Innovation and collaboration take center stage at Future of Work Summit 2023

Business Insider held the highly anticipated Future of Work Summit on March 17, 2023. The event, co-powered by Google Cloud, and hosted at WeWork BKC in Mumbai, brought together some of the brightest minds in the industry to discuss the new era of work, the workplace, and the workforce.

Attendees had the opportunity to participate in interactive discussions and network with fellow professionals. The summit focused on shifting strategies that help retain talent with a renewed focus on people, creating more humane workplaces amidst digital adoption, finding a balance between hybrid and physical workspaces, and creating a more equitable environment overall.

The keynote speaker, Vinita Vaid Singhal, LabourSecretary (Maharashtra), delivered an enlightening speech, highlighting the need for collaboration between the government, businesses, and employees to create a more inclusive and productive workplace. She shed light on the new labour laws and how the Industrial Relations Act is the one that will now define an employee’s relationship with the employer, especially for the gig workers.

“There are various new professions which have come up: the IT profession, the individuals, the freelancers, the ones who are hired for a certain period of time. All these relations between the employer and the employer, or even the freelancing people who don't really have a boss but work for themselves. What are the work ethics and work laws applying to them? They have also been clearly defined in these laws,” she said during the keynote address.

The event featured a wide range of panel discussions, fireside chats, masterclasses, and an exclusive breakout session with the Google Cloud India team. With over 25+ speakers discussing various topics like enhancing human capital at the workplace, the evolution of shared workspaces from coworking to corporate and reimagining the future of work and business.

Sumedha Chakraborty, India & SAARC Head - Google Workspace emphasised the importance of innovation and meaningful collaboration in the modern era, especially in the post-pandemic world where businesses are adapting to new ways of working. She said, “Google as a company thrives on innovation. We are a product company, right? So it's very important for us to get our culture right to get everything that we work around on the tools. We get that right because it's about people. If we don't have the people, we don't have the great products that we build and everything starts from there.”

Innovation and collaboration are critical elements for businesses to thrive in the modern era, and companies like Google, which prioritise innovation and user experience, help lead the way in creating products that meaningfully connect people and drive growth. The summit also saw conversations around the two cornerstones that HR leaders must focus on to create a productive, diverse workforce that can adapt to changing needs of business – upskilling and the push for diversity, equity and inclusion across companies.

The summit saw participation from India’s leading creators Rohan Joshi, Advait Gupt, and Varun Duggirala as they discussed the future of storytelling in India – how new platforms are revolutionising the way we consume and tell stories and the opportunities it presents for content creators.

Overall, the Future of Work Summit 2023 was an engaging and informative event that offered valuable insights into the changing world of work and the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.