The Third Seat at the Table: Why Workforce Planning Can’t Survive Without Technology

In this episode of Edan Haddock - Total Talent, Edan Haddock explores why traditional workforce planning models are breaking in the era of AI and Workforce 5.0.

As technology rapidly reshapes jobs and capability needs, Edan argues workforce planning can no longer sit solely between HR and Finance. Enter the “Workforce Triangle” - HR, Finance and Technology designing the future of work together.

This episode dives into portfolio careers, the rise of consulting and fixed-term work, the future of permanent employment, and why relationship-based roles may become the most valuable jobs in the market.

A bold conversation about workforce design, AI, and what the next generation of work could really look like.

Join the Edan Haddock - Total Talent community (formerly Rubberband)

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Welcome back to Eden Haddock Total Talent. I am your host, Eden Haddock, Head of Talent and People Experience at Movember. This week I've been thinking a lot about workforce planning. Not so much talent acquisition, not headcount approvals, not org charts. Actual workforce planning. And I think most organizations are still designing work using a model that was built for a world that no longer exists. Because traditionally, workforce planning has sat between two groups: HR and finance. That's the model. HR talks capability and finance talks cost. Then our leaders debate headcount numbers in spreadsheets, could be for six months before approving three hires and freezing two. We've all been there. And everybody walks away pretending that we've strategically planned the future workforce. Meanwhile, technology has completely changed the nature of work while nobody has invited them to the table. And that's the bit I cannot stop thinking about this week. Because if AI, automation, agentic tooling, workflow augmentation, and systems architecture are now shaping jobs faster than ever before, why are people who understand that future not centrally involved in the workforce design? Why are we still planning work like it's 2018? I think this is one of the biggest shifts coming in with Workforce 5.0. Not AI replacing humans. I mean, that conversation's getting tired. The real shift is the workforce itself is becoming fluid. Roles are becoming unstable. Career paths are becoming fragmented. Permanent work is changing. Portfolio careers are coming back. Consulting is rising. Fixed-term arrangements are exploding. And organizations themselves are quietly admitting we actually don't know what work looks like in twenty-four months. This is the truth that nobody says out loud. And because of that, I think we're about to enter one of the biggest redesigns of work that we've seen in decades. Not workplace redesign, but work redesign itself. It's a different thing. So today I want to talk about why traditional workforce planning is broken and why HR and finance are no longer enough. I want to talk about why technology needs the third seat at the table, why fixed term and portfolio careers are rising, why relationship-based work may become the safest career path in the world, and what workforce 5.0 might actually look like once the dust settles. And I don't think talent acquisition survives this shift unless we evolve too. Because this future isn't hiring. The future is workforce design. So let's get into it. We'll start with the old model. For decades, workforce planning has been pretty predictable. A business says, we need more people. Finance asks, how much will that cost? HR asks, what capability do we need? And then a hiring process starts. Simple, linear, industrial. And it made sense when jobs were stable, when systems changed slowly, when industries evolved gradually, and when technology cycles took years. But now entire functions can change in six months, sometimes less. And that changes everything. Because historically, you could design a role with confidence that the work would still largely exist in three years. But now, I'm not convinced organizations genuinely believe that anymore. And we can see it in hiring behavior. You can feel it. The hesitation, the uncertainty, the rise in fixed-term contracts, transformation consultants, interim leaders, embedded specialists, fractional executives, project-based capability hiring. That's not random. That's organizations hedging uncertainty. I don't even think it's malicious. I think businesses are quietly saying we don't know what this role becomes yet. So that's different to cost cutting. It's structural uncertainty. It's a huge difference. Because if AI tooling evolves every quarter, how do we confidently lock in a five-year workforce structure? You simply can't. And this is why I think workforce planning itself is evolving into something bigger. Not workforce planning, but workforce architecture. And that's a different mindset entirely. So the workforce triangle, this is the theory I keep coming back to. The old workforce model had two key players, HR and Finance. But workforce five point z requires three HR, finance, technology, the workforce triangle. Because each function now owns a critical piece of the future. Finance understands operating models, efficiency, cost, scaling, investment strategy. HR understands capability, leadership, culture, experience, organizational impact. But what about technology? Technology understands automation capability, AI acceleration, systems integration, workflow redesign, augmentation potential, and digital labor. So without that third perspective, you risk designing roles that won't exist in eighteen months. That's the bit I think many organizations are missing. Technology teams are often brought in after workforce decisions instead of during workforce design. It's a massive mistake. Because future workforce planning is no longer just how many humans do we need. It becomes what combination of humans, AI, systems, contractors, automation, and specialist capability creates the best outcome? That's a completely different question. Most organizations are nowhere near ready for it. AI isn't just changing jobs, it's changing employment. This is the next layer people aren't talking about enough. AI isn't just changing work, it's changing the structure of employment itself. And I think we're going to see some very uncomfortable conversations emerge around this. Because historically, employment was built around stability. You joined a company, you climbed a ladder, you accumulated tenure, you built identity around permanence. But Workforce five point z may reward adaptability more than permanence. That changes everything. Because if technology keeps reshaping work rapidly, organizations become less likely to lock in rigid long-term structures. And on the other side, workers become less likely to want rigid long-term structures. That's where portfolio careers return. I'm not talking about side hustles, actual portfolio careers. People working across multiple businesses, across multiple income streams, across project ecosystems, across capability networks. Technology enables this beautifully. AI lowers administrative burden. Remote infrastructure enables global contribution. Digital tooling enables asynchronous collaboration. Personal brands create independent opportunity. So suddenly the individual becomes more scalable too. That's new. I actually think we're heading toward a world where some of the best operators deliberately avoid traditional full-time structures, especially knowledge