Human Capital Management and Modern Workforce Challenges

Human capital is a critically important value driver for corporations in today’s economy, where a corporation’s most significant assets walk out the door each evening. In response, boardroom attention has begun to focus on “human capital management,” which includes topics ranging from employee health and safety to workplace diversity to employee recruitment, training, development, and retention. With the onset of the global pandemic, boards have been confronted with unprecedented challenges in navigating the remote or hybrid work environment, issues with returning to the office safely, vaccine mandates, and related disruptions. Most of these human capital issues have traditionally been viewed as topics for management and outside the scope of the board’s responsibilities. But increasingly, and now accelerated by the pandemic, investors are calling on companies to disclose more information about workforce diversity and human capital development and risks, while calling on boards to be more engaged in oversight of a company’s human capital management strategies. At the same time, corporations are facing enormous changes and disruption in the workplace with the growing efficiency of machine learning and automation. This session will examine how board members should be thinking about and working with management on these risks and opportunities.