It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see that big changes lie ahead.
It’s been said that you can’t predict the future. But that’s not entirely true. The past informs the present, and the present informs the future. And if you pay close attention, you can spot trends that enable you to see what lies ahead. When it comes to the future of work, a few trends are shaping up to drive a level of change that we haven’t seen since the days of Henry Ford.
Flexible Work
Over the next decade, it’s predicted that there will be a global shortage of 85.2 million workers. Good people are no doubt hard to find. But they are out there. They just may not be near a traditional office — or want to work in one. Work is becoming increasingly flexible. In fact, gig workers are expected to account for more than half the workforce in 2020, and 85 percent by 2030. To attract the talent they need, companies need to think outside the proverbial box and enable flexible models, including gig, contract, and remote work.
The Centre of Economics and Business Research (Cebr) recently conducted an online survey of more than 2,500 US knowledge workers to determine the value in doing so. And it found that companies can go where the talent is and bring people on board as needed to unlock innovation, engage customers, and move their business forward. Talent such as the “home force,” or people who left jobs to care for children or aging relatives. Or baby boomers who retired, but would be willing to work a few hours a week. And they might even get part-time, contract, and gig workers to take on more hours. Motivated by such benefits, many companies will begin to shift away from traditional models and embrace flexible work.
Digital Workspaces
Attracting talent is one thing. Keeping employees is engaged is another. According to Gallup, 87 percent of employees around the world are disengaged or actively disengaged at work. Why? Because work is far more complicated than it needs to be. For the last decade, IT has steadily put in place technologies it thought would streamline entire functions and fuel collaboration. But they’ve actually had the opposite effect.
Employees today deal with as many as 11 different apps a day to get their work done. And in most cases, they only make work more complicated. The average employee spends nearly 65 percent of their time on busy work and in meetings, 20 percent searching for information and just 15 percent doing what they want and are paid to do.
Digital workspace solutions can help to quiet the noise and optimize the work day for every employee by organizing, guiding and automating work in an intelligent and personal way that enables them to focus on doing what they do best — and do it best — anywhere, anytime, from any device. And in 2020, we’ll see them take off.
People-Centric Design
Even as technological innovation transforms business and the way it’s done, the success of an organization depends on the people whose passion, insight and talent drive it forward. When employees feel good and are motivated to deliver their best, it improves customer satisfaction, innovation and the bottom line. Today, the power of the individual is more present than ever in our society, and smart companies will put people first in order to attract, retain, develop, and reward top talent.
They will work to create the right environment that inspires people to do great work. In addition to a people-centric culture, values, programs, and practices, physical spaces will be designed with people in mind and take into account the fact that for the workforce is comprised of five different generations, and they each work in different ways. Some want open floor plans and spaces where they can collaborate. Others prefer quiet rooms and old-school cubicles where they can work in solitude. HR, facilities and IT will team to create purposeful spaces that inspire and empower all of them to do their best work.
They will also provide learning and development opportunities, foster diversity and inclusion and align with causes to enable people to be their best.
Upskilling, Reskilling and Talent Mobility
When it comes to recruiting talent, most organizations spend the bulk of their time on bringing in expertise from the outside. But as the battle for external talent rages on, they must cultivate talent from within the organization as well. Talent mobility and automatic upskilling will become increasingly important for HR professionals, as will thinking about how to create the right opportunities for employees to reskill and take on new challenges.
Employees will be encouraged to build new skills and capabilities such as critical thinking, judgment, innovation, collaboration and agility that are seemingly softer, but endure because they enable us to grow and learn in times of uncertainty and unprecedented change. And they will be given access to high-quality learning programs and platforms that enable them to learn in whatever way is most effective for them. HR will be creative in designing such programs to transform workplace training as we know it. For example, they might offer full-day workshops where employees at all levels are encouraged to prepare a leader-engaged dialog — a “LED Talk” — on a topic in which they have expertise and act as teachers, mentors, and coaches in sharing it with their peers. And they may leverage online learning-management platforms that deliver content in a variety of formats, including self-paced videos and mobile-optimized micro learning breaks. In doing so, companies will find their employees are happier, more engaged, and more productive.
Data Analytics
HR isn’t generally thought of as a data-driven function. But this too will change. According to a recent report by myHRfuture, people analytics are among the most desired skills HR professionals want to learn. Why? Because armed with information collected from employees, they can make more informed decisions that have greater impact.
Insight into employee behaviors can support engagement, growth, and potential. Frequent absenteeism can signal disengagement and employee burnout and inform the need for wellness programs designed to manage workplace stress. Team agility measurements and personalized recommendations shared with employees can help them take control of and better manage their performance and ultimately, their careers.
Predicting the future isn’t a science. And it can’t be done with total accuracy. But when it comes to the future of work, one prediction is certain: organizations that focus on their people and create an environment in which they can engage deeply in meaningful work, harness their full creativity and cultivate their passions and special skills will see their business thrive.
This blog post was originally published on VMBlog.
