Future of Work
Since the pandemic, the world of work never returned to normal, and experts predict that the job landscape will continue to shift.
However, depending on your viewpoint, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
In a recent episode of the Ideal Day podcast, we were joined by Aaron McEwan to discuss what to expect to see in the future of work, from the benefits and drawbacks that came with life post-pandemic.
Aaron McEwan is the Vice President of Research & Advisory for Gartner's HR Practice, specialising in future work and talent management. He's recognised as one of the top 100 global HR influencers, emphasising intentional collaboration and strategies for high-performing teams.
As a behavioural scientist, psychologist, and futurist, he offers strategic guidance to global companies, assisting leaders in navigating critical relationships across C-suites and boards. McEwan holds a Bachelor of Behavioral Science and a Graduate Diploma in Psychology from Griffith University, along with a Master of Science in Coaching Psychology.
We all had to work differently during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many of us having to work from home and join virtual meetings. And while some workers have returned to the office, others still work remotely full or part-time.
Despite the difficulties of adapting to working from home on short notice, many of us appreciated the benefits that came with this new way of working. And that’s something which McEwan has been investigating…
Why does the ‘future of work’ matter?
While working as a career coach early in his career, McEwan helped facilitate programs for long-term and generational unemployed people and gained a unique perspective on the central place career takes in our lives.
McEwan noticed how finding purpose at work could be a transformational experience for people and, keenly aware of social issues, wanted to make a difference in the world - even if it was just one person at a time.
These days, McEwan has access to important decision-makers, which he recognises gives him a larger ability to change things in a positive way. With access to influential business leaders, McEwan realised he could impact hundreds of thousands if not millions of people employed by those organisations. So that’s what drives him - his ability to potentially impact more lives than he ever thought possible.
How can we help people have a rich work life post-pandemic?
‘We’re at an incredibly important moment in the future of work.’ McEwan says. Our relationship with work fundamentally changed with the pandemic, and he believes we’ll look back at it in 50 years and see how the crisis was a catalyst.
‘There’s nothing like an existential crisis to remind people of what’s important.’
Since our social options were limited during lockdowns, work was a bigger focus of our lives than ever, and we had time to consider where work fits into our lives and the purpose of it. People gained greater awareness of how much they give themselves to their families and communities, versus their efforts to employers.
‘We’re expecting several things to change… from increased unionisation of workers to rethinking the psychological contract between employer and employee. We might need to get used to the idea that discretionary effort from employees will become a much more difficult thing to come by.’
In recent times, wage growth has stagnated, particularly when compared to inflation, and employees can no longer rely on promises such as promotions. So how else will their loyalty and hard work be rewarded?
On top of this, the future of the work will also be heavily impacted by automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence. No one can have a firm idea of how this will change the workplace, but we know it will have a dramatic impact that we can only hope is positive.
As we rethink the future of work and the meaning of discretionary effort, we can imagine an incredibly exciting future ahead. On the other hand, if we exploit the wrong things, the future looks dystopian.
What can businesses do to adapt?
As the future of work changes, there are a few things businesses should be aware of to increase engagement and create high-performing teams.
1. Purpose and meaning will come from the work itself
Post-pandemic, there’s wider recognition that people don’t need to rely on an employer for a sense of belonging, connection, or purpose. And arguably it’s occurred to us that it’s much better to get this elsewhere from our communities and families, rather than giving everything you have to your employer.
McEwan also notes a change within the war for talent, whereby organisations compete for talent based on providing greater meaning and belonging to employers. In his perspective, employers will simply need to ensure the daily work is interesting. Why? Because if employees find meaning and belonging outside of work, an employer doesn’t need to provide this.
‘It’s not going to be about amazing offices with tables and 24 cafeterias and all of these things that organisations have thrown at workers to entice and keep them. It’s going to be about the work itself.’
2. Protecting energy and setting boundaries.
From the employee perspective, McEwan notes that we do have to be purposeful about finding meaning and connection outside of the workplace. Employees need to actively create boundaries if they want to devote their leisure time to things outside of their jobs.
During the pandemic, McEwan noticed a big shift as people realised that if we don’t protect our time, energy, and sense of self and community, then it will be sucked away by an ever-increasing workload.
McEwan admits that setting boundaries is not something he’s completely mastered. ‘I dare say it’s a hangover from twenty or thirty years of quite aggressive capitalism that has created habits.’
We all tend to feel shame when we’re not working, though McEwan slowly getting better at not feeling that guilt, and it would serve us all better to do the same.
Meanwhile, employers should honour these boundaries and provide high-value work for employees, especially with the advent of AI.
3. AI and technology
Despite the advantages of technology potentially increasing efficiency, employers tend to fill that vacuum with more useless, purposeless work.
McEwan hopes that AI and technology will help us identify high-value work and reevaluate the idea of productivity. Hopefully, employers will create boundaries in our work lives to ensure meaningful, high-value work is protected for humans.
