Key Takeaways from the AFR Workforce Summit
By Dr Marianne Broadbent
As I reflect on the recent AFR Workforce Summit, one theme emerges with striking clarity: Australia stands at a critical juncture in addressing its workforce challenges. The conversations that unfolded among government representatives, business leaders, and workforce experts revealed not just the complexity of our skills shortages, but also the richness of potential solutions available to us. What follows is my synthesis of these discussions, offered as a framework for leaders grappling with workforce capability in an increasingly competitive global landscape.
The Economic Foundation
Minister Murray Watt opened with a perspective that set an optimistic tone for the discussions that followed. The economic foundation upon which we’re building is stronger than many realise. With over one million new jobs created during the current government’s term and the lowest average unemployment rate in fifty years, there’s a fundamental stability that allows for strategic rather than merely reactive approaches to skills development.
What struck me particularly was Minister Watt’s emphasis on the private sector’s role in this growth—four out of five new jobs have emerged there, suggesting that government and business are finding effective ways to partner. The reduction in industrial disputes further indicates a collaborative environment taking shape. This matters tremendously because addressing skills shortages requires precisely this kind of cross-sector cooperation.
Reimagining Productivity
The summit challenged conventional thinking about productivity in ways that should resonate with forward-thinking leaders. Minister Watt’s characterisation of wage suppression as “dressing up ideology as economic fact” signalled a shift toward more nuanced approaches to enhancing productivity.
Two recent policy initiatives exemplify this shift. The elimination of non-compete clauses at most employment levels promises to increase workforce mobility, allowing talent to flow more naturally to where it creates the most value. Similarly, the national approach to occupational recognition for electricity workers offers a template that could transform how we recognise and deploy skills across industries.
What emerges from these discussions is a vision of productivity rooted not in constraining workers but in releasing their potential through different policy frameworks and investments in capability. This vision represents a significant departure from approaches that have dominated Australian business thinking in recent decades.
The Education Evolution
“Seventy percent of future jobs will require tertiary education,” noted Jobs and Skills Australia Commissioner, Professor Barney Glover, a statistic that underscores the urgency of reimagining our educational approaches. The imbalance between vocational education and higher education emerged repeatedly in discussions, suggesting our current system isn’t optimally aligned with future workforce needs.
What became increasingly clear throughout the summit is that the traditional separation between education and work is dissolving. Where once a credential might serve for decades, speakers noted that the “skill life” of workers has compressed dramatically from about 15 years to approximately 3 years. This acceleration demands new models of continuous learning that blur the boundaries between formal education and workplace development.
Yet even as this need becomes more apparent, several speakers observed a concerning trend: organisations have reduced in-house work-related training, with compliance requirements consuming an ever-larger share of learning and development resources. This divergence between need and reality represents one of the most significant challenges identified at the summit.
Diversity as Strategic Imperative
The business case for diversity has evolved beyond simple representation metrics, as exemplified by several organisational stories shared during the summit. BHP’s journey to 39% female representation across the organisation—with many leadership levels reaching 50:50 gender parity—demonstrates what’s possible with intentional approaches. Their “Future Academy” shows how strategic talent development can transform organisational demographics.
Kathryn van der Merwe, Group Executive, People, Culture & Communications at Telstra reported their current count of 44% female executives, emphasising that creating truly inclusive workplaces requires pulling multiple levers simultaneously. The “40/40/20 approach” she mentioned offers a flexible framework that acknowledges the complexity of diversity work while maintaining clear targets.
What these stories collectively suggest is that diversity isn’t merely about social equity (though that certainly matters)—it’s about accessing previously untapped talent pools to address skills shortages. Organisations that excel at inclusion gain access to capabilities their competitors do not reach.
The Global Talent Opportunity
CEO Melinda Cilento from the Committee for Economic Development of Australia raised concerns about the “absence of skilled migration” in many workforce discussions. This resonated deeply for me. Her observation that one in four skilled migrants in Australia work below their skill level despite being recruited specifically for their expertise points to a significant opportunity cost in our current approaches.
The bias for local knowledge among Australian employers that Cilento identified suggests cultural rather than structural barriers to leveraging global talent. When she mentioned the rapidly growing populations in countries like Pakistan, Congo, and Nigeria, I was struck by the mismatch between where human capital is developing globally and where our recruitment efforts typically focus.
This reluctance to recognise international experience represents a particularly self-limiting aspect of Australia’s approach to skills shortages. In a global competition for talent, our geographic isolation already presents challenges—adding unnecessary biases against international experience only compounds the difficulty.
Generational Insights
The dedicated panel on Generation Z offered nuanced perspectives that move beyond simplistic characterisations of younger workers. Jessica Campbell from Google noted that the traditional command-and-control approach of “Jump = how high” no longer resonates with this generation. Instead, their desire to understand the “why” behind work requirements reflects a deeper need for purpose and meaning—”that is where the magic happens.”
Yet this emphasis on purpose coexists with very practical concerns. The panel noted that Gen Z values competitive compensation, flexibility in work arrangements, having a voice in decisions, collaboration opportunities, and clear development pathways. Kathleen McCudden from Seek wisely observed that while generational differences exist, many workplace preferences span generations, suggesting that improvements made for younger workers often benefit all employees.
