The Future of Work, Trends and Technologies Shaping the Digital Workforce
The world of work has been changing rapidly due to a multitude of reasons spanning rapid adoption of technology, remote and hybrid ways of working accelerated by the pandemic as well as changing attitudes to the role of work in our lives and society and now generative AI. While these things have been unfolding in the workplace I think the biggest element at play is that so many strong trends are unfolding simultaneously, which makes the next few years, truly transformative. In this article, I share a macro view of the trends and technologies that are shaping the future of work informed by our insights from interactions with leading-edge and senior, digital leaders whom we interact with regularly. CEOs, Chief Transformation Officers, CHROs and other individuals responsible for digital and business transformation of their organizations, from both a business model and way of working perspective, need to take note of the following rapidly unfolding trends.
Remote Work:?
98% of workers want to work remotely at least some of the time. This overwhelming figure reflects the workforce’s growing preference for the flexibility, autonomy, and work-life balance that remote work can often enable. Even though currently the majority of workers are working in-office/ on-premise, hybrid and remote work arrangements are expected to grow threefold over the next few years and employers cannot afford to ignore this. In fact, increasingly this will result in companies scaling their geographic footprint by hiring through entities called EOR or Employer of Record, online platforms that enable cross-border hiring at the click of a button. As a result, yes, we are witnessing the development of a single global talent pool before our eyes with increasingly fewer obstacles to global and remote hiring.
External Contract Workforce, Freelancing and The Gig Economy:
In a global economy in which specialist and digital skills are increasingly critical, meeting the demand for talent at the right time and in the right place is essential. For example, Novartis’s workforce includes 110,000 employees and 50,000 contractors and temporary workers. Cisco has 83,000 full-time employees and 50,000-plus contingent workers of various types. Both companies rely significantly on different types of external contributors, including tens of thousands of individual contractors, to achieve their business outcomes. They are not alone. Contract staff enable companies to meet their workforce needs efficiently. A 2022 survey of 430 C-level executives by Economist Impact found that half of all survey respondents, regardless of function, say that their organizations will rebalance their workforce with a higher focus on external hires. A 2016 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that net job growth in the United States between 2005 and 2015 was due entirely to the external workforce, including contingent workers, temporary and seasonal workers, independent contractors or freelancers, and contract employees. Hiring external contractors is now expected to accelerate much more rapidly.
Emphasis on Digital Skills and Need for Lifelong Upskilling:?
The workplace is increasingly becoming skills and competencies focused rather than led by degrees, job histories or job titles – with regard to attracting, hiring, developing, and redeploying talent.? By focusing directly on skills, themselves, rather than on how they have been acquired, a skills-first approach has the potential to democratize access to economic opportunities and pathways to good jobs for many more people than traditional approaches have done. The World Economic Forum predicts that by 2025, 50% of all employees will need reskilling. WEF’s analysis of data from a geographically diverse range of 18 economies, estimates that in total, more than 100 million people in these countries could be added to the global talent pool through a skills-first approach. Currently, studies suggest that 49% of the workforce are in jobs unrelated to their formal education. At an individual level, lifelong learning is essential to staying relevant in the digital workforce. At the same time, organizations will continue to invest in training and development programs to bridge the skills gap. Analytical thinking and creative thinking remain the most important skills for workers in 2023. Analytical thinking is considered a core skill by more companies than any other skill and constitutes, on average, 9% of the core skills reported by companies. Creative thinking, another cognitive skill, ranks second, ahead of three self-efficacy skills – resilience, flexibility, and agility; motivation and self-awareness; and curiosity and lifelong learning – in recognition of the importance of workers’ abilities to adapt to disrupted workplaces. Dependability and attention to detail, rank seventh, behind technological literacy. The core skills top 10 is completed by two attitudes relating to working with others – empathy and active listening and strategic leadership and social influence – as well as quality control. The more interesting aspect of this growth is that it may not be driven by the economy alone. Personal choice is playing a bigger and bigger role in the workplace with contracting becoming a lifestyle choice. Increasingly workers are choosing short-term and alternative work arrangements to learn from diverse experiences while working based on what their life requires. The growth is also not isolated to gig economy industrial workers or ride-share drivers. Highly skilled knowledge workers like AdTech professionals who wish to get comfortable with various programmatic platforms are choosing to work in short-term roles or changing jobs quickly so they can broaden their skill set. Many in full-time roles are also choosing to take on consulting or project work on the side to supplement their earnings, learning and exposure.
