Guest Contributor

What does the future of work look like?

By | Ariaa Reeds

Meta Description: Artificial intelligence and similar technologies (platforms like Slack, Zoom) are transforming human resources operations. New trends like remote work are becoming popular. The future of work is visible.

The way we work is always changing. In the past decade, the way people work has undergone a massive transformation. Millennials have become a major part of the workforce and remote work is steadily becoming a norm. While there have been phenomenal transformations, some transformations are underway. 

What’s more, employee behavior is changing due to the deeper penetration of technologies in life – human resources across organizations are becoming increasingly reliant on software and applications. Tech giants including Google, Microsoft, and Facebook have forayed into HR tech.  

What else are employers up to? 

Here are five HR trends that are sweeping across employers. 

  1. Remote work will increase

Flexibility to work from home or anywhere is increasingly becoming popular. Employees want to be able to work from wherever they want. According to the AND CO survey, nearly 55% of workers worked remotely full-time. 

Remote work benefits employers as well as employees. According to a survey remote workers are productive than their office colleagues. American Express reports their workers who work from home are 43 % are more productive, while JD Edwards shows their remotely working employees are 22-25% more productive. The AND CO survey says remote work will only increase. 

The introduction of collaboration tools like Slack and project management tools like Asana is making it easier for companies to go fully remotely. Companies like Zapier, for instance, have employees who work remotely entirely.  

2. Employee wellness is a priority 

Employee wellness is becoming increasingly important for employers. Both physical and mental health is a growing concern for employers. Employers are putting effort to come up with programs that can help workers to stay in a safe healthy space. 

According to a Levell study, chronic stress and burnout depreciate employee performance. And Kronos research found out 65% of CHROs believe that stress is damaging workforce retention.

Employers are tackling this challenge by offering employee wellness programs. Mindfulness at work is a growing practice among employees to overcome job stress. Companies like Mckinsey, Nike, Google, and Apple are providing classes ranging from mediation to cognitive behavior therapies to help employees overcome stress and avoid burn out. 

  1. Increasing transparency at the workplace   

Transparency at the workplace is taking a center stage among employers. According to LinkedIn’s Global Trends report 2019, pay transparency is an emerging trend and will continue beyond 2020. 

Employers will become transparent about employee salaries. This will potentially help employees to add top talent to their mix, while employers that still continue to keep salary as a matter of concern between themselves and employees will likely lose talent. 

Beyond pay transparency, employers are making it easier for employees to get a glimpse in their workplace.

  • Salesforce allows candidates to see employee feedback about their managers before joining their team. 
  • According to Indeed, 71% of millennials look for insight about the company before joining them. 
  • Box’s employees upload their OKRs so that other employees can see it. According to Aaron Levie, this helps other teams to set their team goals. Due to this process, 80% of the team ends up participating. Aaron himself makes his goals transparent. 
  1. Demand for higher cognitive skills

According to the World Economic Forum, there will be a major shift in the demand for skills required to do a job. Between 2025, 48% of work will be done by humans, while 52% of work will be done by machines or algorithms. 

This requires organizations to adopt learning and development strategies and re-skill their existing employees to fit the upcoming job roles. 

  1. Generation Z will enter the workforce 

Currently, millennials make the largest share of the workforce. As generation Z enter the workforce and increase in number, employers will need to develop their onboarding and learning strategies. Generation Z is used for smartphones and other digital devices. They learn from Youtube. This generation might lack softer and other essential skills. Employers will need to cater to this need.

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