July 11, 2025 • 26 mins
Disruption isn't coming—it's already here. As we navigate the rapidly shifting landscape of work in 2025, organizations face a critical crossroads that will determine their future success or failure. This eye-opening episode dives deep into eleven transformative trends reshaping how we work, hire, and grow businesses in the coming years.
The skills mismatch crisis demands immediate attention, with employers predicting that 44% of workers' skills will become obsolete by 2030. We explore practical approaches to bridging this gap through strategic talent assessment, development, and retention—actions that forward-thinking organizations must implement before 2025 to avoid operational disaster.
John and Greg unpack the fascinating emergence of "new collar" jobs—positions requiring specialized technical skills without necessarily demanding advanced degrees—and how this shift is creating unexpected opportunities across manufacturing, AI, cybersecurity, and traditional trades. Meanwhile, the fastest-growing segment of the workforce isn't Gen Z, but workers aged 75+, leading to what experts call "the golden age of the silver worker." Organizations failing to leverage the knowledge transfer and mentorship potential of these experienced employees risk missing a significant competitive advantage.
Despite progress in gender equity, with women now holding 10% of Fortune 500 CEO positions, advancement has slowed considerably. We examine how closing the gender gap could boost global GDP by a staggering 20% and spotlight companies like Starbucks that have successfully achieved wage parity.
Whether you're an HR professional, organizational leader, or someone navigating your own career path through uncertain times, this episode provides actionable insights on preparing for 2025's workplace realities. The future belongs to those who prepare for it today—start by understanding these eleven critical trends that will define success in tomorrow's dramatically transformed workplace.
Presented by John Wandolowski and Greg Powell
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Welcome to Success Secrets and Stories.
I'm your host, john Wondoloski,and I'm here with my co-host
and friend, greg powell.
Greg, hey, everybody, yeah, sotoday on our podcast, we're
going to talk about um 11 trendsin 2025 embracing disruption,
(00:44):
and it was an interestingarticle by Eric Van Volpen, dr
Dieter Welsman, dr Marna Van DerMerwer, monica Nemkovic.
It was on a website calledwwwaihrcom and it's the blog for
HR trends and it's the blog forHR Trends.
(01:04):
The reason I thought that thiswas a very interesting article
is it had a wonderful Disneyline right at the beginning of
the article and the articlereally did support a lot of the
disruptions that we're talkingabout.
Walt Disney famously said timesand conditions change so
rapidly that we must keep ouraim constantly focused on the
(01:26):
future and, to the point thisarticle of 2025, we certainly
have proven that year as beingtransformative and change and
disruptive in terms of reshapingthe working world.
So they had a number of themesand the first thing that they're
talking about is thetechnological transformation and
(01:48):
it is the new business reality.
Technology and AI are no longerfuture trends.
They are current businessrealities, transforming how
organizations function at eachlevel, function at each level.
The pace and change continuesto accelerate, making the
effectiveness, integration andtechnology and AI critical for
(02:13):
organizations to staycompetitive.
This tectonic shift requiressignificant rethinking of roles,
skills, processes, prompting HRto consider how these
transformations reshape theorganization, the workplace and
people's management.
Beyond adopting new tools, hrmust focus on instilling a
(02:37):
mindset of innovation, agilityand, with their employees, to
take full advantage of technicaladvancements.
So I'm going to skip down andI'm going to skip over the AI
stuff, because I'm really notqualified to go into detail
about AI.
The third point is the tippingpoint for skills match or
(02:57):
mismatch.
As new technologies emerge, theskills needed in the workplace
are rapidly shifting, leading toa growing mismatch between
current employees' capacitiesand future requirements.
Organizations are struggling toclearly identify and anticipate
(03:18):
the skills needed in the mediumand long term, thereby failing
to proactively address skillgaps.
This leaves them vulnerable andwith decreasing productivity,
innovation and competitivenessin an evolving market.
Here's their key point.
(03:38):
Furthermore, employers believe44% of the workers' skills will
be disruptive by 2030, and that6 out of 10 workers will require
additional training before 2027.
Resolving these skill gaps isan imperative for the HR
(04:00):
department, as 70% of companyleaders believe that their
organizational skill gapsnegatively impacts the business
performance.
Bridging such severe gapsrequires organizations to
fundamentally rethink theirapproaches to the workforce
management.
To succeed in these disruptivetimes, leaders must identify
(04:26):
crucial needs for both today andfor the future, anticipating
how to utilize these skills anddevelop more effective
strategies for attracting,nurturing and retaining talent
with the right set of skillsskills.
(04:48):
I just want to step back for asecond.
That's probably the mostimportant part is to attract,
nurture and retain talent.
So I'm going to put a star onthat because that is a very key
point.
Time is running out for suchstrategies and must be in place
before the end of 2025.
So they're hitting the signthat you need to do this as soon
as possible.
(05:16):
If organizations are hoping toavoid massive operational
disruption, they need to directthe skills to handle the
mismatches, and the article wenton to talk about how, what, the
causes, the impacts and thesolutions in terms of different
examples, and we're going to getinto that a little bit.
