What is Future of Work?

Much of the conversation about the future of the global economy has focused on the impact of digital transformation over the past decade. It has been about the impact of digitalisation on industries, business and governance. In the same framework, scholars and practitioners have argued that the trajectory of global economic growth has transitioned from one characterised by market economy to one defined by knowledge economy. 

There has been much discussion about this particular argument and the broad range of contributions about the future of work. Digitalisation is translating huge amounts of economic and social activity into machine readable formats and in the longer term these formats will be analysed and re-imagined. Companies are using artificial intelligence in a growing range especially in the United States. In order to prepare for the future, the first thing we need to understand is the fact that the labour market is a changed environment where we see remote workers and hybrid workers creating a whole different world of work. 

Let’s not forget that some predictions about the future of work talk about a workplace utopia while other predictions paint a picture of doom and gloom especially because of job-killing robots. The labour market is likely to undergo major transformations in the next few years. In this aspect, businesses are trying to better understand how the emergence of technology and globalisation will impact the way their employees work and how it will reshape human capital management. Companies are also trying to figure out what impact these changes will have on how they operate.    

Organisation of Work

Vision, performance, success and strategy all depend on the organisation of work where productivity is achieved by organisational teams. These organisational teams need to be made up of the right people assigned with the right tasks. For instance, when there’s a novelty in technology, companies work on organisation of work or build a new team compatible with the new developments.

New generation digital transformation is made possible by these teams and the company will adapt to novelties accordingly. In this aspect knowledge workers seem to be the focus of the matter.

Despite the craze about machine learning technologies and artificial intelligence performing at different levels, the human factor still matters and employees who have the knowledge of new technologies are the key element of the equation. In order to prepare for the future and the new world of work, the definition of ‘organisation’ has to be modified. Not in literal terms but when the organisation of work is in question. Future working possibilities include more people working from home and hybrid working models.

Not only digital transformation but the lockdowns enforced because of the pandemic made it possible for remote working conditions to spread even more. We have more companies today with employees working from home or adapting hybrid models for they provide possibilities for business.

We’re looking at a work environment where employee engagement is re-defined as a result of remote work. This of course affects the organisation of work which is directly related with the performance of the company. 

Employees, Teams and New Working Models

There are various opinions about the new working models for the future of work but business and tech leaders agree that major changes are on the horizon. These changes will possibly be driven by technology and enable machine learning, full automation, seamless communication, creating a completely new idea of work. When companies invest in employees and prepare them for the future, they keep making profit in the long run. Needless to say, company operations also become sustainable.

Therefore, it’s significant that the employees are prepared for future technologies, infrastructure, equipment and systems. The feedback collected from the employees, their work performance and their talent charts also matter for a sustainable business. New working models and methods will emerge depending on the performance of the employees and the work requirements.

Digital offices will spread and flexible work opportunities will increase. This will improve individual autonomy of the employees and companies will be open to hybrid working models as well as working from a distance.

Technology and Systems

There are some companies with a forward-thinking vision already trying certain new trends in the future of work framework. Some companies are experimenting with things like open salaries, self management and remote work. In the digital world, things change overnight. The best way to be in line with these changes is to make sure there is continuous learning for the employees. In order to prepare for the future and to cope with recent development employees must be provided with possibilities of learning and adapting new ways. Technology and systems are crucially important in terms of digitalization and technological transformation.

In both local and international aspects, if and when companies are capable of using the powers of technological ecosystem and system infrastructure, they will operate faster, more efficiently and safely. In order to increase satisfaction percentage figures coming from collected user feedback, it’s important to work in integrated systems in the future of work.

Information accessible to all is the motto of the companies thriving for better revenues and healthier working conditions. This is a significant change compared to the old way of doing things. Back in the day, team members stored files (information) on individual computers. Today’s new technologies enable us to use services like Google Drive or applications like Trello or Asana where we can make all the files accessible to anyone in the team who needs them.

Customers are the focus of any business for the simple fact that if a customer has a negative experience with a company, the chances of that person doing business with the same company are pretty low. Hence the new jargon ‘customer obsession’. There are technologies which allow you to get live customer feedback.

There are technologies to help you with your other related business issues. You just need to be willing to learn and adapt them if they offer the solution for your specific needs. 

Corporate Culture and The Environment

Corporate culture and the environment are two significant aspects of the future of work. Employees naturally think about the salary and benefits regarding work but research shows that they also care for the personality of the firm (employer brand), corporate culture and the environmental sensitivity. Therefore, in the future of work, some terms and concepts such as leadership, shareholder support, delegation and advanced corporate governance are extremely important. Digitalization and sustainable business efforts require leadership, shareholder support, delegation and good governance. Employees are affected by how the leaders or the shareholders act. These effects can go in negative or positive ways and are also important while building corporate identity. Corporate values, corporate policies and strategies are other components of corporate culture.

All concepts and practices designed in the future of the work framework serve several purposes. One of them is to make the employees agile against new developments by going through technological transformation and digitalization. The other purpose is to create high performance sustainable solutions for businesses so that they can cope with ever-changing work services. Businesses which are driven to have pro-active workers, strong Technologies and systems infrastructure, productive work models, innovative solutions and improved business strategies know very well that they have to adopt the concepts of the future of work.

For more information about Future of Work, please visit Speaker Agency’s website and meet our expert speakers Silvia Garcia, Erica Dhawan, David Rowan, Hayley Bernard to help with your business to thrive in the future of work.