Industry leaders to boost Centre for the New Workforce

Two of Australia’s leading experts in digital experience and industrial relations have joined Swinburne’s Centre for the New Workforce (CNeW) to lead projects on the rapidly changing future of work.

As Adjunct Professors, Robbie Robertson and Natalie James from Deloitte bring industry-relevant and cutting-edge insights to help individuals and organisations manage the transformation of workplaces, workforces and careers.

CNeW Director Dr Sean Gallagher said the appointments will support the development of new workforce insights that can tackle emerging challenges head on.

‘The Centre for the New Workforce is shaping the future of work through research at the nexus of human potential and technology’, said Dr Gallagher.

‘Natalie and Robbie both bring decades of experience in helping people succeed in a rapidly changing world. We are delighted to be working with them to help deliver on Swinburne’s purpose: to create the next gen workforce now.’

Leaders in the future of work

Natalie James is a Partner in Deloitte’s Risk Advisory practice. She plays a lead role in Deloitte’s Workplace Integrity practice, working with businesses to enhance their workplace integrity and ensure compliance with work laws using data analytics and risk management.

She led Australia’s national workplace relations regulator as the Fair Work Ombudsmen for five years and brings deep expertise and insight to helping build fit for purpose, compliant and sustainable workplace practices. She also chaired the Victorian Government’s Inquiry into the On Demand Workforce, delivering insightful recommendations, which are in the process of being implemented.

She is currently working on a report to be jointly released by Swinburne and Deloitte in the coming months, which uses national workforce survey data to measure the success of flexible working and determine workers’ expectations for wellbeing, work-life balance and flexibility. The report will be an essential guide for employers and policymakers seeking to deliver the flexibility workers want.  

‘The collaboration with Swinburne’s CNeW and Deloitte is the perfect example of the industry-driven solutions required to meet the challenges of a fast-changing workforce environment,’ Adjunct Professor James said.

‘I am excited to work across both organisations to drive research that is impactful and informative, giving organisations and the labour market the tools to respond to ongoing and evolving workforce challenges.’

Robbie Robertson is the national market leader for Consulting as well as lead partner of Deloitte Digital in Sydney. His primary focus is working with clients to develop and embed hybrid workplace models that fuse technology, people and place.  With the global shift to flexible working practices for many organisations, the need to reimagine the role of the physical workplace has never been more important to business executives. 

In 2019, Robbie was appointed as the first ever Virtual Office Managing Partner for Deloitte, to help shift the firm to a sustainable, technology-led experience for all team members, and has written several Deloitte Global Insights white papers on the subject.

He is working with CNeW on a Future of Work 2030 project, due to be released in the latter half of 2022.

‘I am delighted to be continuing my long-standing relationship with Swinburne University of Technology and the Centre for the New Workforce,’ Adjunct Professor Robertson said.

‘Working together, we’ll be able to combine the best of academia, industry and technology to help positively shape the future of work.’