Q1: As the number of young people NEET continues to rise, how should HR respond?

We have allowed entry-level recruitment to become extraordinarily complex at precisely the moment we need it to be accessible. Multi-stage processes, automated screening, recorded video interviews – these tools were designed to manage risk and improve efficiency, and there are legitimate reasons for using them. But there is a real danger that the system has overcorrected.

84% of NEET young people surveyed by the Milburn Review said they wanted to work or do an apprenticeship. The barrier is not aspiration – it is access. The most consistent complaint from young applicants is not rejection, but silence. That alone should prompt every HR team to examine its own candidate communication practice.

• Register now for The HR World’s webinar on this subject: The Lost Generation – the challenge and opportunity for HR: 19 August, Free and online.

The practical steps available immediately are not complicated. Audit your entry-level recruitment processes for unnecessary barriers. Remove the requirement for prior experience where it is not genuinely needed. Reduce reliance on automated screening for junior roles. Introduce a meaningful commitment to communicating with every applicant. None of these require government action or significant investment, they just require employer decision.

Q2: Does this crisis lie outside HR's consideration, or are there genuine challenges and opportunities in providing meaningful early careers?

It would be wrong to lay all of this at the door of employers. Increases in employer National Insurance contributions, the extension of the National Living Wage to younger age groups, and the costs of compliance and onboarding all weigh disproportionately on the economics of casual and entry-level hiring. As employment protections expand via the Employment Rights Act, compliance expectations increase and greater scrutiny is placed on employment practices like probationary periods, casual working arrangements and zero-hours contracts, employers inevitably become more risk-conscious about hiring decisions. 

The CIPD has been direct about this: the government must recognise the link between the Employment Rights Act and employers' ability to invest in jobs for young people. That is not an argument against employment protection – it is an argument for policy coherence. You cannot simultaneously expand the cost and complexity of taking on a young, inexperienced worker and then express surprise when fewer employers are willing to do it. 

Milburn himself, however, pushes back on those who use this as the primary explanation. This crisis is structural and long-term – 1.6 million first-rung jobs have disappeared from the economy over the past two decades. That is not something that can be attributed to the legislative programme of the last two years. Both things can be true: the structural problem is deep and pre-existing, and the current policy environment is not helping.

Q3: How does the NEET issue connect to early careers as organisations introduce AI to take over entry-level roles?

Administrative roles are down 56%, sales roles down 44%, customer service roles down 59% since 2022. If AI is removing the jobs that used to bring young people in, what replaces them? 

Those figures should give every HR leader pause. The entry-level roles that historically absorbed young people into the workforce, e.g. basic administration, first-line customer contact, data processing, are precisely those most susceptible to automation. We are simultaneously lamenting the rise in young people who cannot find work and accelerating the removal of the roles that would have taken them on.

At a recent board meeting, an icebreaker discussion about people's first jobs revealed a strikingly consistent picture - shop work, hospitality, warehouse shifts, paper rounds. Those roles provided not only income, but an early introduction to responsibility, workplace culture and confidence. The sobering question that followed was what the next generation of leaders will say when asked the same question in twenty years' time. For many young people today, those accessible, flexible entry points simply may not exist in the same way.

The concern is that we are using young people to fill gaps in the current labour market, rather than building pathways into the economy of the future."

That does not make AI the villain, businesses have a legitimate interest in technology that improves efficiency. But GoodWork, which submitted formal evidence to the Milburn Review, made a point worth taking seriously: AI career support tools must never replace human intervention for young people who are NEET. They need more contact with the world, not less. The organisations automating entry-level functions have a particular responsibility to ask what they are creating in its place, and early careers strategies need to evolve alongside technology strategies, not lag behind them.

Q4: Are we looking at a workplace revolution, and will the future eventually work itself out?

Looking back to look forward to the future, the Milburn report identifies over 20 years of government youth employment schemes, e.g. New Deal, Future Jobs Fund, Kickstart, Traineeships – and describes them as a record of failure. 

