Today’s article features a recap of last year’s Future of Work Exchange Executive Roundtable conference. Registration is now open for this year’s edition, which will be held on June 13 in Boston at the historic Harvard Club venue. Register now!
In June 2022, Ardent Partners and the Future of Work Exchange hosted “FOWX Live,” an executive roundtable event focused on the core Future of Work topics that are driving business transformation. For many in attendance (including me!), it was the first time attending a live event since before the beginning of the pandemic.
John Healy, founder of Whrrr.work and one of the earliest Future of Work evangelists (and a former workforce solutions executive), kicked off Tuesday’s agenda with a spirited morning keynote that distilled various points of research around the Future of Work. “The way people connect with work is broken” is how John began his keynote address, discussing how the world of work has been transformed and requires new and innovative thinking regarding how businesses connect their projects with open talent-led work models.
FOWX Live featured two engaging panels:
- Atrium’s Nancy Maren, Utmost’s Dan Beck, and Sage’s Jessica Wall discussed how the extended workforce has impacted today’s businesses and how modern HR and procurement leaders can effectively harness the power of both VMS and MSP solutions to not only connect the enterprise with top-tier talent, but how to also drive true innovation and agility within extended workforce management.
- I joined JLL’s Caitlin Klezmer and WorkLLama’s Kevin Leete for a conversation on perhaps the hottest topic of the day: remote and hybrid work. Caitlin, Kevin, and I discussed how businesses are adapting to fully-remote and hybrid workplace structures, as well as how talent engagement and talent acquisition strategies are shifting to account for the desired flexibility in the candidate pool.
One of the major highlights of FOWX Live was the ability for attendees to converse with each other at “roundtable” sessions on core Future of Work topics, such as remote/hybrid work, DE&I, contingent workforce management, and technology strategy. These roundtable discussions featured lively discourse around these important areas of the Future of Work movement, and when it came time to “switch” roundtables (attendees could spend 30 minutes each at two different topic-led tables), it was tough for everyone to wrap up the conversations! Truly a highlight of this week’s event.
MA State Rep. Josh Cutler closed out the day as a special guest lunch keynote; Rep. Cutler was a prominent member of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Future of Work Commission. He spent the lunch hour discussing the report’s major findings and how they were applicable to both professionals and businesses alike.
