If there's one thing the pandemic taught us, it's the need for adaptability in overcoming challenges. More so in today's workforce, with the multifaceted issues arising from technology, sustainability, demographics and other structural changes. Consequently, talent planning and management must move in tandem with these changes. What do I mean by that? Several priorities are fundamental to pave the way for a better, more productive and rewarding future of work: First, leveraging analytics to forecast talent needs and to better measure workforce performance and productivity. By regularly analysing and monitoring employee performance and engagement metrics, organisations can determine the strategic talent acquisition, development and management decisions required. This will prepare the workforce for the challenges they will face going into the future. Second, developing a fast, agile and coherent workforce investment strategy. Several key elements include identifying workers who are being displaced from their roles, establishing appropriate internal committees to manage the displacement, funding reskilling and upskilling, motivating employee engagement in this process, and tracking the long-term success of such transitions. This should also account for specific needs by segments such as older workers, mothers returning to the workforce and contract employees. Third, introducing agile HR and organisational policies to enhance workforce flexibility and productivity. Given the recent success of remote working, many organisations are looking to capitalise on productivity and efficiency gains by establishing an effective hybrid working model that supports both office and remote working.
Øystein Olsen: Economic perspectives Annual address by Mr Øystein Olsen, Governor of the Norges Bank (Central Bank of Norway), to the Supervisory Council of Norges Bank and invited guests, Oslo, 14 February 2014. *  *  *  Accompanying charts can be found at the end of the speech. Introduction This year is the bicentenary of the signing of the Constitution of Norway. Two hundred years ago, Norway was a poor country on the periphery of a Europe that was then the world’s economic centre of gravity. Thomas Robert Malthus, one of the foremost experts of his time in the field of demography, toured Norway in 1799. In his travel diary, Malthus describes an agricultural society where most people lived a simple life subsisting on a diet of whatever they were able to harvest. Wealthy Norwegians, on the other hand, complained about how expensive it was to maintain a respectable lifestyle when everything had to be imported.1 The Napoleonic wars brought harsh economic realities. Blockades, epidemics and crop failures took their toll on the population. Large parts of southern Norway experienced severe famine in 1809 and again in 1813. Population numbers fell. The timber trade and shipping industry showed a marked contraction. Chart 1: Inflation in Norway King Fredrik VI financed public expenditure by printing money. Combined with goods shortages, the result was hyperinflation and failing confidence in the monetary system.