A deep dive into the future of work

Employers have a responsibility to take a people-centric approach to technology and upskill their workers for a changing world of work — change largely driven by artificial intelligence, according to a report from The Adecco Group.

Among workers using AI-based tools, about three-quarters said they’re more productive, saving an average of one hour per day. However, only a quarter of overall workers said they’ve received training about applying AI at work.

“This is why I am convinced that employers must act to make their broader workforce future-ready by offering upskilling, career progression and a workplace environment that embraces sustainability for all,” Denis Machuel, CEO of The Adecco Group, said in the report.

“The technologies among us — and those yet to come — call for urgent and adaptable action by businesses to make sure their workforces remain engaged, productive and excited by the opportunities that lay ahead,” he said.

In a survey of 35,000 workers worldwide, job security and economic conditions were named as top priorities, with 40% expressing concerns about long-term job security and 83% saying they plan to stay with their current employer — the highest retention rate in three years.

Among AI users, half said AI skills expand their job opportunities, and 46% said AI has given them more opportunities to learn skills and progress in their jobs. When AI saves time, workers said they’re using that time for creative work, strategic thinking and better work/life balance.

However, 13% of workers said they’ve lost their job due to AI, and only 11% of workers were considered to be “future-ready,” or adaptable, willing to be flexible in their careers and proactive in acquiring new skills. Among these future-ready workers, 93% received a personalized development plan and 95% frequently participated in leadership training provided by their companies.

Most workers want reskilling and internal mobility opportunities, too. About three-quarters said companies should prioritize cross-training for different roles before hiring externally. At the same time, only 9% said they plan to stay with their company to be reskilled.

By 2032, generative AI tools will significantly shift work and productivity, potentially changing 52% of all jobs, according to research by Cognizant and Oxford Economics. In the U.S., 9% of the current workforce may be displaced, and 1% of displaced workers may struggle to find new employment.

As a result, the future of work may hinge on upskilling, particularly around AI skills, according to a report by the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, which is led by Cisco and includes companies such as Google, Indeed, Intel and Microsoft. Workers will need training in AI literacy, AI preparedness, data analytics and prompt engineering, the consortium said.

HR pros will also need to navigate AI-related disruptions, which could have a “high human cost,” according to a report from the Society for Human Resource Management and The Burning Glass Institute. In particular, learning and development opportunities will need to focus on reskilling existing talent as well as training workers in eliminated positions to assume other roles.

As the global workforce continues to evolve, talent acquisition and retention will shift toward personalized employee experiences and expectations rather than typical rewards and physical work locations, according to a report based on EY’s 2024 Work Reimagined Survey.

For instance, 38% of employees said they’re likely to quit in the next year, which will require company flexibility and a plan for talent flow. This means untethered culture, expanded rewards and agile skill building will become more prevalent, the report found.

“Previous iterations of this survey showed the lenses through which employers and employees viewed the working world: employers driven mostly by cyclical concerns and employees fueled by structural transformation of how, where and why they work,” EY experts wrote. “Those lenses appear to be fracturing, as old thinking is shown as too rigid to navigate new terrain.”

Instead, organizational success will rely on five dimensions: talent health and flow; work technology and generative AI; total rewards priorities; learning, skills and career pathways; and culture and workplaces. EY calls the combination a “Talent Advantage.” 

However, only 32% of employers have the strategic people capabilities to build this talent advantage, EY said. These companies reported better productivity, skill building and business outcomes in current economic conditions.

Notably, a future talent advantage depends on a company’s ability to create a positive culture for a diverse and dispersed workforce, the report found. Culture accounts for 40% of an organization’s talent advantage health score, with 66% of talent-advantaged employers saying culture has significantly improved in the last 12 months, as compared to 4% of talent-disadvantaged employers.

Total rewards play a key role in culture, EY reported. Among the top rewards priorities, 31% of employees pointed to flexible schedules and work hours, and 26% said they wanted to work from anywhere. Employees also asked for rewards that reflect their personal and professional lives, such as health and well-being benefits, paid time-off options, compensation tied to the cost of living and training to build skills.

For HR professionals, cultural challenges have risen to the top of their list of struggles, according to HR Dive’s Identity of HR 2024 survey. Building trust, collaboration and effective feedback can foster a better culture, experts told HR Dive, particularly by training managers on how to give feedback and create team cohesion.

Flexibility and hybrid work can also help, particularly as high rates of burnout persist, according to an American Staffing Association report. The most successful companies will “embrace workforce flexibility and focus on creating strong employee-centric cultures,” ASA’s CEO said.

