My Predictions for The Future of Work
"Your products and services will no longer be your competitive edge in the FOW, rather it will be your ability to outcompete other organizations for the world’s top talent." -Me
Introduction & Disclaimers
I know these 'prediction' articles are a bit cringe and mostly cover the same buzzwords, however, this one is more of an experiment as I wrote these over two years ago on my FOW website titled "Three Themes Shaping the Future of Work". So I decided not to edit it and see what remained relevant (your comments and thoughts are much welcomed!). In my view, most remain pertinent despite recent AI advancements (remember, you still need talent to implement and maintain AI functions). I am sharing this on LinkedIn now as I am transitioning out of this world and into the world of wellness safaris and mindset coaching.
I don’t claim to have all the answers or to be some sort of prophet, but I have broadly witnessed, studied, and observed the current climate of how organizations work, how the new generation of workers want to work - and the chasm is significant! My predictions are not based on Deloitte Human Capital Trends or Josh Bersin articles, they are simply a combination of my experience and intuition over the past years in the space. Many of the points below are already implemented in leading, progressive organizations (particularly in North America), but my inclusion of them is to say that they will become mainstream requirements as organizations realise they are no longer optional.
I should also preface this piece with the fact that I believe the traditional employee<>employer relationship will cease to exist within the next 10 years (aside from 3rd world countries and blue-collar industries). See my article on that here.
Lastly, my views are largely formed through my experience and exposure to white-collar industries and US-based organizations (before the internet trolls have a go).
Three Themes Shaping the Future of Work.
1. From 'Employee' to 'Partner'
"I'll work with you but not for you" is the theme for 2030 and beyond. The FTE fades away > A new model of employment combining flexibility+financial security emerges.
What is driving this?
The reality is; the 25-year-old of today has a much lower barrier of entry to skill acquisition, and opportunity than the 25-year-old of yesteryear. This career optionality (with promises of flexibility and freedom) naturally drives up the competitiveness of different career paths, thus the traditional career path will have to level up, or at least match the alternatives.
What does this entail:
Flexibility but Security
New models of ‘employment’ continue to emerge; frameworks built upon generational preferences, socio-economic shifts, and the ever-increasing globalization of work. The word ‘employee’ becomes taboo.
Example: A freelancer lifestyle with the security of a full-time employee.
Selective Projects + Tasks
Not only will I decide what I work on, but also who I work with. Tolerance for being ‘placed’ on projects and ‘assigned’ tasks will decrease dramatically. As with other trends, the power shifts into the hands of the worker, not the employer.
Strategy-Defining Investors
If I work for you I should get a say as to what we build and how we build it. If I work on this product or had a contributing idea - I should be renumerated accordingly. Innovation becomes systematically rewarded.
2. From Customer to Employee
Budgets and resources for customer enablement equate to the budget for employee enablement. Resource allocation and initiatives for "our number one asset" start to become meaningful.
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What is driving this?
After much talk and virtue signalling on LinkedIn, companies will start to feel the impact of not ramping up their efforts toward the employee experience in a radical way. The reality of Gen-Z working styles and behaviors will be the driver after organizations not only battle, but truly fail to attract and retain talent.
What does this entail:
Behaviorally-Designed Workplaces
Extending internal R&D and resources toward building science-backed workplaces and processes to cater to the (new) human. Anthropology becomes more purposefully applied at work. Internal research departments and industry-specific consultancies.
Resource Allocation / Workforce R&D
From marketing to product development, to ops - employees (or whatever they’ll be called), will start to truly become the priority when it comes to allocating resources and building initiatives to attract, retain and develop the real drivers behind innovation and customer satisfaction - the humans at work.
Hyper-Personalization in the workplace
Extending from the behaviorally-designed workplace; Just as we do for the customer experience, the employee experience becomes unique to each applicant, FTE, and contractor. Not only your Amazon and Netflix homepage is customized to your needs and wants - but consumerization of the workplace becomes a requirement for employers.
3. From Work to Societies
The distinction between work and the rest of our lives minimizes; Work<>life synchronization increases. Organizations begin to embody micro-societies, and boycotts start to destroy companies.
What is driving this?
The new generation doesn't distinguish work and personal lives like the older ones did. Just look at how professional attire has evolved (or devolved) over the past 15 years. The 'values-driven' Gen-Z particularly, don't stop as the sliding doors open. Additionally, the polarization of society, fueled by hyper-personalized social media feeds, will certainly add to this 'merger'.
What does this entail:
Work<>Life Sync
Remote/hybrid work is old news. The coming together of the hyper-personalized and behavioral-backed workplace - shapes the lives we are able to build. Holistic worker well-being goes beyond ‘mental health days’.
Personal + Professional Merge
I refuse to differentiate who I am at home and who I am at work. If you can’t accommodate my true self - jump in the lake. People seek meaning at work as a priority.
Activism Shapes Markets
Where you work represents who you are. I work for X company based on my beliefs and desire for my ideal state of society - and how they are contributing to that state. Beliefs and opinions start to shape entire organizations from the inside out. Political divides influence competitive markets.
People Technology Enthusiast
2 个月I think it‘s fairly summarized, but I miss one aspect across the entire systematic review: capital does not consider worforce as assets, but treats them as resources and thus kind of cost elements to be kept moderate. Although I agree that in countries / regions with rather fortunate historical (moral, socio-economical) development the cultural shift and philosophical transformation arises more and more at the workplace, the investments into technology, wellbeing (employee centric personalization of services, meaningful job crafting intention over profitability etc.) are not likely to overcome the barrier of risk-mitigated investments with promising ROI of the capitalistic world order. Short: people are important as long as profitability measures hold. As practical use-cases already show, AI plays a pivotal role in replacing humans in ?meaningless“ (for whom meaningless?…) tasks, thus the freedom of choice described by any Gen remains in my imagination rather a question of leadership moral and less the sole choice of employees itself.
Helping companies achieve success through integrating business strategy, workforce psychology, and HR technology. Author of the books Talent Tectonics, Commonsense Talent Management, and Hiring Success.
2 个月Bentzy, since you asked for feedback here it is. Your predictions make sense from the perspective of technology enabling us to rethink work to make it about "what people want to achieve and are able to become" vs "what people have to accomplish and must learn to do". We are moving that way in many areas of society. But I doubt we will quickly overcome longstanding socio-economic forces that benefit from keeping work a transactional battle between haves vs. have nots. The design of much of our society from the prison system to the educational system is rooted in 19th century psychology. This includes beliefs that people are inherently lazy, that hard work is a punishment to be endured for reward later in life, and education and healthcare are scarce commodities to be hoarded and profited from instead of socioeconomic growth drivers to be distributed as widely as possible. There are organizations that benefit economically and politically from supporting these outdated beliefs. They may say they want change, but actual change would mean giving up money and power. And selfishness will always be a part of work as long as work is done by people. I talk about this a bit in my book Talent Tectonics, https://talenttectonics.com/