Designing the Future of Work Through Connection and Care

On 6th October 2025, PWN Dublin gathered senior professionals from across our Corporate Partners for our annual Corporate Partner Roundtable, hosted by CPL. The event, facilitated by Fiona Flynn, Maria Souza, and the PWN Dublin Management Team, offered a rare opportunity to share insights, challenges and successes in advancing gender-balanced leadership.

Redefining the Future of Work

Our opening speaker, Barry Winkless, painted a picture of a fast-evolving workplace—a multiverse where physical and digital spaces blend seamlessly, autonomy and technology drive new efficiencies, and organisations are rethinking what truly attracts and retains talent. He reminded us that the most forward-thinking organisations are not only adapting to change but designing for empowerment, not control.

This idea resonates deeply with PWN Dublin’s mission. Gender-balanced leadership thrives in workplaces that are flexible, values-driven, and built around people rather than processes.

Caregiving, Empathy, and the Human Core of Leadership

Our keynote speaker, Elysia Hegarty, brought us back to the heart of leadership in The Contradictions of Caregiving. She challenged us to see caregiving not as a policy but as infrastructure—a core element of how we design inclusive, sustainable organisations. With 62% of women considering leaving roles due to lack of flexibility, empathy, she argued, must be the leadership skill of the future.

Elysia shared examples of companies integrating caregiving into their benefits structures and reminded us how external networks—like PWN Dublin—provide the scaffolding of support that helps individuals through life’s fragile moments.

Shared Learning Across Corporate Partners

Through breakout discussions, our partners reflected on what’s driving impact in their organisations. Common themes included:

• Mentoring as a cornerstone for development and retention.
• Engaging men in conversations on fatherhood, parental leave, and inclusion.
• Data and storytelling as essential tools for measuring progress and sparking culture change.
• Connection and permission to speak—creating safe spaces for honest conversation—were recognised as some of PWN Dublin’s most valuable contributions.

Participants also explored future priorities such as neurodiversity, cultural inclusion, data-driven DEI strategies, and supporting disadvantaged communities, as well as how to better engage younger generations who are entering the workforce with new expectations and social challenges.

Looking Ahead

As Fiona Flynn reflected on her final year as President, she celebrated seven years of growth, partnership and purpose. Maria Souza, PWN Dublin’s newly elected President, shared how PWN Dublin will continue evolving to meet the needs of our members and partners—creating more opportunities for collaboration, volunteering, and shared learning.

From the insights shared, one truth stood out clearly:

Gender balance is not an obligation. It’s a value—one that defines how we build the future of work.

By embedding flexibility, empathy and shared leadership into every layer of our organisations, we can design a world where everyone has the opportunity to lead, belong, and thrive.