As new work models emerge, employers should consider “agile roles that benefit from skills-based planning and credentialing,” according to a Mercer report. Flexible work may include six dimensions: where (location and infrastructure); when (hours and scheduling); what (job content and sharing); who (alternative workforce and automation); how (scaling and technology); and why (mission and purpose), Mercer said.

Most workers in big economies fear their job skills — driven by the fast pace of technological change — will become partially or fully obsolete within this decade, according to a report from the Global Labor Market Conference.

The report, based on a survey of 1,000 employed, unemployed or self-employed adults in each of 14 countries, including the U.S., U.K., China, India, Saudia Arabia and South Africa, found that half of the U.S. respondents are concerned about their skills becoming redundant and say that technology is driving their need for upskilling.

The good news for employers is that employees seem to value self-improvement, the GLMC said in a media release. A large share (44%) of the survey’s respondents feel the responsibility for upskilling falls on them, the research showed.

The GLMC report looked at how four major forces affecting the global labor market — globalization, demographic shifts, technological advancements and actions against climate change — are reshaping the essence of work, worker expectations and skills required for career growth and adaptability.

Its findings solidify what experts have been emphasizing: Individuals who focus on continuous learning and skills development put themselves in a more favorable position for employment and are more likely to experience career growth, job satisfaction and financial stability.

Employers are pivotal to this process, the report stressed. That is, by providing training and development opportunities, employers nurture skills integral to organizational success and competitiveness, the GLMC said in its report.

However, while both employers and employees see the need for skills development, continuous upskilling isn’t the norm for most workers, according to a July report from D2L, a learning technology company.

Disruptions due to the increasing adoption of generative AI in the workplace will be most notable in the financial and insurance, professional services and information systems industries, the Society for Human Resource Management and the Burning Glass Institute cautioned in a February report.

Reskilling will become increasingly important as job roles and skill sets transform, the SHRM report noted. For example, traditional customer service roles may pivot to managing chatbots or overseeing automated processes and will require training for current job holders.

But skill enhancement isn’t just “a way to learn new technologies,” the GLMC report emphasized. It’s also “a way of adapting to new ways of working, thinking critically, solving complex problems and operating in social contexts,” the report said.

Worker responses to a Deloitte survey released in October bear this out. The survey found that workers see the need for balance between technical skills and human skills and believe their company focuses more on immediate business needs than on training their teams for long-term success.

“Organizations that overemphasize technical training at the expense of ensuring human capabilities ... could end up impeding innovation and leaving employees ill-equipped to lead teams, adapt to market opportunities and fully harness the potential of technology,” a Deloitte executive stated.

GLMC respondents identified three skills they believe are the most crucial competencies for success in current and future labor markets: Cognitive skills, such as critical analysis and problem-solving; management skills, including strategic planning, leadership and cultural awareness; and socio-emotional skills, such as empathy, teamwork and communication.

The GLMC also found that workers feel strongly about having the primary responsibility for their upskilling and training strategies, which may include online platforms, such as “Massive Open Online Courses,” or MOOCs; micro-learning; and gamification.

Employers may also want to consider Personal Learning Accounts, or PLAs, which are financial instruments that can serve as a personal budget and allow individuals to fund their education and learning, the report said.

As the AI revolution rolls along, employers are looking at what skills their future workforces will need, and how to get from here to there.

And it’s not just a few companies here and there: it’s just about the entire working world. According to a recent report from PeopleScout and Spotted Zebra, about 90% of HR leaders believe that up to half their workforce will need to be reskilled in the next five years.

But what does that actually mean? It depends on the company and the work that needs to be done, but whatever the process, it’s important for employers to keep the employee in mind. That means communicating to them what this future holds, addressing any fears and making sure they’re getting the skills they need as AI adoption continues, experts said.

“When we introduced machinery into agriculture a couple of centuries ago, it changed the work within the farm from one day to the next,” said Helen Poitevin, distinguished VP analyst in Gartner’s human resources practice. “Look at how AI gets introduced in just about every industry, in every workflow. It’s very incremental.”

Teaching employees how to work with AI

Part of that reskilling is helping employees work alongside AI, especially now as it starts to enter more parts of daily life. According to a 2023 Gartner survey, 79% of functional leaders will begin or continue to implement generative AI across the next 12 months.

“When you introduce AI into the way people are working, there’s an immediate need for learning the new ways of working,” said Poitevin.

With that comes addressing fear surrounding the technology, whether concerns about the technology itself, working with it, or that it will be taking their jobs — a fear that’s not unfounded as, in the same Gartner report, leaders said they expect generative AI to reduce head counts between about six and 10 percent.

