4 Aspects That Will Play a Decisive Role in the Future of Work

Big Data and digital transformation are changing the future of our working lives. Today it is more important than ever to face the future in order to stay agile and thus adapt to new developments and trends. According to the report ‘The Future Of Work’, prepared by Bene and in which more than 40 experts from international companies, new companies and consulting firms have participated, there are 4 aspects that will play a decisive role in the future of work: the transformation digital, leadership, the purpose of work and open collaboration.

1.- Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is entering all areas of our lives, revolutionizing the way we work. In the future, the companies that generate the best information and turn it into the best services will be the most advanced. In this sense, the generation of digital natives is expected to provide solutions based on artificial intelligence. At the same time, robots will carry out the routine tasks of production and administration.

More and more organizations face the problem of digitization and how their business should react. The digital revolution has demonstrated the absurdity of long-term planning. The objective is always the same: to be a more agile organization where the right decisions can be implemented more quickly and profitably. There is a similar need to reconsider task approaches, the use of technology and the exchange of data, as relationships with customers, partners and competitors have to be redefined.

A study published by the World Economic Forum shows that 65% of the jobs we will have in ten years do not yet exist. Robots and artificial intelligence will profoundly change organizations and their personnel structures. It is obvious that progress in the development of artificial intelligence will substantially change the internal processes and the customer experience. For example, instead of customer service with agents, many companies today rely on chatbots or voicebots that have automated conversations with their customers thanks to IVR technologies.

2.- Leadership

According to the Bene report, 77% of business leaders in Germany believe that we need a paradigm shift in the culture of leadership. The networked economy does not work as well with traditional hierarchical structures, but is nourished by cooperation, self-organization and teamwork among equals.

The fact that companies are fluid systems, and not static entities, is often overlooked. Many things cannot be anticipated or planned, since human interactions change and evolve constantly. It is up to smart leaders to understand this co-evolution and support employees in their learning process and teamwork efforts.

As work processes become increasingly complex and difficult to standardize, the expectations of executives also change. Nowadays, managers look for employees who take care of their tasks in an independent and self-sufficient way. Experts agree that trust and responsibility are key factors in this development, which can also have positive effects on motivation and stability.

In an unpredictable, globalized and increasingly complex world, traditional management mechanisms no longer work. The welfare of the employee is often neglected as a determining factor for business success. Managers face the challenge of coordinating their staff to achieve a common goal. This requires staying focused on the big picture, while paying attention to people’s individual strengths and weaknesses. In this sense, “fluidity” represents a new permeability in corporate structures, which goes beyond communication channels and traditional hierarchies.

3.- Purpose of the Work

The balance between work, life and employee welfare are familiar issues in the current business community. However, for many, the question of the extent to which factors make a quantifiable contribution to the success of companies is still open. Millennials have great demands when it comes to their employers: work must be fun and have a higher purpose. Customers are no longer the only ones who decide on a product or service based on the social and environmental behavior of a company; today’s employees are as critical as they are with the company they work for.

Organizational culture and individual development opportunities have become important points for people seeking work. Digital transformation and globalization go hand in hand with the trend towards more unconventional forms of work. People are paid for the work they do instead of the hours they spend at the office; working conditions in general have become more flexible. The ‘work shifting‘, for example, describes a modern idea of defining work independently of time or place. Models like this, later, provoke changes in leadership styles and communication strategies within and between companies.

4.- Open collaboration

Experts agree that in the future there will be more collaboration in a virtual space. Therefore, personal meetings will continue to be as indispensable as ever, but the more realistic the virtual world is and the more it gives the impression of being a real space, the more technologies such as virtual reality will be used, especially in global teams. In the future, meetings will be used less to discuss shared projects and more to get to know each other and work on a shared vision or a common mentality.

In spite of the virtual spaces, it will be necessary to create an atmosphere where people can think creatively, where everyone feels comfortable and able to concentrate. According to experts, a shared vision is gaining increasing importance in a digital world. As work processes become increasingly complex and difficult to standardize, the expectations of executives also change. Nowadays, managers look for employees who take care of their tasks in an independent and self-sufficient way. Thus, trust and responsibility are key factors in this development, which can also have positive effects on motivation and stability.

In conclusion, although the best results of companies will come from the human skills that complement IT, humans are still one step ahead of machines (or bots) in terms of empathy, creativity and emotions in particular.