But for me, when I heard aboutwhat's coming and how to prepare
for it, I kept on thinkingabout the basic skills
assessment, of knowing what youhave in your organization
(05:38):
already, to be somehow testingyour talent, to understand how
prepared they are for the future, maybe taking some time to
really work with the HRdepartment on what you
anticipate, and the whole ideaof engaging with the HR
department to prepare.
Right now, it's probablytesting and looking for
(06:00):
resources for training, butthat's not an easy question.
Resources for training, butthat's not an easy question,
greg.
What kind of tools can the HRdepartment and the organizations
use in order to try to preparefor this.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So, john, there are numerous tests, assessments,
employee skill evaluation toolsavailable.
There's just a plethora of themout there.
But the exercise of using andinterpreting the results of the
tool, that's the real trickMaking sure you get the data out
and you get it right.
Typically, hr talent managementprofessionals can cut through
that, they can administer theassessment, they can interpret
(06:32):
the results and create acomprehensive analysis of the
state of skills in the workplacetoday so that you can plan for
tomorrow.
Okay, cool.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
So they came up with a really interesting term that I
think you can help me with,because I haven't heard this
term before in an HR context.
Maybe you can take that newterm in the HR world, okay.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Got it, john, thank you.
So let's talk about that newterm blue collar and new collar.
Right, the new collar jobs boom.
So blue collar, new collar jobsare increasingly gaining
traction among today's workforce.
As demand for skilled labor inboth traditional trades and high
tech sectors continues to grow,job market is once again
(07:20):
booming with opportunitiesHigher pay, increased interest
from younger generations,especially in artisanal and
technical fields.
While the tech sector wascutting jobs, manufacturing job
postings went up 46%.
There's a high demand forskills that require physical
labor and for people who caninstall and repair equipment
from elevators to power plants.
Due to increasing college costsand student loan debts, we
(07:47):
could also expect to see moreand more youth choosing
artisanal trades.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout that.
New-collar jobs, which requireadvanced skills in high-tech
areas like artificialintelligence and cybersecurity,
but not necessarily advanceddegrees, are also on the rise.
These jobs provide significantopportunities for skilled
workers, often blue-collarworkers who have the necessary
soft skills or mindset to learnnew skills through practical
(08:10):
experience or occupationaltraining.
So what does this mean for HRand their organizations?
The rise of blue-collar andnew-collar jobs presents
significant opportunities toreconsider work design.
It involves rethinking the waythese jobs are organized,
including aspects like scheduleflexibility, job responsibility
(08:30):
and the physical and technicaltools workers use to perform
their duties.
Hr must develop strategies thatfocus on empowering and
supporting blue-collar andnew-collar talent through
targeted recruitment, onboardingand talent management practices
, while also investing intechnologies that enhance their
productivity and jobsatisfaction.
(08:51):
So we've got some HR trends andwe're going to look kind of
like HR before 2025, hr in 2025,kind of that next frontier for
human resources.
So filling short-term skillgaps, no long-term planning.
That's what was going on before2025.
Well, we're moving to long-term, skills-based workforce
(09:12):
planning and that's going totackle the gaps between current
and future needs and again,continuing with that HR before
2025, looking at HR in 2025.
So let's move to slow progressin gender equity.
That was before 2025.
Organizations invest inpolicies that advance gender
(09:34):
equity through flexibility, fairpay and leadership
opportunities.
Another theme anxiety-drivenworkplace with minimal support
In the future, addressingorganizational anxiety through
transparency, well-being andenabling high performance.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And what I liked about this article and they go
into a lot more detail.
We're kind of taking the HRlight version of this, but
developing an approach totesting and evaluating and
cross-training are all thosebasic skills that we're supposed
to be doing to prepare staff,and what they're trying to do is
(10:12):
they're putting a hugespotlight on.
This is different, and the newcollar concept that I'm still
trying to grasp is how does thatchange?
Everybody's not going to be acomputer programmer and I love
the idea that they're going tohave AI opportunities and cyber
(10:32):
security issues, but there isalso going to be another change
in terms of the operationalworld, like I remember when we
were bringing in automation andthe robotics support people
fixing robotics, people whounderstand machine language, not
computer language, and howrelays are now turning into
(10:54):
equations.
That's the next step.
You know how important math is,how important basic engineering
skills are.
Those are all the things thatare the new collar that they're
talking about.
Greg, what kind of testing iscurrently available?
I'm assuming it's going to be,you know, more current trying to
(11:15):
handle these trends, but whatkind of tools are available that
people can use?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
John, there's some really comprehensive tools
available.
Essentially, what you're tryingto do is create a comprehensive
skills assessment center foryour organization.
That's job one.
The results will fuel a planfor how to manage your talent,
skills and needs for the future.
Do you need, like, for instance, more entry-level specialty
engineers to grow in theorganization?
Do we need to cut back oncollege recruiting for financial
professionals?
(11:41):
Can we train current employeesto perform different tasks
needed today and in the future?
There's some great vendors outthere.
I've used a few of these, butQualtrics, Center for Creative
Leadership, Gartner, Deloitte.