I think, an important passage in the Report in paragraphs 666 and 667 is that Britain has not ignored youth unemployment in the past. Miburn sets out that the twenty years of youth employment schemes is not a record of passivity and it is a record of sustained policy effort. However, despite it all, the structural NEET rate has barely fallen below 10% in twenty-five years. The test for the government's response must be whether it is fundamentally different to what has been tried before because constantly repeating the same non-impact initiatives is not going to help here. 

The immediate response from the government to the Milburn Report is 300,000 work placements focused on hospitality, health and social care and construction. This is a welcome commitment, but it conspicuously omits the sectors identified in the government's own Modern Industrial Strategy: AI, life sciences, the green economy, creative industries. The concern is that we are using young people to fill gaps in the current labour market, arguably following past initiatives that have not made a strong enough impact, rather than building pathways into the economy of the future.

Learning from the past and designing initiatives that will tackle this structural NEET rate now and in the future is what is needed. The autumn recommendations will be the real test.

Q5: Is the NEET crisis a chance to find untested talent, or is it simply the natural result of AI and an out-of-touch education system?

There is genuine opportunity here. Many young people who lack formal experience, polished CVs or confidence in structured interview settings still possess the adaptability, resilience and aptitude that businesses say they are struggling to find. The employers building relationships with young people before they are job-ready, engaging at 14, 15 and 16, not waiting for an application, will be better placed in a labour market that is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate for young people and businesses alike. But that opportunity will not be realised by accident. It requires deliberate choices about how employers assess potential, how they design access, and who they regard as worth investing in.

Most of the noise about youth unemployment focuses on the young people. Far less attention goes to what it does to employers. That is a mistake because Britain’s NEET crisis is not only a youth problem – it is quietly building a seniority cliff.

• Register now for The HR World’s webinar on this subject: The Lost Generation – the challenge and opportunity for HR: 19 August, Free and online.

Every organisation runs on a pipeline. Today’s trainee becomes tomorrow’s productive. Today’s junior becomes tomorrow’s manager. Today’s apprentice becomes the specialist you cannot operate without. Yet across the economy, businesses are growing reluctant to hire inexperienced young people. The safer bet is always someone who already has the skills and the track record.

I understand the caution. The young person with potential but no experience loses out to the older worker who can hit the ground running. The decision is understandable. The consequences, however, are a time bomb…

By the time a business notices the gap in its management or technical expertise, the damage is already done.”

When thousands of employers make the same safe choice, the entry-level opportunities disappear – and so does the supply of experienced people five and ten years from now. You can buy in experience for a while but, eventually, every business has to grow its own.

This is where Milburn’s review and the AI conversation collide. If employers stop hiring juniors now because software can handle the routine entry-level work, they are not just creating a youth unemployment problem for today. They are hollowing out their own senior expertise for 2030 and beyond. The managers, technical specialists and team leaders every organisation will depend on in a decade are the very people we are declining to take a chance on now.

You cannot fast-forward judgement. It is built over years of solved problems, near-misses and hard-won experience. Close the door at the entry point and we do not just lose a generation of juniors – we lose the seniors they would have become.

This is not a distant worry. The decisions that create that gap are being made in recruitment rounds this year.

Nowhere is this sharper than in technical and skilled industries, where experienced staff are heading for retirement and there simply are not enough younger people coming through to replace them. By the time a business notices the gap in its management or technical expertise, the damage is already done. The conversation about skills shortages almost always starts too late.

At Apprenticeship Central we spend our days helping employers turn willingness into opportunity, and the hesitation we meet is almost never about enthusiasm. It is about risk. Employers genuinely want to help, then find ten reasons why this particular young person, this particular month, is not quite the right fit.

But the smartest act anyway. I have watched employers move their most experienced technicians onto part-time hours purely to keep them in the building – and bring apprentices in alongside them, deliberately, to capture that expertise before it walks out the door for good. That is what taking the cliff seriously looks like.

The organisations still investing in young talent are not being charitable. They are protecting their own future capability. The ones playing it safe are quietly mortgaging theirs.

