Managing Retail Staff Schedules

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐖𝐡𝐲-𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬?🎯 When faced with recurring issues, superficial fixes won’t lead to lasting improvement. This is where the Why-Why Analysis comes into play—a structured problem-solving method that helps identify the root cause and implement effective solutions. 🔑 How the Why-Why Analysis Works: ❶Identify the problem: Clearly define the issue. ❷Ask “Why?”: Question why the problem exists. ❸Repeat the “Why?”: Continue asking until you uncover the root cause. ❹Identify the root cause: Analyze responses to pinpoint the underlying issue. ❺Implement solutions: Develop and execute corrective actions. 📌 Benefits of the Why-Why Analysis: ❶Clarity: It provides a clear understanding of the problem and its contributing factors. ❷Root Cause Focus: Helps avoid temporary fixes by addressing the real issue. ❸Prevention: Prevents recurrence of the problem by resolving it at its source. ❹Collaboration: Encourages teamwork by involving stakeholders in uncovering the root cause. ❺Efficiency: Saves time and resources by eliminating trial-and-error solutions. 📣 Example: Low Customer Satisfaction Let’s break it down: Problem: Customer satisfaction is low. • Why? Waiting times are long. • Why? Staff is unavailable during peak hours. • Why? There’s a lack of staff scheduled for peak hours. • Why? The scheduling system doesn’t account for peak times. • Why? Customer traffic patterns were never analyzed. 🛠️Root Cause: The lack of customer traffic pattern analysis led to inefficient scheduling, resulting in inadequate staffing during peak hours and long customer waiting times. 🔍 Solution Implementation: ✔️ Conduct customer traffic pattern analysis. ✔️ Revise the scheduling system to align with peak times. ✔️ Increase staffing during peak hours. ✔️ Monitor and adjust scheduling as needed. 🔥By addressing the root cause, the Why-Why Analysis not only resolves the immediate problem but also prevents its recurrence. It’s a simple yet powerful tool for driving sustainable improvements. 💥 Have you used the Why-Why Analysis in your work? Share your experiences or insights in the comments! ========== 🔔 Consider following me at Govind Tiwari,PhD #qa #qc #qms #QualityManagement #ContinuousImprovement #Leadership #quality #iso9001 #QualityCulture #qualityaudit #audit #RootCauseAnalysis #ProblemSolving #FishboneDiagram #pokayoke #whywhyanalysis

Strategic Workforce Planning starts in: 👉🏻 The business strategy. Not HR frameworks. Not headcount plans. If we’re not clear on where the business is going — growth, scaling, new markets — then SWP just becomes a 2D exercise. For me, it comes down to one question: What capabilities do we need to win? That’s the shift: From roles → to capabilities From structure → to skills Thats where Dave Ulrich’s “business first” thinking is helpful. I’ve often seen in growing businesses teams increasing in size and more complexity. The instinct? Hire more experienced leaders from the outside. And yes — sometimes you need to buy that capability. But if you rely on that alone, you create dependency and inconsistency. I recommend a more deliberate 4D approach: • Buy selectively for critical roles or fresh thinking • Borrow where you need pace or niche expertise • But really focus on building your leadership capability from within Because what’s often missing isn’t just experience — it’s scalable leadership. Things like: – leading through others – making decisions with incomplete information – operating commercially, not just functionally – creating clarity in ambiguity So how do you actually build this? For me, it’s a few things: ➡️Get really clear on what “good” looks like Not generic competencies — what great leadership looks like in your business, at your stage of growth ➡️Use real work as the development vehicle Projects, stretch roles, market expansions — not just programmes ➡️Build it into how you run the business Performance, succession, talent reviews — all anchored in those capabilities ➡️Hold leaders accountable for building leaders Not just delivering results ➡️Be consistent This isn’t a one-off initiative — it’s how capability gets built over time That’s when SWP shifts from filling roles… To building a business that can actually deliver its strategy 🏆 . #StrategicWorkforcePlanning #HRLeadership #LeadershipDevelopment #TalentStrategy

𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗼 Crumble 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘆 foodpanda operations 𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀… During peak hours at Crumble, the store was jam-packed with customers. It immediately took me back to my Foodpanda experience, where during peak hours we had to process 100–150 orders in just one hour. The interesting part? We didn’t face customer queues inside the store — instead, it was the riders who crowded outside, waiting for their pickups. This kind of chaos taught me some important lessons about 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮. 𝗔𝘁 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮, 𝘄𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵: – 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴: We tracked how long it took a picker to pick, a packer to pack, and a rider to pick up. This helped us benchmark productivity per role. – 𝗦𝗵𝗶𝗳𝘁 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: “Super shifts” during peak demand meant we met order targets without overspending on extra staff during slower hours. – 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: We introduced digital order screens showing order numbers for riders — avoiding confusion and wasted time. But still there are on and off days but we have the visibility to track what happens due to all the timestamps and data 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗿𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲: – They track orders from the time of placement, but 𝗸𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 — like when the order is packed or handed over. – Staff call out orders vocally in a noisy environment, which creates delays. 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿: – 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲: from order placed → prepared → packed → handed over. This builds transparency and benchmarking. – Implement 𝗱𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 screens for customers (like KFC or McDonald’s). It reduces dependency on manual announcements. – Use historic order data to forecast peak-hour demand and align staff rosters accordingly — ensuring the right resources at the right time. – Benchmark productivity per role (e.g., average orders packed per hour) to identify training needs and process gaps. – Separate counters line to maintain discipline Final thought: Peak-hour chaos is common in food businesses — but with the right data, benchmarking, and a few small process tweaks, the experience can become smoother for staff, and customers. It was inspiring to see Crumble’s popularity, and I believe with some structured improvements, their customer experience can reach even greater heights.

Workforce planning has always been an incredibly complex and difficult task. Despite valiant efforts to improve these models, they have remained relatively static and simplistic, relying predominantly on small teams crunching data or on predictions from the hiring manager community. In an ideal world, we would shift from a static, once-a-year exercise to a dynamic, more proactive model. We would stop reacting to what's happening now and start anticipating what's likely to happen next. Last week, I had the pleasure of spending time with our enterprise data and analytics team, a group that services over 800 customers. The most exciting topic we discussed was three pilots we're running with customers right now that aim to make this a reality: using a digital twin for work planning. It works by connecting vast amounts of external market data with a company's many internal data sources, some they typically wouldn't consider, such as ERP, CRM (sales), LMS, and Time and Attendance systems. This allows us to run scenarios and model future talent needs. Here’s a concrete example: By analyzing Salesforce, HRIS, and ATS data, we can predict that when multiple prospect opportunities reach a specific stage in our customer’s sales cycle, there is a high likelihood of winning at least one of them. We can then analyze the consistent skill sets across all of those prospect opportunities, allowing us to confidently and proactively start a recruitment process for those skills. The goal being that we have candidates at the final stages of the process, before an official requisition has been raised, positively impacting time to hire. We’ve also been able to replicate a similar model based on website sales activity. The question to ask is: what data is generated in what system that allows you to get ahead of the hiring process today. 

A or B? Which scenario maximizes customer satisfaction when you have capacity constraints? 𝗜𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼 𝗔: Virtually 𝘈𝘓𝘓 customers will become dissatisfied because of the unrealistic schedule commitments that have been made. These promises will fail because of one undeniable fact: YOU DON'T HAVE ENOUGH CAPACITY! Initially, everyone is happy under the false illusion that delivery dates will be met. Then, when reality raises its ugly head, orders that were once declared "on time" now become "past due" and customers' expectations are shattered. 𝗜𝗻 𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗼 𝗕: Your capacity and capabilities are well understood and you've put mechanisms in place to ensure that you only enter into customer commitments that are realistically feasible. Some customers may not initially like your longer lead times, but you DON'T violate your own capacity constraints, you prioritize orders to your benefit, and customers will recognize that they can count on your promises. Note that 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗔 "𝗟𝗘𝗧'𝗦-𝗝𝗨𝗦𝗧-𝗠𝗔𝗞𝗘-𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗗-𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘𝗦-𝗟𝗢𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗥" 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗚𝗬! You are instead establishing an integrated purchasing and manufacturing control system that is rigidly attached to customer requirements, fully utilizes your supply chain resources, and efficiently promotes on-time execution. 𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗬: 1) Scenarios A and B both generate the same revenue because they are both subject to the same capacity constraints. 2) Scenario B is 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 because expensive overtime and expediting are avoided. It is also more conducive to keeping existing customers and attracting new sales. --- Ensuring on-time purchasing and manufacturing is our specialty. 👉 Go to our website or to the bottom of the "About" section of my LinkedIn profile to schedule a free no-obligation phone call. #AltemirConsulting #manufacturing #leanmanufacturing #supplychainmanagement #supplychain #erp #operationsmanagement

𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲?    When I first started out in my career, the world of work looked very different.     Most people stayed in the same job – even the same company – for many years, sometimes decades. Roles were clearly defined, often with fixed hierarchies and long paper trails. Teams were almost always co-located, and workforce planning largely meant headcount forecasting based on fixed job descriptions.    Fast forward to today, and work looks nothing like that. AI advancements have reshaped entire industries. New skills are emerging in months, not years. Geopolitical shifts are affecting access to talent and cost in ways business leaders couldn’t have predicted five years ago.     But too often, workforce strategies are still rooted in that old approach, usually accompanied by long hiring cycles or rigid structures.     To truly tackle today’s challenges, strategies should be led by the outcomes the business needs to achieve – whether that’s accelerating digital transformation, expanding into new markets, or delivering complex, high-impact projects at pace.    David Barr, who leads the Robert Walters Outsourcing business, sums it up well:  "The future of workforce planning isn’t about the worker. It’s about the work that needs to be done."    This shift in mindset changes the questions leaders should be asking.     For instance, instead of asking: What roles do we need to fill?  Think about: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿?    And in place of: What qualifications or experience do we need?   Consider: 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀?  That’s where capability-led planning comes in. It can help organisations build on traditional hiring models beyond permanent and temporary by adding more flexible ways to access the skills they need – when and where they need them.      For example, say you’re looking to build a team with in-demand tech skills that are difficult to recruit for. Instead of trying to fill permanent positions, a hire-train-deploy (HTD) model can help you access early-career talent, trained specifically for your needs and ready to deliver from day one.     Or, if your team needs expert support for a critical project but adding to your headcount isn’t an option, a resource augmentation approach is a good solution. It gives you access to experienced, on-demand consultants with specialist skill sets – along with the flexibility to scale up or down as needed.      Yes, this kind of planning may take more thought upfront. But it creates a workforce strategy that can evolve as fast as the world around it.     How are you progressing your workforce strategy to meet what’s next? 

Most brands are still trying to “prove” the relationship between EX and CX by correlating scores. Employee engagement score ↔ customer satisfaction score. eNPS ↔ NPS. Happy employees = happy customers. The problem? That’s not operational enough to drive change. As someone who has sat in store ops, CX, and executive experience roles, the real linkage between EX + CX isn’t found in score correlation. It’s found in operational strain patterns. That’s why this recent friction analysis on Ulta Beauty was so interesting. When I looked across workforce feedback (Glassdoor), customer reviews (online and social), operational friction patterns, and behavioral signals together, the story became incredibly clear: 1/ Workforce strain was operationalizing directly into customer friction. 2/ Understaffing → longer wait times + inconsistent support 3/ Training gaps → poor associate confidence + lower service quality 4/ Scheduling instability → execution inconsistency across stores 5/ Recovery overload → reactive operations instead of proactive selling And customers were feeling it everywhere: - BOPIS/inventory frustration - loyalty confusion - inconsistent salon experiences - long checkout waits - inconsistent store experiences across locations That’s the EX + CX linkage most companies miss. Customers don’t experience your employee engagement score. They experience the downstream operational effects of workforce friction. When associates are overwhelmed… customers feel rushed interactions, lack of product knowledge, and transactional service. When labor compression forces teams into recovery mode… the business spends more time fixing broken experiences than creating valuable ones. When schedules constantly change… execution consistency collapses across locations. That’s the real EX → CX connection. This is where most EX and CX programs break down. They stop at measurement. But the real work is understanding how workforce friction operationalizes into customer friction and ultimately financial drag. EX friction creates: → execution inconsistency → inventory disconnects → fulfillment strain → recovery workload → operational variability Which then creates customer friction: → conversion loss → loyalty erosion → higher support costs → reputation damage → declining repeat behavior The future of EX + CX is not score correlation. It’s friction intelligence. It’s understanding the operational system underneath the experience. Because the frontline is the operating system of the brand. And if the workforce is operating under strain, the customer will eventually feel it at scale. The brands that win over the next decade won’t just “measure sentiment” better. They’ll build systems that connect: Workforce Signals → Operational Breakdown → Customer Friction → Financial Impact That’s the shift from experience management… to experience performance. cc: Kecia Steelman Peter Panagiotopoulos Anita Ryan