Again, the tests, the tools formeasuring talent, are plentiful
.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
The tests, the tools for measuring talent are
plentiful.
So, with the HR concepts, we'vetalked a little bit about the
theme one of anticipating thesechanges.
The author is now going totheme two.
Theme two shifting talentdynamics.
(12:22):
There's economic uncertainties,demographic changes, modern
science, society expectationsare redefining the workplace.
These changes have reached acrossroad and new expectations
in terms of work styling I'veemerged across the workforce.
Women are pushing for trueequity in the workplace.
There's the challenge of olderworkers, both expanding and
contracting.
So there are thoseopportunities where older
(12:44):
workers want to work longer.
With the factors in play,organizations face both the
challenges and the opportunitiesin building a resistant and
motivated workforce.
Understanding why the roadshave led us here will help HR
adapt to changes.
More importantly, they willhelp their companies to get
(13:06):
ahead in the trends of 2025,contribute to the organizational
success in the years goingforward.
And then the golden age of thesilver worker, which I find
quite entertaining, since I ampart of that group.
Whether it's because they can'tafford to retire or they don't
(13:27):
want to retire, workers age 75and up compromise the fastest
growing segment of the workforce.
Yet current HR policies andoffice setups often overlook
these employees because of theirage group.
Organizations typically lackflexibility, work options,
ergonomic office designs orbenefits tailored to workers who
(13:51):
have chosen the path ofunretirement.
This is their point thatthey're talking about.
It's a wonderful resource.
This is their point thatthey're talking about.
It's a wonderful resource.
And the older employees havesome of those skill sets that
you're looking for, that theyshould be training the next
generation.
So these are wonderfulopportunities for training in my
world.
Sorry, I wanted to throw in mytwo cents.
(14:14):
The employer's branding alsotends to focus on younger talent
, neglecting the value of olderworkers and what they can bring.
Despite this, retirement-agedemployees are here to stay and
their presence in the workforceis only going to grow.
Organizations that canrecognize this shift will have a
(14:39):
strategic opportunity.
By accommodating the needs forthe silver workers, they can tap
into new levels of productivity, facilitate knowledge transfer
and enhance team dynamics andthat, I think, is probably the
most important point of theirdiscussion.
Sorry, back to the point.
Just as the early adopters paidtransparency gained from the
(15:02):
competitive edge, embracing theaging workforce can now position
companies to lead in 2025 andbeyond.
Mature workers are looking forpurpose and recognition of their
value.
Included in them is the fabricof business.
That means capitalizing ontheir skills, their strengths,
their generational diversity andshowing that, aging customers,
(15:28):
you will respect theirlifestyles and their right to be
, their right for dignity.
So four ways that HR cansupport unretired employees.
They can create flexible workarrangements by offering
part-time or phased retirementor doing something in terms of
(15:51):
consulting or project-based work.
Two is fostering the mentoringand learning elements of trying
to help the unretired employeesso they can implement programs
and help the younger generationto have that skill building that
goes across generations.
To design age-inclusivebenefits and work environments
(16:13):
is one of the elements that HRhas to work on because the older
worker is going to havedifferent needs.
The elements that HR has towork on because the older worker
is going to have differentneeds and to understand their
physical limitations and toboost productivity.
All of those are going to takeorganizations that can be
creative.
And number four, prioritizinglifelong learning and career
(16:34):
longevity.
Just for the fun of it, greg andI are doing this podcast in the
terms of putting a hand out andtaking the next generation and
pulling them up.
That's really the purpose ofwhat we're trying to do with the
podcast and that's the partthat I think is the most
(16:54):
engaging for us.
We're in retirement.
We're both enjoying ourretirement.
This still gives us the abilityand the taste of being able to
help and being able to dosomething to help the next
generation and help the businessenvironments where we learned
our trade.
Greg, what do you think?
So, when I think about the Greg, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
So when I think about the silver worker, john, I
think of a couple of things.
You know, the notion of allemployees retiring at 65 or
earlier, collecting that goldwatch and settling into a sedate
, social security-basedlifestyle in Florida has
dramatically changed over time,although I do resemble that
remark.
Yes, you do.
But more recently, senioremployees have transitioned out
(17:35):
of full-time to part-time totransfer institutional knowledge
to remaining employees of thecompany.
That's a good thing.
Now a quick story.
I had several senior leaders whodid great things for the
company, helped the company grow, and they were hitting their
mid-60s and it was just thisassumption that they were going
to give the boss, the CEO, theirresignation letter, thanks and
that.
And I remember talking toseveral of these folks and said
(17:58):
I'm not ready to quit yet, I'mnot ready to leave.
I did a lot to help build thiscompany up.
I want to help take it to thenext level.
I got energy and it was.
When you listen to that, you'reexcited.
And then you're saying how do Iput that into my employee
population plan about mysuccession planning, growing and
developing people.
So there's a reality to thesilverware.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
So, dan, a couple of other points.
What was the next one?
I thought was kind ofinteresting and more of an in
your HR world that you can talkabout.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Let me share with how I look at this as well, john
the women's equity effect as weenter into 2025, or have entered
into it.
Over 10% of Fortune 500 CEOsare women.
