"When water power then steam power were harnessed to spin and weave cloth, a cottage craft turned into an industry overnight."
"Technology is just one of the factors affecting the world of work. Economics, demographics, sociological trends, and government policies are four other core influences reshaping labour markets and determining how we will work for years ahead."
"For employers, mobility no longer means merely traditional expatriate placements, but moving jobs to where talented people are located."
"For millennials especially, mobility has become a key factor in selecting a potential career path and in choosing an appropriate employer."
"Over time, diversity has come to be acknowledged as an essential enhancer of corporate productivity, performance, and talent engagement."
"Diverse groups do best at complex problems and innovation when the facts aren't clear: each individual's perspective allows him or her to tackle challenges differently and, when stuck, rely on others' differing points of views to progress."
"Diversity requires commitment. Achieving the superior performance diversity can produce needs further action - most notably, a commitment to develop a culture of inclusion. People do not just need to be different, they need to be fully involved and feel their voices are heard."
"Nurturing an inclusive culture begins in the family. Home is the first place to foster openness and a culture of inclusion."
"Trends such as skills imbalances, the gig economy, and digitization are transforming work so quickly that policy creation is lagging behind."
"At best, policy is about protecting the rights of all workers while also driving fair competition and enabling opportunity. It is about making the future work for everyone. At worst, policy tries to resist change and creates uneven playing fields that eventually hurt everyone."
"Because of outdated regulations, workers in different types of contract often have unequal access to healthcare, pensions, education, and training, as well as other social benefits. This has to change for countries to remain competitive and for our businesses and workers to survive in the digital age."
"Countries that want to achieve sustainable growth must cater for diverse forms of work and consider the rights of all workers."
"Warp speed developments in technology - automation, artificial intelligence, and the arrival of the sharing economy - are transforming how we work. Beyond technology, traditional working patterns are also being disrupted by changes in society, organizations and workforce management, leading to the rise of a more independent and dispersed workforce."
"To shape today's and tomorrow's 'future proof' worker, schools must teach specialized hard skills, such as the STEM skills that are in high demand."
"As the world we live in is so unpredictable, the ability to learn and to adapt to change is imperative, alongside creativity, problem-solving, and communication skills."
"Responsive and responsible leaders in governments and businesses must act and collaborate to expedite change, implementing innovative, experiential, and project-based educational approaches."
"While the developed world has shifted from agriculture to manufacturing and then to services, the number of jobs has always climbed."
"Rapid development in areas like machine-to-machine communications and the Internet of Things, coupled with the proliferation of big data, means higher-skilled professions, such as lawyers, journalists and accountants, are changing too. Some of their tasks are being replaced."
"It is urgent to shift from a traditional, authoritative, rote educational approach to a project-based and experiential approach. Specific hard skills are fundamental, but is even more important that students 'learn how to learn' and focus on crucial soft skills such as flexibility and the ability to adapt to change."
"Given the rapid rate of change, the old paradigm of one-off education followed by a career will no longer work: life-long learning is a must, and it is up to governments and employers to invest in training and for employees to commit to constantly update their skill set."
"In our perform agenda, segmentation is one of our key strategic priorities. Segmentation is about deploying the right go-to-market channel to the right customers with the right pricing and the right cost to serve. And as a result, the segmentation strategy ensures that we generate profitable growth."
"The Adia application has been co-created by the Adecco Group and the global technology leader, Infosys. It covers the full cycle of recruiting, matching, invoicing, and payrolling with state-of-the-art functionalities such as feedback and rating and geolocalization."
"Technology, through automation and artificial intelligence, is definitely one of the most disruptive sources."
"Advanced technology changes the way we work and the skills we need, but it also boosts productivity and creates new jobs."
"Education reforms must be the priority for governments."
