Let the AI-led workforce transformation commence.

The latest installment of the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report shows that major trends such as broadening digital access and advancements in AI technologies “are expected to have a divergent effect on jobs.” In other words: Companies plan to replace some workers with AI, but hire others with in-demand skill sets.

Roughly two-fifths (41%) of the 1,000-plus companies WEF surveyed globally said they plan to “downsize their workforce” by 2030 due to AI. Yet 69% said they expect to recruit workers skilled in designing and enhancing AI tools, and almost half (47%) said they’ll “transition employees from AI-disrupted roles to other positions.”

The positions expected to be in highest demand generally involve technology or energy transition. They include big data specialists, AI and machine learning specialists, environmental engineers, and autonomous or electric vehicle specialists, according to the report.

Analytical thinking again came out on top as the core skill employers value most, followed by resilience, flexibility and agility, as well as leadership and social influence.

For more on AI’s impact on the global workforce, click here.—AZ

Our hearts go out to everyone living through the terrible fires that have devastated parts of Los Angeles. To help, we’ve gathered links to useful resources as families, communities, and organizations fight through this terrible experience and begin to rebuild.

For accountants. “For any CPA affected by the devastating wildfires in California, the AICPA Benevolent Fund has been built up to help those in need,” the organization said on LinkedIn. The fund provides one-time grants to current AICPA members and their dependent children (under age 21), as well as to surviving spouses of late AICPA members.

The grants can also help with “temporary monthly living expenses” including healthcare-related costs “that exceed insurance coverage,” as well as health insurance premiums and “most medically necessary services for dependent children (under age 21).” The application form and instructions for the fund’s Disaster Support Application are available here. Email benevolent_fund@aicpa.org with questions.

For helping others. The AICPA’s Disaster Relief Resource Center has information on disaster tax relief by state and disaster recovery, including a post-disaster checklist, a VS Section 100 toolkit, and resources for business interruption claims and preventing fraud.

For more disaster relief resources, click here.—GD

It all started with a facilities meeting in February 2023. Executive leaders and the facilities team at organic foods producer Organic Valley were meeting to address facility constraints and workspace needs as the southwestern-Wisconsin-based cooperative moved toward calling employees back to the office.

Some people in the meeting—including Kimberly Turnmire, VP of organizational development—began to wonder: What problem are we actually here to solve?

“Nobody wants to be told to come back to the office three days a week arbitrarily,” she said, adding that the group began to tease out the possibility of pausing the facilities conversation and instead designing a company-wide, in-office work recommendation that would better fit Organic Valley.

A cross-functional group of leaders from HR, learning, employee communications, IT, and facilities was tasked with “creating clarity and consistency in our approach and our messaging across the entire company.”

The group identified core guide posts to a hybrid RTO policy: “We have to be able to operate a profitable business. We have to be able to remain a competitive employer. We have to be able to hear our employees in this process, and then we wanted to make sure that we thought about our cooperative culture,” she said.

Click here to continue reading HR Brew’s story on how Organic Valley managed RTO.—AD