The future of work is changing and those who are too slow to keep up will find themselves quickly obsolete. Employees have greater bargaining power and are forcing workplace shifts especially how regarding how and where work gets done. Such changes have previously been very top-down in their approach but as Dan Pink wrote: “talented people need organizations less than organizations need talented people.” This is one of the ‘radical’ changes expected by the changing world of work author 10 years ago… And here we are now!

It is difficult to truly understand the extent to which our data has shaped our daily lives and revolutionised the way we live. We often don’t associate our data with being a tool in our daily lives, but it is. It has reshaped society, aligning people with their everyday ‘interests’ and guiding the behaviour of populations through celebration and uprising. Our lives have become publicly available and accessible, and we have become more comfortable with this despite its challenges. It enables us to build communities, communicate globally and share experiences in new ways.

Data has become so impactful to people all over the world, but its defining moments will come in our ability to convert such influence into useful tools for people and cities. Technology has proven it can help us make better decisions, improve lives, and create more efficient and effective forms of governance.

Emerging technologies empower companies to rethink how work gets done – think automation, robotics, the cloud, and big data… But whilst this brings concern to some employees, technology will not remove our need for people! It will require different people doing different things. As we look forward to a more technologically enabled future, the roles people perform are going to have to change and this is arguably one of the most challenging yet exciting workplace shifts to come.

Learning has shifted from theoretical to experiential and this has changed the landscape of learning particularly for millennials.

Millennials are the largest group impacted by global shifts and according to KPMG’s Meet the Millennials Report, they will comprise of 50% of the global workforce by 2020 and 75% by 2025.

As a native digital generation, the way millennials behave and learn is completely different due to their relationship with technology. Millennials value learning as a key part of personal growth within companies and in Deloitte’s 2018 Millennial Survey 80% of millennial employees considered on-the-job learning and continuous employer training to be a vital component in them performing better at work.

Mobility

The importance of location is becoming less significant in the ability to get work done and has become an opportunity for a more competitive global market. The internet has become a key enabler – think web 3.0 and the metaverse – and we are still yet to scratch the surface of its full potential.

WFH is slowly becoming the new norm for some and whilst other employees still await a full return to the office, many are hopeful that this will be an opportunity for change. As workplaces around the world test and experiment with future work strategies the best options will be ones that put workers needs at the forefront.

Globalisation has allowed us to re-think traditional perceptions of what a city can be. It has increased mobility of people and capital, in turn making companies more globally mobile than ever before. The world becoming closer to what may be called a 'Planet City' has it’s challenges and opportunities but the bottom line is that language, currency and physical location are becoming easier to navigate.