That's a milestone.
It's been a long time comingsince the first edition of the
Fortune 500 list.
However, the progress of thepast five years has begun
slowing.
(18:44):
Women have cracked, but notshattered, the glass ceiling and
, considering that closing thegender equity gap would increase
global GDP by a staggering 20%,there's no reason not to push
for further progress in thisarea and flexible work practices
.
Lack of leadershipopportunities remain critical
issues here and astonishing 95%of women believe requesting
(19:04):
flexible work arrangements willnegatively affect their chances
of promotion.
They won't even ask because ofthat, and women hold on to 28.2%
of management positionsglobally.
Employers also did notadequately address female
workers' health challenges.
For instance, 67% of women whoexpect menopausal symptoms
report a mostly negative impacton their work.
(19:25):
Businesses have the power tocontribute to meaningful change,
making a lasting impact ongender equity and reap the
significant economic andcultural benefits resulting from
a more inclusive and equitableworkforce.
Forward-thinking organizationsare taking charge, demonstrating
that fundamental change ispossible.
Starbucks reached wage parityfor its US workers in 2018 and
(19:49):
continues to work towards thisgoal worldwide.
Despite these efforts, progressin women's equity cannot be
taken for granted.
Will other organizations riseto the occasion and capitalize
on the impact of women's equity?
While some are already doing so, others must follow in order to
drive both internal progressand broader societal gains.
John, what are your thoughts onthis?
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Well, you know, the first thing that rings in my
ears when are we going to getthat whole element of equality
for women?
And it can't be this hard tounderstand that.
It's a simple comparison, andthe sooner we create that kind
of equal opportunity, equal paymentality, the faster we're
(20:35):
going to become successful in myworld, as soon as we start
dropping all these identifiersand it's just the person and
their talent and how we can usethem to help them grow in their
career.
That's why, for me, I kind ofpersonally hate the term
(20:55):
performance review and talkabout career review, and we have
to cast a wider net in order tobe productive, and what they're
talking about for 2025 is theyhave to do a better job of
looking for opportunities of thepeople that they have working
for them, and they have thatadvantage of having a step up in
(21:17):
order to take on that nextchallenge, whatever the
organization's involved in.
Greg, from your perspective,what do you think the challenges
are?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
So, john, it's really kind of simple to me, at least.
Think about it fundamentally assimple as this.
The nation that we live in isdiverse.
The consumers that buy ourproducts are diverse, so the
companies should be diverse thatmanufacture and sell and market
those products.
The US population today is50.5% female, so it really
(21:48):
starts at the top of theorganizations of the house what
the attitude is about diversityand the desired organizational
culture that they want to have.
Diversity in the organizationgenerates great ideas from
different perspectives to getgreat outcomes.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So the last point you're talking about is the
looming organizational anxietyand between the decrease of
customer confidence, the fearsof recession, the talk of losing
thousands of jobs because oftechnology.
Well, they're trying to say ithas its place, but it's also
(22:26):
more water cooler talk.
Companies in Europe and SouthKorea are seeing extensive
extensions of hours, injecting asense of crisis into the
workers and the managers, andthat whole thing about pressure
and utilizing the talent thatyou have to the point of
overusing them isn't the answerthat they're looking for, as
(22:48):
some companies are applying andit's only going to come back to
bite them.
And as some companies areapplying, and it's only going to
come back to bite them.
A tighter job market andshrinking premium pay is also
going to affect a lot ofemployees, and they're talking
about things as the greatresignation are going to give
way to the big stay I love theseterms that people are just
(23:14):
going to nest in their roles andthey're really not going to be
looking for opportunities.
So in 2025, the pendulum ofemployee-employer relationships
are expected to swing decisivelyback and forth between economic
pressures in the job market andthe uncertainties of what
companies have in terms of realcontrol.
It's going to be an unstabletime, but this is often the
opportunity to address thoseanxieties and to maintain
(23:39):
connections with your workforce.
If you're connected, you'regoing to have a better job of
handling these changes, andchange is the key, and
communication is the key.
Change is never going to stopand the better organizations
over-communicate, or at leastcommunicate to the point where
they have confidence that themessages are getting through and
(24:02):
you, collectively, are tryingto address the future.
It isn't just management and itisn't just the employees that
need to be conscious of whatthey're doing and try and
anticipate that next step.
It's all of us trying to makethat change and being ready for
the next opportunity.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Greg, outsourcing jobs overseas, declining
consumer confidence and risingliving costs that aren't being
matched by wage increases.
If organizational leadersreally believe their employees
are their greatest asset, thisis the time to show it.
Preparing for future new jobneeds now, while incorporating
(24:45):
your current employeecapabilities into the equation,
is a great start.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, well said A little bit better than what I
was trying to do, but that's thepoint.
We need to take it as a goodstarting point.
If you haven't started to startnow, today's a great day to
start.
This isn't a bad thing, but Ilove the term new collar because
(25:10):
it really is addressing howit's going to change and how you
handle that ability to adapt.
So I hope you enjoyed thisarticle.
If you like what you've heard,I have my book called Building
your Leadership Toolbox and it'son Amazon and Barnes, noble and
others.
