Reskilling is going to define the return to work. There is untapped value in building an internal pipeline of talent. Internal promotions and referrals are the preferred source to fill open jobs. The cost to hire, time to hire, and performance benefits are well documented. Their domain knowledge comes with them into the new role.

Australia's Woodside Energy had decades of knowledge instilled in its retiring workforce of oil pipeline engineers and wanted to scale that wealth to a much more expansive workforce. When Shelley Kalms, Woodside's Chief Digital Officer, describes her mission to transform her company into a "true learning organization," she's speaking about a "team effort in unlocking the collective intelligence of our organization -- both past and present." Through using IBM Watson, Woodside created the ability to have expansive knowledge at their fingertips. Today's incoming employees in the field have access to as much know-how as a person who has worked on the oil rigs for decades. Today, Woodside has 18 successful Watson-enabled A.I. projects in place, ranging from health to safety -- all of which presents compelling evidence of the potential of A.I. to optimize jobs and increase productivity.