Trends Changing the Nature of Work

 

(SHRM, 2013)

It once took weeks for a letter to be sent across the country. Sending an e-mail takes only seconds today.  technology and connectivity have changed, the ways in which human resources professionals approach how their workers function should also change. Technological development, outsourcing, changing attitudes and values of workers, demographics and diversity, and globalization are among the trends.

Technology. The line between work life and personal life is still blurred by smart devices that allow continuous connectivity. Kushner said, 'I think one of the problems in HR is trying to find out how to get workers involved without making them work around the clock. 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. He clarified that companies are now using more "free agents," who come in for projects and provide specialized knowledge while expanding their skill sets, then move on to other organizations. The problem for HR as this trend persists, according to Kushner, is that it causes us to look at our organizational approach and build our HR strategies around how work is performed in our organization and by whom (Kompier, 2013, p. 586).”

Changing worker attitudes and values. There was a time when, Kushner said, people stayed in one job throughout their lives. A worker in the U.S. today has an organizational life expectancy of just 3.5 years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That will be a challenge for HR, he said, as it struggles to "reconcile how we engage our employees in such a way that they want to be here, but recognize that they have outside the workplace interests."

Demographics and diversity. People live longer and for the first time ever, "we'll have five generations in the workplace in the next 10 years," Kushner pointed out. You're going to have traditionalists, Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, and what I call wireless Gen. There are individuals who have grown up with technology in their hands; they understand it; they know how to use those resources.

“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 Oracle acquired it, Sun Microsystems had workers working on special projects around the world in the U.S., India and Europe. "We get 24 hours of working time now. Geographically, this dispersion of work is the best possible way to get work finished, Kushner said. If you are in HR, he said, you should "look at the goals and objectives of your organization" and align the HR plan accordingly. (RAND, 2017, p. 22).

Conclusion

Trends in the size and composition of the workforce and in the rate of technological change and economic globalization would have consequences for the future of jobs. Employees may work in more decentralized, specialist firms; slower labor growth may allow employers to hire relatively low labor force participation groups; greater focus will be put on retraining and lifelong learning and higher wages will be driven by potential productivity growth and will impact the distribution of wages. Given this, there might be a need to reexamine certain policies.

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

 


Comments

  1. Shiyam 11 December 2020 at 21:29

    I think one of the challenges in HR is trying to figure out how to have engaged employees without having a Technology its vain which h will work around the clock, This is my Opinion.

    ReplyDelete
  2. TharangaN12 December 2020 at 04:17

    The trends include technological advancement, outsorcing, changing worker attitudes. Proper description. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Team roles required for effective teamwork

Image
  T hrough a study done at Henley Management College, researcher R. Meredith Belbin came up with nine team positions. After studying the behavioral tendencies of people within a group, he defined the team positions. Three types of team roles consist of: action-oriented roles, people-oriented roles, and thought-oriented roles. Teams developed on the basis of the categories of Belbin are successful in achieving their goals because the team has no conflicting positions or missing qualities (Nguyen, 2017, pp. 55-56) . The nine Belbin team roles are as follows (Nguyen, 2017) 01.    Action-oriented Role: Shaper In a team, individuals who are dynamic and enjoy challenges perform the shaper role. Shapers keep a strong mental outlook rather than leave when faced with obstacles, and try to find the best ways to solve the team's challenges.                                    ...
Read more

Does Having a Performance Management Program Bring Value to the Organization?

Image
  What Is Per­for­mance Man­age­ment ? Per­for­mance man­age­ment is the con­tin­u­ous process of improv­ing per­for­mance by set­ting indi­vid­ual and team goals which are aligned to the strate­gic goals of the organization, plan­ning per­for­mance to achieve the goals, review­ing and assess­ing progress, and devel­op­ing the knowl­edge, skills and abil­i­ties of peo­ple. (Az Central, n.d.) How Performance Management Program Bring Value to the Organization? Alignment  A rigorous performance management program helps you to match the job duties of an individual employee with the strategic direction of the company. You can then employ, interview, hire and orient workers to work at your company to accomplish the goals of your company by developing a detailed job structure with specific job descriptions and specified skills and expertise needed to complete work tasks at the beginner, expert and master levels. Productivity  Focusing  employee focus on enhancing business...
Read more

Organizational need to adapt to flexible working

Image
Working flexibly is more than just a trend. It reflects an enormous shift in the way organizations and their employees handle their work. The lockdown has forced companies to rapidly adjust to new work patterns. And now we're thinking about implementing some of these new practices in the longer term as the constraints begin to ease. What Is Flexible Working? Flexible working is any work pattern that differs significantly from the traditional, office-based, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. standard. Working from home, working flexible hours, sharing jobs, or a combination of both of these may be involved. Benefits of Flexible Working How Flexible Working Benefits Employees Flexible working has many advantages for an employee. It will help you align the work of the employee with your other tasks, such as caring for kids or an elderly member of the family.   It can also build a sense of independence over the work of workers, which can improve engagement and job satisfaction. Being able to plan ...
Read more