“The greatest achievement of humanity is not its works of art, science, or technology, but the recognition of its own dysfunction.”

— Eckhart Tolle

This being said, what is important is the recognition of dysfunction and thereafter investing in improving or correcting it. The fact that technology is here to stay is a given, the influence it will cast on the work-force is imperative, how does the two amalgamate is the question! 

Building a future ready workforce, which is not intimidated by the technology rush and is enabled to be its master and facilitator is key towards success, is clearly the answer, but then lets first contemplate om the challenges.

Challenges towards making the workforce Future Ready

The writing is on the wall. The digital enhancements in different industries, an increasing skills gap in talent globally, rising market volatility, and unique employee demographics. The 2020 pandemic only pushed these triggers and accelerated the need for a future-ready workforce.

According to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Study 2020, “85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines” by 2025.

Its time for organizations to take a hard look at the methods of the past , re-evaluate the efficacy and align to the current needs. Albeit, a large number of organizations have already embarked on the journey, but needless to mention that a lot remains to be done.

There are 3 critical aspects of looking at the challenge in hand:

1. Who is my workforce: How has the composition changed ? 

2. Why would they want to be with me : The key drivers need to be identified

3. Where are they : Are they working remotely , are they distributed across geographies, is it a hybrid model ?

Having deliberated on the above three aspects , organizations need to relook and devise appropriate execution plans to get them future-ready, technology enablement being a sub-set of the same.

3 Aspects and how to address them. 

Who is my workforce: How has the composition changed? 

The right talent is fast becoming available in a variety of forms and shapes – full-time and part-time workers, permanent employees and consultants/freelancers, on-site and fully remote staff, white-collar or blue/ grey collar gig workers, and retirees and independent contractors. The hybrid form of the work force is a reality today, and also an integral part of the system towards making organizations sustainable, but regardless to mention that it comes with its challenges. While a part of this work-force will be on top of the digital game, there will be a segment which will be the non-digital counterparts. Organizations will need to give a hard-think on how to bridge the gap. 

Making learning easy and technology driven not only facilitates this environment, but also drives the work-force towards be-friending technology. Getting the so called non-digital counterparts on a level playing field is key, and micro learning systems seem to be an obvious answer. Investing in micro-learning mechanisms will not only give organizations a tool to bring the entire work-force upto speed, it will also answer impending questions like environment , time, cost etc.

Why would they want to be with me: The key drivers need to be identified?

The future workforce has a third dimension that is fast changing – and this is the ‘why’. Professionals entering the workforce today are driven by different and unique motivations. Young professionals are thinking about their careers more sustainably. Enjoying time with family or pursuing their interests, seeking flexi-working options, and participating in meaningful projects are important for them.

Organizations need to rise up towards meeting the ‘why’, if they want the future ready workforce to be a part of their eco-system. Jack Welch once famously quoted…’Change before you have to’,and the relevance of it is more pronounced NOW than ever before.

Virtual working needs to be enabled with requisite planning and at the organization’s onus rather than the employee’s. Structuring measurable outputs, enabled by technology rather than micro managing employee performance should be the emerging norm which will keep organizations ahead of their time. 

Digital tools like collaboration software, project management platforms, and productivity tools support this welcome trend.

Where are they : Are they working remotely , are they distributed across geographies, is it a hybrid model ?

2020 was also the year of remote work, forcing several organisations to embrace extended work-from-home (WFH) overnight. However, it is now clear that a hybrid approach to ‘where’ employees would like to work is the future. Digitalisation has enabled organisations to look at talent pools cutting across geographies, age, and other traditional barriers.

The few drivers facilitating this change is Technology enablement, Democratization of work and most importantly a paradigm shift in mindset of employers.

There is an urgent need to re-skill and constantly re-invent ourselves as well as our processes to ensure that more and more employees transition smoothly into sustainable job opportunities. The optimal utilization of technology in this space is key to the success of this new normal. Additionally, recognizing the presence of a GIG economy, propelled by the ‘Great Resignation’ , is a need of the hour. Employees will start demanding more and more flexibility to be able to utilize their skills at their own behest and not determined by organizations within a restricted space. This will necessarily compel a shift in the mindset of the employers across the spectrum. 

To summarize, the ‘right talent in the right place and at the right time’was always one of the key mantras to business success. Now, the definition of each of these three parameters has been extended in ways organisations had never thought of before. People are thinking differently about work, and we need to ready ourselves to a ‘brave, new world’.