2018 Workplace Predictions

Considering these 2018 workplace predictions could position your business for a strong year. The predictions are not about flying cars or jetpacks but rather actionable strategies that can make your team more productive and profitable.

More Outsourcing and Automation

Smart leaders will realize the more time their employees have to focus on their top priorities, the faster they’ll get to their big picture goals. The enemy of this kind of progress is busywork. These are time consuming tasks that have a low return on investment.

Employees will be asked to prioritize their duties and propose outside solutions for these necessary but time consuming items. This allows supervisors to see the cost-benefit analysis of automating processes or using outside help to get the work done.

It’s a solution based partnership that respects everyone’s time.

After Hours Email Policies

The use of work email will be defined, as businesses create formal policies for the entire organization. In the past, email use has been treated like the Wild West, as some supervisors and employees have sent messages 24/7, while others turn off their email during off-hours.

Without expectations, employees have not known if they should unplug or respond to all messages. It’s made many to think of email as an unwanted leash to their jobs.

At the same time, some have been frustrated by not receiving responses to important questions.

Various departments should collaborate on a solution, to ensure needs or situations are considered. Along those lines, employees should have a way to know if an incoming message is urgent or if a response can wait until regular hours. Our 2018 workplace predictions imagine email being perceived as a tool and not a tether.

Employee Engagement and Retention Strategies Grow

Multiple studies show it costs more to replace a good employee than to retain that person. Employee engagement will be seen more like a defined benefit, like health care. New strategies will create partnerships between employees and supervisors.

Our 2018 workplace predictions see achieving defined goals being rewarded with perks, like casual dress days, early release before holidays, and specialty coffee.

Businesses that embrace this philosophy will benefit from employees who won’t struggle with uncertainty about their jobs. They’ll know what’s expected, why they’re being asked to do more, and how they’ll benefit from the organization succeeding.

Gone are the days when productive employees see their jobs as places where they spend eight hours a day of mindless work.

Ken Okel speaks to businesses and associations that want to unleash employee productivity, performance, and profitability. In his talks, Ken engages them with lessons learned from his time in TV News, Disaster Relief, and running a Professional Ballet Company. Sometimes his audiences make paper hats.

He is the author of the book, Stuck on Yellow: Stop Stalling, Get Serious, and Unleash Your Productivity and the host of the 2 Minute Takeaway Podcast. Ken’s weekly productivity tips can be found at KenOkel.com.