The Future of Work: 6 Key Trends for Employers in 2022 and Beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed how and where we work. As we move into 2022, several major trends look to further transform the workplace and the role of both employers and employees.

Understanding these trends will be critical for companies seeking to adapt and support their workforce amid an era of unprecedented change. This article explores six key trends that will impact the future of work along with recommendations for employers.

The Rise of Hybrid & Remote Work

The pandemic proved remote work is a viable option for many industries. While some companies are calling employees back to the office, many are adopting a hybrid approach that combines onsite and remote work.

According to PwC, over 55% of company leaders say they plan to incorporate hybrid work going forward. Employees also seem to prefer more flexibility – in one survey, over 76% wanted a hybrid remote-office model.

There are significant benefits but also challenges with sustaining hybrid work long term. Employers should focus on:

• Defining Hybrid Work Policies: Create clear guidelines for employees on expectations, workplace flexibility, and any differences in compensation or benefits.
• Enabling Collaboration Virtually: Invest in platforms and tools to allow seamless communication and teamwork between remote and onsite employees.
• Preventing Employee Burnout: Hybrid models can exacerbate burnout and exhaustion. Monitor for signs of overwork.

The Hybrid Technology Stack

Supporting effective collaboration, transparency and productivity tracking in hybrid settings requires an ecosystem of modern tools including:

• Video Conferencing: Zoom, Google Meet
• Digital Whiteboarding: Miro, Mural
• Project Management: Asana, Jira
• Instant Messaging: Slack, Teams
• Virtual Office Spaces: Gather, Spatial
• Productivity Analytics: TimeDoctor, ActivTrak

Many collaboration tools now integrate deeply with each other. For example, Slack connects into Asana project dashboards, bringing real-time conversation and work progress updates together.

Cross-functional transparency is also simpler with cloud-based workflows – as James Smith, VP of Digital Workplace Strategy at Fortune 500 retailer Walgreen Co explains:

"We built a hybrid tech stack on Salesforce and Slack to centralize data across teams. Now a store manager can immediately see if an online order issue also caused the helpline to light up with calls – connecting work streams to resolve issues faster."

From Roles to Skills

Rather than focus on predefined job roles, employers will hire based on specific skills that meet evolving business needs according to Gartner. With flatter organizations and cross-functional teams, specialized expertise matters more than titles or hierarchy.

This shift encourages internal mobility as employees gain new skills. Companies should support "reskilling" programs and assess skills gaps to aid development. Employees should also drive their own learning – building in-demand hard and soft skills makes you indispensable despite role changes.

For example, online learning platform Coursera saw a 482% spike in enrollments in digital marketing skills during pandemic lockdowns in 2020 while LinkedIn recorded a 15x increase in time spent learning analytical reasoning.

Reskilling Initiatives in Action

In one example, softwares firm Intuit trained over 3,800 employees on software engineering, machine learning and other digital skills. Participants doubled competencies in AI while cutting product build times by 50%.

Consumer goods giant P&G also upskilled 5000 marketers globally through Facebook‘s Marketing Analytics course – using real campaign data to cultivate analytical and data storytelling abilities.

Proactive reskilling delivers major dividends – PwC analysis finds companies can gain over $570k extra yearly revenue for every 1000 upskilled employees.

Accelerating Digital Transformation

The pandemic turbocharged investment in digital transformation – over 50% of global CEOs said COVID-19 sped up plans to digitize operations and customer engagement.

This means an urgent need for digital skills. Gartner found surging demand for data, analytics, automation and AI talent across traditionally non-technical roles like Finance and Marketing.

Simultaneously, technologies like AI and robotics will increasingly work alongside humans, rather than replace them outright. Employees at all levels must prepare for this augmentation of work by upleveling technical abilities.

For employers, prioritize closing digital skills gaps through hiring and training while transparently integrating new technologies into workflows.

Global Digital Skills Demand

Data science and AI dominate digital skill needs worldwide. However software and product development capabilities also see high demand, especially in Europe and North America as per LinkedIn data below:

Regional needs diverge further for soft skills like creativity, collaboration and persuasion. India and Singapore value creativity highly whereas European employers prioritize collaboration and teamwork.

Monitoring & Analytics Increase

Data utilization for people analytics will rise significantly according to Gartner, with 87% of organizations using non-HR data like sales or productivity metrics to measure performance.

While monitoring can optimize processes, concerns exist around surveillance and privacy infringement. Organizations must collect employee data ethically and transparently. Setting data policies that protect workers while allowing useful analysis is key.

For instance, US insurance firm The Hartford achieved 18% higher productivity and 10% lower attrition after introducing daily sentiment surveys and analytics to understand engagement across its workforce.

“Checking the pulse through quick surveys helped us respond to problems proactively before they escalated while keeping staff comfortable sharing data” notes Brian Webster, Chief Human Resources Officer at The Hartford.

Pay Gaps Emerge

Despite similar performance, remote employees may see lower salaries than those working onsite as employers aim to incentivize office returns. With men more likely to go back, these pay gaps can exacerbate wage inequality.

Rather than blanket incentives or penalties, employers should use objective criteria considering individual, team and company performance to guide compensation. Pay parity also limits divisiveness between location-based employee groups.

For instance, UK insurer Aviva introduced a targeted bonus system for high performers as teams shifted remote during the pandemic rather than general payouts that overlooked individual contributions.

Prioritizing Employee Wellbeing

The mental health impact of COVID-19 spotlights the need for focus on wellbeing. Over 68% of HR leaders already call employee wellbeing a top priority and the corporate wellness market alone is projected to reach $87.4 billion globally by 2026.

Employers must address main areas of concern for workers like stress management and work-life balance (see Figure 1). Offering access to mental health resources, emphasizing sustainable productivity over pure output, and granting sick days/vacation boosts employee wellness.

For instance, ride sharing app Lyft offers all employees free monthly therapy sessions and extra "recharge days" to unplug while social media firm Buffer has an unlimited vacation policy to encourage self-care time off.

Key Takeaways for Employers

The coming years promise continuous evolution in how, where and by whom work gets done. Leaning into these new ways of operating allows companies to build resilience while better supporting employees.

As the future unfolds, organizations should:

• Commit to Transparent Communication: Discuss changes and rationale openly to build trust
• Prioritize Skills Development: Reskill/Upskill workers on latest tech alongside human skills like creativity
• Reevaluate Old Assumptions: Rethink biases, incentives and policies created for a pre-pandemic workplace
• Monitor Employee Sentiment: Survey workers regularly to gauge needs and reassess policies accordingly

While leading through uncertainty poses challenges, companies willing to reinvent playbooks created for a different epoch will thrive – along with their empowered, skilled and supported workforces.