The Future of Work and Emerging Workplace Technology Trends

“The future of work” is a disturbing phrase for both employers and employees.

Why is that so?

Because it’s full of doubt. Because it’s about the future with numerous unknowns.

It stops being that frightening, though, once you learn some facts and see what to expect. Let’s break the wall of uncertainty and get you adequately prepared for the upcoming changes in the job market and workplace.

This article will explain the major trajectories in the labor market as observed in 2023 and outline the emerging technology trends that are already transforming workplaces for good.

The Future of the Job Market and Its Key Directions

The technological progress and digital transformation accelerated by COVID-19 are the two megatrends that go hand in hand, reshaping the current market of jobs which takes the following paths:

1. Normalizing remote work

If you take a closer look at the remote work statistics from the global perspective, you’ll see that its potential is huge. In theory. What about practice?

In reality, work from home jobs still leave people disoriented and troubled. For example, only 65% of remote employees have fast enough Internet capacity to handle video calls. At the same time, 40% of remote workers feel that the opportunities for growth and the sense of belonging may simply  “fade away”. In some countries, they experience loss in productivity.

There’s a strong need to normalize distant work. It means that employees need to learn how to work remotely and develop a new mindset, plus the skillset for adopting a hybrid model. Or they need to change their work style altogether. It may take some time to perceive distance employment as a new norm of today.

2. Increasing talent mobility

Hectic job-hopping that started with the Great Resignation in 2021 is gradually transforming into talent mobility.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that younger baby boomers hold an average of 12.4 jobs in their lifetime.

Gliding across jobs, workers can gain a wider range of skills, giving priority to transferable skills in particular. It will result in more transferable roles too: for example, from business analyst to project manager. As for employers, they can experience faster company growth by bringing highly agile talent into the business.

Employment possibilities will become more elastic, and careers – more maneuverable.

3. Boosting data literacy

Data literacy is a must for professional growth and development of today’s employees.

In fact, 82% of leaders expect all their workers to have fundamental data literacy, but only 39% of them make data training available to every single employee. That’s when companies should meet workers halfway, as 80% of employees are more likely to stay at an organization that offers data skilling programs.

4. Ensuring coexistence of humans with artificial intelligence (AI) and robots

AI integration in project management, for instance, has already changed the work landscape with chatbots, predictive analytics, and data-driven decision-making.

While many are worried about AI and robots replacing the workforce and taking up humans’ jobs, the future of the workplace is more about coexisting.

What we need now is upskilling, learning, and adapting for a smoother coexistence with AI systems. McKinsey predicts a shift in required workforce skills. The demand for higher cognitive, emotional, and technological skills is going to steadily increase.

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We should also focus on the following roles of the future that enable human-machine partnerships:

• AI/Machine Learning Researcher
• AI Engineer
• Coding Ethics Specialist
• Metaverse Engineer
• AR/VR Support Engineer
• Robot Monitoring Professional, etc.

Due to the rapid development of AI, robotics, and disruptive technologies, the employment market is experiencing its renovation. Based on the research, 85% of jobs that today’s learners will be doing in 2030 have not even been invented yet.

What about worksites and work environments? How do emerging technologies impact those? Read on. Here are six tech trends shaping the future of the workplace:

1. Work automation solutions

Automated work solutions are massively replacing repetitive and slow manual processes with streamlined workflows.

As many as 92% of employees agree that automation has improved their workplace lives – 41% of large organizations say they use automation across departments or have fully automated processes in at least one business unit, and 26% of smaller companies have done the same.

Primarily, workflow and business automation software help with the following:

• HR operations (recruitment platforms and hiring tools)
• Time tracking (time trackers and productivity apps)
• Customer service management (CRM systems)
• Workplace training (LMS tools)
• Project management (project and task management software)
• Payment processing and financial operations (automatic payment systems), etc.

Working with finance writers and editors, Jake Hill, Founder of Debt Hammer, explains how automated solutions, and AI automations in particular, can help content creators streamline workflows and improve team performance:

“Nowadays, copywriters and other content creators can automate their work from start to finish. At the strategic planning stage, content managers may use AI-powered solutions for automatic keyword research. During ideation, they can take advantage of online brain-netting tools to brainstorm faster and generate better content ideas in a distributed team.

Besides, every writer/editor should have an arsenal of AI tools for content writing, editing, and polishing: Article Forge, Jasper AI, Anyword, Frase.io, Copyshark.ai, Grammarly, QuillBot, and the like.”

2. Remote collaboration tools

According to Statista, the top five mainstream collaboration apps used by US employees in 2020 were as follows: Zoom (36%), Microsoft Teams (19%), Skype (17%), Google Hangouts (9%), and Slack (7%).

In 2021, roughly 80% of employees worldwide used collaboration tools for work. It was a 44% jump since the beginning of the pandemic.

More than 60% of executives expect to raise spending on virtual collaboration. Not without a good reason. It can maximize team efficiency and promote best that commitment among team members. Project management software with customer portal are necessary to ensure client satisfaction and good communication among users, stakeholders, and small businesses.

For example, Cromatic Studios boosted team productivity by 25% with Paymo, an all-in-one team collaboration app. It can help you get clarity on your projects, keep vital data synced in real time, and stop work chaos. You can plan ahead, communicate and collaborate more effectively, and manage tasks in a single place.

3. Digital corporate training

Confronting a seismic shift to distant work, knowledge drain, and skills gap, 72% of HRs rushed to transfer their employee training programs from an offline to an online format already in 2020. While nearly half of companies (49%) increased their budgets on learning and development by 20% year-to-year (2021 vs 2022).

