“ We have a chance to ensure that our work now moves into a new strategic space, and the technology will be there available to help many of us do that. It will be applicable in both our operational roles and everything all the way across the strategic spectrum.” RT HON CHLOE SMITH, PRESIDENT, CIPD
Above: Panellists Professor Chris Bones, Rt Hon Chloe Smith and Peter Cheese
Inclusion must be built into designs, rather than added
on later, she said. It was important to have input from a variety of voices. Otherwise, the absence of diverse ideas could mean bias in algorithms and products which don’t meet the needs of the end user. She gave some examples of design and product
failures which exposed a gap between technological ability, moral responsibility, and usefulness, for example a period tracker which only tracked a woman’s menstrual cycle for ten days, and crash test dummies which only replicated adult male bodies, neglecting to text impacts on women and children. Through research and collaboration with organisations like CIPD, the Institute for the Future of Work is trying to ensure that the technologies transforming work do so for good, and actually benefit the end user, as well as taking the needs of all different user groups into account. Yet AI can have its disadvantages, especially if
introduced quickly and allowed to run unchecked. She described one illustrative case from retail, where AI was deployed to “optimise and reduce running costs.” Initially, the tool was viewed as efficient and impartial until biases began to surface. Patterns emerged which included erratic shift patterns, a widening pay gap and one demographic consistently favoured for promotions. To counter such trends, the Institute introduced the
Good Work Charter, an ethical framework for aligning digital transformation with human dignity. In her closing remarks, Imafidon addressed HR professionals directly. “None of this is inevitable,” she emphasised. “We have to be more vigilant. We do have a voice. We do have a space to operate.”
RAPID CHANGES IN GEOPOLITICS & TECHNOLOGY In his opening speech Peter Cheese, chief executive of the CIPD, announced that he will be retiring from the role in June 2026 after fourteen years of service. He used his speech to think about what the future of the profession might hold, and what the future of work might look like.
8 “I’ve always been fascinated and curious about the
future,” he said. “One of my favourite quotes by science fiction writer William Gibson is that the future is already here, it is just unevenly distributed.” He described the rapid change which we are all seeing in work and across the globe. “In 40 years in business I have never seen so much geopolitical change,” he told delegates. “We seem to be moving from a world that was on a path towards globalisation to one where it seems to be more about protectionism and rowing back on some of the principles which are driving businesses for a long time now.” He said that trend had impacted the structure of
organisations, their supply chains, where they get the skills and capabilities from, and what markets that they can work in, as well as economic change which is putting a lot of pressure on businesses everywhere, and social change. “The world of work is as much about the social connections we have as it is about the work connections,” he said, “and understanding the context of social change and how we adapt our organisational cultures to respond to this and to technology.” He said AI integration into systems, and the rise of
generative AI, was impacting the nature of work and the jobs that we do, and that people and professions would need to change and adapt. “It is impacting the nature of our workplaces, and
the kind of organisations that we need to create for the future which are agile and adaptive, and the very nature of work itself,” he said. The workforce is also going to have to adapt to a
future which is progressing very quickly at a time when organisations are also attempting to deal with economic uncertainties and cut costs. This is where the role of training, upskilling and people management has become so vital. “We should understand the interventions that we
are making and how they do drive business outcomes,” he said. “We are trying to understand the skills and capabilities the workforce will need for the future, and what are the frameworks that will help people implement
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