- “The future of work” refers to the projection of how workers, the workplace and work in general will advance and evolve in the years to come.
- Remote and hybrid ways of working, plus sophisticated technology integration, were projected as the future, but now they are deeply ingrained into working society.
- Jason Averbook, CEO of Leapgen, explained to Allwork.Space that organizations need to be excelling rather than just keeping up with the times if they want to stay relevant and successful in the “now” and “future” of work.
What exactly is meant by “the future of work?”
This term refers to the projection of how workers, the workplace and work in general will advance and evolve in the years to come.
In order to be profitable, successful, retain employees, and keep up with changing technologies, managers, business owners, HR professionals and others need to be knowledgeable about how the future of work will impact their workplace/organization.
While leaders and workers alike have been preparing for the future of work…it may already be here.
The pandemic dramatically changed the way in which work is conducted. Being able to adapt quickly to the changing needs of the workforce is the best way leaders can keep up with a tumultuous and ever-changing work sphere.
“We used to say that the future of work will be much more agile. Well, it is. Not being able to adapt to change quickly and make fast decisions may seriously hurt your organization’s and employees’ productivity,” according to Haiilo. “Moreover, in order to be more agile, many employers have also started giving more empowerment to their employees, hoping to drive the sense of entrepreneurship.”
The gig economy, as well as remote and hybrid ways of working are now so deeply ingrained into working society that the future of work might have just become the now of work. Not to mention the proliferation of bots and artificial intelligence in the workplace — which, even recently, seemed extremely futuristic.
Allwork.Space spoke with Jason Averbook about the evolution of work. Averbook, CEO of Leapgen, has more than 25 years of experience in the HR and technology industries, and is an analyst focused on the future of work. He explained that organizations need to excel rather than just keep up with the times if they want to stay relevant and successful.
Allwork.Space: How has the future of work become the “now of work?”
Jason Averbook: The future of work has become the now of work over the last two years for three main reasons.
We have been talking about the “future of work” since Y2K was the biggest thing that was going to happen to work and technology. Soon after Y2K, we started talking about the future of work as being one that would be more remote, would require people to use video on computers to communicate across teams, and would leverage collaboration tools other than meeting at the water cooler.
What we did between 2000 and 2020 to prepare for this new “now of work” was minimal at best. As 2020 came along, it accelerated us into this era called the “now of work,” because there is no more just talking about the future.
Work changed in 2020, the workforce changed in 2020, business changed in 2020, humans changed in 2020; therefore, HR practices should stay the same? Wrong!
We live in a world where we must react, reset and respond to the changes that have happened around us to work and ensure that we design and deliver for the NOW — not something into the future.
We have changes in technology that are happening at a much faster exponential rate than the speed at which business can adopt and adapt to those changes. Organizations must, from a vision point of view, ask themselves what they need to be excelling at versus completing at a satisfactory level today.
This points to a true focus on the NOW of work and a realization that we need to keep the future in mind, but our time is truly now to make an impact and take advantage of the changes we have already been dealt.
Handling the changes now successfully is the best way to set your organization up for success in the future.
Allwork.Space: How can workplace leaders create an efficient roadmap for the future?
Jason Averbook: Workforce leaders can create roadmaps and blueprints that are both efficient and effective by focusing on connecting what they are working on directly to the business goals and objectives. Many times, HR departments have a set of initiatives that are not clearly aligned with those of the overall business, which makes proving value almost impossible. Roadmaps must also be seen more like GPS tools like Google Maps and Waze, being roadmaps that change based on traffic situations, roadwork, etc.
In business, we constantly have traffic and road work that require us to pivot. While 3-to-5-year roadmaps are popular, they must be reviewed quarterly, if not more frequently, with adjustments made. Roadmaps are never wrong — they are a continual work in process.
