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PAVING THE WAY FOR WORKPLACES OF TOMORROW
PAVING THE WAY FOR WORKPLACES OF TOMORROW

July 29, 2021

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The pandemic has served humanity a thorough reminder of the second law of thermodynamics. In orderly systems (like the business sphere), chaos or entropy is an ever-increasing entity. So, when everyone least expected it, COVID-19 served a spoonful of chaos to the corporate world. Consequently, it accelerated several trends that would have taken years to manifest if things had run their expected course. Herein, the rapidly increased pace at which businesses are now looking to adopt automation and AI (Artificial Intelligence) is an obvious example. eCommerce has also gained a much greater significance given the lockdowns that have ensued across the globe. Not to forget the prominence that remote work has garnered over the last year or so. 

Overall, the pandemic has taught us that the business world is more malleable than any of us thought and can survive some harsh changes. Whenever met with chaos in the future, it can weave a new blanket of order and live to fight another day. On that note, it would be interesting to speculate what future workplaces will look like post the pandemic. Well, such an inquiry will also pave the way for dialogues that we desperately need to initiate. 

So, without further ado, let us discuss five key attributes that will shape the workplaces of tomorrow as per PERSOLKELLY: -

The rising value of workforce experience (Employee Experience)

Workforce experience has long enticed talent to choose one organization over the other. For instance, many top engineers aspire to work in giant corporate houses less because of the accompanying prestige and more because of the employee experience these offices fosters. Thus, it is worth noting that the way organizations treat their employees impacts their brand image. You need not look any further than recent developments to find proof of the same. For instance, brands that took care of their employees via fostering employee well-being, organizing vaccination camps, and setting up COVID relief units witnessed greater resonance with customers as well. On the flip side, companies that ill-treated employees and inhumanely navigated the pandemic received widespread public criticism. The point here is that businesses will need to step up in terms of the employee experience they offer. In fact, employee experience will be as important, if not greater than, the customer experience (CX). This means the success of a company is no longer about what its customers think and feel about a brand but a blend of employee and customer feedbacks and views. In the future, it is going to be a much bigger incentive for talent acquisition and retention. 

Normalization of borderless talent acquisition 

The business world’s ongoing involvement with remote work has proved one thing. For some roles, geographical location bears little significance. This realization has primed businesses to make the shift to borderless talent acquisition. Meaningly, it will soon become the norm for companies to approach talent acquisition from a globalized lens. That is because doing so opens so many doors for growth and lets organizations harness global talent sans complicated visa sponsorship woes. That is why several organizations have already implemented borderless hiring protocols wherein geographical location does not determine the talent they pick. However, adopting borderless hiring will not keep companies from scrutinizing candidates for culture fit. Another nuance to consider here is that the hybrid workplaces of tomorrow will harbor remote workers as well as office goers. So, organizations will also need to engineer solutions to ensure that their company culture cascades across both cohorts. Overall, the future will propel businesses to dissolve several boundaries that we have deemed indestructible for decades. 

Affinity to flexibility and customization 

Among other presuppositions of the business world, the pandemic has disproved the necessity of having uniform working hours across the board. So, going forward, companies are likely to keep pushing the envelope to foster hyper-flexible and customizable operations. This means that in the hybrid work model of the future, employees will continue to hold freedom over when and how they choose to work. Soon, members of a workforce may get to decide whether they wish to work from home or in a brick-and-mortar setup. For instance, one employee may choose to work from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. (Monday to Friday, in an office). Another may choose to work remotely for varying timings (from Wednesday to Sunday). However, such hyper-customized operations will likely be subjected to certain terms and conditions. Perhaps, some projects may entail the necessity of uniform working hours whereas others do not. Similarly, certain leaders may continue to enforce uniform operations on all their team members whereas others do not. Nevertheless, there is no denying that the business world will become more flexible and preference-centric in the coming years.   

The role dependency of the changes in play

We have discussed how we are moving towards a more customizable, individualized incarnation of the corporate world. However, we have refrained from addressing how the same will not be possible for all roles and functions. More precisely, certain professions and industries will remain averse to implementing hyper-flexible work models, and for good reason. That is because the changes we have speculated will not be practical for every business operation under the sun. Think about how the hospitality, personal care, and manufacturing sectors cannot afford to sacrifice uniformity and standardization for the sake of flexibility. Moreover, even in cases when implementing remote and flexible work is practical, it may not be the most effective approach out there. After all, leadership styles and collaboration methods vary from organization to organization. Some workforces can squeeze out optimal creativity and productivity using remote work whereas others generate greater output when working under a shared roof. In essence, the emergence of the hybrid work model of the future will be role and function dependent. Organizations will need to undergo holistic deliberations to determine what will work best for them and pursue their chosen ends with courage. 

Diversity and Inclusion

The discussion on D&I has gone beyond the gender-based arguments. Recently, many companies have stepped up to celebrate the Pride Month to highlight their solidarity with LGBTQ group. The motto here, the companies have adopted for their employees is “be comfortable in your own skin.” Today, the population has walked past the set standard of ideal man/woman attributes. People find it empowering to own their true selves and embrace or accept themselves with their said and unsaid “flaws.” The corporate world has, too, come a long way in supporting the dreams and ambitions of people, ignoring the idealistic social ideologies, making their growth a truly inclusive one. Hereon, D&I will be an organic part of workforce.

 

Conclusion 

 

The business world is lined up for a massive overhaul in the coming years. The attributes we have discussed in this blog detail what is to come in four broad strokes. However, there’s still so much that only time can reveal. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that once we come out of the shadow of COVID, there is a lot for businesses to look forward to. 

 

This article was originally published on PERSOLKELLY India blog here


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