Global Trends Affecting the Workplace in 2019 and Beyond

It’s the time of year for business professionals to look back on the year’s performance and begin planning their needs for 2019. To any business, human capital is its greatest asset, and the biggest key to achieving business goals. So how can you better prepare yourself and your teams to perform in a highly competitive environment? 

We live in a time of exponential change. The speed of change is 10x faster now than it was a decade ago. VUCA has become a popular executive acronym for this new environment, used to describe the rapidly transforming global business landscape. In today’s world we all have to think broader, work smarter, adapt quicker and relate to each other better.

Change may be forging ahead, however organisations are simply not able to adapt at the same speed in terms of the mindset and knowledge required to stay ahead, and businesses are missing out on leveraging opportunities. 

Let’s turn now to what 2019 will bring us. 

The three global trends below are not brand-new concepts, however, they will take on a critical urgency in 2019 due to a combination of technological, economic and socio-cultural factors. 

Millennials are taking over the workforce 

There’s new people coming in and taking over – Millennials. By 2020, the workforce will be composed of 50% Millennials. By 2025, 70% of the workforce will be made up of Millennials, and this is a fact that we can no longer ignore. 

According to the 2018 Goldman Sachs Small Businesses Summit report, 70% of small businesses struggle to find and retain skilled talent. In fact, attracting and retaining great talent is one of the most commonly raised issues among organisations in Thailand. 

Companies of all sizes compete to attract and retain employees in an increasingly competitive labour market with widening skills gaps, and in order to attract Millennials, here’s what you need to know:

Millennials (also known as “Generation Y”) are the first generation of “digital natives” – tech savvy and connected. They have more formal education than any generation in history, and have mastered multitasking through early exposure to a wide range of media.

Understanding what motivates Millennials is essential to attracting them to your organisation and ensuring that you can maximise their effectiveness as employees and potential leaders.

Today’s employee craves growth and development. Employees today want to work with purpose-driven, values-aligned organizations. In fact, 50% of Millennials say that they would take a pay cut to work for an organization that aligned with their values. A competitive salary, and a clear path for career progression, are also highest on the list for Millennials. 

To retain Millennial professionals, employers must show an ongoing commitment to their careers. Providing formal feedback at least every six months shows Millennial employees that their performance and development is a priority and prevents them from looking to other employers who can meet this need. If possible, giving Millennials the opportunity to move around different functions within the business can also help to retain employees who would otherwise move elsewhere.

New Leadership Trends 

The landscape of what leadership means today is also changing, as leaders are required to both develop innovative, sustainable businesses for an unknown long-term future and to deliver strong results today. 

The VUCA environment calls for new tactics and methods for dealing with changing conditions, thus, challenging traditional leadership approaches and abilities.

In this demanding, ever-changing workplace, it’s not enough to be a manager. You must truly learn how to be a leader – someone who influences and transforms how others feel about themselves and the work they do. 

The days of command and control are no longer effective or relevant, as there is no way leaders can be experts on the vast array of rapidly changing market factors and technology. Instead, they must focus more on inspiring, empowering and mobilising the experts in those areas.

Leaders are no longer the smartest people in the room who know the most about everything. To be successful, they now need to be able to surround themselves with experts in those fields who are smarter than themselves, and then they must find ways to motivate and empower those people in order to mobilise them towards a shared vision.

There is a lag between what leaders are being trained for today and what skills that will be needed for tomorrow, and this is becoming top of mind for many boards and CEOs. Skills such as reflection, dialogue, connection, collaboration, critical thinking and empathy are still finding their ways into the very fabric of corporate structure and business strategy, and yet these will be that skills needed for growth and success in the immediate future.  

Preparing People for the Future of Work 

With the introduction of robotics and artificial intelligence into our workplaces, we must now focus on people’s skills. We need to think big and act small, and bring more agile ways of working.  57% of jobs globally are vulnerable to automation. Work, workers and workplaces are all going to change dramatically within the next 7 years. The future of work is about people – people empowered to do what they do best

TheFourth Industrial Revolution  is upon us. Yet, when we bring it up and read about it, it’s generally in terms of job loss due to AI and automation, the primary drivers of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The urgency in 2019 comes from the fact that, to date, we have done more talking and less doing – and action is needed before we reach a global skills crisis. HR and business leaders have done little to prepare people for the future of work by systematically and intentionally reskilling and upskilling them.

Some describe a future where most of the work still done by human beings will require strong interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence.

Businesses will have to continue to adapt to the modern customer. With more choices than ever before, consumers will gravitate toward those who prioritise the delivery of fast, seamless and personalised service.

Because no matter how much technology improves, it won’t replace human touch when it comes to delivering a customer experience. 

Technology may run our lives more than ever before, however it is relationships that drives business. 

As organisations become more diverse and broaden their reach, company leaders see the value in developing their employees’ soft skills, such as emotional intelligence, collaboration and negotiation. In fact, more than 90% of respondents to a 2016 Deloitte survey rated soft skills a “critical priority”. Soft skills development can also foster employee retention, improve leadership and build a meaningful culture. 

2019 will be an exciting time, with continuous changes and disruption in the business world. It will also be filled with opportunities for great leaders to forge ahead and reshape their business with stellar results.

Here’s to your success!

Isabel x

Isabel Valle PCC ACTP

Peak Performance Strategist

Founder of Global Room

“Helping leaders and their teams learn, grow and succeed”

Isabel is an experienced ICF Coach with over 20 years of international work experience holding senior positions within the hospitality industry in countries around the world, as well as Executive and Leadership coaching, mentoring and training. 

Isabel specialises in high performance strategy, leadership development and building organisational culture.