workers. And I know some people listening will hate that idea. Because corporate systems still love certainty. But I think the market is changing underneath us and fast. Because increasingly, the smartest people may not want one employer, one identity, one career lane, one income stream. They may want flexibility, autonomy, creative freedom, diversified risk, meaningful projects, relationship networks. I think younger generations may normalize this much faster than corporate leadership expects. Because they grew up differently. They watched layoffs, restructures, instability, burnout, economic shocks. The psychological contract changed. And now AI accelerates that. Because if technology reduces dependence on large infrastructure, individuals become more powerful. For example, a recruiter with AI tooling may suddenly operate like a mini-agency. We're seeing that. A strategist may work across five organizations. We're seeing that. A learning designer may build independent ecosystems. A TA leader may become fractional. So this changes workforce planning entirely. Because now organizations don't just compete for employees, they compete for access to capability. It's a different game. So what happens to permanent work? Now, I don't think permanent employment disappears, and far from it. But I do think the definition of permanence changes. And I think we'll see a split emerge. Some roles will remain deeply permanent because trust matters, continuity matters, institutional knowledge matters, leadership stability matters. But other roles may become fluid by design. And that's especially true for transformation work, innovation work, specialist capability, AI implementation, project delivery, and emerging technology roles. And truly, some people may prefer that. That's the bit corporate leaders often miss. Flexibility isn't always insecurity. Sometimes it's liberation. Now, obviously, there are risks too, and we absolutely need to discuss these risks. Economic insecurity, particularly right now, access inequity, benefit structures, worker protections, burnout risk, a fragmented identity, all of that matters. Because a portfolio economy without protections could become brutal. So this isn't everything flexible is good, right? Not at all. But it is saying the workforce is becoming more fluid, whether we like it or not. And pretending otherwise simply won't stop it. The jobs that survive. Now, this part fascinates me. Because every time people talk about AI, they focus on tasks. But I think the future premium is relationships. And I actually think relationship capability may become one of the most valuable forms of work in Workforce 5.0. Why? Well, because AI scales process faster than trust. It's a huge difference. AI can automate workflows, summarize information, optimize systems, generate outputs, analyze data. But trust, influence, connection, human chemistry still incredibly valuable. So personally, I think we're going to see increased value placed on things like partnership leadership, stakeholder engagement, facilitation, negotiation, community building, emotional intelligence, storytelling, collaboration, and relationship architecture. Some of these human skills that corporate environments historically undervalued may become the hardest skills to replicate. That's fascinating. Because for years, organizations obsessed over operational efficiency. And now human differentiation may become relational, meaning the workforce of the future becomes less process heavy and more relationship heavy. It's a huge change. What happens in our world? What happens to talent acquisition? This is where it gets very real for us. And to be honest, I don't think talent acquisition survives purely as a talent acquisition function. No chance. Not in Workforce 5.0. Because if roles become fluid, evolving, project-based, AI-augmented, ecosystem driven, then talent cannot just fill jobs. Talent must design workforces. Massive difference. I think future talent leaders will become workforce architects, capability strategists, organizational designers, labor ecosystem specialists, and human plus AI integration advisors. That's where this goes. This is why I get frustrated when talent still gets boxed into transactional conversations. Because talent sits right in the middle of one of the biggest transformations in modern work. We should be leading this discussion, not waiting to be invited into it. The future organizational charts, here's a wild thought. What if org charts themselves become outdated? Seriously. What if the future organization looks less like a hierarchy and more like a network? Because technology enables dynamic deployment, meaning teams may form around problems or opportunities instead of reporting lines. Capabilities may move fluidly. Humans work alongside AI agents. Expertise may plug in temporarily. Work may become modular. And if that happens, the traditional concept of position management changes completely. Because now you're not managing static jobs. You're orchestrating capability ecosystems. That's Workforce 5.0. I think some organizations will embrace this quickly, but others will resist it aggressively. Because this level of change feel it feels threatening to traditional power structures. Especially middle management heavy environments built around visibility and control. But history tells us something important. Technology rarely asks permission before changing work, it just changes it. What should leaders be doing now? So if this future is emerging, what should organizations actually do? For me, there are a few things. First, stop treating technology as a downstream support function in workforce planning. Technology needs to co design future work, not implement after decisions are made. Second, we need to stop designing five year rigid workforce structures. And build adaptable capability systems instead. Third, we should invest heavily in relationship capability. Because human differentiation matters more than ever. Fourth, we need to prepare leaders for fluid workforce models. The future leader may manage employees, contractors, AI agents, consultants, project specialists, external ecosystems. And that in itself requires a completely different leadership capability. And fifth, us. Talent teams need to evolve rapidly. Because if we stay in the operational, we ourselves will get automated. Simply, it's it really is simple as that. So maybe the future of work isn't humans versus AI. Maybe it's something much more complex than that. Maybe it's humans, technology, and capability ecosystems being redesigned simultaneously. And maybe the organizations that win in Workforce 5.0 won't be the ones with the biggest headcount. They'll be the ones who redesign work the smartest. It's a shift. Not bigger workforces, but smarter workforce architecture. And I think the companies still treating workforce planning as an annual spreadsheet exercise are going to get left behind very quickly. Because the future of work won't be static. It'll be fluid. And talent, we need to decide whether we want to remain recruiters. Or if we want to become the architects of the future of work. Thanks for listening to Eden Haddock Total Talent. If this episode sparks something for you, please share it. Maybe send it to someone who is building their workforce strategy right now. And if you're enjoying the podcast, following and reviewing the show, it genuinely helps me more than you probably realize. I'm really loving catching up with you every week. Thank you so much, and I'll see you next episode.