The future of work, decoded

Like a tidal wave, the global COVID-19 pandemic impacted industries, companies, employees and jobseekers, generating both unprecedented challenges and opportunities in workforces and workplaces as it swept throughout the world. While the pandemic slowed the pace of life and work for many, it also sharply accelerated ongoing trends such as automation, digitalisation, reskilling and upskilling.

To make sense of these once-in-a-lifetime changes, employment websites JobStreet and JobsDB – both owned by SEEK – have joined forces with the Boston Consulting Group and The Network to launch Decoding Global Talent: The Ultimate Guide to Work Trends 2021, a data-rich report that draws insights from 208,000 respondents across 190 countries into what lies ahead in the future of work. The report identifies trends for future workplaces, as well as the implications these trends have for the successful attraction, retention and development of talent.

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

Decoding Global Talent covers several key areas: The future workplace, the future workforce and fair work practices for a better future.

According to its findings, flexibility is the new holy grail for employees and companies alike as workplaces of the future become less centralised, more mobile and with virtual components.

With remote working becoming far more mainstream due to the COVID-19 pandemic, employees have become accustomed to working from home or elsewhere outside the office. Still, only 24 per cent of people surveyed would choose to go fully remote, with a majority still preferring to be in the office a few days a week.

In addition, people in social and physical jobs would like to have some work-from-home days, though it might be more challenging for them to do so. Overall, 89 per cent of people wanted a degree of flexibility in where they worked and 64 per cent of all respondents indicated that they wanted some or full flexibility in defining their working hours.

As the world settles into a new normal, employees must upskill themselves to remain ahead of the curve, especially within industries that are being reshaped by digitalisation, automation and other pandemic-accelerated changes.

Compared to their counterparts in neighbouring countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, as well as Hong Kong, workers in Singapore are more willing to re-train if necessary, which was defined as their jobs being at risk. Some 62 per cent of workers in Singapore were willing to re-train in any case, while 36 per cent were willing to re-train if necessary, and only 2 per cent were unwilling to do so.

This might be linked to the fact that compared to the above countries, Singapore workers held the strongest perception of risk to their jobs from automation at 61 per cent. Of all the surveyed respondents internationally, those with repetitive jobs were most concerned about automation while those with jobs rooted in human contact – like healthcare and social work – and specialised knowledge – such as law and research – were largely unconcerned.

With all the above shifts occurring, employers must evolve their hiring practices to focus on fairness and creating value-based workplace cultures. Employees are more aware of how companies can play a role in addressing global concerns and challenges: Over 50 per cent of those surveyed stated that they would refuse to work for employers that do not share their beliefs regarding social movements such as #MeToo and Black Lives Matter, or environmental issues like the Australian bushfires.

This change is fairly new but widespread, with 70 per cent of people agreeing that the issue of environment and diversity had become more important to them recently.

GOING GLOBAL WITH THE WEF

To help companies refine their hiring practices and build meaningful workplace cultures, JobStreet and JobsDB are embarking on becoming champions of fair hiring practices via engaging government agencies, in addition to elevating their own practices.

They have partnered the World Economic Forum (WEF) on a range of initiatives to further explore the future of work and how society and the global economy will be reshaped in coming years.

As key collaborators of the WEF’s New Metrics CoLab, JobStreet and JobsDB provide data and input from their expertise on employment to the project, which sources metrics from experts and data-holding companies to reveal insights into key questions on the new economic and social agenda.

JobStreet and JobsDB are also an associate partner with the WEF’s New Economy and Society platform, which has priorities that range from economic growth and transformation to social mobility, education and diversity.

Within the platform, JobStreet and JobsDB are active in several actions and communities, such as the Resetting the Future of Work Agenda, the Workforce Tech Community, and the Reskilling Revolution Platform.

The future of work is vast, complicated and ever-changing – but with the right insights drawn from local expertise paired with global reach and research, companies and workers can grow and thrive long into the future.

Find out what it takes to future-proof your company or career with JobStreet and JobsDB. Download the full Decoding Global Talent: The Ultimate Guide to Work Trends 2021 report.