Trump should make ‘future of work’ a top priority

On Friday, Donald J. Trump will be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States, and he will begin to lay out his 100-day agenda.  As part of this, he should make addressing the future of work a top priority of his first term.  This effort should span government, include workers and business leaders and fundamentally rethink our nation’s laws, policies and institutions when it comes to work.  The seeds of change must be planted in the first 100 days of the new Trump administration, and it could take 1,000 days or more to fully address the future of work.

{mosads}Indeed, technological innovation – driven by mobile, cloud and collaboration technologies – has catalyzed a fundamental shift in our society. It is changing where we work, how we work and when we work. And it is transforming the relationship between companies and workers. 

For decades, the compact between employer and worker was a straightforward exchange – years of hard work, for a steady salary, health care, and retirement benefits.  Today – for 53 million Americans and growing – that model is yesterday’s news.

Millions of workers want the flexibility, freedom and security of a good paying job. The challenge is that the highest skilled workers possess the best advantage to achieve this and even that advantage is limited. They maintain security only for as long as their skills are relevant. The fast-paced digital economy is reconstructing businesses, models and the marketplace. Work is changing, and we need to change how we look at work.

In short, the structures that defined the last 100 years of the American economy are being reshaped – and we need new policies to reflect these changes. There are five steps that the we must take as a nation to build a new social compact between workers, companies, and the government.

The critical first step is to recognize the problem.  American workers are angry – as evidenced in the November elections. However, in a climate of accelerating change and digital transformation, recreating a traditional manufacturing model will not happen. Government needs to know that and act pragmatically. So we must put in place retraining programs to make U.S workers the highest skilled workforce in the world to do new innovative jobs, not fight in despair for the jobs that will eventually leave the workforce. The route to economic opportunities runs directly through training for functions that do exist and will exist. We cannot fight evolution, but we can harness it and prepare ourselves. Do not fight productivity and efficiencies. 

Second, we must ensure that the next generation of students has the skills to meet the challenges of the modern economy. By 2020, there may be as many as 5 million job openings that go unfilled because employers can’t find enough skilled workers to fill them. This imbalance has to change. We must begin by teaching computer science and other STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects in every school in the nation. And we must also launch a nationwide technical training program to open the door of opportunity to millions of workers already in the workforce.  There has been a lot of work done on this, but it has not yielded the kind of results it should because we have not accepted that the 1970-90s business models in every industry have changed to a digital footprint, only to accelerate.

Third, we must extend the opportunities that technology provides to Americans of all backgrounds. The technology industry, in particular, must take a hard look in the mirror and make a concerted effort to expand opportunity beyond its traditional workforce. These should be industry-wide efforts focused on mentorship and skills development to recruit and retain workers from diverse communities and backgrounds. We all must do better to make our workforces reflect the wider demographic layout of the US.

Fourth, we must ensure that our federal, state and local laws support new and emerging business models. Congress, as well as states and local communities, are grappling with questions including worker classification, rules over the gig economy and the portability of benefits. As a nation, we must develop a new social compact – a common set of principles that ensure that workers are treated fairly, while providing a level playing field for disruptive businesses and traditional enterprises alike. States need the freedom to enact laws to address emerging workforce issues, but federal leadership and standards will help set the tone and ensure that communities have equal opportunity to compete. 

And finally, we must harness technology, which is both a disruptive force and a potential solution to the challenges, to increase access to employment opportunities and benefits. The cost to administer 401Ks has dropped by orders of magnitude. As benefits continue to be provided outside of the traditional employer model, we should explore funding mechanisms to ensure that workers can access benefits through new platforms and models. Technology will continue to advance at an even greater speed. America’s technological leadership has been a hallmark of our economy for decades and we need to find faster ways to embrace it with smart regulation, programs and be all in on moving forward.

Most importantly, the future of work cannot become a partisan football. We must address these issues in a smart and visionary way so that our economy can flourish and our workers can thrive.  That’s why our next president must spark a national dialogue to forge a national consensus over the future of work.

Mike Gregoire is the chief executive officer of CA Technologies, a multinational tech company headquartered in New York City.

The views expressed by contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.