CIPD: Festival of Work opens with Peter Cheese's final address as CEO
Peter Cheese reflects on 14 years of change and calls on organisations to adapt, invest in people and shape the future of work
Peter Cheese reflects on 14 years of change and calls on organisations to adapt, invest in people and shape the future of work
The CIPD's Festival of Work opened with a keynote from Chief Executive Peter Cheese, marking his final appearance at the event after 14 years in the role.
Speaking to a global audience, Cheese reflected on the scale of change reshaping work and working lives, and the growing pressure on leaders to navigate uncertainty while delivering long-term value. He described the moment as "bittersweet" and highlighted Festival of Work as a space to recognise progress and share ideas, including the announcement of this year's HR30.
Looking back on his tenure, Cheese pointed to a sustained period of economic, technological and social disruption that has fundamentally changed how organisations work.
When he took on the role, the world looked very different. Since then, organisations have navigated geopolitical instability and significant shifts in workforce demographics.
Technology has changed rapidly alongside these pressures. The rise of digital tools, followed more recently by AI, has transformed how work is organised and delivered.
COVID-19 was a defining moment. The pandemic forced organisations to rethink where and how work happens, speeding up flexible working and placing HR at the centre of organisational decision-making.
Expectations of work have also shifted. Growing awareness of wellbeing and mental health, particularly among younger workers, alongside changing demographics and declining birth rates, is reshaping how organisations support their people.
Through all of this, Cheese argued, people professionals have taken on a more strategic role, with greater recognition of titles like chief people officer and a stronger focus on evidence-based, outcome-driven practice.
Turning to the present, Cheese described this as a critical moment, shaped above all by the rapid advance of AI.
AI is already beginning to reshape structures and roles. But Cheese also highlighted broader questions about how work is designed and managed.
At the same time, employers face persistent skills shortages and wider social pressures, including in-work poverty. These challenges make investment in training, reskilling and workforce development more important than ever.
"Leaders are feeling a lot of pressure, leading organisations through times of change and uncertainty. There is no manual and no one-size-fits-all solution on how to lead. It's about adapting."
He stressed the need to simplify guidance and support organisations through growing complexity, while keeping people considerations central to decision-making. For Cheese, this means a sustained focus on better work and better jobs, ensuring that as organisations change, the quality of people's working lives improves alongside productivity and performance
Looking ahead, Cheese argued that how organisations bring together people and technology will define the next phase of change.
As AI advances, technology is increasingly adapting to humans rather than the other way round. This creates real opportunities to redesign work in ways that improve autonomy, make better use of people's skills and give employees a stronger voice.
For employers, this places greater emphasis on lifelong learning, collaboration and building adaptable organisations. Investment in upskilling and reskilling will be essential.
“We need to build responsible businesses — human centric, sustainable, resilient, transparent”
Elsewhere on the main stage, futurist Tom Cheesewright explored how organisations can prepare for rapid change.
He encouraged employers to take a structured approach, mapping external pressures, industry trends and policy developments to spot where they intersect and create risk or opportunity.
Demographic change is one such pressure. An ageing population and declining birth rates are expected to create significant workforce shortages, making it harder to fill roles.
AI is also starting to affect areas like graduate employment, particularly in technology, while recruitment is becoming more complex, with rising application volumes sitting alongside persistent skills gaps.
Cheesewright argued that organisations need to reverse the long-term decline in training investment and focus more on building adaptable workforces.
For individuals, he highlighted the importance of learning how to learn, pointing to three core skills: curating information, generating new ideas and communicating well.
In a keynote session, Professor Alice Roberts drew on human evolution to explore how organisations respond to change.
She challenged the idea of straightforward progress, arguing that evolution is shaped by adaptation, divergence and experimentation rather than a predictable, linear path.
The parallel for organisations is clear. Success depends not only on responding to external pressures but also on the ability to innovate from within and change how things are done.
Roberts highlighted the importance of collaboration, noting that working together has been central to human survival and development. She pointed to how new ideas tend to emerge when people come together, reinforcing the value of events like the Festival of Work for sparking fresh thinking.
Across the opening sessions, a clear message emerged: organisations are operating in a world defined by complexity, uncertainty and rapid change.
For people professionals, this brings both challenges and real opportunities. The need to balance technological progress with good outcomes for people has never been greater.
As Cheese reflected in his final Festival of Work address, the task now is not simply to respond to change, but to help shape it, so that work evolves in ways that benefit organisations, individuals and society.
