Today’s and the forthcoming century’s trends of work and doing business are considerably different from those of the past and these continuing changes are still influencing careers and job markets. The future of work can be described as a promising idea that tend to introduce more innovation,flexibility and work productivity. To anyone who is interested in beginning or changing a career in the twenty-first century, it is essential to recognise the trends and directions that are expected in the career field. In this article, we will discuss five big trends that are already changing the world of work today and what it may look like tomorrow.
1. Rise of Remote Work
Due to fast growth in technology coupled with the availability of communication mediums remote work is set to rise further in the next few years. Telecommuting is break from the conventional organizational structure of working environment in that people attend to their work tasks from different settings other than the physical office while on transit or from home.
The tendency of remote work is spurred by the tendencies that startups and freelancers dominate present working environment; the tendencies that millennials are willing to work and travel but not keen to work 9 to 5 in the office. Since the introduction of technology into the work settings, remote working is increasingly being practiced within organizations.
2. Automation and Artificial Intelligence
This brings me to the topic of automation and artificial intelligence as another characteristic feature of future work. These technologies are fast evolving and the business world is embracing the use of these technologie in order to improve on efficiency as well as effect Reduce costs. AI is projected to cause disruptive effect across the job market, in a way that imply that some jobs will become redundant while others are likely to emerge, requiring completely different skills and qualifications.
Automation and AI, for instance, reduce the cycle time and errors for some recurrent tasks so that people can advance to other productive tasks that require ingenuity. Moreover, AI can help with decisions, operate and minimize human participation. While these technologies will advance, it is important for business and professions to apply knowledge for working with machines and robots.
3. Emphasis on Soft Skills
In today’s constantly changing job world and concerning increases in the adoption of technology in the workplace, employers tend to place a lot of value on interpersonal skills including interpersonal communication and problem solving, thinking outside the box, flexibility, and self-regulation. While technical knowledge, which represent a specific set of skills related to the accomplishment of a certain profession or trade, will continue to be an important criterion, the emphasis is put more and more on the people skills, which are necessary due to current global trends in the world of work wherein professionals are required to work in teams of one or another kind, lead people, manage projects, and make decisions.
One of the biggest reporting of the World Economic Forum is that the soft skills will become the one of the top three skills the employee will be expected to possess in the future, and that makes them a good business skill to have acquired. Some of these forms of soft skills if cultivated and developed will help the proponents to effectively compete for any opportunities in the future work space.
4. Increased Importance of Lifelong Learning
The nature of work in the future is that talent will need to gain and regain the skills constantly in their career paths in order to be employable. It implies that professionals accept to go for more learning hence accepting that they will need to gain knowledge all the times so that they can deal with the difficult job market.
As a result of the introduction of automation and AI technology there may be jobs that get left behind and not relevant anymore, on the other hand, there are new roles that are relevant to the use of the mentioned technologies. To achieve this professionals must be willing to spend a few of their own dollars taking a course or workshop or pursuing a higher degree. Companies can support this self actualization through training and development, promoting learning and knowledge acquisition and the flexibility of working environment.
5. Rise of Gig Economy
Freelance, contract, and part-time work has become more popular in the recent past and has the potential increase in the coming years. The growth of the gig economy is attributed to the growth in the number of start-ups, the proliferation of e-commerce and digital platform that enable recognition and matching of freelancers and customers.
The gig economy gives workers the freedom that is not found in more conventional employment as freelancers select jobs, determine wages, and operate from home. This has attracted a growing community of professionals particularly the millennials who are looking for that flexible job that gives them control of their work schedules.
Conclusion
Some of the main trends which define the future of work are as follows which are also transforming the world of work at the present time. Some more trends have positively affected careers in the 21st century; flexible working arrangements, the introduction and application of innovative technologies and advanced tools such as Remote work, automation, and AI existence, value of soft skills, ongoing learning and training, the formation of a gig economy.
These professionals must be aware of such trends they so that when the time come, they will be able to adapt to changes which are likely to happen in the field of work where they work in future. Embracing the culture of flexibility, embracing innovation and being willing to learn more will play important roles in determining who will make it into the future workplace.
