If we look back in 2021, things have completely changed. Most of the people expected to return to their routines and workplaces. The year 2021 was a big challenge for businesses, leaders, and employees due to the pandemic. It was a massive struggle for talents. Some organizations modified their work trends and became flexible with their workspaces at home; however, others find it challenging to adopt the changing trends. However, it was an evolution in the business world that is still being followed and reaching its heights. The rivalry to fascinate new growing talents is increasing more severely than ever.
On the other hand, employees are taking their thoughts to the next level by asking, “Why am I doing this? Is this job for me? How can we make progress?” By answering these questions, many opt to leave their current workspaces, which give a formidable challenge to the businesses. An organization grows because of its employees.
Such organizations need to adopt new strategies to attract good people to flourish in 2022. As the year has changed, the work dynamics and the emerging aspects are covered for a longer-term evolution around the technological transformations and organizations.
Let’s look into the shaping trends that are making its ways in 2022 for dominating the future.
1. Hybrid and Remote Work:
In the U.S., employees prefer flexibility in their workspaces to a higher salary. The organization that doesn’t offer flexibility will see a high turnover in employees moving to other organizations that provide valuable and flexible work that satisfies employee desires. As a fact, employees who work remotely have fewer friends at work, which generates a weak social connection among the employees.
These weak emotional connections sometimes push the employees to quit their jobs, but due to the past year’s trends that settled a “work-from-home” environment, it might be a tough ride for the employees to join their workplaces. Thus, the remote work trend has higher emerging chances in 2022 and is more acceptable by the individuals.
This flexibility will bring talent back into companies. Furthermore, the hybrid and remote work model will expand the ratio of employees in an organization on a longer go. Therefore, the shift to remote and more flexible work environments promises to stay for an extended period.
2. Fostering a Culture of Accountability:
Since people are working remotely, a lack of trust can easily creep up among managers and employers. Trust is a major concern when your employees aren’t in your line of sight. However, moving your employees towards the soft wares that measure employee productivity and working hours will be a better solution for the firms. Companies need to support and build the trend of flexible working hours.
The culture of accountability is not new, but with the unique talents, things need to be updated, and if you don’t follow, your business might lose out on talent and a big loss on profit. In 2022, companies need to be modifying the current ways and implement the new trends of doing it. Organizations will be more enthusiastic about accepting their mistakes publicly and celebrating their achievement. Leaders need to re-develop the forms of hybrid working and react to employees’ demand for more active and agile teams.
Way to Create Accountability
• Transform the problems into continuous improvements
• Apply the norm of “we”, not “me”
• Deliver clear goals and purpose
• Get involved in communication
3. Wellness and Consideration for Employees:
For years, organizations have tried out different ways to understand their employee’s satisfaction. In 2022, organizations will add this new metric to evaluate their employee’s mental, physical, and financial health. Many surveys show how companies are investing in wellness programs to support the well-being of their employees. The results show immense improvements in performance and retention.
However, employees have been taking less advantage of their employer’s well-being programs in the last 12 months. According to Jon Purizhansky, the CEO of Joblio, “It doesn’t matter who you are, what your personal choices are, where you come from, everybody has to be treated with basic respect.” By focusing on your employees’ wellness, you provide them with the respect they deserve.
4. Societal and Political Debates:
Political, cultural, and societal discourse has occupied workplaces. The trend of creating productive and comprehensive work environments is the next big goal of organizations. While a few years back, it was not the main concern of organizations, and employees themselves were looking at this issue. Due to political and social beliefs, co-workers have avoided each other, creating a less productive work environment.
However, employees expect their employers to get involved in such regular debates. These modifications in organizations, the way they communicate to their employees, and their societal roles are the next big influential C-suite role that will arise in 2022 as the chief purpose officer.
HR is currently playing these roles and other roles in organizations, but in 2022, a new combination of roles will be encountered that will be more crucial for corporate approaches.
5. Remote Working Tools to Improve Performance:
In remote and hybrid working, things become difficult for the managers to have insights into their employee’s work. It brings inaccuracy and biased performance grading grounded on how the employee works instead of the influence they are having. Thus, the tools that are currently being used in the employees’ remote work will be used to measure their performances.
For instance, the new technologies will be used to provide the background knowledge of the person who is currently in a virtual meeting with you. By having the person’s background information, employees can focus on the important issues of meetings rather than having doubts about the person. Jon Purizhansky also states that “While there are plenty of challenges in front of us, and while what we’re doing is very difficult, I think that I expected most of the things, events, and energy that we’re going through right now.”
6. Influence of the Metaverse in Work:
During the pandemic, things shifted to a virtual world. The lockdown restrictions brought people to virtual platforms for a variety of reasons. Metaverse is a shared virtual space where people can create their avatars and explore new opportunities to interact with others. Big tech companies have shifted to this virtual world, such as Microsoft and Facebook, which are the major players of the metaverse.
CEO of Microsoft has moved his meeting and conferences to online platforms. So, in future years, we will all be adopting the Metaverse, including big tech companies.
7. Sustainability Measures:
The demand for a sustainable approach will grow in 2022. The investors, partners, customers, and even employees would be demanding a sustainable environment from the organizations. An increase in the sustainable approach would be noticed as more and more companies are moving towards this reality. They need to take actions that are convertible. The overall skillset will be changed, and organizations will need to connect with those who are working in sustainable spaces to be proud of their efforts.
This concludes our guide on 7 trends that will shape work in 2022 and beyond. By going through them, you can understand how remote work has brought about innovations, and the pandemic has also compelled people to think more about their wellbeing, rather than focusing on what makes their bosses happy. These trends are more likely to become more and more prominent as time passes. Jon Purizhansky sums it up perfectly when he says, “It’s about the people that you’re spending time with. It’s about collective goals, and teamwork. No successful company becomes successful without teamwork and getting everyone on the same page.”
Originally Posted: https://vocal.media/journal/7-trends-that-will-shape-work-in-2022-and-beyond