As part of our HR 2025 Series, Paulette McCormack, (CAHRI, MER, MHRM) Founder and Owner of Fresh HR Insights Pty Ltd believes the world of work will continue to shift and adapt. She believes it will fill the void created between commerce and human ambition.
Our global economy is always adapting and changing.
Today there is a push for more agile teamwork environments. The “agile manifesto” namely implements technology with agility.
Job titles such as remote, business partner, contractor, and consultant are on the rise now.
In the future, we could see a seismic shift in these types of positions. This is especially true for jobs working around interconnected technology like the Internet of Things (IoT). This will eventually become the Internet of Everything (IoE).
Some work will appear as specific task-oriented jobs. However, this should not be confused with actual jobs paying consistent rates and offering benefits.
Robots will likely replace many technical jobs of today
Specialists with emotional intelligence will win the day in the economy of the future.
Tasks that aren’t easy to automate will be in demand. Creative artists of various kinds, sales and to some extent, marketing people, coaches, agents, customer service people; these are jobs of the future.
But all workers will have to embrace and engage in lifelong learning and training.
Technology will change the way that work gets done today and in the foreseeable future.
Over the next few years, jobs could be using supercomputers with significantly faster processing speeds. These together with interconnected devices will power an immense global Internet of Everything (IoE) economy.
A multi-trillion-dollar data revolution will embrace an economy of instantaneous insights.
It’s hard to predict what Biometric sensing, Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), machine learning, AI, Augmented and Virtual Reality, and Blockchain will bring to fore.
But the same interconnected technology powering commerce will reduce the number of skilled positions available. And while there is a promise of creating new and unique opportunities, so far there has been more job losses than job creation in these fields.
Remuneration, reward and recognition in work
This has always been a tricky subject and will undoubtedly remain so into 2025.
Our current legislative, societal and economic climate is tumultuous. Continued disruption only causes unease. This translates into various changes in base pay, variable pay, pensions and benefit estimation.
Thankfully, there are pay equity systems in place. These set and try to even out the gender bias when it comes to equal pay for equal work.
In Australia, for example, all present and future reward decisions have been predicted based on national living wage, gender pay reporting, pensions and changes to annual allowances.
Further confusion exists when we consider the push for more flexible work environments, accurate living wage estimations and potentially confusing agile workflows and team dynamics.
Going forward benefits packages and flexibility will develop exponentially. Employees will seek out a more personalized, technology-driven, recognition experience.
The lost art of conversation
What makes me nervous is what will be missing from the world in 2025 and may have the greatest impact: The “H” in Human Resource Management.
Personal connections and conversations are being replaced by technology. One day we may forget the art of conversations.
It’s foolish to say that there is nothing but gloom as there is a lot of excitement in the world ahead. But, what we lose in connection may far outweigh and advancement in technology. A space to watch.
