World of Work Conference 2026 - A 100 Year Career: Last. Adapt. Rise

"Your people will work for 60 years. Your talent strategy was built for 30. Something has to change."

"The 100-year career is not about working forever. It is about working well, for longer, with more intention, and with the dignity that every working person deserves."

Our next full day World of Work Institute Conference, is taking place on 10th September 2026, at Henley Business School, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, on the theme of ‘The 100 Year Career: Last. Adapt. Rise'.

This  event will bring together expert research and practical tools to help HR Directors, Career Professionals, CPOs, and Business Leaders prepare for the workforce of tomorrow.

Give your organisation the skills, tools and insight to engage in solutions that rethink talent strategy for an AI-driven, multi-generational era, that understand and prioritise longevity of career, health and the equity of opportunity. 

Why the 100 Year Career? Dr Naeema Pasha, founder of the World of Work Institute at Henley Business School, and now visiting fellow brings together The 100 Year Career Our life spans are predicted to increase, and as we look forward a child born today may well work into their eighties. Yet our frameworks for thinking about careers and the systems that support them were built for a world where working lives lasted thirty years. Join us as we confront the future of work models in an age where people are predicted to live longer, and therefore will need to work longer, all whilst technology reshapes every role.

The talent challenge has fundamentally changed

For decades, talent strategy meant attracting early-career talent, developing mid-career leaders, and managing late-career transitions. That model is starting to get outdated. When people work into their 70s and 80s (as many of us now will!) the entire architecture of careers, skills, health, and purpose needs to be rethought. Organisations that understand this now will have a significant advantage and contribution to shaping the future of work.

AI is not the threat by itself - but unpreparedness is

The organisations that will thrive in an Industry 5.0 world are not those that resist AI, nor those that replace people with it. They are those that help their people learn to work alongside intelligent systems with confidence, with creativity, and with the distinctly human qualities such as critical thinking and empathy that no algorithm can replicate.

Equity is now a business imperative

A 100-year career is not equally available to everyone in your organisation. Building on Henley's influential Equity Effect research, we see that women, people of colour, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and older workers all face structural barriers that compound over time and that cost your business real talent, real capability, and real money. This conference takes the equity conversation seriously into the future of work conversations.

During the conference you will hear from leading academics at Henley Business School, alongside forward-thinking business leaders. We are thrilled to share that amongst these are Henley Business School experts Dr Tatiana Rowson, Associate Professor in Organisational Behaviour, and Dr Kelly Sloan, Associate Professor of Leadership, and joint authors of ‘Personal Leadership in the Age of No Retirement’ who will be joining us as keynotes for the day, alongside Professor Parveen Yaqoob, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, of the University of Reading, who will be taking the University's centenary as inspiration to reflect on what contributes to organisational health, endurance and longevity.

Attendance is by invitation only, with limited spaces available. If you are interested in attending please contact worldofwork@henley.ac.uk to express your interest, and we will aim to notify all those on our waitlist by July if a place has become available.