Future of Work
Perspective of someone who wants to work ‘in’ and ‘for’ the future
Since we are all discussing various scenarios of WFH, and companies recruiting are contemplating how remote working may look like, here is my take which was originally my LinkedIn Version.
My experience over the last 2 years as an Educator/Country Lead/Remote Team member at an education platform teaching 21st-century skills, had allowed me to dig through what the future “should” and “would” be like. While we have been talking a lot about all the skills (both soft and hard) that our upcoming generations need to start getting acquainted with, the current pandemic has allowed us to talk about what the future workplace is about to look like.
A lot of organizations are going to hate reading this but truth to be told — some major portions of the future of work are going to be 1. Lean, and 2. Remote.
Let me try to break these points down.
Lean
For quite a few years now we have been discussing how the majority of the current job roles are going to disappear in about 10 years. Artificial Intelligence and Machines are taking over humans. Based on these studies, a lot of non-academic organizations have started to design and launch educational programs that target to educate youth on what we now call — the 21st-century skills. We all have some idea of how they would help an employer and a company. Or do we?
These skills are not only meant for employees to gain more knowledge about the particular role they are interested in, but it is aimed to help them understand and play different roles at a time, and play it well! Meanwhile offering companies to hire an efficient team member who plays more than one vital role.
For a lot of industries, the future of work is a Lean Team.
A core team of 7–10 people (this number definitely varies according to the operational requirements) who get the job done, who are and care enough to gain the goals set by the company, are always up to set new standards and achieve them with minimum workforce required; or sometimes, with the help of a temporary workforce. This means that many companies will not clutter their workspace by recruiting people to sit at every other corner of their office. Especially when we talk about a startup, chances are multitaskers are going to get a higher priority of getting recruited.
And with the studies from the current pandemic, offices will now be more careful about clutter anyway!
Remote
Let me first clarify some myths for a lot of people
- Remote working is NOT ONLY for Freelancers!
- Your employees do not sleep at their home, nor do they go on secret dates when they are working remotely
- Trust and Respect are what make working remote a successful option. So, if you are someone who has trust issues with your employees, this option is probably not for you. But by now (thanks to COVID19) you may already know that this, under a lot of circumstances, is the future of work.
And I write all of this from my experience of working remotely for the past 2 years, and honestly, I am quite addicted to it now. In fact, for my next career move that I am looking into, I am rather inclined to join a place where Remote Working is the thing!
I am saving my commute time, I am saving myself from the stress of bad weather, there is no excuse for me to be late in meetings anymore. I have enough flexibility to continue with my passion projects which makes me value my company even more! Moreover, with the availability of apps like Asana, Slack, Notion, Trello, Zoom, Webex, keeping up with your team has been even faster. You are truly a tech-based company! In addition to these, what a lot of us might miss out is, while allowing your company to operate remotely or hire team members who work remotely, you open the possibilities of adding a diverse team.
Clutter for a Remote team is not a headache, rather you allow diversity to be included by breaking the location barriers. Now, of course, it is not relevant to all organizations, but the current pandemic should be an alarm to companies and how they can get their major tasks done on the cloud. It tests the productivity of the team involved while simultaneously allowing companies to observe which of the employees are truly dedicated to their work.
As someone who is on the verge of a change in her career, I know that I would prefer to kickstart my next work as a remote member first. This not only would test my dedication towards my work and allow my employer to determine my productivity, but it allows me the chance to understand the level of respect and trust my company has on me. And with my prior experience, using this formula has allowed me to grow as an employee while helping my company expand its wing as well.
