The keynote panel “Workforce Development: An Opportunity or a Threat?” at Datacloud Global Congress 2025 brought together leaders across construction, manufacturing, and digital infrastructure to examine whether workforce challenges will stall industry growth—or drive innovation.
Mental health and the human factor
Nancy Novak, chief innovation officer at Compass Datacenters, opened with a candid reflection on her early impressions of the industry.
“I really didn’t like building data centres… it’s kind of a crazy business. They’re just big boxes with lots of air and wire.” But what changed her mind was innovation—specifically, moving to off-site manufacturing and embracing repeatability.
With that came a people-first mindset. “We’ve developed a programme called Frontliners… construction has four times the suicide rate of the national average. We want our workforce to be vulnerable, embrace mistakes, and share openly.”
For Novak, mental wellbeing is more than a HR trend—it’s a matter of safety, dignity and longevity in an industry that is still playing catch-up in worker care.
Culture, pace and pressure
Marie Chabanon, CTO at Data4, reinforced this theme by drawing attention to the pace of industry growth: “It’s always bigger, faster, more. And maybe we need to release the pressure… one week, two weeks—it won’t change our lives, but it could save lives.”
Data4’s Data4Good programme reflects their commitment to people, not just performance. “We’ve created a nice place to work. We have yoga, apps to support wellbeing, and we promote cultural activities across borders. But we lack metrics—and that’s a gap we must close.”
Chabanon emphasised that burnout is not abstract: anxiety and depression, she said, cost the global economy over $1 trillion in 2022.
The upskilling imperative
With technological change outpacing the skills pipeline, panellists highlighted the urgent need to retrain and reskill. Elif Kaya OK, CEO of EAE Group, outlined the dilemma starkly: “If we don’t change, companies won’t survive. But the pace of change—AI, smart automation—can make people feel unsafe.”
EAE’s solution? Outreach, education, and reassurance. “We partner with universities, train third- and final-year students in our factories, and invite them to join us full-time if they wish. Internally, we explain: your job isn’t going—it’s evolving. Life will be easier, faster. You’ll be more empowered.”
To encourage grassroots innovation, EAE also launched an internal AI Club, driven by young staff across departments. “It’s not a department, it’s a voluntary club. They decide their own projects. And that gives them ownership of the future.”
Sustainability meets social impact
For Karen Petersburg, VP of Development at Powerhouse Data Centers, workforce development is inseparable from sustainable development. “We want our teams to leave work safer and happier than when they arrived,” she said. But for her, it goes beyond the job site: “When we build in a community, we want to leave it better than we found it.”
Petersburg shared a striking example: “In Reno, Nevada, we partnered with a casino and a youth shelter to redirect leftover food. That’s $80,000 a year redirected to social programmes. Even if we leave, that initiative endures.” She noted that when teams work with purpose, mental health and morale improve dramatically.
From metrics to mindsets
Brice Fourney, Head of Equans Data Centers, raised the challenge of measurement. “We started asking: what really matters? What KPIs will we use?”.
This led to adopting a “CARE” approach—Clear Accounting Respecting the Environment—which assesses projects not just by financial and technical success, but by social and environmental impact. “It’s not enough to deliver a project. We must account for pollution, turnover, and stress on workers.”
Novak supported this shift, suggesting that AI could even help improve hiring equity by focusing on attributes rather than credentials. “We’ve had success by looking beyond CVs. At Compass, 90% of our construction managers are female—and they’re crushing it.”
An industry call to action
Chabanon closed with a broader perspective, speaking in her role as a board member of the European Data Centre Association.
“We’re working with the Commission on AI and workforce development. But we need to act as a sector, not isolated companies. Let’s define standard roles, share candidate profiles, and create a centralised talent platform. There’s good talent in every company—and it can benefit the whole industry.”
Ultimately, the panel agreed: workforce development is not a side issue. It is the defining challenge and opportunity for the digital infrastructure era.
As Susanna Kass, panel chair and senior advisor at SIP, summarised: “Workforce isn't just a risk to be managed—it’s the future we have the chance to build, together.”
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