Ian Church, Director Business Consulting at CGI, explores how technology, data, and evolving workforce expectations are redefining the future of mobility. Drawing on insights from CGI’s work with leading organisations, Ian highlights how BVRLA members can harness Agentic AI, Connected Ecosystems, and inclusive culture to build adaptable, skilled, and sustainable teams. Ian offers a forward-looking view on how the sector can turn workforce transformation into a strategic advantage.
The UK workforce is transforming faster than at any time in living memory. From artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to the green transition and demographic shifts, every employer including those in the vehicle rental and leasing sector is feeling the impact.
A Workforce in Transition
The UK labour market remains resilient (current unemployment rate in the UK is 4.8 %, as of August 2025, according to the Office for National Statistics), yet its worker mix is changing fast. Older workers are returning after the pandemic, flexible work has become an expectation, and employers face the double problem of attracting talent and retaining experience.
The over-50s represent the fastest-growing segment of the workforce, with steady growth in employment. Meanwhile, younger workers prioritise different approaches to work putting wellbeing, purpose, and sustainability high forcing employers to rethink culture and incentives. Organisations that clearly differentiate their values continue to attract high-performing candidates.
The day-one legal right to request flexible working in 2024 has sustained flexibility as a standard.
Society’s Shifting Expectations
These trends reflect deeper societal change. Work is now measured not only by pay and progression, but also by purpose, values, work-life balance, and inclusion for all. Employees want roles that align with their values, particularly around wellbeing and sustainability.
The UK’s ageing population will reshape the modern workforce, with over-85s projected to nearly double by 2047. Employers must adapt with age-inclusive practices, flexible leave, and wellbeing programmes to retain experience, while developing cultural approaches to retain the best emerging talent.
Meanwhile, the green transition is creating new roles and skills, with an estimated 700,000 ‘green jobs’ already in existence, and more emerging in clean energy, battery technology, and EV infrastructure.
Technology’s Rapid Impact
Following the rapid technological advances shaping today’s mobility landscape, a new chapter emerges, one defined by intelligent autonomy and human-AI collaboration.
Generative AI is reshaping roles and tasks. AI-related job postings are rising even as total hiring slows, signaling a widening digital literacy gap. For most organisations, AI isn’t about replacing people but augmenting their work. In mobility and fleet services, AI can manage scheduling, maintenance, or pricing, freeing teams to focus on customer service and innovation.
Agentic AI represents the next evolution in artificial intelligence, moving from systems that assist humans to those that act on behalf of humans within defined goals and guardrails. Unlike traditional automation or even today’s generative AI tools, Agentic AI systems can autonomously:
- Plan and execute complex workflows (e.g., rebalancing vehicle fleets or optimising service schedules).
- Reason about outcomes, weighing multiple factors such as cost, sustainability, and customer impact.
- Collaborate with people and other systems, learning continuously from interaction.
This shift marks a transformation in how organisations structure work. Agentic AI doesn’t replace employees it extends human capability, enabling people to focus on higher-value activities such as customer engagement, sustainability, innovation, and creative problem-solving.
What it means for the BVRLA and its Members
For BVRLA members, Agentic AI presents a pivotal opportunity to reimagine operations and workforce development. Within leasing and mobility services, this technology can:
- Enhance operational efficiency: Agentic AI agents can dynamically manage vehicle utilisation, automate maintenance planning, or proactively reroute vehicles for optimal customer experience.
- Support compliance and safety: Intelligent agents can monitor data for adherence to evolving regulations like the EU AI Act (2026), flag anomalies, and support transparent governance key for building trust.
- Enable predictive and adaptive customer service: Virtual agents can act independently to resolve issues, schedule replacements, and tailor offers based on customer history and environmental goals.
- Accelerate green transformation: AI agents can model fleet emissions, energy use, and lifecycle costs to inform sustainability reporting and EV adoption strategies.
