08/12/2021
“The future of work” is at present a crucial matter to be considered by management and HR departments as 2022 approaches.
During one of our webinars last year, the SIT team discussed the situation using a step by step workflow and identified several “forces” (we called them “vectors”) that influence the situation. During 2021, we heard from several companies how this thinking has helped them plan in an era of COVID uncertainty, so we decided to share some food-for-thought based on those conversations:
a. Working from home, now proven to be both convenient and effective for certain types of roles and tasks, continues to be widespread. However, it has become painfully clear what types of activities are less effective when done remotely. Will hybrid models proliferate? Have you concluded what is the optimal hybrid model for different key roles in your organization?
b. The gig economy – Does distance breed detachment? Are people becoming less loyal to their places of work? Will more employment become project-based? Will churn increase? Are employees yearning for the safety of a salary, pensions, safety net? What is the right model for your organization? Do you want to encourage freelance work in order to reduce overhead costs or are you looking to create employee loyalty incentives in 2022? What profile of employee do you want to attract?
c. Influence on home/office design and therefore on real estate. Will offices become smaller and homes larger? Will this affect prices? Locations? Architecture? What changes should you be making?
d. IT has become even more important than predicted. Dependence on IT grows – the worst thing that can happen to an employee is to be left without a connection. How will this influence your work processes and organizational structure in 2022?
e. A great gap between how “essential” a worker is considered and how much they are being paid. Many essential workers are the lowest paid and it is difficult to hire even blue collar employees for the low salaries that they used to receive. Does this help to create a more equitable culture in your organization or has it created even bigger conflict? How will you manage it in 2022?
Several of these “vectors” are central to the current conversation in many (most?) organizations. In the sea of uncertainty, we find a few undeniable truths:
1. Work/life balance is what future workers most value when choosing where to work
2. Certain skills (problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, flexibility, etc.) will be required across roles
3. An organizational culture that helps its employees develop these skills and is flexible enough to rethink the workplace as external changes occur will have competitive advantage
On a similar topic, we found this recent article interesting and relevant. https://bit.ly/3rN5dzI
And some final thoughts for you, HRers: https://bit.ly/3GqJou1