It appears that the upskilling and/or reskilling task in front of modern employers isn’t an easy one. They need not only to improve general digital skills in teams but also move the whole workplace learning process from a physical format to a digital one.

Corporate e-training may take different forms:

• Virtual courses/classes
• Webinars
• Mobile learning
• VR/AR training sessions
• Social learning, etc.

Have a look at the workplace training methods preferred by organizations in 2022:

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As you can see, virtual classrooms/webcasts and online or computer-based methods are prioritized by both small and large companies.

“When it comes to preparing materials for digital corporate training, educational content creation apps are highly helpful and effective,” suggests Amy De La Fuente, Director of Public Affairs at Bosco Legal Services.

“Such tools as webinar recorders, video makers, or presentation software, for example, help us create videos, PDF tutorials, and e-presentations for continuing legal education (CLE) courses,” she notes.

Quite often, companies outsource corporate e-training and development and hire dedicated coaches or instructors who prepare all the needed materials themselves. Others take a slightly different approach and let knowledgeable employees become trainers for their coworkers. That’s the case at Bosco. Amy De La Fuente shares that their most recent CLE courses on social media investigation were organized by one of their licensed private investigators.

4. Virtual and augmented realities (VR and AR)

The global spending on AR and VR is predicted to grow more than sixfold from $12 billion in 2020 to $72.8 billion in 2024.

Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Facebook are among the first huge tech corporations that announced a big push into the Metaverse, a cyberspace supported by VR and AR.

VR/AR adoption makes businesses literally reimagine how work is done. And they do reap some valuable benefits. For instance, companies using AR reported a 46% reduction in time for task completion and a 32% improvement in productivity.

Below, you may check some examples of VR/AR usage in the workplace.

Hiring and recruitment

The General Mills hiring team used Oculus Rift and VR for creating a virtual tour of their headquarters and providing a 360-degree view of the space for job applicants. The company tried to “stand out in a crowded career hall”, and the tour was “an automatic magnet for attention,” as Leo Timmons, IT director for Application Development at General Mills, put it.

Training

Coca-Cola uses the ARuVR platform with virtual immersive learning modules and simulations for comprehensive e-training.

Another example is how VR helps train surgeons. Based on UCLA’s study, virtual reality training on the Osso platform improved the overall surgical performance of participants by 230% in contrast with traditional educational methods.

Logistics

Such giants as Ikea, Amazon, and DHL have revolutionized warehouse logistics with VR and AR. The systems assist workers in visualizing and navigating the space.

With augmented reality software and smart glasses, DHL increased the order picking process efficiency by 25%. The smart lenses show the picking lists to employees and demonstrate the best suitable route through the warehouse.

Digital workspace

Microsoft partners with Meta to alter the future of work with immersive experiences. They are bringing Microsoft Mesh and Microsoft 365 apps to Meta Quest devices.

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Collaboration

There have appeared tons of VR platforms for better collaboration between teams. Just to name a few: MeetinVR, Immersed, Glue, Connec2, vSpatial, etc.

Collaborative VR design tools like Sketchbox Design, Trezi, Softspace, NVIDIA Holodeck, or Brio have caused a major revolution in PM for web design and development.

5. Employee experience management apps

Employee experience (EX) incorporates basically every touchpoint an employee has with a company. By measuring and managing your workers’ experiences, you can enhance motivation, foster greater engagement, and increase employee retention, among other things.

Do your staff members have positive working experiences at your company? What if they are dissatisfied with their work conditions or feel stressed out?

In fact, 77% of US workers state they have experienced burnouts at their current positions.

“In the healthcare industry, caregiver burnout (total mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion) is the most common issue in the workplace. It particularly worsened during the pandemic,” highlights Stephan Baldwin, Founder of Assisted Living.

“That’s why I’d highly recommend that managers should be actively using EX software to spot the first signals of stress and burnout and better understand the job-related realities of their workforce in general. It concerns everything: from job satisfaction to work-life balance,” he mentions.

Stephan Baldwin enumerates some useful EX management apps:

• Culture Amp
• Lattice
• Blink
• Achievers
• Motivosity
• PerformYard
• Qualtrics

Concerning the latter, here’s a case study of Community Health Network using EX25, the Qualtrics’ framework, to ensure the best possible caregiver experience.

6. Workspace flexibility and safety technologies

Deloitte noted that 66% of organizations are now focused on reimagining and redesigning their office spaces.

Microsoft, for instance, designed a new campus with the evolution of work in mind. It’s a flexible and inclusive workspace with interactive boards for campus navigation, automatic doors, special audio systems for employees with hearing impairment, height-adjustment features, and more.

Workspace rearrangements are crucial for a healthier and safer work environment.

“If you want to build a safer workplace, you might need to consider some touchless technology trends. Such tech solutions as QR codes, face analyzers, or swipe cards should come first on your list,” says Janelle Owens, Human Resource Director at Test Prep Insight.

“You may also use sensors that monitor the noise level, CO2 concentration, or proximity to another worker to ensure social distancing. The workplace safety post-pandemic can’t be left unaddressed, because keeping employees safe in the office must be a primary concern of every employer,” Janelle believes.

Closing Thoughts on the Job Market and Workplace of Tomorrow

The COVID-19 crisis pushed businesses to go digital and quickly catch up on new future of work trends. Today, companies make the most out of technology to power the workplace.

Paymo can help you become one of them. It has got everything you need for remote work management and team collaboration. You can avoid chaotic and scattered tasks and instead – increase accuracy, productivity, and job satisfaction.

Let your employees perform better and enjoy every second of their workday with Paymo.

First published on March 24, 2023.