2021 Workforce Trends: The Next Normal

We're at a historic juncture in workforce realignment throughout the world. A disruptive change of technological, economic and social systems in the backdrop of COVID-19 is happening during this time. Significant changes are expected to impact the employment landscape over the next few years. The current and upcoming challenges will bring us opportunities and demand our workforce to adapt and grow in the next normal. We've come from valuing IQ to EQ to AQ. We're now realigning towards a more diverse workforce, reevaluating our relationship with Earth, continuously learning and focusing on employee wellbeing. This current economic devastation will surely be followed by a measured and well-guided recovery in 2021.

From hiring new roles, including contact tracers to climate change responders and more, here are some workforce trends we'll see in 2021 and beyond. At the end of the blog, share your thoughts or questions in the comments section. I'd love to hear from you!

Emphasizing Wellbeing 

The COVID-19 pandemic created an acute awareness of consequences when wellbeing is at risk. It also highlighted the importance of wellbeing related to productivity. Two-thirds of employers said remote workers were more productive. Teams are communicating more efficiently and collaborating better. Forward-thinking leadership is supporting working parents in this trying time. Managing stress and improving our physical, mental and emotional health is important for workers' wellbeing. Last year, the line between work and personal lives blurred and we saw a 33% rise in burnout signs. The combination of the loneliness of virtual everything, the toll of social isolation, an influx of information, an infectious disease, loved ones becoming ill or passing, is a lot for us to take in and manage. When we're used to office interactions, working at home can feel lonely for some. Now is the time for more empathy and understanding from leaders. Smart employers who support employee wellbeing boost employee performance and productivity. Prioritizing wellbeing is essential and non-negotiable.

Job Losses for Women

It's devastating to see how much momentum, gains and progress we lost in less than a year. We're in a she-cession. It feels as if the progress women made to create an equal workforce has all but disappeared. Due to the pandemic's effects and a slow and unequal recovery, women and minorities face disproportionate impacts. A year ago, women led the workforce; in December, women lost 156,000 jobs, consequently accounting for all job losses that month. We've gone backwards. Working mothers of school-aged children are juggling distance learning with work responsibilities, with 30% more likely to leave their jobs. Sixty-three percent of senior executive mothers and 43% of mothers in non-management positions had to revise their career goals or ambitions. According to a report by McKinsey and LeanInOrg, creating a sustainable pace of work, resetting norms around flexibility, reassessing performance criteria, mitigating biases and adjusting employee policies and programs are steps for companies to take to prevent more job losses for women. Without strategic action, we could lose the progress made by women in the workforce.

Remote Workplace

In 2016, only 3.6%  of the American workforce worked remotely. By the end of this year, Global Workplace Analytics estimates 25-30% of the workforce will work remotely multiple days a week. With the rise of remote workers, one in five workers relocated and moved out of large cities. Hiring now is free from geographical constraints and allows companies to hire from a larger talent pool and also increase their economic impact. For job seekers, video interviews and online-only networking are new norms. The benefits of working from home, including flexibility and more time to invest in personal lives, led to 60% of surveyed individuals preferring to continue working from home in the future. In 2021, I believe we'll see a more diverse remote workforce as work-from-anywhere is further normalized. As we shift further from a centralized workforce, we'll see a hybrid work model become a workplace norm.

Contingent Work and Upskilling

As companies find their footing in this next normal, contingent work remains a viable hiring strategy. It allows businesses to find skilled workers to maneuver evolving needs, thus optimizing their hiring pipeline. With the work-from-home norm, the talent pool for contingent work is bigger than ever before because it creates a larger talent pool for employers to access across the country. Contingent, also known as temporary or gig work, allows workers entry into a new field and opportunities to learn new skills. Contingent work provides flexibility for both workers and employers. The 2020 proposition approval set a precedent for the gig economy by securing certain benefits for independent contractors and recognizing them as a central part of the workforce. We expect to see rapid growth in the gig economy and contingent workforce. Before the pandemic, 34% of the workforce was contingent with 80% of large companies surveyed planning to increase contingent worker hiring. This year, we'll see smart companies build skilled teams of traditional employees and contingent workers. According to the World Economic Forum, automation will create 97 million jobs globally by 2025. A college degree isn't the only solution for upskilling or reskilling. I encourage workers and job seekers to continuously strengthen both soft and hard skills to help them stay ahead of the trends; knowledge will always have value.

Workforce Equity

Following the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, we saw a global demand for diversity, including in the world of work. Major companies publicly pledged for more equality in the workplace, and we saw a stock market entity push companies to diversify boardrooms. All S&P 500 companies have at least one woman on their boards. In 2021, we'll build on the awareness raised and progress made towards inclusion and equity to create a true sense of belonging in society and the workplace. We'll continue to see diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging as a compulsive driver for Corporate America.

Environmental Sustainability

Like many of you, 2020 helped me see the severity of another crisis: climate change. Our individual and corporate interactions with Earth have long been unchecked, and now it's time to act. As companies reevaluate social responsibility, environmentalism must also be embedded. Forty-seven percent of surveyed internet users stopped supporting brands that didn't protect the environment. Jobs are shifting to the new green economy to support climate emergency mitigation efforts. Climate change response positions, infrastructure creation and other roles will increase in visibility. Rose International has green initiatives, including a membership to the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC). With the remote work norm and without a daily office commute, time, money and up to 2.5 billion metric tons of carbon emissions are saved. As offices remain mostly empty, energy usage decreased as well. We're all global citizens and have the responsibility and privilege to care for our Earth to leave it better than we found it; there is no Planet B.

Connecting wellbeing to work transformation is key to a sustainable culture where both employees and employers are successful. Remote work, digital transformation and innovation transforms a company and drives value for shareholders and stakeholders.

There's no denying that 2020 tested us in ways we couldn't have imagined, and we continue working through some of the shifts made. In 2021, we have no way to go but up. We'll refine processes and changes initiated in 2020. As we learned last year, unexpected shifts are possible. Optimism, adaptability and growth remain critical. Let's remember to adapt and pivot the best we can to survive and thrive in this ever-evolving new normal.

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