Organisations face a significant talent crisis. In 2019, skills shortages affected more than two-thirds of UK employers, costing organisations collectively more than £6.3 billion per year. The business landscape is shifting dramatically: while Walmart took 18 years to reach $1 billion revenue, Pokemon Go achieved this in just 7 months.

Skills are Rapidly Evolving: Core skills for an unchanging role will shift by 42% between 2018-2022. Demand for technological skills, higher cognitive skills, and social-emotional skills is rising sharply, while physical and basic cognitive skills are declining.

Automation as Augmentation: 60% of current occupations have more than 30% of tasks that are technically automatable. Organisations must view automation as a way to augment human capabilities, not replace them.

Plan by Tasks, Not Job Titles: This report advocates for a fundamental shift from rigid job descriptions to task-based workforce planning, enabling organisations to craft adaptable teams mixing full-time employees, freelancers, and automated solutions.

The report includes case studies from AT&T, SAP, Verizon, Unilever, and Walmart, demonstrating successful approaches to skills mapping, inclusive hiring, and workforce augmentation.