Trends Changing the Nature of Work
Trends changing the Nature of work
It once took weeks to send a letter across the country. Today it takes just seconds to send an e-mail. Just as technology and communication have evolved, so too should the ways in which human resource professionals approach how their employees work. The trends include technological advancement, outsourcing, changing worker attitudes and values, demographics and diversity, and globalization.
Technology
Smart devices that allow continuous connectivity continue to blur the line between work life and personal life. “I think one of the challenges in HR is trying to figure out how to have engaged employees” without having them work around the clock, Kushner said. “For the most part, most organizations haven’t thought through what that differentiator should be. Telecommuting and flexible hours are just the first steps down that pathway” of navigating the issues surrounding constant connectivity and work/life balance, he said.
Outsourcing
Companies have come to define which work is critical and which work is not, Kushner said. “Organizations will move in the future to outsourcing the noncore competencies of the workplace,” he said. Organizations now use more “free agents,” he explained, who come in for projects and provide a specific expertise while improving their skill sets—then move on to other organizations. According to Kushner, “the challenge for HR as this trend continues is it causes us to look at our organizational strategy and develop our HR strategies around how work gets done in our organization and by whom (Kompier, 2013, p. 586).”
Changing worker attitudes and values
There was a time, Kushner said, when people remained in one job their entire lives. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a worker in the U.S. today has an organizational life expectancy of just 3.5 years. That is going to be a challenge for HR, he said, as it struggles to “reconcile how we engage our workers in such a way that they want to be here, but recognize they have interests outside the workplace.”
Demographics and diversity
People are living longer and, for the first time ever, “in the next 10 years, we will have five generations in the workplace,” Kushner pointed out. “You’ll have traditionalists, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and what I like to call Gen wireless. These are people who grew up with technology in their hands—they understand it; they know how to leverage those tools.
“Within HR, it’s going to change the way we think of some of the traditional ways we strategize all sorts of things in an organization”—especially training and development, he said.
Today, he explained, “institutional knowledge is passed down and around—you end up in a mutual training paradigm. That’s an amazing change in the way we’ve done this for thousands of years.”
Globalization
Before it was bought by Oracle, Sun Microsystems had employees working in the U.S., India and Europe around the clock on special projects. “Now they get 24 hours of work time. This dispersion of work geographically is the best possible way that work can get done,” Kushner said. If you’re in HR, he noted, you should be “looking at your organization’s goals and objectives” and aligning HR strategy accordingly (RAND, 2017, p. 22).
Conclusion
Trends in workforce size and composition and in the pace of technological change and economic globalization will have implications for the future of work. Employees will work in more decentralized, specialized firms; slower labor growth will encourage employers to recruit groups with relatively low labor force participation; greater emphasis will be placed on retraining and lifelong learning; and future productivity growth will support higher wages and may affect the wage distribution. Given this, some policies may need to be reexamined.
Reference
Kompier, M. (2013). Workplace violence and the changing nature of work in Europe: Trends and risk groups. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(05), 588-600. Retrieved 11 22, 2020, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1359432X.2012.690557
RAND. (2017). The Future at Work—Trends and Implications. RAND Corporation research. Retrieved 11 22, 2020, from https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_briefs/RB5070/RB5070.pdf
SHRM. (2013, June 21). Trends Changing the Nature of Work. Retrieved 11 22, 2020, from SHRM: https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-news/pages/5-trends-changing-the-nature-of-work.aspx
I hope this also helps improve your knowledge as well.Good points are included in your article.
ReplyDeleteDue to numerous trends in the contemporary business world, the nature of HRM work is rapidly changing. The following are some of the most significant developments affecting HRM:
1. Technology: Many duties, including applicant tracking, onboarding, and employee records management, are now automated, which is changing how HRM operates. Additionally, technology is making remote work possible, and HRM needs to change to support it as it quickly becomes the standard.
2. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI): As businesses become more aware of the value of DEI, HRM is stepping up its efforts to encourage a varied and inclusive workplace. This entails creating plans for luring and keeping diverse talent, offering education and training on unconscious prejudice, and making sure that practices and policies support DEI.