So the question every employer should be asking is not whether they can afford to recruit and develop young people. It is whether they can afford not to.

Born and raised in France from a Moroccan family, she always felt she was able to access the ‘best of both worlds’, a view which has informed her work throughout her life. “Being part of two cultures taught me to see different perspectives,” she says.

She set out to study psychology with an initial aspiration to teach, however this was swiftly side tracked when she enrolled on a business studies course. Within that course there was a small HR module which would change the direction of her life.

“It was the perfect fit for me,” she admits. Add this interest to her natural customer-oriented and competitive streak – born from working a series of jobs throughout her studies – and she soon developed a combination of commercial drive and people focus that would become a defining feature of her career.

The best candidate isn’t necessarily the best person overall. It’s the best person for a certain culture, in a certain place, at a certain time.”

Having finished her studies she joined the world of executive search in Paris, recruiting for some of the world’s largest companies, including L’Oréal and Yves Saint Laurent. The experience taught her a lesson that still shapes her leadership philosophy today.

“Recruitment isn’t about finding the best people,” she says. “It’s about understanding your customer, the context and what they need at that moment. The best candidate isn’t necessarily the best person overall. It’s the best person for a certain culture, in a certain place, at a certain time.”

A Career Built Across Continents

Khadija’s move to Merck came through her recruitment practice. Around 16 years ago she found herself working as a headhunter for an executive search firm’s Danish operation. She pitched to fill a particular role that had been vacant for six months but was told that the company already had a recruitment partner.

“My response was that they couldn’t be very good if the role had been open for six months,” she laughs.

The result was not just winning the assignment, but being offered a place in the company.

Again Khadija’s hard working and enthusiastic streak worked well for her and she quickly rose through the ranks, transforming recruitment operations across Europe and the United States. The work exposed her to increasingly complex business projects – supporting major acquisitions and building a stronger talent strategy.

With talent management becoming increasingly important to the organisation, 2015 saw Khadija move to the business’ headquarters, in Darmstadt, Germany, focusing on high-potential talent and leadership development. Less than three years later, she relocated again – this time to Singapore – to become an HR Business Partner supporting operations across Asia.

This experience culminated in a role as Chief of Staff to the CEO, a position she describes as one of the most formative of her career. The role offered her an insight into leadership positions and this learning experience led to her appointment three and a half years later, as Chief Human Resources Officer. In this role she held a clear ambition: to show the company what great HR could look like.

The increasing emergence of AI and related technology featured heavily in the discussion although alongside the idea of technology replacing previous jobs for new starters there was the idea that the current influx of early career applicants are digital natives so can bring skills and attitudes to the workplace which existing staff can learn from in order to get the most from evolving technology. 

The panel also address the need to provide appropriate support and understanding to early careers candidates as they make the transition into the workplace. An appreciation both of neurodiversity and the mental health challenges associated with regular working life means organisation are better placed to get the most from their new recruits in the short and longer term. 

The HR World’s webinar The Lost Generation – the challenge and opportunity for HR, is well worth a view to understand the current state of play for early careers and for organisations looking to ensure their own career pipeline remainseffective in these turbulent times.  

Sanderson Government & Defence were proud to host and sponsor How to TurboCharge Your Social Value, a breakfast seminar held in London which focused on one of the most important challenges – and opportunities – facing the UK Public Sector and Defence today: how to create meaningful, measurable social value while delivering strong commercial outcomes.

With a particular emphasis on opening pathways into public sector and defence careers for individuals from underrepresented groups, the session brought together social value experts, delivery partners and clients to share practical insight, lived experience and real world examples of what good looks like in practice. Those organisations included: Social Value Portal, Auticon, Bridge of Hope and IBM.

A market ready for action

The level of engagement throughout the morning spoke volumes. A diverse and highly engaged audience reflected the growing urgency across the market for solutions that align inclusive hiring with organisational performance.

