ADP: In 2020, work will be team-based and personalized

Dive Brief:

The 2020 workplace will be more productive and engaging for workers and employers thanks to new technology that enables better personalization and adaptation to change, according to a recent ADP report.
Among the predictions for next year, ADP posits that: isolated, siloed approaches to getting work done will be supplanted by teamwork; that the work experience will be personalized through artificial intelligence and other technologies, which provide employees with a "have it your way" work experience; and businesses and teams will become more agile as they strive to keep pace with technology.
"The world of work has reached an inflection point, punctuated by a tight labor market and stabilizing wage growth," Don Weinstein, corporate VP, global product and technology at ADP, said in a media release. "Amidst this landscape, we are seeing a business-critical convergence of technology and data in the workplace."

Dive Insight:

More employers want to streamline their people processes and erase silos, especially since a strong people organization is a business imperative.

There is additional research that shows a siloed operating approach can be financially detrimental to companies, especially when it comes to technology. Researchers at Accenture concluded that companies that make technological investments in only certain areas of operation, and in just those technologies that have proven successful rather than those with promise, stand to lose revenues.

Siloed organizations may find it difficult to be agile in a market that demands as much — especially as automation gains traction. An adaptive approach may prove more effective, according to a Forrester report from earlier this year. Research indicates that adaptive organizations that will withstand an era of change have the ability to: expand or contract resources as required, largely by hiring gig workers or relying on automation; transition from a hierarchal management system to a more egalitarian one; and assemble or disassemble cross-functional teams as necessary.

Technology has allowed organizations to hyper-personalize the employee and candidate experiences, and experts agree in study after study that personalization is key to attracting talent and engaging and retaining workers. And as a ManpowerGroup Solutions survey released in July pointed out, technology combined with personalization — or the human touch — can create the ultimate candidate experience. But there's a long way to go before all employers are there, a new Phenom People report found that nearly all S&P 500 companies (97%) fail to personalize the candidate experience.