What does the future of work look like and how can we adapt? That’s the question that MBA students at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School set out to tackle. As part of the Global Opportunities and Threats: Oxford (GOTO) summit, six MBA teams presented their plans on how to rethink retirement to a group of judges for a chance to win £2,500.
The winning team’s proposal was titled “An Ageing Population and Its Impact On The Future Of Work” and was put together by a team of six MBA students: Gillian Benjamin, Allegra Day, Thomas Meinke, Pranay Meshram, Danilo Pusceddu and Mike Zhang. Their idea was to create a career transition program for employees nearing retirement age. Businesses would purchase this plan for their employees, and it would place them on a structured part-time program as they explored and tested options for retirement.
Gillian Benjamin explained it this way in a news release from the school. “It’s really about de-risking retirement for individuals, helping them confidently take the next step after full-time work,” she said. “We believe this will create greater transparency and better succession planning for the companies.”
As for the inspiration for the team’s program, Gillian explained that it came from her own experience helping her mother through retirement. She saw the problems her mother was facing, and she wanted to come up with a solution, and GOTO was an ideal platform for her to explore her ideas.
GOTO is a platform that spans all of Oxford. It includes a digital platform along with tutorial with faculty. Jonathan Trevor, Associate Professor of Management Practice and content leader of the Future of Work GOTO program, explained it this way. “We believe it to be a differentiating and distinct component of our MBA that provides a fantastic opportunity for thought leadership and networking.”
And the GTO summit was only about the student presentations; there was also a keynote speaker, Thorben Albrecht, the German Permanent State Secretary for Labour and Social Affairs. He shared his insights on a variety of public policy and social issues about the future of work.
Moving forward, Gillian, and her teammate Allegra plan to take their proposal forward and use it for their entrepreneurial project, making their concept a reality after their finish their MBA.