is no exception. One thing is for sure, however, and this is that the need for increased investment and change will inevitably lead to increased prosperity for thousands of companies and millions of people worldwide. Although fears of growing tech inequality have been voiced by global experts worldwide,[4] it is almost certain that increased investment will be undertaken in this respect. However, whether or not this investment will be enough remains to be seen.
[1] 'People Matters - Interstitial Site — People Matters' (Peoplematters.in, 2022) <https://www.peoplematters.in/article/leadership/wef-davos-agenda-2022-5-shifts-driving-the-new-world-of-work-32322> accessed 20 January 2022.
[2] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2021-005211_EN.html
[3] Kara Greenberg, 'Demand For ESG Investments Soars Emerging From COVID-19 Pandemic' (Investopedia, 2021) <https://www.investopedia.com/demand-for-esg-investments-soars-emerging-from-covid-19-pandemic-5193532> accessed 20 January 2022.
[4] Charles Riley, 'Global Experts Are Very Worried About The Future, Davos Survey Finds' (CNN, 2022) <https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/11/business/world-economic-forum-global-survey/index.html> accessed 20 January 2022.