As one of our speakers from Bridge of Hope noted: “The energy in the room was palpable, with lively discussion, authentic lived experiences being shared and genuine curiosity throughout. Attendees agreed that now, more than ever, inclusive hiring is businesscritical, not just a boxticking exercise.”

The conversation made it clear that organisations are no longer asking whether social value matters — but how to embed it in a way that is credible, sustainable and impactful.

From policy to practice

A central theme of the session was moving from policy intent to practical delivery.

Experts from The Social Value Portal provided insight into how the evolving regulatory landscape, including the Procurement Act, is shaping expectations for suppliers to the public sector. Crucially, the focus was on how organisations can move beyond compliance and use social value as a strategic differentiator.

Attendees explored practical approaches to:

• Translating procurement requirements into meaningful action
• Embedding measurable social value outcomes into bids and delivery models
• Demonstrating impact in a way that resonates with contracting authorities

The message was clear: organisations that understand and operationalise social value effectively will be better positioned to compete and win.

Lived experience and alternative pathways

Bridge of Hope brought an essential perspective to the discussion, grounding social value in lived experience and real outcomes. Their contribution highlighted the importance of alternative pathways into employment, predictors of success beyond traditional CVs, and the role employers can play in addressing structural barriers to opportunity.

By focusing on potential, capability and longterm support – rather than narrow definitions of “fit” – organisations can unlock talent that is too often overlooked, while delivering meaningful social impact.

Neuroinclusion in focus: learning from Auticon

A particularly powerful and thought provoking part of the morning came from Auticon, leaders in neuroinclusive employment.

Auticon employs consultants with an autism diagnosis, supporting them into high value roles across complex and demanding environments. Their presentation challenged outdated assumptions about both talent and productivity, demonstrating that neuroinclusive workplaces are not only fairer – they are demonstrably smarter.

Through lived experience, evidence and client outcomes, Auticon showed how intentionally designed roles, environments and support structures enable neurodivergent talent to thrive. The benefits for organisations include:

• Enhanced analytical thinking and problem solving
• Greater innovation through diverse cognitive approaches
• Strong performance in detail driven, mission critical work

Importantly, the discussion reframed neuroinclusion away from accommodation alone and towards strategic workforce design. Moving beyond traditional assessment and recruitment methods allows organisations to unlock strengths that standard processes often miss.

The message resonated strongly across the room: neuroinclusive hiring is not philanthropy – it is a practical, outcomes driven approach that delivers commercial value while creating sustainable career opportunities.

The client lens: insight from IBM

The session was rounded out with a client perspective from IBM, offering candid insight into what embedding social value looks like in practice at scale.

Their contribution reinforced that inclusive hiring and delivery models require intentional design, strong partnerships and a willingness to challenge legacy approaches. IBM’s experience demonstrated that organisations who commit to this journey see tangible benefits in innovation, resilience and longterm sustainability.

Hearing directly from a client navigating these challenges provided invaluable context for attendees looking to turn ambition into action.

Practical takeaways that matter

Participants left the session with:

• Clearer frameworks for measuring and evidencing social value
• New ways to assess talent beyond traditional CVs
• Insight into building inclusive, resilient supply chains
• Confidence that commercial success and social outcomes can – and should – coexist

As one speaker summarised: “The stories and practical advice made it clear: combining commercial priorities with social outcomes is not only possible, but essential to longterm business success.”

Continuing the conversation

For Sanderson Government & Defence, hosting How to TurboCharge Your Social Value reinforced our commitment to connecting clients with diverse talent, supporting inclusive delivery models, and enabling social value that is real, measurable and lasting.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us, shared their experiences and contributed to such an open and constructive discussion.

Together, we’re turbocharging both commercial success and social value.

If you’d like to continue the conversation or explore how social value, inclusive hiring or neuroinclusion can be embedded into your organisation, we’d love to hear from you.

The latest webinar from The HR World, sponsored by Cognisses Talent Analytics, part of the DeepLearn Group, brought together three experienced individuals on HR data and analytics to discuss how talent analytics could up the game for HR on early careers and more general talent management. Understanding Your Talent Needs Before The Search gave an insight into ideas and practices for HR which would make the most of the data their departments already generate resulting in smoother talent management practices.

