Investing in Mid-Career Professionals: The Future of Work for Employers

This is a roundtable discussion about investing in mid-career professionals: insights into up-skilling and re-training for the future of work from Canadian employers and business leaders.

Mid-career workers have been recognized as a group facing challenges in the changing labour market and most in need of up-skilling and training opportunities. Mid-career employees are typically people aged in their mid-30s to mid-50s who might have between 12 to 30 years of experience in their existing careers. This age group makes up over 40% of the Canadian labour force. Canada’s current skills development infrastructure offers few training opportunities for mid-career workers, yet this group will increasingly be impacted by labour market disruptions that will displace existing jobs, create new jobs that demand different skills, and change the trajectory of many Canadians’ working lives.

In this roundtable discussion, we will explore the business case for private sector employers to re-skill their existing workforce for the future of work. What responsibilities do the private sector have to invest in to prepare workers for the future of work? Can re-training, reskilling, or upskilling be good for business, as well as for Canadian workers generally?

The future of work is messy and uncertain, but Canada’s private sector is uniquely positioned to observe how changes are affecting their organizations, advising and leading good policy solutions. We aim to bring together private sector business leaders to discuss the challenges affecting their organizations to ultimately form a network of those leading conversations about the future of work.

AGENDA

8:00 – 8:30am – Registration and light breakfast

8:30 – 8:40am – Welcome and opening remarks

8:40 – 9:05am – Presentation

9:05 – 10:05am – Roundtable discussion: Investing in mid-career professionals: insights into up-skilling and re-training for the future of work

10:05 – 10:15am – Closing remarks

Chatham House Rules apply to this session. Insights may be summarised but will not be attributed. The results of the roundtable will help to inform PPF’s future of work research activities.

By invitation only.