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Looking into the future, it’s not hard to be filled with a bit of despair. There’s global issues around climate change, political unrest, culture wars, and countless other topics. Looking specifically at the job market, it can be hard to think it is much different. The U.S. economy is on a downturn, the value of education is dropping. It’s a scary time to enter the workforce.
Although luckily, it is not all bad. Before discussing any changes though it’s important to discuss the why. Why are the expectations of an employee today different from that of yesterday? There are two primary answers. One, culture, and two, COVID-19. Both of these have been massively influential to the state of work in the U.S and across the world.
Starting with COVID-19, the pandemic caused one of the biggest global shifts ever seen. Isolation, shutdowns, and remote work dominated this period. Remote work in particular is something that was initially hated, but is now appreciated. In fact remote work is so desired that 61% of workers would switch jobs to work from home.
The reality is that lots of jobs simply don’t require a physical presence. Working remotely allows employees to spend more time with their families, create savings, and generally maintain comfort. For some it has even been life saving as hours and thousands of dollars spent on commuting disappear.
Remote work also generally works well with the current culture of work. This gets into the second largest influence on modern work. Workers today, now more than ever, want flexible hours, a safer environment, and comfort. It’s not enough to just grind away at a 9-5 anymore, people want more. These two factors are the foundation of the changes found in work today.
So what are these changes, what's really different from the work of yesterday? To start, work is becoming way more hybrid. Not all places want to or can become remote, but many find a way to become in-part so. Workplaces are also becoming less hierarchical. The culture of domination and harsh competition has simply passed. Instead workers want to collaborate, to come to novel ideas together.
This move away from a harsh environment has also affected workspaces physically. Newer designs are much softer, much more based in comfort and decompression. Long gone are the days of isolating and harsh work spaces. Many businesses are even looking to hire a director of culture. Someone to look over and make sure the employees are happy and comfortable with the way things are operated.
Looking back at remote work though, a few other key changes reveal themselves. For example, workers can now be from all over the world. Brainstorming and novel ideas can be formed on the fly from people who will never meet. The connections seen today were simply impossible only a decade ago.
Another cool feature of remote work, or rather the advancement of technology, is remote assistants. Assistants are expensive and typically reserved for only the top of a business. Now though there are far more options. Programs like Siri, Alexa, and many to come make organization and scheduling much easier. Practically, work is easier to organize than ever.
These are just some of the shifts and changes any new worker can expect. Some are small, some are monumental, but all are important to know. The desired worker is now creative, flexible, and emotionally intelligent. While the world of work changes, workers have to make sure to change with it.
Source: ExecutivePlacements.com
