McKinsey: How can Europe navigate the future of work?
Massimo Giordano: There is a strong need for a major reskilling of parts of the working class, which is driven by two factors, sustainability and generative AI. We all know the shift to sustainability will eliminate certain jobs, historical jobs connected to what I define as the “Old World.”
On the other hand, sustainability is creating many new work opportunities around the green economy, around green business building. This is why we see a strong need for proactive reskilling as well as planning to help workers of different ages start rethinking what they do and target new work opportunities.
The same holds true for generative AI, which is creating a lot of challenges in certain parts of the working population. But as with sustainability, it is also creating a lot of new opportunities. So once again, the key is to identify these new opportunities and reskill people to help them transition from the Old World to the New World.
This trend also applies to companies, the corporate world, and what we are seeing here at McKinsey. Every organization needs to ask itself, “What kind of jobs do we currently have and how will these jobs evolve?” This is the first question. The second one is, “How skilled is our workforce, and how can we transition them towards the new jobs of the future?”
We believe reskilling can accomplish a great deal with both the younger and older generations. So there is plenty of room to recreate certain jobs, reskill people, and recreate a new social pact with the working classes.