Sometimes there is something special about a startup, scaleup or a founder that makes them stand out from the crowd. This is my weekly list of startups and scaleups who I have recently met or have come on to my radar through my network and I believe are worth a watch. adeus - Mark Hedley & Nick Adams Building: A digital-first platform for wills and legacy planning Recommended to me from Jan McGinley. Recently launched “True Wills”, focused on making wills more secure and harder to challenge. Interesting timing with electronic wills coming into UK law, and feels like they are positioning themselves right at the centre of that shift. Stratiphy – Dan Gold Building: A retail investing platform for creating, testing, and automating systematic investment strategies Let's users build rule-based portfolios across stocks and ETFs, with backtesting, AI-driven signals, and execution wrapped into an ISA account. The angle is giving retail investors access to hedge fund-style systematic strategies without needing to code, positioning closer to “quant investing for individuals” than traditional brokerages or robo-advisors. Timely with rising interest in self-directed investing and the UK ISA wrapper, but differentiation will depend on how strong the strategy layer and outcomes prove over time. Inginuiti – Mark Tabrett CA Building: AI infrastructure for distributing and monetising sell-side research Transforms traditional equity and fixed income research from static PDFs into structured, AI-queryable knowledge, enabling sales, trading, and buy-side users to access insights instantly. Positioned against a legacy distribution model still reliant on email, chat rooms, and documents, which increasingly looks outdated as workflows shift toward AI-native consumption. Early signal lies in aligning with how desks already want to interact with information rather than forcing behaviour through reports. Able – Alexandra Wright Building: An on-demand staffing platform that matches skill profiles to shifts in real time. Able makes workers instantly bookable.  Workers build referenced skill profiles with video bios and right-to-work checks, and are offered shifts based on their skills and availability. No CVs, no applications, no interviews. Hiring managers describe what they need and the platform's semantic matching finds the right person, instantly. Workers pay nothing; businesses pay 8%. Everyone gets paid the same day. Backed by Innovate UK, and the Government's Connect to Work programme. Operating across London hospitality, events, and creative digital sectors with expansion into healthcare and retail from mid-2026. * The Ones to Watch is part of our Network Extenders Founder Cohorts initiative. A free-to-join community of founders working together in small cohorts to help each other scale their business through useful introductions to customers, investors and advisors. https://lnkd.in/emSTnKfv

