The next five years will be decisive for how employers and society manage the ongoing transformation of working life. Hierarchical titles and static roles have long guided organization and responsibility, but they neither capture the competence that actually exists nor the mandate required in change. A new way of understanding employment is needed, where competence becomes a mobile resource and employers build structures that provide both security and learning.
The old system
Working life has long been built around hierarchical titles.
A title defined status, responsibility, and often a career path.
Competence and mandate were strongly linked to formal structures.
This created clarity but also locked people into roles rather than potential.
The current shift
Titles reveal less and less about actual competence.
Cross-functional teams, project organizations, and digitalization demand ability rather than formal titles.
Employees expect development and mobility rather than only employment.
At the same time, employers in healthcare, IT, and industry report acute skill shortages, while other parts of the labor market are releasing employees. We are in an intermediate stage where the old system no longer works and the new one is not yet established.
The next five years
The coming five years are critical. Employers must create visibility in competence, what exists, what is missing, and how resources can be moved.
Internal mobility will be a key area: moving competence where it creates the most value.
External collaboration and ecosystems are expanding: value is created in networks, not in isolated organizations.
The decisions made during this period will set structures that are difficult to change later. Employers who fail to act risk losing talent and struggling to attract new.
The future of employment
Employment will be shaped by three factors:
- Security: not only in employment, but in learning and mobility.
- Development: employees seek learning journeys and new contexts.
- Meaning: the experience of contributing to larger systems.
Competence therefore becomes a currency that must circulate rather than be stored.
Social sustainability and security
Sick leave due to mental health issues is rising and is already the most common cause of long-term absence. For employers this means both costs and lost capacity. But it is also a signal that security and development cannot be seen as soft issues separate from operations.
When people are given opportunities to use their competence in new contexts and see paths forward, security is created. Security builds health, engagement, and long-term capacity.
Practical steps for employers
- Map competence: make existing resources visible.
- Build internal mobility: create structures to move people where they are needed.
- Offer learning journeys: make development an integrated part of everyday work.
- Put security at the center: see health and learning as investments in capacity.
- Think ecosystem: develop collaboration beyond organizational boundaries.
Who will lead the transformation?
The next five years will determine how well we use the competence we already have and how we build capacity for the future. Employers who look beyond titles and hierarchies and instead create mobility, security, and learning will not only manage the transformation, they will lead it.
The question is not whether change will come, but whether organizations choose to shape it or let it shape them.
Related article
The future of employment: The next five years will determine how we use competence. The article explores what this transformation demands from employers and the practical steps ahead.
Further reading
- Competence as the new currency: Why we need to work across silos
- World Economic Forum (2025): Future of Jobs Report
- OECD: Lifelong learning and skills mobility
- Deloitte: Skills-based organizations – the future of work