Cian Short, Early Years Career Manager for the Irish company Kepak explained how his business had already started to engage with analytics in order to identify the potential of newcomers to the company as well as beginning to map out their training needs and career path across the organisation. Johanna Reategui, Client Services Director from Cognisess was on hand to explain the process behind using analytics while Ross Crook, Chief Revenue Officer at Lifetime Training gave a view from the senior end of the HR spectrum, outlining the strategic thought and investment that needed to supporting the effective implementation and use of talent analytics across organisations.

Between the three of them the panelists demonstrated how HR already has copious amounts of useful data that can be drawn upon to give insight into many aspects of talent management – identifying skills and skills gaps before they are required – rather than simply recording what has already occurred.

Organisations already engaged in this work are driving towards being able to strategically plan their workforces, reflecting and tying employees into the needs of the business as that changes and develops. It was also noted that sometimes accessing and carrying out the necessary analytical work can cause a pause in the recruitment process but it can sometimes be more desirable to take that time and ensure you are recruiting the right talent in the right way and onboarding or managing that talent effectively, than simply bringing in the most likely looking candidate as soon as possible.

Whatever stage you may be on the road of talent analytics this webinar provides a comprehensive and valuable insight into how companies can make analytics work – from every perspective. As AI takes an ever larger role in the recruitment process analytics will continue to play an important role in supporting the human decision maker whose responsibility it is to ensure the organisation always gets the talent it requires.

With such a high level of contribution across the HR agenda and throughout the wider businesses where she’s worked, it may come as a surprise to learn that Jenner could have stayed in her initial lane, concentrating only on employment law and immigration. Having successfully completed her education to become a lawyer sudden ill health led to three week’s off during which time she realised the legal profession was not for her. A brief stint in recruitment followed – in which the sales angle didn’t suit her – before an HR opportunity arose which seemed perfect.

It came in the form of a lead generation business who were looking for someone who could fulfil their recruitment needs while also overseeing the employment law side of the business – two areas where Jenner knew she could deliver: “My first HR job was as leader of HR,” she says. “I didn’t start as a specialist in a particular role, I needed to be a generalist from day one.” While this may have been something of a baptism of fire Jenner notes that her career has since progressed, moving her away from official structures and systems for HR, focusing instead on the more psychological aspects of people management – how to get the best from the talent with whom she works. 

“I’ve always been fascinated by the intersection of human behaviour, business strategy, and organisational design,” she explains. “HR is one of the few functions that influences all three.”

If you do it right you can have an impact on how people feel about work and that affects how they work for the business.”

Indeed, structures have been something of a target for Jenner as she’s realised how much potential organisations can waste through traditional ways of handling people. Business structures, systems, communication and even encouraged forms of leadership can all get in the way of realising a workforce’s full potential.

A virtual round table, hosted by The HR World and sponsored by Indeed Flex has further cemented the need for an agile workforce in today’s organisations. At the same time the discussion highlighted crucial aspects of how to manage such a workforce to maximise return. With the right approach, from recruitment to management, companies can maximise productivity and loyalty from their flexible workforce. Gaining loyalty from a contingent workforce may seem to be a difficult, almost contradictory idea, and yet the round table made clear how this could be achieved and would drive best value from the workforce at a time of change and challenge for businesses.

The round table, entitled Skills, speed, scale: achieving talent advantage through workforce agility was hosted by The HR World’s Managing Director, Tom Bright and sponsored by Indeed Flex, the contingent labour and workforce management technology provider backed by the job site, Indeed. The event brought together a number of leading HR directors from diverse sectors, each engaging a blend of permanent, flexible and contingent workers, in order to meet their ongoing needs. 

In some cases the balance of contingent and permanent workforce has changed over the years according to internal strategy development and  external market forces. Seasonal work and customer demand also influence the make-up of the workforce but at all times HR leaders were focussed on ensuring the right position is filled by the right talent in the right way. 

