Former Business Minister and new Visiting Professor at Cranfield School of Management Jo Swinson will be discussing the future of work after COVID-19 on a webinar with Cranfield’s Head of the Changing World of Work Group, Professor Emma Parry.

As Business Minister, Jo brought forward legislation which enabled parents to share parental leave for the first time. As well as her time in Government, leading its work on employer relations, Jo authored Equal Power: Gender Equality and How to Achieve It.

In conversation with participants, Jo and Emma will discuss:

  • how work is changing in response to COVID-19 – what pressures and opportunities that brings for people and organisations,

  • what lockdown has taught HR professionals,

  • and how the world of work will change post-COVID 19.

The webinar is free to join and will be held on Thursday 3 September 2020 between 11am-12 noon. For further details, visit the event page

Jo Swinson, Visiting Professor at Cranfield School of Management, said: “COVID-19 has rapidly changed the world of work with organisations being forced to embrace more flexible working at rapid pace. Lockdown also challenged perceptions about how effectively the labour market values different roles. Many of our essential key workers were revealed as being in sectors such as care, retail and food production with historically low pay and status.

While all the long-term effects of the pandemic are still unknown, there is no doubt that it is re-shaping people’s thinking about what the workplace can and should look like.”

Professor Emma Parry, Head of Cranfield School of Management’s Changing World of Work Group, said: “HR professionals have achieved some amazing things over the last six months, reconfiguring working practices and organisational dynamics to adapt to critical business needs. Now as we see an easing of lockdown, it is vital that HR professionals take stock and reflect on what they have learnt and look at future trends as they help develop their organisational strategy for a post-COVID-19 world.”