The Learning Hour* – Week 6 : The Future of Workplaces

Posted by Ashish Agarwal

There are a lot of technological innovations happening in the world today that will radically change how the workplaces of the future will look like.

One school of thought is a completely decentralized work-place where every individual will be seen offering their expertise or skill as a service to other individuals and even companies.

This is clearly aided by the development of the “GIG” economy where freelancers and even agencies are working on very critical jobs for companies.

Digital technologies are providing global platforms to assist in this decentralization of work place phenomena.

And guess what, companies are getting comfortable with this model as well albeit gradually.

This is not to say that all of the work will be shifted to this remote “freelancing” based model. But a good % will definitely be.

While this radical shift of the workplace is still emerging and it is not clear what form or shape it will take, nonetheless it is definitely moving in that direction at a rapid pace.

What does this mean to you?

Well, this clearly implies we all need to be on our toes.

We will need to take more ownership of our professional advancement.

That is a good thing, isn’t it?

Headcount growth may be a thing of the past as companies start to care more for business “value-added” growth.

Hiring decisions will be based more on skills an individual brings to the company and less on degrees the person holds.

Companies will be willing to pay more for skills than degrees.

The nature of work is going to be more project based and it will require multiple skillsets at the same time.

You will need to learn new skills on the go either through on the job training or learn from the experts through online courses.

Routine or repetitive tasks will be increasingly automated. You need to be prepared for this.

Managers will need to be more hands-on while they continue to delegate work.

Soft skills i.e. communication, collaboration, client management, etc are going to be more sought after.

You will be given more leeway to do your work and act like solopreneurs in directing your work.

You would be able to work from anywhere. Companies will reserve spots at co-working spaces for their full-time employees.

You can control your work life balance. The quality of your work will matter more than the hours you put at the job.

There will be more freedom for you to choose what you want to work on.

In all, exciting times loom ahead.

There is uncertainty, and there are challenges, too.

But there are more than enough promise and possibilities for all of us to look ahead with confidence to the workplace and workforce of the future.

What do you think?

*The Learning Hour is a weekly knowledge sharing initiative of SKILLFIN LEARNING. To subscribe to this initiative, kindly mail us at [email protected]. We will add you to the distribution list.