Is the contingent approach ‘efficient’?

Indeed, while the companies involved were all using contingent workforces in one way or another, the question of whether the use of this workforce was ‘efficient’ was among the first challenges identified by one of the HR professionals in the discussion. To some extent, businesses with low numbers of external workers could be considered less agile or resilient than those with higher numbers, simply because they are less able to flex their workforce according to needs. However it was also recognised that how those workers are managed – with the subsequent impact on productivity and cost – was also crucial to getting the best from them.

Michael Farrier, Solutions Director at Indeed Flex put forward the point that one of the foundations of securing an effective contingent workforce was to create a clear partnership with the suppliers of talent rather than simply treating the relationship as transactional. The more the provision of talent occurred on the basis of understanding the business and their needs, the more the service could be tailored to offer the right talent for that business.

Farrier noted that Indeed Flex is a technology first business, maximising the solutions it uses to automate and hone the selection and provision of staff for its customers. In this way it can identify the right talent for a client while building an efficient pathway to bringing that talent into the organisation.

Working in partnership isn’t just good for the employer, however, it also provides benefits to the worker. A better understanding of the opportunities at an employer and the talent required means candidates can have a better experience whatever their employment model. With the right recruitment process, candidates can be swiftly placed while understanding both the company they’re working for and the opportunities they have.

From external flexibility to internal agility

The round table showed how effective external support can help organisations achieve better internal flexibility. With the right talent coming into an organisation HR can manage their people effectively, even transitioning individuals from contingent to flexible to permanent placement if such opportunities arose and employees wanted to make this move. Not only does this make the employer more agile and responsive it creates an environment where workers are given a range of opportunities that match their requirements as well as creating grounds for gaining their loyalty to the employer.

Companies need to be competitive in the recruitment process, as well as offering good rewards and an attractive workplace culture.

A culture where talent can move to the most appropriate position means the organisation gains internal agility in terms of where and how it positions its talent, making it more responsive and efficient in its use of its workforce. At the same time the individual worker may gain a sense of loyalty to the business – this is an employer who is interested in you, in offer more opportunities and in building a career for the future. One HR professional noted that this approach means however an individual comes to a business they have the potential to take more responsibility and higher positions according to their ability and desire. 

Employees with the right values

HR professionals working in the care and retail sector were particularly keen to emphasise the importance of offering development opportunities to all staff since it  supports the need to employ individuals who are motivated by and dedicated to their sectors. In these organisations it was felt that all employees – including contingent workers – need to have the right values to work there. They need to care about the work and provide the right level of service – the actual skills required can always be taught. For these businesses, securing a contingent workforce is never going to be just about finding the right number of people, it’s about finding the right people. With the right approach it is possible to secure such talent while also employing that talent in a flexible way.

Making recruitment work

Recruitment is certainly one area employers need to get right to maximise value from their workforce. While identifying the right person for the right job – including identifying the people with the right values as above – recruitment has to be simple and efficient. The HR professionals on the call agreed there is a need to be on top of the recruitment process at all times, ensuring there’s no unnecessary delay in bringing candidates through from initial application to job offer. For many employers, the reason for this is because the talent pool organisations are drawing from are often considering many different opportunities at once. Candidates can put in multiple applications for jobs and may take the first offer that works for them. Companies therefore need to be competitive in the process itself, as well as offering good rewards and an attractive workplace culture. As Farrier noted the technology currently exists to help support this, and indeed the technology is constantly evolving to make recruitment more efficient both time wise and in terms of identifying the right people.

Securing value from the contingent workforce also comes down to viewing and understanding the data. According to Michael Farrier, employers need to have visibility and control over the talent they’re sourcing. In this way they can understand the cost of the talent they’re using and ensure this makes sense to the business.