Just making workers are aware of AI, and the opportunities it offers, “is very low impact, but it’s very easy to do,” Poitevin said.

How — and who — to upskill

Because the technology is still new, and these changes are incremental, it might not be obvious what kind of reskilling employees will need, said Poitevin. It’s important for employers to “set themselves up to monitor and capture the cases where jobs don’t make sense anymore, so they can be redesigned.”

Employers can shift from “thinking about what jobs will go away” to thinking instead about the work that will need to be done, she added.

HR managers should not be identifying current employees for upskilling — or job candidates — solely based on technical know-how, because that’s not necessarily needed to learn new skills to work with AI, said Steve West, head of global talent acquisition at Verizon. “It’s a behavioral element of having the ability to learn, and coachability, that you can adapt to using these new ways of working and not necessarily have to be a programmer to code AI,” he said.

It's also important to keep the person at the center of the process, and consider why this is good for them first. “We’re not upskilling people just to upskill them. We’re upskilling them to ultimately make them better to make us better,” he said. “These are skill areas that are going to be delivering or critical capabilities to drive our strategy.”

Employees want to be reskilled, if employers help them

Actively working with employees can also set an employer apart. That same PeopleScout and Spotted Zebra report found that only 7% of HR leaders noted an active investment in their reskilling program, and 45% said they had no plans to undertake a workforce transformation initiative.

“Skills-based talent strategies are essential, and the clock is ticking for employers across all regions and industries,” Nick Shaw, founder and chief customer officer of Spotted Zebra, said in a statement. “Without future-focused skills strategies for both hiring and development, organizations will suffer lost revenue and productivity when critical jobs are left unfilled.”

Acknowledging the reality that is coming, and preparing workers for it, also can be important in retaining talent. “Pretending like it’s not happening is never good. You can diminish trust,” said Poitevin. “But also encouraging people to focus on what’s to be done and seek out the opportunities in using AI to help make a difference or to work in different ways is key.”

Some workers expect the workplace to look drastically different in 30 years, according to a poll conducted by Monster.com. They predict a four-day workweek, emails drafted by artificial intelligence and nationwide salary transparency.

Others, however, say they’ll still be working their usual 9-to-5 schedule, and perhaps facing increased burnout.

Below are those findings, as well as other highlights from workers’ predictions for workplace in coming decades.

 

In the ever-elusive quest for work-life balance for workers, some countries are legislating slamming that laptop shut for the weekend. 

Increasingly more nations, including France, Argentina, Ireland and recently Australia, have passed what are known as “right to disconnect” laws, giving workers the legal right not to respond to that email after hours — and not face negative repercussions. 

It’s a shift that’s come on the heels of advancing technology that allows employees to be connected around the clock — and workers’ reprioritization of their personal lives accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In some cases, like in Chile and Mexico, the laws only apply to remote workers, but in others, they are universal. 

“It’s a double-edged sword. It’s nice to be able to work and not be at your desk, but then people can always reach you,” Tom Spiggle, an employment lawyer and owner of The Spiggle Law Firm, told HR Dive. 

While a few states and at least one city — including Washington, California and New York City — have considered the right to disconnect, the U.S. doesn’t have any such legislation on the books, Spiggle said. 

“It’s interesting [these laws] haven’t passed in some of these states that are worker-friendly,” Spiggle said. “There isn’t the political will. … If I’m a betting man, these don’t pass, but I could be surprised.” 

That doesn’t mean U.S. workers are completely without protections when it comes to their time. The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that nonexempt, hourly workers be paid overtime if they work more than 40 hours, and the Family and Medical Leave Act prevents employers from contacting workers, for the most part, while they’re on leave. 

A cultural shift

A right to disconnect movement in the U.S. likely will be led by individual organizations, followed by states, Alan King, president and CEO of Workplace Options, a global employee well-being company, told HR Dive. The American system of government, with its confluence of state and federal law, makes it more difficult to pass legislation like this than in other countries, King said. 

“We have so much changed into a society that never shuts off; we’re always connected. I think some form of rules that help structure that is a good thing. I say that, in part, because these are rights to disconnect; they are not forced disconnections. They put the onus on the employer and the individual,” King said. 

Workplace Options has employees in every time zone and, as such, is held to right to disconnect laws around the world. But, instead of changing its policies only in those countries, the company is undergoing an overall cultural shift, King said.

“Ultimately, you have a law that is about the culture of an organization. If an employee feels like they’re going to be penalized for not doing something, that’s about that company’s culture,” King said. 

In response, King’s company is changing its approach to meetings. Whereas before, calls were scheduled at times that were favorable to the majority of employees, they are now slotted for windows where everyone is “equally advantaged or disadvantaged,” King said. And the company is reducing its reliance on meetings. 