The podcast is what you'relistening to and thank you so
much.
We also talk a lot about DrDurst and his program.
(25:34):
That really helped Greg and Istart this podcast.
You can find his information onsuccessgrowthacademycom and if
you'd like to get a hold of us,my email address is wando75.jw
at gmailcom and Greg.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I can be reached at gpowell374 at gmailcom, and Greg
, I can be reached at gpowell374at gmailcom.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, and the music has been brought to you by my
grandson, so we want to hearfrom you.
Drop us a line.
We find it helpful and we'veused it in order to try to
create the material that we talkabout.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Well, greg, thanks.
Thanks, john, as always, nexttime, yeah.
Welcome to Success Secrets and Stories.
I'm your host, john Wondoloski,and I'm here with my co-host
and friend, greg powell.
Greg, hey, everybody, yeah, sotoday on our podcast, we're
going to talk about um 11 trendsin 2025 embracing disruption,
(00:44):
and it was an interestingarticle by Eric Van Volpen, dr
Dieter Welsman, dr Marna Van DerMerwer, monica Nemkovic.
It was on a website calledwwwaihrcom and it's the blog for
HR trends and it's the blog forHR Trends.
(01:04):
The reason I thought that thiswas a very interesting article
is it had a wonderful Disneyline right at the beginning of
the article and the articlereally did support a lot of the
disruptions that we're talkingabout.
Walt Disney famously said timesand conditions change so
rapidly that we must keep ouraim constantly focused on the
(01:26):
future and, to the point thisarticle of 2025, we certainly
have proven that year as beingtransformative and change and
disruptive in terms of reshapingthe working world.
So they had a number of themesand the first thing that they're
talking about is thetechnological transformation and
(01:48):
it is the new business reality.
Technology and AI are no longerfuture trends.
They are current businessrealities, transforming how
organizations function at eachlevel, function at each level.
The pace and change continuesto accelerate, making the
effectiveness, integration andtechnology and AI critical for
(02:13):
organizations to staycompetitive.
This tectonic shift requiressignificant rethinking of roles,
skills, processes, prompting HRto consider how these
transformations reshape theorganization, the workplace and
people's management.
Beyond adopting new tools, hrmust focus on instilling a
(02:37):
mindset of innovation, agilityand, with their employees, to
take full advantage of technicaladvancements.
So I'm going to skip down andI'm going to skip over the AI
stuff, because I'm really notqualified to go into detail
about AI.
The third point is the tippingpoint for skills match or
(02:57):
mismatch.
As new technologies emerge, theskills needed in the workplace
are rapidly shifting, leading toa growing mismatch between
current employees' capacitiesand future requirements.
Organizations are struggling toclearly identify and anticipate
(03:18):
the skills needed in the mediumand long term, thereby failing
to proactively address skillgaps.
This leaves them vulnerable andwith decreasing productivity,
innovation and competitivenessin an evolving market.
Here's their key point.
(03:38):
Furthermore, employers believe44% of the workers' skills will
be disruptive by 2030, and that6 out of 10 workers will require
additional training before 2027.
Resolving these skill gaps isan imperative for the HR
(04:00):
department, as 70% of companyleaders believe that their
organizational skill gapsnegatively impacts the business
performance.
Bridging such severe gapsrequires organizations to
fundamentally rethink theirapproaches to the workforce
management.
To succeed in these disruptivetimes, leaders must identify
(04:26):
crucial needs for both today andfor the future, anticipating
how to utilize these skills anddevelop more effective
strategies for attracting,nurturing and retaining talent
with the right set of skillsskills.
(04:48):
I just want to step back for asecond.
That's probably the mostimportant part is to attract,
nurture and retain talent.
So I'm going to put a star onthat because that is a very key
point.
Time is running out for suchstrategies and must be in place
before the end of 2025.
So they're hitting the signthat you need to do this as soon
as possible.
(05:16):
If organizations are hoping toavoid massive operational
disruption, they need to directthe skills to handle the
mismatches, and the article wenton to talk about how, what, the
causes, the impacts and thesolutions in terms of different
examples, and we're going to getinto that a little bit.
But for me, when I heard aboutwhat's coming and how to prepare
for it, I kept on thinkingabout the basic skills
assessment, of knowing what youhave in your organization
(05:38):
already, to be somehow testingyour talent, to understand how
prepared they are for the future, maybe taking some time to
really work with the HRdepartment on what you
anticipate, and the whole ideaof engaging with the HR
department to prepare.
Right now, it's probablytesting and looking for
(06:00):
resources for training, butthat's not an easy question.
Resources for training, butthat's not an easy question,
greg.
What kind of tools can the HRdepartment and the organizations
use in order to try to preparefor this.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
So, john, there are numerous tests, assessments,
employee skill evaluation toolsavailable.
There's just a plethora of themout there.
But the exercise of using andinterpreting the results of the
tool, that's the real trickMaking sure you get the data out
and you get it right.
Typically, hr talent managementprofessionals can cut through
that, they can administer theassessment, they can interpret
(06:32):
the results and create acomprehensive analysis of the
state of skills in the workplacetoday so that you can plan for
tomorrow.