The role of management

Achieving this extends to the role of managers within the business. According to many HR professionals the line manager needs to be fully engaged in the process, determining what kind of talent should be brought into the business. As one HR professional said, they need to be listened to as they are the ones who know what talent they need and how long someone they should be employed for, based on the tasks that need to be done. If this part of the equation is handled correctly then organisations can be one step closer to ensuring their staffing strategy reflects their business needs. 

Caring for people

Ultimately those attending the round table agreed that however talent might be employed by an organisation there had to be the recognition that all employees are treated as people and not just as a resource to be switched on and off. If employers want their workers to bring their whole selves to work, if they want them to bring the right values and commitment to a role, they need to show them commitment and care as well. 

The contingent workforce is undoubtedly the gateway to a flexible and agile workforce, but it will only support your business effectively if it is given the right investment and support. Technology can undoubtedly provide better access and management of an agile workforce, and HR can take advantage of the efficiencies and savings offered by technology on the administrative side in order to provide better focus on managing people. In this way the effective management of an agile workforce, one which blends contingent, flexible and permanent roles, offers a win-win scenario for employers and talent alike.

Thriving teams: Why change shouldn’t hold your business back was packed with insights and practical examples of making the workplace work better. Following on from this discussion we asked the panelists a few more pertinent questions.

Q1: Can you – do you – recruit staff in order to work in particular teams or is there more of an ‘all-round team player’ type who HR/TA can look out for?

Scott Christie: I think we need to re-define ‘all-rounder’ – this should be a combination of the right skills AND strengths combined, with agility to know how to leverage them differently in different situations. It’s not about ‘being good’ at everything but developing what’s needed in the context you are facing. There is less time than ever for personal development and more about those adaptable to ever changing situations who have greater levels of self-awareness on how they can show up to drive positive outcomes.

David Edwards: It’s a bit of a cop-out answer, but you’re going to be glad to have both. If the team is a technical one, then your recruitment is necessarily targeted. However, we talk at length about the need for people who are poly-skilled, flexible and adaptable to meet the needs of today’s working environment: we need to practice what we preach.

Anne Guérin-Moens: I believe capacity to work well in a team is not necessarily or at least not only a matter of behavioural competence. The cultural compatibility is also of essence. Therefore checking if a candidate aligns with the values that drive the culture of a company is essential.

Q2: Can you train people to be in a team and is it worth specifically training teams to be productive and work together? Can you also train people to be ready to adapt to change and work together despite what’s happening around them?

David Edwards: Absolutely. I think it comes to us much more naturally to work together, especially during crises, than we often think. It follows therefore that I believe effective teamwork training to involve scenarios just like that!

Anne Guérin-Moens: Team building with activities like understanding each others preferred ways of communication and value drivers surely help and leadership development/coaching of the team leader in taking into account the people side of change will certainly be of great help.

Scott Christie: Absolutely, but this has to be focused less on technical skills that will quickly become outdated.

At Strengthscope we talk about helping develop a peak performing team through five steps:

• Having a picture of where the team is going and what it is working towards (aspiration) helps to build clarity for the team
• Building the teams awareness of each others’ strengths and risks helps to build trust and openness within the team
• Understanding how the team deliver and take action, helps to build the team accountability to each other and the business.
• Supporting teams to be agile in changing and challenging situations helps to build change readiness in teams
• Celebrating success and learning from achievements helps to stretch and grow teams.

In our research, the biggest enabler is the clarity piece and the hardest is change readiness and stretch, where there is need for feedback and reflection – not something that many team/organisations give enough time to. In the age of AI, the most valuable qualities will be around human-to-human connection and how to leverage that most effectively. This will show up most clearly in work relationships and decision making – whether that is how leaders show up to empower rather than direct, or teams collaborate rather than compete. It will also be important to ensure that your human capital and resource don’t get spent – the 996/007 working practices are showing signs of becoming more prevalent and this will only lead to burn out and performance issues. This could lead to workers becoming seen as ‘disposable’ that will only develop employee churn and teams having to continually reset. If instead there are opportunities to work at the higher levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, you will find that teams stay more intact and the sense of safety and belonging will allow them to work at high cognitive levels.