What happens to the future of work if half your workforce gets left behind?

In this episode of HR Unlocked, Lisa Oakley sits down with Rose Powell, General Manager People & Capability at Vitaco Health Group, to explore what future-focused People & Culture looks like inside a complex, vertically integrated organisation.

Rose's leadership philosophy was shaped early in her career when she moved from a command-and-control manufacturing environment into the very different world of higher education. It was there that she began recognising empathy, care, and connection not as leadership weaknesses, but as strengths. That experience helped shape the servant leadership approach she continues to practise today.

At Vitaco, Rose leads People & Capability across a workforce spanning manufacturing, distribution, science, quality, sales, marketing, and corporate functions. She explains how Vitaco's Mini Business Unit model, Pillar Fundamentals, and skills matrix give manufacturing employees a structured pathway to build capability, learn end-to-end processes, progress their careers, and increase their earning potential.

The conversation also tackles a bigger question facing manufacturing: what skills should organisations be developing when technology is changing the work itself?

Rose shares her involvement in industry and vocational education, why future manufacturing workers will need a different capability mix, and why organisations also have an obligation to help their existing people become more adaptable. She discusses the value of reverse mentoring, including what Vitaco has learnt from younger interns bringing new AI knowledge and ways of working into the organisation.

For Rose, capability is more than knowing how to perform today's job. It means understanding how that job may need to be done differently and having the will to make that change happen.

That becomes particularly important with AI. Rose warns of the risk of creating a divide between employees who sit behind desks and those who don't. With many frontline employees traditionally lacking company emails, laptops, and access to the same digital tools as corporate teams, she argues that organisations need to be intentional about democratising access to technology, information, and learning.

Rose and Lisa also explore how strong cultures survive rapid growth, what constructive employer-union relationships look like, and why trust is built well before anyone reaches the bargaining table. For Rose, regular conversations with delegates and genuine relationships mean disagreement does not have to destroy trust.

What You'll Learn

• How Rose's early career experiences shaped her servant leadership style

• Why empathy, care, and connection can be leadership strengths

• What People & Culture looks like across a complex, vertically integrated workforce

• How Vitaco develops manufacturing capability through its Mini Business Unit model

• How skills matrices can connect learning, career progression, and remuneration

• Why capability development needs both technical and human skills

• How employers and unions can collaborate on workforce development

• Why traditional qualifications may not always keep pace with changing jobs

• What future manufacturing employees will need to succeed

• Why existing employees need support to remain adaptable as technology changes

• How reverse mentoring can bring new skills into an organisation

• What younger workers can teach established leaders about AI

• Why capability is about more than knowing how to perform today's job

• How purpose can support innovation and organisational growth

• Why AI risks widening the gap between desk-based and frontline employees

• How Vitaco is increasing frontline access to digital information and learning

• Why organisations need to democratise access to technology

• How culture can remain strong as organisations scale

• Why consistency of purpose and messaging matters during rapid growth

• What constructive employer-union relationships look like in practice

• Why relationships with union delegates matter outside collective bargaining

• How trust allows employers and unions to disagree constructively

• Why People & Culture professionals need genuine commercial understanding

• Why frontline leaders need more than technical expertise

• How organisations can identify and develop leadership potential earlier

• Why workforce planning increasingly needs to focus on capability rather than fixed job titles

Key Takeaways

Empathy, caring, and connection aren't weaknesses in leadership. For Rose, recognising those qualities as strengths fundamentally changed the way she leads.

Developing frontline capability works best when employees can clearly see how learning connects to their role, career progression, and earning potential.

Future manufacturing capability will look different as automation, data, new systems, and AI change the nature of work.

Organisations have a responsibility to develop the people they already employ, not simply recruit different skills when technology changes.

Reverse mentoring gives organisations an opportunity to learn from younger employees who may already be highly comfortable with emerging technologies.

For Rose, capability is a combination of knowing how to do the job, understanding how it might need to be done differently, and having the will to make that happen.

AI capability cannot be limited to employees with laptops and company emails. Otherwise, organisations risk creating a new workforce divide.

Modernising only part of the workforce limits both organisational performance and future talent pipelines.

Giving frontline employees greater digital access can improve their ability to access business information, learning platforms, and their own information.

Strong organisational cultures require consistency as businesses grow. People need to continue understanding the organisation's purpose and what makes it distinctive.

Constructive union relationships are built outside bargaining. Frequent dialogue and genuine relationships with delegates create a stronger foundation when disagreement occurs.

Trust doesn't require agreement. It requires consistency, legitimacy, and relationships strong enough to withstand disagreement.

People & Culture professionals need to understand how their organisation actually operates, creates value, and makes money.

Technical excellence doesn't automatically translate into great people leadership. Frontline leaders need support to build confidence and people capability.

Future workforce planning needs to consider capabilities as much as job titles because organisations cannot know exactly what every role will look like in the years ahead.

People want to understand why change is happening, have a voice in it, and know their contribution matters.

About Rose Powell

Rose Powell is General Manager People & Capability at Vitaco Health Group, where she leads the People & Capability framework supporting a vertically integrated Trans-Tasman workforce across manufacturing, distribution, science, quality, sales, marketing, and corporate functions.

Her work focuses on aligning workforce capability with organisational growth, developing future skills, strengthening leadership, and creating practical pathways for employees to build their careers.

Rose brings extensive experience across manufacturing, higher education, and complex workforce environments. Her leadership philosophy is strongly influenced by servant leadership and a belief in growing others, building relationships, and creating opportunities for people to succeed.

She is also actively involved in conversations around vocational learning and the future skills needed by New Zealand's manufacturing and food and beverage sectors.

Why This Episode Matters

The future of work isn't only happening in offices.

As AI, automation, data, and digital systems reshape organisations, one of the biggest workforce challenges will be ensuring frontline and non-desk employees have access to the same opportunities to learn, adapt, and remain relevant.

Rose offers a practical view of what that looks like inside a large manufacturing environment, from structured capability pathways and digital access to reverse mentoring, vocational education, leadership development, and constructive relationships with unions.

Her perspective also challenges organisations to think beyond simply recruiting the skills they'll need next. Future readiness means investing in the people already inside the organisation and creating the conditions for them to evolve alongside the work.

For HR and People & Culture professionals, executives, manufacturing leaders, operational managers, and anyone thinking about AI and workforce transformation, this conversation offers practical ideas for building capability without leaving people behind.

Resources & Links

Vitaco Health Group: https://vitaco.co.nz/

Connect with Rose Powell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-powell-9a00728/