Page 31 - EngineerIt January 2021

OPINION

Productivity, employee experience

and serendipity: 2021 future of

work predictions

Kristine Dahl Steidel, Vice President EUC EMEA, VMware with Dr Carl Benedikt Frey, Director of the Future of Work
Programme, Oxford University

nquestionably, 2020 has been the year of change. greater degree of trust between them and their employers.
We’ve changed how we work, where we work, when Are they hitting their KPIs and being responsive to clients and
Uwe work, and even to some extent why we work. co-workers? If the answer is yes, it doesn’t matter how they’re
And it’s happened at a pace few would ever have imagined. structuring their day.
This has given rise to the ‘distributed anywhere’ workforce, We’ve already seen hints of this change, with research
with early signs from organisations globally that it could from Accenture in 2019 finding that workplace surveillance
be permanent. tools that only often measure input, such as keystrokes from a
As businesses begin to prepare for what the workforce of distance, damaged employee trust. So, for 2021 we expect
the future looks like, can we learn anything from the past year we will see a significant move towards assessing
to inform future plans? I recently spoke to Dr Carl Benedikt performance, not based on what an employee is seen to be
Frey, Director, Future of Work Programme at the University of doing but establishing an environment of mutual trust where
Oxford, about the biggest workforce trends to look out for in employees are assessed on their achievements.
2021. Here are some of our mutual observations:
Prediction #2: The battle for talent will continue
Prediction #1: Employee productivity to heat up
measurement will shift from inputs to outputs
“Businesses are always in competition, not just in the product
According to Dr Frey: “There’ll be no more brownie points market but also in the labour market. When location is less of
for just showing up to the office and putting in the hours. a constraint, the talent pool grows and employers have the
We’re going to see less focus on input, more focus on potential to recruit from anywhere with an internet connection”
output. In 2021 we’re going to see this change in mindset adds Dr Frey.
accelerating. Innovative, competitive organisations are going
to move to a measure of outputs and deliverables, rather When organisations have a distributed workforce, geography
than mere presenteeism”. is no longer limiting. Instead, businesses hire based on skill
sets and attributes. That’s something we found when
For too long managers have been trusting inputs, such as surveying EMEA business leaders, with 82% stating that
time spent in the office, rather than outputs, such as remote work has helped recruit candidates living outside of
deliverables, when overseeing teams. The rise of a more major economic hubs. Indeed, when businesses can hire the
distributed workforce model, where employees have greater best talent from anywhere in the world, the pool of candidates
freedom to work in multiple different locations - be it the becomes much broader, hence it being vital to make sure they
home, the office or a café - I see as being with us for the can offer an attractive package.
foreseeable future. Gone are the days of looking out to a In the global war for talent, being able to offer a truly
group of employees working late in the office to judge digital-first employee experience - giving access to the
productivity and dedication. But don’t just take my word for devices and applications they need, that can be used on any
it, Netflix have subscribed to this outlook for a while, with device from any location - will be stressed with equal, if not
CEO Reed Hastings writing: "Today, in the information age, more importance than more traditional factors such as salary
what matters is what you achieve, not how many hours you and benefits.
clock. I have never paid attention to how many hours people Organisations looking to be more competitive in the global
are working…” labour market and grow in difficult circumstances will need to
For employees this really is a seismic change and a real make sure they’re investing in the right technologies and
opportunity, offering greater work flexibility and encouraging a practices – such as giving employees the flexibility to use

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