The external workforce is the fastest-growing segment of the labour market. The mix of external vs. full-time talent may already be 50 per cent globally. Companies need strategies in place to not only focus on their internal workforce but since they are increasingly reliant on external talent, they need strategies to work with and also engage their external workforce more consciously.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data and Automation:
The impact of AI also seems truly remarkable with more than 80% of Fortune 500 companies having teams actively using ChatGPT, having only launched at the end of 2022, according to Lightcap and OpenAI. AI has made a mark on the workforce, particularly in areas such as tech, media, and marketing but most industries in fact are expected to be impacted and transformed in how they work. As a result, not only is digital transformation imperative for most organizations but AI has also made it urgent. Again, the rapid shifts mean that we are witnessing rapid changes in how we work.
The research outlined in the WEF Future of Jobs Report 2020 found that AI is expected to replace 85 million jobs worldwide by 2025. It’s also expected to create 97 million new jobs in that same time frame. As a result, it is likely that there is going to be a big mismatch between the talent required for specific jobs and the talent available.
Big data is increasingly being used to train and improve machine learning algorithms. The IDC predicts that by 2025, nearly 75% of enterprise applications will use AI, further driving the need for big data analysis. Companies are relying more on data to make informed decisions. This shift is fostering a culture of data-driven decision-making across various departments, from marketing to HR. AI and Big data analytics enable organizations to gain insights into customer behavior, preferences, and trends, allowing for personalized marketing campaigns and enhanced customer experiences.
Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR):?
Technologies like AR and VR are changing how we work together as teams. From creating new customer experiences to speeding up product development and improving workplace safety, AR and VR are making remote collaboration more immersive and effective. VR and AR technology will benefit all industries by creating more efficient processes, enhancing training, and offering more ways for people to collaborate and work together even if they are located geographically apart or working remotely.? The technology in fact is expected to have a significant positive impact on the healthcare and retail sectors and how they operate. AR and VR are predicted to add $1.5 trillion to the global economy by 2020, according to PwC.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI):?
A Boston Consulting Group study found that companies with more diverse management teams have 19% higher revenues due to innovation. Companies with more diverse leadership teams report 45% higher innovation revenue. While an inclusive leadership pipeline remains a challenge for most companies, the value of a diverse and equitable workplace is increasingly being recognized and the workplace of the future is expected to continue to have a strong emphasis on this. Many organizations are taking steps to address issues related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), driven by both ethical considerations and the potential for better business outcomes.
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Cybersecurity and Data Privacy:?
As technology’s role continues to evolve, our dependence on it also grows. There will be almost twice as many connected devices—15 billion in 2023, as there are people. Of course, high levels of dependency directly correlate to high levels of risk. The more complex and all-encompassing our networks and systems become, the more devastating the impact is when they don’t function. As the digital workforce expands, so do cybersecurity threats. Cybersecurity Ventures estimates that by 2025, the global cost of cybercrime will reach $10.5 trillion annually. By the same token, Gartner analysts predict that over the next two years, 45% of global organizations will be impacted in some way by a supply chain attack. Companies are allocating resources to protect sensitive data and ensure the safety of remote work environments. This involves not just investment in software to detect and address threats but also training employees, monitoring employees as well as hiring cybersecurity professionals who can manage the risks and address any attacks and intrusions.
Increased Demand for Digital and Data Professionals:?
From artificial intelligence and data analytics to cloud computing and automation, companies are adopting innovative technology solutions to drive efficiency and growth. As a result, digitally savvy leaders and professionals are also highly sought after by employers.?
The growth of big data analytics has led to a surge in demand for data scientists, data engineers, and other data-related roles. Data-related positions are some of the fastest-growing job roles.
The research in “The Skills Demand for the Future Economy (SDFE) Report 2022”, published by SkillsFuture Singapore, found that the demand for workers with skills in the digital, green and caregiving economies has surged over the last four years. As the Singapore economy continues to evolve, NUS-ISS, a leading university in Singapore has identified six digital skills with high demand growth from the report:
In Summary?
The future of work is characterized by its fluidity, automation, technological innovation, and an increased focus on diversity and inclusion. It encompasses not only remote work but also the utilization of contract staff by companies and the rise of self-employment and dual roles. These interconnected trends and technologies are reshaping the work landscape, demanding adaptability and continuous learning from individuals and organizations. To thrive in the digital workforce of tomorrow, continuous upskilling and learning are paramount.
Author: Anu D’Souza is the CEO of award-winning talent consultancy, Bricoleur Consulting, which specialises in digital and data leadership recruitment and employee research services. Headquartered in Singapore, they operate in over fifteen markets across APAC, EMEA and NA.
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1 年Anu DSouza We live in a new world ?? where employment security is nonexistent and labour is only as valuable as jobs that AI ?? currently can’t do. As if competition among humans is already not intense enough, we are now entering an era where we are fighting for survival against the AI ?? we created.