🎉 My recruitment reflections from hiring beyond 120 people 🎉 With an average of onboarding 8.5 new team members every month for a sustained period, our TA team has now grown to six members, evolving into a cross-country operation. This growth has prompted me to reflect on how we’ve strategically built and refined our recruitment function to support scaling at Formalize. Here’s what comes to my mind. ❌ What we did wrong Casting a wide net across numerous job platforms proved ineffective, as did complicating our tech stack. Failing to prioritize internal collaboration led to misalignment, and focusing solely on experience over talent narrowed our pool. Delaying process scalability caused operational bottlenecks, and a lack of sufficient data hindered our decision-making. Recognizing these challenges early, we reimagined the traditional in-house TA function. Here’s what we discovered. 🔍 Simple, yet powerful attraction methods We chose to focus our efforts on mastering a few job platforms instead of spreading ourselves. We’ve cracked their algorithms, resulting in lower cost and more relevant applications. Also, our investment in in-house headhunting methods has proven highly effective. ⚙️ Scalable processes Every process we design is built with scalability in mind—thinking as if we’re already 500 people. The key is to build with the future in mind while executing today. 🤝 Collaborative infrastructure We prioritized a structure that fosters collaboration across the TA team and with stakeholders. This has minimized mistakes and created alignment during rapid growth. We resist the urge to adopt new tools unless absolutely necessary. 💡 Early personality assessments in interview process This enable us to focus on the right skills rather than just the CV. This approach has widened our talent pool and reduced competition for top talent. Now, we have sufficient data enabling us to be smart on what skills actually works. 📊 Data-driven forecasting Investing in our own data reporting system has revolutionized our forecasting. With this system, we can analyze capacity, track historical data, get insights into market-specific breakdowns, and real-time insights. This has been mind-blowing. 📈 Building a talent pipeline for on-demand hiring Just like in sales, having a warm pipeline in Talent Acquisition is crucial, especially in challenging markets. We have now conceptualized a structured approach for how to find, store and engage passive talent. 🌍 A skilled & diverse TA team Our TA team is not only skilled but also diverse, with expertise spanning multiple areas and languages across 4 markets. This diversity has boosted our conversion rates, ensuring we bring in the best talent. Finally, a warm welcome to our newest TA team members, Ángela and Jonas! We’re thrilled to have you on board and excited to see what we’ll achieve together. 🚀 Also thanks to the rest of the team Jonathan, Camilla, and Antonia🙏

2026 Will Redefine Competitiveness in the UAE and Workforce Strategy will decide who wins.. Everyone is talking about the UAE’s economic momentum. But very few are talking about what it actually means for companies trying to stay competitive in 2026. Here’s the truth: The next phase of growth in the UAE will be won by organisations that can align capability, technology, and people at speed... After analysing the latest economic signals, three shifts stand out. 𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗔𝗘’𝘀 𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗳𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝘂𝗽 Technology, logistics, renewable energy, advanced manufacturing, life sciences  these sectors are expanding rapidly as the UAE pushes toward We The UAE 2031 and Operation 300bn. Growth is strong. But capability gaps will widen. Companies that rely on traditional hiring models will struggle. Companies that build agile, high-skill workforce systems will lead. 𝟮. 𝗙𝗗𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 Mega-projects in aviation, maritime, clean energy, and smart cities will intensify competition for specialised skills. The question is no longer: “Can we hire?” It’s: “How fast can we build capability?” Workforce planning now requires global pipelines, compliant mobility models, and scalable teams that can activate at pace. 𝟯. 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗱𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗖𝗖 AI will no longer be an experiment, it will be a business requirement. The winners will be the companies that embed AI into workforce design: not as a substitute for people, but as a multiplier of capability, productivity, and decision-making. So what should companies prioritise in 2026? Build for skills, not static roles  • Job descriptions age quickly.  • Skill-first organisations will adapt faster, move faster, and innovate faster. Strengthen your talent supply chain  • Expect shortages in AI, engineering, sustainability, compliance, and specialised services.  • Talent pipelines must be global, diversified, and scalable. Prepare for a liquid workforce Hybrid, contract, gig, and project-based models will rise. A unified system for onboarding, compliance, and performance is now essential. Develop leaders who can navigate transition  • Digital fluency, coaching, adaptability, and change leadership will define the next generation of UAE leaders. Embed AI into HR operations  • Speed. Accuracy. Better decisions.  • AI-enabled HR will be the standard, not the exception. 2026 won’t just be a year of economic growth. It will be the year where workforce strategy becomes the new driver of competitiveness. The UAE is moving decisively. The organisations that move with it building capability, adaptability, and talent ecosystems will shape the next chapter of this region’s success story.