1. More work, more flexibility. For some of us, the holidays are already a distant memory and the year ahead looks busier than ever. Studies have shown we work 47 hours per week, though many may feel that is a conservative estimate. A recent study found that 64 percent of managers expect their employees to be available outside work. Although there continues to be encouraging trends toward flexible workplaces, many employees might relate to Oliver Burkeman’s suggestion that nobody cares how hard you work. We believe that employers and customers are only interested in whether we do a job quickly and well. Burkeman’s research finds that in reality they are more interested if we wore ourselves out for them.
2. Distributed workplaces need distributed leadership. Our models of organization, leadership, and leadership development need to evolve to align with the reality of the distributed workplace. Both the Center for Creative Leadership and recent research have suggested that leadership practices need to be more collaborative, open, and decentralized to align with changes in work and technology. The Association for Talent Development in the United States has noted that most models of talent development are still Taylorist in their approach—standardized and content focused.
3. More stress. More than half of workers feel burned out. The cost of workplace stress is estimated at more than $10 billion dollars a year to Australian businesses. Studies have shown that the developing culture of constantly being available for work and checking emails can be a toxic source of stress.
4. More automation. From caps that monitor your brain waves and warn when you are falling asleep to robots who can now teach themselves on YouTube videos, the march of automation in the workplace is set to continue in 2016.
