Future of work : on the cusp of a new normal transition
The future of work is a concern for all industries. Having that said, a change is imminent and foreseeable irrespective of the COVID-19 pandemic impact; albeit the latter triggered an abrupt convergence towards the change. In just two years, the COVID-19 crisis has inevitably altered the future work scheme, thus corroborating the anticipated future model. Beyond that, this pandemic surpassed the expected model by accelerating the reach of future work trends—race for digital transformation, shift in socio-economic patterns, challenged work normalcy, questionable skill sets, and an uncertain future of the workforce. These trends brought about an urgency for the premature transition to the new realm of workplace.
Wellbeing: People-centric businesses
A shift in work philosophy from Taylorism—where the success of an organization revolves around the efficiency and exploitation of its workforce—to collective leadership and welfare is no new concept. That is, employees’ wellbeing has been receiving a great deal of attention, which was once deemed secondary and tertiary interests of a given corporate value. Over the past decades, a plethora of companies have been taking large steps in maturing the prevalent responsible corporate culture at the core of the work they conduct. By and large, organizations have transformed their ecosystems’ outlook from profit-driven to value-driven business models with an emphasis on employees as the core value; by earmarking investments, HR, CSR and ESG initiatives to provide the ideal work environment driven by impactful value creation. Collectively, employees, companies, customers, suppliers, and communities are all stakeholders in this shift towards broader and seemingly shared value creation. While the future of corporate culture is yet to be discerned, it is certain that people-centricity will most likely shape future businesses' « raison d’être ». In turn, tomorrow's success depends substantially on investing in people and sustaining innovation.
Managers: Change agents
Amid the uncertainty around the work culture of tomorrow, the role of management style is of key importance for the upcoming future of work challenges. Particularly, managers, as change agents, should assume responsibility beyond their knowledge savviness to acquaint his subordinates with the work cultural aspect and facilitate their embarkation on this transition. For instance, a manager is expected to be empathetic, flexible, strengthen employee purpose, ignite energy, and promote knowledge sharing in order to accompany his or her team and nurture knowledge-based innovation. At the same time, companies are seeking managers that could buffer the market’s uncertainties and ensure organisation’s resilience against threats of unprecedented turmoil. This is seldom attainable without collaboration with academia that has yet to decipher the regulatory methods of future business fundamentals. Moreover, future management success will rely on breaking the cumbersome hierarchical structures that are hindering the overall corporate strategy. Further, the top down management approach is being questioned. In fact, organisations are considering a holistic corporate strategy that includes broader stakeholders rather than exclusivity of top management and shareholders in decision making and value creation. On November 29, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey stepped down as the social network's CEO claiming that a founder led or C-suite led management style would limit a company’s success stating:
Tele-paradigm
Covid19 has inevitably disrupted the traditional in-office working model and forced many firms to adopt a remote working policy. Coping with this abrupt change in work dynamics is not effortless. Since its inception, the traditional hidebound work culture has not been seriously challenged. The importance of the work-from-home strategy is no longer a debate, yet some businesses are constrained by their clients’ decision to maintain on-premises work. Numbers have it that an ideal balance between remote and in-office work is a 0.5 ratio, i.e., 2.5 hours of in office work and 2.5 hours remaining for telework. At the same time, companies are threatened with losing the "sense of belonging" of their employees with the new-found remote working policies, the emergence of co-working concepts, and the adherence of consultants to clients rather than firms. Meanwhile, an upsurge in demand for robust IT tools is essential to foster this unprecedented virtual migration. What might seem like flexible remote work could actually provide a burden. With a considerable number of employees working from home and digitally transformed transactions and operations, a liability and hurdle for both companies and employees could hinder work efficiency given the discrepancies in IT and internet infrastructures. On the other hand, many companies, facilities, or administrations have found that tasks that seemed non-teleworkable (support functions, helpdesk functions, payroll services, online consultations, etc.), can be done remotely from the office. For instance, Doctolib, the prominent French healthcare platform, adopted a teleconsultation service for patients during lockdown and is anticipated to continue providing this service.
Gig market
The gig economy has witnessed a growth trend, imposing an alternative market for all businesses. The emergence of platforms, tele-everything, flexibility, all these are factors that present a solid presence on the competitive map. Gig workers are often freelancers or independent contractors that intervene in ad hoc projects, threatening complex corporate businesses and long time ubiquitous actors. It’s impossible to imagine a future without the importance of this parallel market. Given the flexibility, ease of bureaucracy, and low overhead, these workers are eager to embark on projects with primarily SME equipped with an unconventional approach in their services. to information and on-demand services, on the one hand, and the digitalization of work with the COVID-19 crisis, on the other hand, all contributed to a higher demand for these seemingly easier alternatives. It is estimated that this alternative will sustain significant growth in the future. For that, companies should seek collaborations and opportunities for co-creation with this peculiar workforce. In turn, one way to respond to the future market’s challenges is to benefit from these models by embracing the entrepreneurial spirit within the ecosystem of the firms, quid quo pro, a pragmatic market approach. Yet the entrepreneurial aspect is a double-edged sword as companies try to secure talents and incorporate them in their predominant culture.
Digital transformation and skills
COVID-19 is often associated with digital transformation. Yet the latter has been widely prevalent for decades. The aftermath of the pandemic could have a prolonged effect on the economy, society, and cardinal rules and regulations. People often claim that the current disruption is being accelerated by digital transformation, yet the latter has existed for decades. In fact, many industries are evidently on the path of being reshaped, spurred by the development of many innovations affecting global industries today, including digital technologies, artificial intelligence, and robotics. This comes with both management and regulatory challenges to familiarize themselves with the new realm of emerging jobs. It is no surprise however that some jobs will be obliterated while others will emerge depending on demand and innovation factors.
On the other hand, one of the most acute shortfalls is talent acquisition, as discrepancies are vividly present between the talent market and the demanded skills. Talents in the market are becoming scarce and a shift in the skills demanded is foreseeable. In fact, the rise of big data, the emergence of innovative models in fintech, cryptocurrencies, the accelerated race for digital transformation and innovation; all of these have created a projected demand for new skills in competition, such as data analysts, cybersecurity experts, artificial intelligence engineers, etc. Ignoring these challenges would doom the giant thriving businesses. According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report, 50 percent of all employees will require reskilling by 2025 as technology adoption increases. Specifically, analytical thinking, active learning and complex problem solving will be the top required skills in the five upcoming years. Shifting to a more agile digital workplace that makes use of cloud technologies and services can help employees while also accelerating overall digital transformation initiatives.
A decreased demand for classical work culture is imminent. Adequate management style, people-centricity strategy, robust digital infrastructure, opportunities in ever-evolving market, upskilling of workforce will be critical to success as firms turn to the future of work. This is a major milestone for the work culture as a whole. By all means, organizations must truly understand the uncertainty of the upcoming phase and reinvent their established ecosystem to cope with the inevitable change. While vision of this future remains unclear, co-creation and shift in management virtues will constitute a strong foundation to adapt to the new normal, and ideally post-covid phase. With that, talent acquisition and business metamorphosis are intertwined. It remains to be seen what would be the best strategy for talent acquisition amid this uncertainty And are we going to be short on talent?
By Anthony ABOU JREICH for VIALYBER