Bridget Louden-Harris of Expert 360 reminded listeners that intergenerational understanding flows both ways. While organisations must adapt to new expectations, Gen Z also needs to understand that “career is a staircase, not an elevator” and that work ethic and responsiveness remain highly valued across generations. This mutual adaptation, rather than one-sided accommodation, emerged as a theme worth considering.
The Flexibility Revolution
Few topics generated as much discussion as flexible work arrangements, reflecting their central importance in contemporary workforce strategies. Minister Watt observed that flexibility in office-based settings could substantially increase workforce participation, tapping into talent pools that might otherwise remain inaccessible.
Karen Lonergan, Chief People Officer at PwC Australia made a crucial distinction between “hybrid” work models (which involve behavioural adaptations) and “flexibility” (which requires structural changes). This distinction helps explain why some organisations have struggled to implement effective flexible arrangements—they’ve changed locations without adapting underlying work processes and expectations.
Perhaps most revealing was Sarah McCann-Bartlett of the Australian HR Institute’s observation that employees will trade up to 6% of their salary for hybrid work options. This quantification of flexibility’s value should prompt leaders to reconsider their “5 days-a-week return-to-office” mandates, especially when facing skills shortages. The leaders best positioned to navigate these new work arrangements, several speakers noted, are those comfortable with ambiguity and who demonstrate genuine curiosity about emerging possibilities.
The Changing Industrial Landscape
The industrial relations environment described at the summit differs dramatically from that of even a few years ago. Natalie Gaspar from Freehills characterised it as a “complex bargaining environment” where employees and unions have increased bargaining power. This shift requires adjustments from employers accustomed to different dynamics.
Rebecca Donaldson’s experience with Ramsay’s 16 agreements covering 36,000 staff highlighted the growing preference for negotiated solutions, noting that “neither party wants to race to the Commission.” This preference for direct resolution rather than regulatory intervention suggests opportunities for innovative approaches to workplace relations.
Innes Willox of the Australian Industry Group described workplaces as “almost unrecognisable” due to COVID’s impact on work practices and employee expectations. The dramatic increase in psychosocial health considerations represents one of the most profound shifts, requiring entirely new approaches to workforce management and wellbeing.
Technology as Augmentation
While artificial intelligence featured less prominently than might have been expected, the summit did acknowledge its growing importance. Current investment in AI is substantial and expected to soon reach $200,000 per full-time equivalent . However, the emphasis fell not on replacement but on augmentation—technology enhancing rather than displacing human capabilities.
This augmentation frame offers a constructive way to think about technological change in workforce planning. Rather than asking which jobs might disappear, leaders might better consider how existing roles will evolve and what new capabilities their organisations will need to develop as technology transforms work processes.
Leadership for the New Landscape
Throughout the summit, a picture emerged of the leadership qualities needed to navigate today’s workforce challenges. Comfort with ambiguity, curiosity about diverse perspectives, willingness to devolve decision-making, commitment to building trust, and intentionality in approach (described by one speaker as “the word of the moment”) all featured prominently.
What struck me about this list is how dramatically it differs from the command-and-control leadership models evident in Australian business for decades. This has been a long time coming and encouraging to see. The workforce challenges we face don’t merely require different strategies—they demand much more thoughtful and informed leadership approaches.
Moving Forward: Integrated Strategies
As I reflect on the rich discussions at the summit, it becomes clear that addressing Australia’s skills shortages requires integrated strategies that operate across multiple dimensions simultaneously. Organisations that succeed will likely combine several approaches:
They’ll develop talent strategies that simultaneously reskill existing workers, attract diverse new talent, and leverage global expertise. They’ll create intentional inclusion programs with clear targets and accountability measures. Their learning models will acknowledge the shortened “shelf life” of skills and embed continuous development of underlying capabilities into everyday work. Their collaboration practices will work seamlessly across in-person and virtual environments.
The leadership approaches that drive these strategies will emphasise trust, purpose, and decision-making autonomy rather than control and compliance. Flexible work arrangements will connect clearly to organisational goals rather than existing as standalone policies. And technological augmentation will enhance rather than replace human skills development.
A Call to Intentional Action
Perhaps the most significant takeaway from the summit was the repeated emphasis on intentionality. Australia’s skills challenges won’t resolve themselves through market forces alone or through isolated initiatives. They require deliberate, sustained, and coordinated efforts across government policy, educational institutions, and organisational practices.
The good news is that we’re building from a position of economic strength, with numerous examples of successful approaches already emerging across sectors. Organisations that learn from these examples while adapting them to their specific contexts will be best positioned to overcome skills challenges and build sustainable workforce capabilities.
The path forward isn’t about finding a single solution but about orchestrating multiple approaches into coherent strategies—strategies that recognise the complexity of our current moment while maintaining clarity about the capabilities Australia needs to thrive in the decades ahead.
Dr. Marianne Broadbent is a leading expert in executive leadership and organisational strategy. This article synthesises insights from the AFR Workforce Summit and is intended to support leaders in developing strategic approaches to workforce capability.
