Future of Work Meeting. Milano Italy.

The iconic Feltrinelli Pyramid building Milano Italy was the site for initial the Future Series event. FU.SE.  Billed as an “unconference” the concept was to create a unique environment of engagement targeted at CEOs and decision makers dealing with the rapid changing world of employment.

About 150 business leaders attended 18 sessions over 2 days in high tech, block long building that is home to Microsoft. Workshops and small group sessions were tasked with coming up with actionable recommendations. Jeffersonian dinner followed. Numerous upstart (and established firms) showcased new technologies and services oriented to the changing workplace. ABB provided a robot that made coffee.

The event was conceived and sponsored by Adecco the largest employment and human resources company in the world. Based in Zurich with nearly $6 billion in annual revenues and nearly 34,000 employees.  5100 branches in over 60 Countries.

According to Adecco CEO Alain Dehaze, “a tremendous and rapid transformation in the nature of work is occurring.  The skills that are needed are not matching up with the skills of the current workforce. This is resulting in jobs unfilled whilst a growing number of people unemployable. This is not a sustainable situation and not one that can be cured by Industry and government alone.  As the global leader in the employment space, we felt it is appropriate that Adecco take a lead role in bringing awareness to this issue.”

The central theme and discussion is that the average length of employment and the rapid change in the skills required has resulted in an employment gap. Partners in the project were BCG and Microsoft. Each of the sessions was captured and transcripts are available upon request. For a full transcript of the proceedings visit this link.