3.HRM must respond to the gig economy by creating strategies for hiring and managing freelance employees, making sure they are paid fairly, and offering benefits like training and development.
Hi Kamal Many thanks for your Valuable comments.
DeleteYes you are correct .Roles will need to be redefined and redesigned as HR gets ready for and embraces the gig economy. Start by identifying organizational positions that can be altered to accommodate the gig economy. Think about the services or tasks that contract or freelance workers can provide.
The article discusses the trends that are changing the nature of work and the challenges they pose for human resource professionals. These trends include technological advancements, outsourcing, changing worker attitudes and values, demographics and diversity, and globalization. The article emphasizes the need for HR professionals to adapt their strategies to these trends, particularly in terms of engaging employees, developing HR strategies around how work gets done in the organization and by whom, and aligning HR strategies with organizational goals and objectives. The article concludes that policies may need to be reexamined to accommodate these changes. Well done..!! Saraj.
ReplyDeleteYes Chrishan , Technology advancement continuously reshapes the nature of work. Markets grow, businesses embrace new methods of manufacturing, and society progress. Overall, technology opens up new opportunities for employment creation, productivity growth, and the provision of high-quality public services.
DeleteApart from the trends discussed above, trends such as Remote work, the Gig Economy, Automation, Artificial Intelligence, and Lifelong learning are also influencing the changing nature of work today. Good job.
ReplyDeleteThanks Tharanga.
DeleteA fantastic analysis, but it would be more beneficial if you included Millennials and Gen Z when writing this post. For instance, members of Generation Z will have grown up surrounded by smart technology on a daily basis. This seeming ease and quick pace would have been weighed against growing up during a recession, though. This means that Generation Z will be more willing to be digital nomads, such as by hot-desking or working remotely, and is also more likely to be competitive about compensation, keeping an eye out for equivalent competitive rates. Excellent effort!
ReplyDeleteHi Tharanga , I totally agreed with your comments and many Thanks for the advices.
DeleteAccording to a recent U.S. survey, 42 percent of Gen Z employees prioritize work-life balance, remote working, and flexible leave while looking for a job. Additionally, this generation prioritizes employment opportunities that allow them to develop their talents, experience, and skill sets.
Good research, Increasing popularity of alternative working patterns such as part-time working, flexitime employment, telecommuting, job-sharing and compressed workweek marks the most important change in the nature of work in the 21st century.welldone..
ReplyDeleteThanks Nuwan
DeleteIt is true that trends must be followed as they are influenced with different work patterns in the world of today. Well done.
ReplyDeleteYes Iresha , You are correct .Corporate organizations are changing quickly and in ways that seem to be at odds with one another. It is acknowledged that any organization's most valuable resource is its workforce. This is so because the caliber of the people who produce or supply goods and services adds worth to them. Excellent staff understand the importance of attending to client needs. Modern capital equipment is acknowledged to be just as significant as well-developed human capital.
DeleteIt is the best article. This article explores the issues facing HR professionals due to developments that are changing the nature of work. Technology advancements, outsourcing, shifting employee attitudes and values, demography and diversity, and globalization are a few of these themes. Well done..!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kosalee.
DeleteGood topic. With the increasing influence of technology companies should be able to adopt quickly or find them self in a problematic situation. Companies that do not progress with technology might find them self with increased number of employee turnover and drop in performance.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct .These days, employees can use a variety of tools and software to carry out their regular jobs more effectively. Workers can streamline their daily work routine with the aid of contemporary tech solutions like the project management app Asana. They can concentrate on pressing duties and prevent missing deadlines that can result in dissatisfied clients.
Deleteinterest topic and available with required materials, Of course, there are many things that have shaped current society, but arguably the biggest recent catalyst for change has been technology. Technology has irrevocably changed many aspects of daily life and in doing so has changed the landscape of the workforce.
ReplyDeletewell done.
Yes Dhanushka , The trends include globalization, demographic and racial diversity, outsourcing, changing worker attitudes and values, and technological innovation.
Delete