Tomorrow’s workforce is waiting – businesses must get ready, today
The world has changed, and the way we work has changed with it
As hybrid working models become normalised, businesses are recognising the benefits and challenges that come with blending office and remote environments.
This ‘new normal’ opens a world of possibilities. Gone are the days of the isolated, grey office cubicle: these areas are now ripe for redefinition as open and collaborative spaces, primed for flexible, cloud-enabling connectivity across the traditional home/office divide.
The workforce is also evolving. A new generation of tech-savvy employees are coming to the fore, and they demand personalised, intuitive systems and solutions on the latest devices. As competition ramps up across sectors, the onus is on employers to prepare frictionless, hybrid-ready working environments for tomorrow’s talent.
But to deliver these high standards, businesses everywhere need to step up – today.
The future is now
About 50% of workers find themselves as digital natives, with the figure set to rise to 75% by 2025. Within the next few decades, the entire workforce will have grown up under the ubiquitous influence of the Internet and other technologies. Digital natives are already shaping the future of working life: as a new generation enters the workforce, business processes will continue to modernise in view of evolving skillsets.
All businesses can leverage the digital wisdom and technical knowhow of tomorrow’s workforce – if they can attract it in the first place. Accustomed to dependable and frictionless technology 24/7, digital natives learn at high speed and have very little tolerance for low-tech or disjointed digital systems. This new generation can offer employers wide-ranging knowledge and skills; in return, they demand seamless experiences within businesses that value flexibility and personal freedom.
As the workforce evolves, the line between personal life and professional life will continue to blur. The core values individuals hold in their private lives will extend into the workplace, so employees will look for business cultures that align with their personal vision. To attract tomorrow’s workforce, businesses will need to closely examine their social and corporate responsibilities, in addition to their hybrid capabilities.
While the pandemic has seen accelerated digitisation in many organisations, the standard offering is still worlds away from what the workforce of tomorrow expect and need. Too many companies rely on legacy systems that do not offer employees the flexibility and simplicity they enjoy in their private lives. Businesses that fail to invest in their office spaces and technology will lose talented employees to more forward-thinking and adaptable competitors.
Research by Apogee found that more than a third (35%) of UK employees have struggled to transition from work to home to hybrid due to technological problems. While working from home during the pandemic, almost half (45%) of workers were left frustrated with laptops and hardware not functioning properly. We have seen levels of frustration grow exponentially as workplace technology standards fail to match the frictionless, intuitive systems used outside of work.
Transition troubles are costly – in more ways than one. During the pandemic, UK workers lost an average of 85 hours to faulty technology and a lack of IT support while working from home. The resulting loss of worktime is estimated to have cost UK businesses £115 million each week.
