2017 Trends: 7 Biggest Changes Coming to the Workplace
by Marcus Varner
Talk of 2017 trends is rolling in fast and furious, and the workplace is no exception.
With a new year upon us, experts on workplace trends are turning out their own lists of prognostications for 2017. If these watchmen are to be believed, the workplace will be changing this year in some big ways and some not-so-big ways. But they all point to a future workplace where the merging of technology and employee engagement (not gimmicks) make the difference between success and failure.
Here are seven of the biggest changes coming to the workplace of 2017, according to the some of the world’s top thought workplace thought leaders:
1. Work management without borders
“The blended workforce is on the rise. In the past five years, the gig economy has become a major trend impacting the global workforce, and has created a new kind of diversity, with full-time permanent employees working side-by-side with freelancers...With many freelancers working at remote offices, the ability to manage without borders is going to become a critical skills globally.”
—Dan Schawbel, Partner and Research Director, Future Workplace
2. The line between work and personal life will continue to blur
"We have a lot more technology at our fingertips allowing us to be far more contactable than we've ever been before, and we need to see this as a positive, not a negative."
—Vanessa Bennett, Founder and Coach, Next Evolution Performance
3. Collaboration will only become more important
“There is increased emphasis on teamwork over individual brilliance...Companies realise that no single individual can keep herself abreast of developments at work and hence encourage people to form high performance teams. At the same time, these teams are built and dismantled continuously to solve evolving challenges.”
—Devashish Chakravarty, Writer, The Economic Times
4. Automation will go big
"The jobs that will be most affected by automation are routine jobs that need to be done the same way and that don’t require much flexibility or much creative judgment."
—Andrew Chamberlain, Chief Economist, Glassdoor
5. Companies will have to get better at recognition
“The surprise here is that companies need to make this more of a strategic priority than they are — and make sure the C-suite is involved. We also know that recognition drives engagement, but only one in three U.S. workers in a recent Gallup study reported being recognized during the course of a week...But in this new era of transparent employer brands, a workplace that overlooks employee recognition stands to lose out in terms of attracting talent, let alone keeping it.”
—Meghan Biro, Writer, Digitalist Magazine
6. Leaders will focus on happiness through performance
"Leaders need to know how to coach their team to not only take care of themselves but work smarter, not harder, and that largely comes from leading by example.”
—Vanessa Bennett, Founder and Coach, Next Evolution Performance
7. Performance will get more data-driven
“Technology will enable organizations to look more closely into the workforce data they already capture – i.e. people data – to make better employee and business decisions that solve challenges related to turnover, retention, engagement, customer and patient satisfaction, and productivity.”
—The Workforce Institute, Kronos
So what trends do you see coming to the workplace in 2017? Are these thought leaders missing anything? Let us know in the comments below!