“We have way the hell more meetings than we need to. Way more things could be an email or an asynchronous chat that delivers on time,” King said. “When we do have to have those conversations together, we do it at a time that’s as convenient for everyone as possible, Or, if it’s inconvenient, we share the burden of time. … It’s not always on the onus of the employees in a different time zone to bend to you.” 

That means having open communication with workers to figure out solutions together, he explained. Ultimately, it’s about adhering to the spirit of the law and asking employees’ boundaries and for their permission to work in certain situations. 

“This is about how people engage with each other and how you engage with them,” King said. 

Anthony Horton, CEO of Corporate Relocation International, a relocation management company, said the issue “really boils down to setting boundaries in our perpetually connected world.”

“I question whether it is a thing that needs to be legislated since, really, it is us, as leaders of corporations, who need to be listening to the evolving needs of employees and ensuring we understand the impacts” of technology, different work arrangements and evolving standards for employee well-being, Horton told HR Dive via email. “I think responsible companies will do this on their own.” 

Ultimately, leaders who make sure employees feel they have the right to disconnect and that their well-being is prioritized will see a positive impact both on their workers and on their business, Laura Lomelí, a principal executive advisory consultant at BetterUp, a coaching and human transformation company, told HR Dive via email. 

But, she cautions to ensure that right to disconnect policies be tailored to a company or an industry. 

“The underlying premise and motive of the policy should be embraced. Yet, a policy like this should not be viewed as a one-size-fits-all and instead should be customized to the industry and company culture,” Lomelí said.

Headlines indicate a variety of global talent trends: Inflation’s strain on workers’ wallets, their desire for more pay to keep up with the cost of living and the continued impact of AI. Employers and employees also still spar over new work models. 

But, in a webinar cracking open a recent report, Mercer’s Global Talent Advisory Leader Kate Bravery said there’s more uncertainty on the horizon. “But at the same time,” she said, “we've also seen greater convergence in views this year across generations and geographies.”

Mercer’s report — which polled 12,200 HR professionals, as well as executives, employees and investors — identified a few key trends that will shape the future of work.

Artificial intelligence demands different human talent

Many employers polled mentioned looking at AI as a matter of product integration. But generative AI is becoming a part of the fabric of work in general.

Mercer noted 20 priorities for HR leaders in 2024; no. 5 was “Redesigning work to incorporate AI and automation.” This means 40% of HR professionals polled by Mercer have AI workflows on their people agenda. (Also in the top 10 HR pro priorities were enhancing EX, improved health benefits, workforce planning and people analytics.)

In covering the report, Bravery noted the significance of the AI at work conversation. Referencing Mercer’s approach to researching humans in a “machine-augmented world,” Bravery said, “We know that it's humans [who] will effectively unlock AI’s real potential.” 

More than 50% of executives polled by Mercer expressed their belief that their businesses won’t survive past 2030 without “embracing AI at scale.” 

What are gold standard C-suites doing to successfully embrace AI? They prioritize human-centric productivity, foster trust, ensure equitable work practice and lean into a “digitally-infused future,” the report found.

“As risks become more connected and less predictable, [organizations that outpace their competitors] understand that a new level of risk awareness and mitigation is essential to building a ready and resilient workforce,” researchers said in the report.

As new work models emerge, EX should be re-examined

“I don't think you'll be surprised, but HR’s top concerns this year are rising labor costs, and ensuring new work models — flex, gig, short-term work models — are really delivering long-term value,” Bravery said. 

A whopping 98% of employers are planning “work design changes” for 2024. The main goal is to tweak workflow to increase productivity; Mercer identified the concept of fixed roles, flex roles or “agile roles that benefit from skills-based planning and credentialing.”

Hybrid work continued to reign as a key factor in productivity. “While it may seem that employers have finalized return-to-office plans and codified their post-pandemic flexible working policies, in fact 41% are planning further changes this year,” researchers said in the report.

Mercer broke down flexible work into “six dimensions:”

• Where, as in location and infrastructure;
• When, as in hours and scheduling;
• What, as in job content and sharing;
• Who, as in alternative workforce and automation;
• How, as in scaling and technology; and
• Why, as in mission and purpose.

The idea of value was persistent across the webinar. For one, more workers said they were sticking with their employer this year — which is poignant, given that panelists acknowledged the Great Resignation and how it changed the work landscape.

Bravery also highlighted, “More employees shared that their needs are not being met — especially older workers and Gen Z. We've got work to do there.” 

Engagement will be an area that stakeholders “need to watch out for this year,” across the board, Bravery said.