By incorporating Agentic AI, the sector can transition from reactive management to autonomous orchestration, turning data into actionable insights in real time. This data can be shared with other organisations creating Connected Ecosystems, such as retailers and insurers to deliver more targeted and proactive services. However, this highlights the important consideration around data sharing agreements, GDPR and privacy and the importance BVRLA and members should give to the value of their data. This means investing in data analytic (and AI) skills, cross sector collaboration and legal and regulatory understanding.
Building Agentic Capability in the Workforce
To fully leverage Agentic AI, BVRLA members should focus on human-AI collaboration skills developing what CGI calls “digital empathy.” This involves:
- Reskilling programs that teach employees how to design, supervise, and collaborate with AI agents.
- AI governance frameworks ensuring accountability, fairness, and transparency.
- New hybrid roles, such as AI Operations Supervisor or Agent Workflow Designer, who oversee AI behaviour and ensure ethical outcomes.
- Cross-industry learning partnerships, aligning leasing firms, universities, and technology providers to create an “Agentic Academy” model for continuous skill evolution.
Developing The Wider Workforce
Building the workforce of tomorrow means developing a living ecosystem of skills, purpose, and innovation that evolves with the business.
Employers must invest in outreach and early-career pathways from partnerships with schools and colleges to apprenticeships and retraining programmes that open the door to a wide range of talent. The vehicle rental and leasing sector can position itself as a technology-enabled, sustainable, and purpose-driven industry that attracts younger and older workers alike.
To grow sustainably, companies should focus on internal career progression and lifelong learning. Career frameworks that guide workers from technician to EV specialist or data analyst can secure loyalty. Flexible, digital learning opportunities enable continuous reskilling and upskilling, helping the workforce evolve alongside emerging technologies.
Driving Business Re-Organistion
Tomorrow’s workforce will require fundamental changes in organisational design. Roles and processes will need to be reimagined through deep evaluation of workforce skills to identify digital capability gaps, role evolution, and new positions such as prompt engineers.
As the industry transitions toward mobility-as-a-service and sustainability-led business models, workforce strategy must evolve. Businesses will need systems thinkers, data scientists, and customer experience designers alongside traditional technical roles to drive innovation and collaboration.
Leaders play a pivotal role where they must model adaptability, foster transparency, and combat change fatigue by engaging teams in the reason behind transformation. Building trust and communication will be vital.
The most successful companies will be those that view change as a cultural habit.
People, Culture, And Purpose
Culture remains the foundation for transformation. Employers must foster psychological safety, encourage experimentation, and celebrate innovation. By connecting sustainability and ethics with brand identity, organisations strengthen both customer trust and workforce engagement, young and old.
A culture of inclusion and adaptability enables every employee to contribute to innovation. Those who thrive will see workforce transformation not as a cost but as an investment bringing strategic advantage, enabling smarter technology adoption and long-term resilience.
What This Means for the Vehicle Rental and Leasing Sector
For BVRLA members, the workforce of tomorrow presents both challenge and opportunity:
- Skills: Build EV, data, and AI capability through apprenticeships and targeted training.
- Flexibility: Make flexible options explicit, even for depot, branch, and workshop roles.
- Governance: Develop AI and automation policies now to manage risk and compliance.
- Inclusion: Invest in wellbeing, age diversity, and equality to drive innovation.
- Purpose: Embed sustainability and customer focus at the heart of workforce culture.
Those who succeed will see workforce transformation not as a cost, but as a catalyst for growth and innovation.
A Shared Journey and a Call to Action
The workforce of tomorrow is already taking shape. The question is not whether change will come, but how we choose to respond.
As technology, customer needs, and regulation evolve, the vehicle rental and leasing sector stands at a turning point. The sector must shape a workforce that is skilled, inclusive, and sustainable, reflecting societal shifts and embracing the technologies of the day. This is a shared journey that all BVRLA members have a vital role to play in through collaboration, shared insights, and collective action.
The future workforce isn’t something that happens to organisations; it’s something we build together.
