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DRIVER #3 – FUTURE OF WORK AS WE KNOW IT (Part 4 of 6)

08/07/2016
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We’ve talked about the impact of technology and leader and manager readiness for the 2020s workplace.

The old days of 9 to 5 and office-bound employees are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. With the increase in online working comes increased flexibility, and this is reflected in the changing work patterns and behaviours everybody is experiencing.

Whilst flexibility is a good thing, there is also a blurring of the lines between the time devoted to work and home. For example, emails are expected to be checked in the evenings or at weekends, or conference calls with clients on the other side of the world must be engaged in during unsociable hours.

Some 56% of respondents, especially in the APAC region, felt that Gen Y and Z were not being adequately prepared for the massive changes happening to the working day. There is a need, it seems, to upskill the new workforce, and it is an urgent need.

Interestingly, 72% believe that offices will change drastically, becoming more like mobile working environments than the fixed work spaces we know today.

Getting Ready for Tomorrow

Here are what some companies are doing to take advantage of changes in the workplace:

  • Offering flexible working hours and work-from-home arrangements
  • Ensuring tasks are clearly understood, and automated where appropriate, to improve job satisfaction and efficiency
  • Adopting the use of personal devices – BOYD (Bring Your Own Device)
  • Decentralising decision making and encouraging online collaboration tools for community-based working, sharing and socialising

Call to Action

What can you do to prepare your staff – particularly Gen Y and Gen Z – for the future workplace?

  • Implement training for future readiness, along with a mindset for change. Use different learning delivery methods so that work and the processes involved can be seen in a different way
  • Increase the tolerance for failure and a process of learning-unlearning-relearning, whilst encouraging a future-oriented mindset

Check out pages 24 and 25 of the full report for some creative suggestions on how to prepare for the future workplace, as well as some examples of companies who have implemented some very interesting work practices.

 

With a changing workplace comes diversity in the workplace. Next week we look at DRIVER #4 – DIVERSITY AND BIAS.