Okay, cool.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
So they came up with a really interesting term that I
think you can help me with,because I haven't heard this
term before in an HR context.
Maybe you can take that newterm in the HR world, okay.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Got it, john, thank you.
So let's talk about that newterm blue collar and new collar.
Right, the new collar jobs boom.
So blue collar, new collar jobsare increasingly gaining
traction among today's workforce.
As demand for skilled labor inboth traditional trades and high
tech sectors continues to grow,job market is once again
(07:20):
booming with opportunitiesHigher pay, increased interest
from younger generations,especially in artisanal and
technical fields.
While the tech sector wascutting jobs, manufacturing job
postings went up 46%.
There's a high demand forskills that require physical
labor and for people who caninstall and repair equipment
from elevators to power plants.
Due to increasing college costsand student loan debts, we
(07:47):
could also expect to see moreand more youth choosing
artisanal trades.
Let's talk a little bit moreabout that.
New-collar jobs, which requireadvanced skills in high-tech
areas like artificialintelligence and cybersecurity,
but not necessarily advanceddegrees, are also on the rise.
These jobs provide significantopportunities for skilled
workers, often blue-collarworkers who have the necessary
soft skills or mindset to learnnew skills through practical
(08:10):
experience or occupationaltraining.
So what does this mean for HRand their organizations?
The rise of blue-collar andnew-collar jobs presents
significant opportunities toreconsider work design.
It involves rethinking the waythese jobs are organized,
including aspects like scheduleflexibility, job responsibility
(08:30):
and the physical and technicaltools workers use to perform
their duties.
Hr must develop strategies thatfocus on empowering and
supporting blue-collar andnew-collar talent through
targeted recruitment, onboardingand talent management practices
, while also investing intechnologies that enhance their
productivity and jobsatisfaction.
(08:51):
So we've got some HR trends andwe're going to look kind of
like HR before 2025, hr in 2025,kind of that next frontier for
human resources.
So filling short-term skillgaps, no long-term planning.
That's what was going on before2025.
Well, we're moving to long-term, skills-based workforce
(09:12):
planning and that's going totackle the gaps between current
and future needs and again,continuing with that HR before
2025, looking at HR in 2025.
So let's move to slow progressin gender equity.
That was before 2025.
Organizations invest inpolicies that advance gender
(09:34):
equity through flexibility, fairpay and leadership
opportunities.
Another theme anxiety-drivenworkplace with minimal support
In the future, addressingorganizational anxiety through
transparency, well-being andenabling high performance.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And what I liked about this article and they go
into a lot more detail.
We're kind of taking the HRlight version of this, but
developing an approach totesting and evaluating and
cross-training are all thosebasic skills that we're supposed
to be doing to prepare staff,and what they're trying to do is
(10:12):
they're putting a hugespotlight on.
This is different, and the newcollar concept that I'm still
trying to grasp is how does thatchange?
Everybody's not going to be acomputer programmer and I love
the idea that they're going tohave AI opportunities and cyber
(10:32):
security issues, but there isalso going to be another change
in terms of the operationalworld, like I remember when we
were bringing in automation andthe robotics support people
fixing robotics, people whounderstand machine language, not
computer language, and howrelays are now turning into
(10:54):
equations.
That's the next step.
You know how important math is,how important basic engineering
skills are.
Those are all the things thatare the new collar that they're
talking about.
Greg, what kind of testing iscurrently available?
I'm assuming it's going to be,you know, more current trying to
(11:15):
handle these trends, but whatkind of tools are available that
people can use?
Speaker 2 (11:20):
John, there's some really comprehensive tools
available.
Essentially, what you're tryingto do is create a comprehensive
skills assessment center foryour organization.
That's job one.
The results will fuel a planfor how to manage your talent,
skills and needs for the future.
Do you need, like, for instance, more entry-level specialty
engineers to grow in theorganization?
Do we need to cut back oncollege recruiting for financial
professionals?
(11:41):
Can we train current employeesto perform different tasks
needed today and in the future?
There's some great vendors outthere.
I've used a few of these, butQualtrics, Center for Creative
Leadership, Gartner, Deloitte.
Again, the tests, the tools formeasuring talent, are plentiful
.
Speaker 1 (12:00):
The tests, the tools for measuring talent are
plentiful.
So, with the HR concepts, we'vetalked a little bit about the
theme one of anticipating thesechanges.
The author is now going totheme two.
Theme two shifting talentdynamics.
(12:22):
There's economic uncertainties,demographic changes, modern
science, society expectationsare redefining the workplace.
These changes have reached acrossroad and new expectations
in terms of work styling I'veemerged across the workforce.
Women are pushing for trueequity in the workplace.
There's the challenge of olderworkers, both expanding and
contracting.
So there are thoseopportunities where older
(12:44):
workers want to work longer.
With the factors in play,organizations face both the
challenges and the opportunitiesin building a resistant and
motivated workforce.
Understanding why the roadshave led us here will help HR
adapt to changes.
