Key Trends Shaping the Future of Work

The three trends below are just a taste of how your workplace will change to become more productive and connected in the coming years. Are you prepared? Taking a moment to learn more about the driving forces shaping tomorrow will help you better embrace the future today.

1.       The Continuing Shift from 9 to 5 to 24/7

Globalization is forcing teams to adjust their schedules and habits to accommodate virtual global meetings and conferences. To meet the growing need of having “always-on” schedules, virtual offices (and companies) continue to grow, luring more workers out of the traditional 9-5 work environment. Feeding the 24/7 mentality is the presence of inexpensive technology tools to assist us. Employers are granting flex-time to offer employees more elastic schedules. The result? Balancing life and work is becoming difficult as the line between the two is increasingly blurred.

Implication: As larger corporations encroach on some of the perks of working at a smaller organization – flexible schedules, working virtually – small businesses will need to continue to differentiate themselves to draw in top talent. Companies will need to draw the line between work and life so their employees aren’t on call all the time.

2.       The Shift from a Uniform Workforce to a Multi-Generational Workforce

There have never been so many generations actively working simultaneously in the workplace before. The mindsets, skill sets and attitudes of the Baby Boomers vary significantly from the newest crop of Millennials. Baby Boomers are pushing back retirement – either by choice or necessity because of the economy, leading to an unprecedented mix (and clash) of generations in the workplace. Millennials demand collaborative work environments, and shy away from boring, repetitive tasks according to many workplace analysts.

Implication: The different skill sets, identities, and behaviors of Millennials often contrast sharply with those of their older peers. Businesses will need to consider how to keep older workers and attract younger ones. As a result, they will need to re-evaluate the way employees work with one another to create a more productive work environment for all generations of employees.

3.       The Emergence of Enterprise 2.0 – Technology, Collaboration, and Development

Social technologies such as wikis, blogs, idea networks, and Facebook-like employee directories are playing major roles inside companies and dramatically redefining how we collaborate internally with teams and externally with customers. Internal directories allow employees to create profiles listing the projects they’ve worked on and areas of expertise, whether related to their role or not. Cisco’s high-definition video Telepresence product, for example, is taking companies by storm by making virtual meetings seem exactly like the real thing. With this technology, Cisco envisions that organizations can dramatically cut travel expenses because the technology makes most face-to-face meetings unnecessary.

Implication: As the world becomes more global, your colleagues and partners may extend beyond the people in your office to people across oceans and time zones. With a plethora of options available, it’s important to determine the technologies that will best enable you to identify pockets of untapped knowledge within your business and allow your employees to collaborate better. Think about how can you codify the knowledge and experience of your current employees to know exactly who to tap when specific skills and expertise are required.

futurethink recently launched an online innovation course on the Future of Work, which highlights the five key trends that are shaping the workplace