Technology opens up opportunities to work in new ways and redefines the relationship we share with our workplaces. Ever since the pandemic struck us in 2020, technology has played a vital role in ensuring that our businesses are least affected by the changing scenarios and that employees are able to work even without coming to the physical workplaces.

In 2022, the pandemic would still influence the way we work and run our businesses. However, the trends have grown a lot in the last two years and will probably evolve even more in the years to come. In this article, we will discuss some noteworthy future of work trends in 2022.

Hybrid Working  

As all of us know by now, the hybrid working model offers multiple benefits like flexibility, control, and a healthy work-life balance. With more and more employees being happy about the increased freedom, the trend of hybrid working is here to stay.

Hybrid working structures may range from companies limiting their centralized office space to organizations depending solely on co-working spaces instead of keeping their own offices active.

Organizations are rethinking and redesigning their relationship with their workplaces and paying more attention to their employees’ choices for making decisions. In 2022, we can expect employees to have the privilege of choice for themselves rather than being stuck with whatever option is imposed on them by their companies.

AI-Augmented Workforce

An AI-augmented workforce is one of the most foreseeable trends of 2022, especially since the World Economic Forum stated that 97 million new roles may emerge due to automation by 2025. These jobs will be more adapted to the new division of labor between machines, humans, and algorithms.

Automation in repetitive elements will significantly benefit organizations and free up a lot of time of their human workforce to focus on activities pertaining to imagination, revenue generation, emotional intelligence, strategy, and creativity.

The emergence of an AI-augmented workforce for the implementation of automation can be expected to be seen in multiple industries, ranging from marketing to retail to law. The increased access to technology will help employees perform optimally and save themselves from redundant tasks.

Focus on Employee Health & Wellbeing

Focus on employee health and wellbeing is a trend that surfaced in 2021. However, as we move towards 2022, this trend can be expected to find more stable ground and become inclusive of different health parameters like mental health, physical health, and financial wellbeing.

We can expect employers to focus more on their workforce’s health and responsibly make more efforts to ensure their wellbeing. This trend can be combined with organizations’ intention to staff for resilience, as ensuring a healthy workforce is a critical element of resilience.

In the last year, we have witnessed several initiatives that employers have taken to deal with the mental health aspect of their workforce’s wellbeing. From providing more working flexibility to offering free therapy, organizations have implemented strategies to help employees maintain their mental health. In 2022, we can expect employers to focus on their workforce’s physical health just as much because several employees have deferred their physical medical care due to Covid-19.

Focus on Inclusivity

In 2022, we can expect to witness the growth of purpose-led organizations that will harness the collaborative power of diverse teams to bring exceptional results. Inclusive and diverse teams indulge in better problem solving and are more innovative. Due to these benefits, we saw several companies renewing their focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I).

While companies have begun to shift their focus on DE&I, their initiatives will grow in strength, effectiveness, and robustness in 2022. These initiatives may include:

  • Recruiting and developing inclusive leaders at every level in the organizational hierarchy.
  • Re-examining structures, policies, procedures, and algorithms to eradicate systemic biases.
  • Holding leaders accountable
  • Deploying diverse-by-design teams in departments such as marketing, customer services, research, and development, to boost collective intelligence and problem-solving.

CONCLUSION

Driven by necessity and concerns for safety, a significant chunk of our procedures has transformed in the business world. The pandemic has made businesses shift to new ways of working entirely, and this change is something that organizations all across the globe have gone through. Since 2020, trends related to workforce transformations and workplaces have evolved much more rapidly than expected. Leaders have been trying to find common ground that’s comfortable for themselves as well as their employees.

Owing to the growth in the stability of businesses in 2021, we can expect technology to play a crucial role in shaping the future of work trends of 2022. By keeping the aforementioned.