If used in the right way, technology can help workers understand when they're in the right mind state to complete certain types of work and identify the appropriate time to take breaks, rest or switch activities.
However, the same technology could be used to wring every ounce of productivity out of human beings and take meaningful tasks from those who need them.
‘Energy, creativity, time and all finite things that need to be protected and purposefully directed.’ And human beings will need to recognise these things to create and protect boundaries around them.
4. Creating autonomy for all workers
Working as a career coach, McEwan recognised that the people with access to coaches are already in a relatively privileged position with high degrees of autonomy and control over their work.
With this in mind, he cares deeply for the segments of the workforce that don’t have those things.
McEwan looks towards the younger generation who are better at placing restrictions and protective boundaries on their time and energy. We can already see younger workers requesting increased remote work, four-day work weeks, and using existing technology to remind them to take breaks or exercise.
Through broader social movements and lessons from the pandemic, those in their formative years are further rethinking what a typical workday should look like.
Additionally, the younger generation will be more aware of the carbon footprint and ethics of their company, from who uses slave labour to which political parties the company donates to.
5. Rethinking the location of a workplace
Although there’s been pressure to encourage employees back to the workplace, experts question if this is the best way to manage employees or increase productivity.
‘We spend way more time thinking about where we should work than how people should work.’ McEwan points out that there’s much more to remote work than the concept of location; it’s more about time and autonomy.
He suggests organisations use this opportunity to redefine work and find new ways to understand how to get the absolute best of their employees.
‘Forcing them back into the office is not that pathway. The data is very clear that whether we’re measuring productivity, engagement, or fatigue levels, or even ironically a sense of connection and purpose, hybrid models are superior.’
6. Question why the most privileged get to call the shots on hybrid work.
When it comes to hybrid work, should we make decisions based on data or based on CEOs' feelings?
McEwan notes that despite having conversations about hybrid work since March 2020, and after years of having enough evidence to support the benefits ‘than you could throw a stick at,’ it’s hard to convince the CEOs and Board of Directors. McEwan felt it was hard for them to make logical decisions based on the data simply because it didn’t feel right for them or their office culture.
Eventually, he concluded that executives and boards were making emotional decisions. And, at the heart of it, these decisions are based on privilege.
‘As a senior executive, you already have enormous amounts of autonomy. Yes, you have to report to a board occasionally, but the rest of your time is essentially yours to manage as you see fit.’
These people are also much more likely to have a parking space by the office and live close to the office so they don’t have to deal with public transport, alongside access to things like childcare or cleaners. Meanwhile, employees give up more leisure time to manage their home and commute.
‘But the other chunk of it is that the role of a CEO or CFO, for example, is vastly different to those at the lower ends of the organisation… A senior executive is almost entirely relational and I don’t blame them for feeling they can do that job much more effectively in person. That’s why companies have private jets to fly an executive from one part of the world to have an in-person conversation.
If you’re punching out code for nine or ten hours a day, you don’t need a private jet and everyone knows it.’
For many workers, you can do your job most effectively without an open plan office and all the other distractions that come along with that. And McEwan is sure that, eventually, this issue will resolve itself and hybrid work will become more prevalent.
Summary: How to be a good leader of the future
McEwan encourages leaders to reflect deeply on their legacy.
Do business leaders want to be at the forefront of promoting happy families, a better environment with less congestion, and thriving communities?
Or do they want a future where we live in congested cities, spending every spare moment working or on universally-hated commutes, rather than devoting our time to solid relationships and forming stronger communities?
In essence, how can we make work work for those who have to do the work?
When pondering this question, we can imagine an exciting future. And it doesn’t mean dismantling office buildings, but rather that they’ll look different. They’ll serve a different purpose of providing deliberate connection.
What business leaders can do today to prepare for tomorrow:
Empathetic leadership is the way forward; treat employees like human beings. At the most basic level understand what they want out of work and the circumstances of their lives so you can help them balance those things
Make work interesting: People will find their sense of purpose in the day-to-day work they’re doing for their organisation, rather than in where they do it.
Put well-being first: In the future, McEwan wonders if wearables such as smartwatches will fill GlassDoor job review sites with aggregated data that shows which companies hurt resting heart rates, cortisol levels, sleep, etc. With increasingly complex work and a chronic talent shortage, ‘you just can’t do the work of the future if you’re unwell, it’s that simple.’
Autonomy: Great leaders recognise where to give autonomy and allow others to take control, and when to take their leadership position and be more directive. Make space for job crafting.
Use technology for good: We’re entering into an era where for the first time technology can help us understand what flourishing humans look like. And the best organisations will recognise that flourishing humans make incredibly valuable and productive workers.
By embracing these shifts and adapting to the future of work, organisations will thrive in the decades ahead.