Towers Perrin’s Global Diversity practice has been doing research and consulting on the future of work and the workforce for over 15 years. Their view of the future includes a rich mix of gender, ethnic and multinational talent, global teams working virtually on projects, and the freedom to work where and when people perform at their best. They formed a new consulting organization and practice it themselves.

In August 2002, Towers Perrin spun off the practice into a self-sustaining entity: The FutureWork Institute (FWI), and took a stake in it. After 15 years working with Towers Perrin, a large human resource consulting firm, a unit with over 60 people worldwide will model the future of work.

“It’s both exciting and daunting,” says the new CEO of FWI, Margaret Regan.
“We have spent years preparing for this. We had to build a team of self-sufficient, energetic consultants whose excitement about the future of work and the workforce shows through. Each one brings a unique point of view and experience set to client issues. Our job was to create a unified vision while still preserving everyone’s individual contributions.”

Consultants are divided into a dedicated core team who have spent the better part of a year preparing for this launch. Over 50 affiliated consultants worldwide make up the rest of the team. Based in 12 states and six countries, they all work out of their homes to keep overhead to a minimum, supported by a small staff located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y.

These consultants use technology to overcome distance. Message boards, e-mails and voice-to-voice communications buzz with new ideas for client projects, research leads and works-in-progress. “Sometimes we just call each other up to keep the team alive and well. We mean a great deal to each other,” says Mike Davis, one of the core members, “and we all need to hear a friendly voice asking about the human side of the work equation.”
Yael Sivi, a consultant with a background in organizational social work, agrees. “Mike’s absolutely right. We do our best work together as a team and the human interaction makes the team real.”

Weekly meetings, attended either in person or by phone, and nighttime
meetings at client company sites, help keep the team intact, act as a mechanism to share information and the latest research, and enable that all-important human contact among virtual workers.

Virtual work has rewards. “Time control makes all the difference,” says Gregory Hauck, a core team member. “I can accomplish twice as much when I’m able to focus without interruptions.” CEO Regan agrees, “Working alone with a connection to colleagues can be the best of all worlds. People can control their time and their time off.”

These consultants have decided to enter the future by working with companies, not for them. Their mantra is co-creating the future along with our clients. “It’s too easy to be experts, and very hard to be real collaborators who feel the pain of change,” says Harvard-trained affiliate Tanya Odom. “We might have wider experience than many of the companies we work
with, but only they really know what it means to work there. Unless we collaborate — ‘co-create the future with them’ — we risk our work having no real roots in their culture.”

And the cultures they serve are increasingly global. “Diversity and inclusion in the European Union is ready to explode,” explains Ian Dodds, managing director of European operations for the Institute. “I have never seen the level of interest in diversity I’m seeing now. Companies have realized that they are competing on a global scale with an increasingly diverse workforce.”

This global team is trying to bring diversity consulting services to a new level. “With our low overhead, we can serve clients whose diversity and work/life budgets have been severely impacted,” says Mina Ramos-Donovan, the Chief Operating Officer, “and we can serve them with Towers Perrin quality. It’s a win for everybody.”