More importantly, they willhelp their companies to get
(13:06):
ahead in the trends of 2025,contribute to the organizational
success in the years goingforward.
And then the golden age of thesilver worker, which I find
quite entertaining, since I ampart of that group.
Whether it's because they can'tafford to retire or they don't
(13:27):
want to retire, workers age 75and up compromise the fastest
growing segment of the workforce.
Yet current HR policies andoffice setups often overlook
these employees because of theirage group.
Organizations typically lackflexibility, work options,
ergonomic office designs orbenefits tailored to workers who
(13:51):
have chosen the path ofunretirement.
This is their point thatthey're talking about.
It's a wonderful resource.
This is their point thatthey're talking about.
It's a wonderful resource.
And the older employees havesome of those skill sets that
you're looking for, that theyshould be training the next
generation.
So these are wonderfulopportunities for training in my
world.
Sorry, I wanted to throw in mytwo cents.
(14:14):
The employer's branding alsotends to focus on younger talent
, neglecting the value of olderworkers and what they can bring.
Despite this, retirement-agedemployees are here to stay and
their presence in the workforceis only going to grow.
Organizations that canrecognize this shift will have a
(14:39):
strategic opportunity.
By accommodating the needs forthe silver workers, they can tap
into new levels of productivity, facilitate knowledge transfer
and enhance team dynamics andthat, I think, is probably the
most important point of theirdiscussion.
Sorry, back to the point.
Just as the early adopters paidtransparency gained from the
(15:02):
competitive edge, embracing theaging workforce can now position
companies to lead in 2025 andbeyond.
Mature workers are looking forpurpose and recognition of their
value.
Included in them is the fabricof business.
That means capitalizing ontheir skills, their strengths,
their generational diversity andshowing that, aging customers,
(15:28):
you will respect theirlifestyles and their right to be
, their right for dignity.
So four ways that HR cansupport unretired employees.
They can create flexible workarrangements by offering
part-time or phased retirementor doing something in terms of
(15:51):
consulting or project-based work.
Two is fostering the mentoringand learning elements of trying
to help the unretired employeesso they can implement programs
and help the younger generationto have that skill building that
goes across generations.
To design age-inclusivebenefits and work environments
(16:13):
is one of the elements that HRhas to work on because the older
worker is going to havedifferent needs.
The elements that HR has towork on because the older worker
is going to have differentneeds and to understand their
physical limitations and toboost productivity.
All of those are going to takeorganizations that can be
creative.
And number four, prioritizinglifelong learning and career
(16:34):
longevity.
Just for the fun of it, greg andI are doing this podcast in the
terms of putting a hand out andtaking the next generation and
pulling them up.
That's really the purpose ofwhat we're trying to do with the
podcast and that's the partthat I think is the most
(16:54):
engaging for us.
We're in retirement.
We're both enjoying ourretirement.
This still gives us the abilityand the taste of being able to
help and being able to dosomething to help the next
generation and help the businessenvironments where we learned
our trade.
Greg, what do you think?
So, when I think about the Greg, what do you think?
Speaker 2 (17:13):
So when I think about the silver worker, john, I
think of a couple of things.
You know, the notion of allemployees retiring at 65 or
earlier, collecting that goldwatch and settling into a sedate
, social security-basedlifestyle in Florida has
dramatically changed over time,although I do resemble that
remark.
Yes, you do.
But more recently, senioremployees have transitioned out
(17:35):
of full-time to part-time totransfer institutional knowledge
to remaining employees of thecompany.
That's a good thing.
Now a quick story.
I had several senior leaders whodid great things for the
company, helped the company grow, and they were hitting their
mid-60s and it was just thisassumption that they were going
to give the boss, the CEO, theirresignation letter, thanks and
that.
And I remember talking toseveral of these folks and said
(17:58):
I'm not ready to quit yet, I'mnot ready to leave.
I did a lot to help build thiscompany up.
I want to help take it to thenext level.
I got energy and it was.
When you listen to that, you'reexcited.
And then you're saying how do Iput that into my employee
population plan about mysuccession planning, growing and
developing people.
So there's a reality to thesilverware.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
So, dan, a couple of other points.
What was the next one?
I thought was kind ofinteresting and more of an in
your HR world that you can talkabout.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Let me share with how I look at this as well, john
the women's equity effect as weenter into 2025, or have entered
into it.
Over 10% of Fortune 500 CEOsare women.
That's a milestone.
It's been a long time comingsince the first edition of the
Fortune 500 list.
However, the progress of thepast five years has begun
slowing.
(18:44):
Women have cracked, but notshattered, the glass ceiling and
, considering that closing thegender equity gap would increase
global GDP by a staggering 20%,there's no reason not to push
for further progress in thisarea and flexible work practices
.
Lack of leadershipopportunities remain critical
issues here and astonishing 95%of women believe requesting
(19:04):
flexible work arrangements willnegatively affect their chances
of promotion.
They won't even ask because ofthat, and women hold on to 28.2%
of management positionsglobally.
Employers also did notadequately address female
workers' health challenges.
For instance, 67% of women whoexpect menopausal symptoms
report a mostly negative impacton their work.
