As a Futurist, many ask me; what is the future of work? The answer for a while now has been that it depends.
There seems to be no real consensus on what might happen, so as the Actionable Futurist, I look at near-term trends to help clients better understand what might happen in the coming weeks, months and even a couple of years.
One constant in the equation will be that technology will be central to any change in the way we work – we’ve become too dependent on it.
Some pundits believe that had technologies such as high-speed internet, VPNs, cloud services, and video calling not been as widespread; we may have had far more impacts from the pandemic, as some people would not have been able to do their work without going into the office.
I reimagine work by looking through the “3 Ps” lens – People, Place and Purpose.
First, people.
No longer restricted to hiring people within commuting distance to our offices, we can now draw on a truly global talent pool, confident that we can get work done remotely and asynchronously. Software development and support teams are used to operate a truly “follow the sun” operation using people in different countries. With a “Talent Anywhere” strategy, you can now have a true diversity of thought with people from Calgary to Christchurch.
One trend that I have seen accelerated since 2020 is the move to operating and behaving like “gig workers”, with people applying their skills and experience in a fractional way with more than one company each week.
Recently a senior executive at Australian telecommunications giant Telstra spoke about the need to adopt a “Dynamic resourcing” strategy to plug the genuine skills gap, and he’s right.
Such a move, though, will require very different ways of working. Secure access to various systems, fractional payroll, benefits, and leave entitlements will need a radical rethink – and this new way of thinking is required to embrace a new, revolutionary way of working.
Next, Place.
The recently re-installed CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, adopted the phrase “the third place” first coined by sociologist Ray Oldenburg because he wanted Starbucks to be somewhere you went between the office and the home to get work done.
Now that we’ve exhausted the patience of our spouses, family members, and roommates in our homes and the desire not to have to travel every day to the physical office, I predict that we will see the rise of third places.
These may not be where existing WeWork or other co-working spaces exist; they are often co-located with the offices we are all trying to avoid; instead, they will be closer to where we live and will allow us flexible space to get work done alone or by collaborating with colleagues that live nearby or can commute to this third place.
Recently the Irish Government announced they would offer workers three free days in any remote-working hub as an incentive to ditch the office for a few days a week and work in their communities.
The new scheme aims to encourage more use of the hundreds of remote-working centres that have been set up around the country, particularly in the wake of the pandemic.
This could start a trend, as governments worldwide are looking for incentives to get people back into offices. The Irish scheme is attractive because it lends itself perfectly to the 3rd place concept.
One interesting by-product of hybrid working has been the move to start meetings on time, as a more significant number of people are now joining remotely.
Gone are the days of the lone person dialling in that would be forgotten – and the enviable “… is Julie still on the line?” so companies now need to consider a more formal meeting structure to ensure the time is used more productively.
Finally, Purpose.
The news that Apple employees have rebelled against the company’s desire to bring workers back into the office should be no surprise. The group calling itself Apple Together said the proposed work-from-home policy is motivated by fear. I would argue instead that the pushback is inspired by a renewed sense of purpose – why we go to work in an office.
For the last two years, we’ve tasted freedom, free of having to regularly go into the office, saving potentially thousands in travel costs, faced with the prospect of returning to the office even a few days a week and those new travel costs have provided us with all with time to think about why we do this.
My view as a futurist is that we’ll swing back and forward until we realise there is a happy medium of time spent in the office with a few days at home. Notably, the time spent in the office, collaborating in person, cannot be spent in endless meetings; we need to rethink the purpose of going into the office, period.
Initiatives from companies such as Airbnb and PWC to allow employees to work anywhere are only a start. They allow established companies to tweak existing employment policies and contracts, but this doesn’t go far enough. If we genuinely wish to reimagine work, we require radical thinking due to what we have learned from the past two years.
Radical thinking such as measuring work based on output, not input, abolishing presenteeism and allowing anyone working anywhere to get promoted, upskilling managers to work in a distributed and asynchronous way, and to embrace a truly agile way of working is required.
What’s next?
We are already seeing companies want their employees back in the office three or even four days a week, effectively shredding their “flexible” working policies. I predict we will see a further correction as the “must be in the office” model is proven not to work.
Expect to see intelligent managers realise that the best location for their teams will be “where the best work gets done”.
5 Actionable tips for reimagining work from the Actionable Futurist
- Ensure you have the right technology for those in the office and remote
- Move to an asynchronous model where work doesn’t have to be done in real-time
- Embrace the third place to facilitate employees who wish to work in between home and office
- Prepare your policies and systems for “fractional employment”
- Develop a “Talent Anywhere” strategy for resourcing
