The International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC) has today announced the winners of Work for tomorrow, an international competition looking for the best innovations responding to longer working lives.

During an awards ceremony at the National Innovation Centre for Ageing today, the Newcastle Sheriff announced Labora Tech, a Brazilian start-up that matches workers of all ages to jobs and helps them reskill, as the winner of the international Work for tomorrow competition.

Launched by ILC – the UK’s specialist think tank on the impact of longevity – and supported by the Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources, the competition has been looking for the most promising innovations across the world adapting to longer and changing working lives.

From supporting health in the workplace to innovative programmes developing workforce skills and policies that address discrimination at work, the competition received more than 60 submissions from organisations and individuals across 17 countries.

After careful consideration, the competition’s international judging panel has decided to award the prize to Labora Tech, a company based in Sao Paulo, which is seeking to revolutionise recruitment by reducing bias and supporting career changes and flexibility at work.

Labora Tech is an end-to-end HR technology that helps include workers of all ages at scale, by delivering large-scale recruitment drives for companies based on people’s soft and hard skills, matching people to jobs based on these skills, and providing the training, reskilling and mentoring environment to help people thrive in new roles.

Labora already has a community of more than 20,000 adults engaged in the platform and is seeking to expand its business in Brazil and across the world to encourage more employers to “retire the CV” and take a skills-based approach to recruitment to reduce bias and improve outcomes.

Sérgio Serapiao, Co-Founder and CEO of Labora Tech, commented:

“I am delighted and honoured to win this competition. The competition has shown the quality and power of initiatives all over the world. I am sure we can contribute a lot to codesign the future of work.”

“I truly believe Labora has developed a social technology that can reach a global scale, and make a positive impact to millions of people and thousands of companies, redefining how we work of tomorrow. This award reinforces that we are on the right track.”

Lily Parsey, Global Policy and Influencing Manager at ILC, said:

“The world of work is shifting – and quickly. As our working histories become more complex, we’re more likely to change careers and reskill, we need to think about hiring in a new way. Labora Tech takes blind recruitment one step further by really putting skills, not biases, at the heart of recruitment. It’s long overdue that we move from judging people on their CVs to valuing what someone actually brings to a job.”

The judging panel has also given a second “Community Award” to Brave Starts, a community-based platform that helps adults in the UK to try out and start new careers. Praised for its simplicity and potential to start a social movement, Brave Starts offers a programme to help people who are unsure about starting a new career understand what they want and what they might need to get there, link up with professionals already in that area, and build the right skills to make the leap.

Lucy Standing, Founder of Brave Starts, commented:

“This has been the best news we’ve had this year. Learning about what others are doing in this space is really useful – it’s helping us build our network and has already given us ideas for collaboration and inspiration. We’re really grateful ILC and IRC4HR have taken the time to provide this platform and opportunity.”

Rachele Focardi, Author of “Reframing Generational Stereotypes”, Founder of XYZ@Work and a member of the judging panel, added:

“It has been a real honour to be a judge for the Work for tomorrow competition, although it was most certainly not easy to identify a winner. I have learned so much by exploring the many transformational initiatives that were presented. And it has made me much more hopeful about the future to know that there are many creative minds at play who are working relentlessly to come up with solutions that will enable intergenerational collaboration.”

Jodi Starkman, Executive Director of IRC4HR, said:

“It has been an honour and a pleasure to support the Work for tomorrow programme. We have been inspired by the creativity and passion demonstrated by all of the competition participants and are especially excited to recognise Labora Tech and Brave Starts. Their innovations are critical to the work of today and tomorrow as we address the opportunities and challenges presented by longevity in all the places where people come together to accomplish shared goals.”

Notes

More information on Labora Tech is available from: Labora Tech

Find out more about the Work for tomorrow programme here.

To listen to each a pitch from each of the shortlist, visit Work for tomorrow – Innovation pitching sessions – ILCUK

To view submission videos from all 50 contestants, visit: Work for tomorrow: People’s choice award – YouTube

The judging panel

The international judging panel brings together experts from across countries and sectors:

• Anthony Ariganello, President and CEO of the Chartered Professionals of Human Resources (CPHR) of BC, and the Yukon, and CPHR Canada
• Sheila Callaham, Executive Director and Board Chair, Age Equity Alliance
• Rachele Focardi, Expert, Author & Public Speaker on Multigenerational Workforce Dynamics, and Founder XYZ@Work
• Fanny Krivoy, Founder/ Creative Director, Analogous
• George MacGinnis, Challenge Director, Healthy Ageing, UK Research and Innovation
• Bob Morton, President, World Federation of People Management Associations
• Nic Palmarini, Director, National Innovation Centre for Ageing
• Mehbs Remtulla, Founder and CEO, What’s neXT?!
• David Sinclair, Director, ILC
• Shruti Singh, Ageing and Employment About ILC
• Policies Lead, OECD
• Jodi Starkman, Executive Director, Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources (IRC4HR)
• Dr Kelly Tremblay, Neuroscientist and Audiologist
• Caroline Waters OBE, Deputy Chair, Equality and Human Rights Commission

About IRC4HR

Innovation Resource Center for Human Resources (IRC4HR®) is a US-based private research foundation dedicated to the creation and ongoing enhancement of work – and work environments – in which the goals and objectives of organizations, the aspirations of individuals, and the interests of society are served.

Established in 1926 with a mission to “advance the knowledge and practice of human relations in organizations,” IRC4HR funds research and multi-stakeholder dialogues that produce practical and actionable insights and tools to help organizations, leaders, and workers succeed together through the profound business and social challenges of the 21st-century workplace.

We seek to understand how new business models and the changing nature of work impact – and require new approaches to – organization design, leadership development, and employment and workplace practices that lead to high levels of business performance and worker productivity and well-being.