(19:25):
Businesses have the power tocontribute to meaningful change,
making a lasting impact ongender equity and reap the
significant economic andcultural benefits resulting from
a more inclusive and equitableworkforce.
Forward-thinking organizationsare taking charge, demonstrating
that fundamental change ispossible.
Starbucks reached wage parityfor its US workers in 2018 and
(19:49):
continues to work towards thisgoal worldwide.
Despite these efforts, progressin women's equity cannot be
taken for granted.
Will other organizations riseto the occasion and capitalize
on the impact of women's equity?
While some are already doing so, others must follow in order to
drive both internal progressand broader societal gains.
John, what are your thoughts onthis?
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Well, you know, the first thing that rings in my
ears when are we going to getthat whole element of equality
for women?
And it can't be this hard tounderstand that.
It's a simple comparison, andthe sooner we create that kind
of equal opportunity, equal paymentality, the faster we're
(20:35):
going to become successful in myworld, as soon as we start
dropping all these identifiersand it's just the person and
their talent and how we can usethem to help them grow in their
career.
That's why, for me, I kind ofpersonally hate the term
(20:55):
performance review and talkabout career review, and we have
to cast a wider net in order tobe productive, and what they're
talking about for 2025 is theyhave to do a better job of
looking for opportunities of thepeople that they have working
for them, and they have thatadvantage of having a step up in
(21:17):
order to take on that nextchallenge, whatever the
organization's involved in.
Greg, from your perspective,what do you think the challenges
are?
Speaker 2 (21:27):
So, john, it's really kind of simple to me, at least.
Think about it fundamentally assimple as this.
The nation that we live in isdiverse.
The consumers that buy ourproducts are diverse, so the
companies should be diverse thatmanufacture and sell and market
those products.
The US population today is50.5% female, so it really
(21:48):
starts at the top of theorganizations of the house what
the attitude is about diversityand the desired organizational
culture that they want to have.
Diversity in the organizationgenerates great ideas from
different perspectives to getgreat outcomes.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
So the last point you're talking about is the
looming organizational anxietyand between the decrease of
customer confidence, the fearsof recession, the talk of losing
thousands of jobs because oftechnology.
Well, they're trying to say ithas its place, but it's also
(22:26):
more water cooler talk.
Companies in Europe and SouthKorea are seeing extensive
extensions of hours, injecting asense of crisis into the
workers and the managers, andthat whole thing about pressure
and utilizing the talent thatyou have to the point of
overusing them isn't the answerthat they're looking for, as
(22:48):
some companies are applying andit's only going to come back to
bite them.
And as some companies areapplying, and it's only going to
come back to bite them.
A tighter job market andshrinking premium pay is also
going to affect a lot ofemployees, and they're talking
about things as the greatresignation are going to give
way to the big stay I love theseterms that people are just
(23:14):
going to nest in their roles andthey're really not going to be
looking for opportunities.
So in 2025, the pendulum ofemployee-employer relationships
are expected to swing decisivelyback and forth between economic
pressures in the job market andthe uncertainties of what
companies have in terms of realcontrol.
It's going to be an unstabletime, but this is often the
opportunity to address thoseanxieties and to maintain
(23:39):
connections with your workforce.
If you're connected, you'regoing to have a better job of
handling these changes, andchange is the key, and
communication is the key.
Change is never going to stopand the better organizations
over-communicate, or at leastcommunicate to the point where
they have confidence that themessages are getting through and
(24:02):
you, collectively, are tryingto address the future.
It isn't just management and itisn't just the employees that
need to be conscious of whatthey're doing and try and
anticipate that next step.
It's all of us trying to makethat change and being ready for
the next opportunity.
Speaker 2 (24:22):
Greg, outsourcing jobs overseas, declining
consumer confidence and risingliving costs that aren't being
matched by wage increases.
If organizational leadersreally believe their employees
are their greatest asset, thisis the time to show it.
Preparing for future new jobneeds now, while incorporating
(24:45):
your current employeecapabilities into the equation,
is a great start.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah, well said A little bit better than what I
was trying to do, but that's thepoint.
We need to take it as a goodstarting point.
If you haven't started to startnow, today's a great day to
start.
This isn't a bad thing, but Ilove the term new collar because
(25:10):
it really is addressing howit's going to change and how you
handle that ability to adapt.
So I hope you enjoyed thisarticle.
If you like what you've heard,I have my book called Building
your Leadership Toolbox and it'son Amazon and Barnes, noble and
others.
The podcast is what you'relistening to and thank you so
much.
We also talk a lot about DrDurst and his program.
(25:34):
That really helped Greg and Istart this podcast.
You can find his information onsuccessgrowthacademycom and if
you'd like to get a hold of us,my email address is wando75.jw
at gmailcom and Greg.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
I can be reached at gpowell374 at gmailcom, and Greg
, I can be reached at gpowell374at gmailcom.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Yeah, and the music has been brought to you by my
grandson, so we want to hearfrom you.
Drop us a line.
We find it helpful and we'veused it in order to try to
create the material that we talkabout.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Well, greg, thanks.
Thanks, john, as always, nexttime, yeah.
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