What to expect from work in the future?
The reality of the future of work and our society has long been represented by films, series, and even cartoons. Therefore, many people think that the fate of the corporate world will be taken by robots and that humans will suffer from unemployment.
That machines will take the place of human labor, this is nothing new to anyone. However, it is not jobs that will cease to exist: it is activities that will be adapted and, in this way, we will share the space with technology.
Practically all professions have occupations that can be automated. In this reality, it is necessary to see robots as assistants to human beings in decision making processes. In other words, to establish a partnership with the machine.
For this, it will be necessary to develop new skills. Corporate education is gaining more and more strength within companies, which are very interested in keeping their teams aligned with the new trends of the future.
What are the main changes in the workforce?
Although automation is seen as a fundamental element for companies whose functions have quite repetitive tasks and a large volume of data to analyze, there are still many areas where human interaction is crucial. The human being’s emotional intelligence cannot be discarded, since it is necessary to interpret and deal with the information collected.
Artificial intelligence is even capable of generating diagnoses, however, it still cannot interact with clients, patients and other types of consumers in the same way as a person. Creativity, empathy, sympathy and other human behaviors are irreplaceable.
Another factor that cannot be ignored is the growth of the elderly population. With the increase in life expectancy, the tendency is that the demand for professionals such as doctors, nurses, pharmacists, health technicians and other related professions increases.
What are the trends for the next years?
Over the years, the corporate world has been impacted by technological developments and social changes. Globalization, population aging and even climate change are causing some professions that didn’t exist to begin to appear, while others will disappear.
However, the trends for the coming years are not only about new careers. The profile of the worker and the way of working are also changing. Read on and see what we are talking about.
Remote environments and productive home office
Remote work is already a reality in some companies. For some functions, traditional offices are going into extinction and giving way to virtual spaces, mainly in activities that require professionals to be more creative.
Flexible timetables and environments already attract the attention of the best talent available in the market, besides being much cheaper for companies that don’t have to bear the costs related to the structure to maintain these teams.
A very interesting element of this modality of setting up a company is that the formation of remote teams allows professionals who are physically distant to join virtual offices.
What sets the tone for the future of companies is this freedom to choose how, where and at what time to work. The tendency is that these environments adapt to people’s needs with the help of technology.
Knowledge through EAD
More and more qualified professionals are the promise for the future of the work, and technology appears again as one of the allies to this process.
The online education model allows these individuals to acquire theoretical and technical skills in the comfort of their homes. As they can make their own study time, the tendency is that they qualify in less time and can invest in several courses at the same time.
Moreover, the companies themselves can count on this resource to train their employees, at a much lower cost. This is a resource already made available by some companies specialized in corporate education and the tendency is that it gains more strength.
Self-management capacity
Self-management is another trend pointed to the future of the work. Following the line of a work with more freedom means that, very possibly, there will not be a rigid control over performance, since the corporate world is moving towards a less hierarchical and more collaborative structure.
The feedback will be a dynamic process, natural and done in real time. Employees will have more autonomy and responsibility to control their own performance.
Stability via contact network
In reality, a new concept for stability emerges: more linked to the employability potential, and not to the job itself.
That is, if today the idea of a stable job is to be in a company that keeps its employees until their retirement, in the future, it will be the potential of the worker to be disputed by several organizations.
In this way, work becomes on demand and short-term contracts, where networking is fundamental for this to happen.
Working for a purpose
The salary is already losing its strength in the talent retention process and the tendency is for this practice to become stronger. This means that it will be the employer’s duty to find a purpose for the professional to be part of your company and pass this on to the entire staff.
The engagement of the teams will be for a cause, not for a value. Everyone should believe in the company’s mission and get involved in it.
How to prepare for these trends?
With the popularization of automation mechanisms, added to the speed of change in our society and the trends for the future of work, current jobs will disappear to make room for functions that were not even invented. This will directly affect the educational system.
Educational institutions continue to be important for the construction of a career, but the protagonism in its evolution is up to the professional. What we are trying to say is that education cannot come from a single source, because it is constantly changing.
In this context, continuous learning gains prominence. Preparing for this is fundamental, and the first step is to be aware that the demands are changing to the point that you collect several careers throughout life. Therefore, it is necessary to keep yourself updated and interested in the search for a constant qualification.
In addition, it is necessary to develop some socio-emotional skills. Get to know some of them.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to put oneself in the other person’s place, acting in an empathetic way and also dominating one’s own feelings. There are some attitudes that can help the individual develop this ability:
- Avoid negative thoughts;
- observe situations that arouse aggressiveness, nervousness, and other bad feelings in order to get around them;
- think before responding and not react impulsively;
- try to understand others before judging them.
Critical thinking
People with acute critical thinking use rationality to solve a problem. To develop this capacity, some attitudes are quite valid:
- Always question and research several subjects;
- solve exercises that stimulate logic, like sudoku and crosswords;
- before understanding the problem, try to understand the scenario.
Analytical thinking
Linked to critical thinking, it will be necessary for the future of the work that people understand how data-based reasoning works, in addition to presenting mastery in tools that provide these analyses.
Virtual collaboration
Each day more, it will be necessary to work in a productive and engaging way, independently of the platform. That is why it is important to become familiar with the technological tools from an early age.
Negotiation
Trading skills are fundamental for all professionals, regardless of the labor market scenario.