TALENT DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

ech-enabled workforces are hardly new. AI, analytics, the Internet of Things( IoT) and the myriad other technologies making every workplace‘ smart’ are now as fundamental to how we work as coffee breaks, uniforms or the reflective quiet of the Monday morning meeting. But tech – even the smartest – can’ t‘ enable’ on its own. It requires strong leadership, an innovative and forward-facing culture and the kind of environment that embraces people and technology in equal measure, looking beyond optimising employees’ work to fundamentally redesign jobs, improve safety and treat talent as a core strategic function. Lighthouses do that. Specifically, talent lighthouses – World Economic Forum( WEF)-recognised manufacturing sites that achieve transformative impact on their workforce through advanced approaches to work design, talent planning and worker experience.

The programme builds on the WEF Global Lighthouse Network initiative, launched in 2018 with McKinsey to identify manufacturing sites adopting innovative technology at scale. The Global Talent Lighthouse distinction is an elite category created to showcase sites that look beyond technology as a value add, instead using it to solve human capital challenges like labour shortages, skills gaps and aging workforces. Talent lighthouses excel in people planning, workforce acquisition and education, collaboration with local institutions to transform learning, and empowering workers and culture. While only launched in late 2025, three sites worldwide have already earned WEF recognition. The newest is Schneider Electric’ s Wuhan factory in China, which picked up the title in January. Two others, belonging to appliance manufacturer Haier and specialist display maker AUO – both in China – also make the list. HR Magazine took a whistlestop tour of each.

A TALENT LIGHTHOUSE: FIVE KEY PILLARS