Events

Did you miss the second annual Future of Work Exchange LIVE Executive Roundtable event? Well, there’s always next year, but, until then, here’s a recap of the day’s festivities.

My colleague Andrew Bartolini (Ardent Partners’ Chief Research Officer) kicked off Tuesday’s conference and welcomed a packed room to a day filled with innovative insights. After a few minutes defining the Future of Work and setting the scene for the day ahead, Opptly CEO Lori Hock moderated an incredible panel discussion, “The Rising Tide of AI in Talent Acquisition,” that featured the solution’s Head of Operations, Rebecca Valladares, and Sevenstep’s Chief Solutions Officer, Paul Harty.

The panel discussed how critical artificial intelligence’s impact could be in the world of talent, especially as attributes such as the candidate experience, hiring manager experience, and the role of recruiter become ever-so-crucial in a volatile labor market. Valladares spoke of the utmost importance of the technology, stating, “Ultimately, recruiters who use AI will replace recruiters who do not use AI.”

The day’s second expert panel featured WorkLLama’s Kevin Leete, RSM’s External Workforce Lead, Lizzie Parnell, and Graphite’s VP of Alliances, Vanessa Miller. The panel, “Building Direct Access to Talent,” featured a lively conversation around the myriad ways talent acquisition is changing the ways businesses directly-access top-tier candidates. Parnell spoke about RMS’s unique “Work Your Way: An RSM Opportunity Marketplace” initiative, which prioritizes the candidate experience and encourages hiring managers to diversify their talent acquisition efforts through omni-channel sources of expertise.

HireGenics’ John DeWeerd (Senior Vice President) and Kristen McArdle (SVP of Client Success), with JLL’s Senior HR Business Partner, Caitlin Klezmer, discussed the impact of today’s extended workforce during the day’s third expert panel, “Why the Extended Workforce Is Your Greatest Asset.” The panel conversed around the contingent workforce’s role during uncertain economic times, its place in the pantheon of flexible workforce strategies, and how agile talent cascades into deeper talent acquisition innovation.

Before capping off the day with an elegant Harvard Club lunch (always a highlight of any event at this prestigious venue), FOWX Live’s attendees gathered for interactive roundtable discussions on topics such as remote and hybrid work, extended workforce management, hiring challenges, and technology strategies.

This exclusive event was dedicated to exploring the Future of Work and addressing the unique challenges presented by the evolving workforce and business landscapes. For the procurement, HR, and talent acquisition executives in the room, this was another invaluable and engaging conference to help better guide them on their Future of Work journeys.

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, 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.