The last year of the decade was a momentous one, especially when it came to the workplace issues we cover regularly on the blog. I’m talking about culture, engagement, employee experience, and collaboration.
To recap: we saw how technology and people-centric ways of working drove the discussion, and charted a course for building more cohesive, collaborative organizations. We saw the continued importance of a positive employee experience, providing the foundations for a more engaged workforce. And then there was organizational awareness, a concept of increasing importance for employees and employers alike.
But hindsight is 20-20, right? It’s a new decade, and that means there’s going to be new possibilities, voices, and stories that will drive the discussion and move us towards better workplaces. Let’s see what a few of the workplace trends are going to be in 2020.
Workplace trends to look out for in 2020
1) Diversity and inclusion
Perhaps one of the defining movements of the 2010s, the fight for diversity and inclusion in the workplace is going to be of much greater importance in the 2020s, especially for HR professionals.
If you haven’t been following the discussion, diversity and inclusion aren’t just about fair and equal representation in the workplace. It’s also about encouraging a working environment where difference—between races, genders, sexual orientations, ages, religions, disabilities, and ethnicities—is celebrated as part of the process that leads to true innovation.
This means not only hiring diversely, but also setting up programs and processes that ensure all voices are heard and play a prominent role in the business. It’s also just good business sense. According to the Globe and Mail, “more diverse and inclusive organizations outperform their competitors in innovation and economic performance.”
2) Simplicity
We talked about this briefly last year, but it bears repeating: workplaces have gotten too complicated. People feel fragmented, isolated from each other, and detached from their organization. It’s a result of information overload and silos, plus an aversion to collaboration.
Finding a way to simplify working life for people means cutting through the confusion of complex organizations, finding room to focus, forming bonds with colleagues, and aligning people with the mission they’re all a part of.
You’ll be hearing more about this from us in the coming year, but keep an eye out for ways to streamline your working life and clean up the clutter of complex organizations.
3) Full-time remote workers
I know, I know. Remote work isn’t a new concept; in fact, most companies nowadays have a remote work policy in place. But there’s a difference between an employee working from home one day a week and working remotely full-time.
In 2020 and beyond, employing full-time remote workers won’t be unusual at all. Video chat technology has made remote meetings easier than ever, plus phones exist, so there’s no reason it can’t be done in this day and age.
But full-time remote work also creates some issues for managers, specifically around scheduling and making sure remote workers feel included.
Jon Evans of TechCrunch explains: “If [your people] are remote, you need decisive confidence, clear direction, iterative targets, independent responsibilities, asynchronous communications, and cheerful chatter.” In other words, your remote workers are relying on you (and the technology that connects you to them) to clearly convey information as it pertains to their role.
Conclusion
We’re going to be covering these three topics in particular, but expect more (much more) content from us over the course of 2020. We’ve got a lot planned for you, so stay tuned!
