5 future trends of post-pandemic work

In the past few months, the Covid-19 pandemic has altered almost every aspect of people’s personal and professional lives. In the coming months, the trend is for the disease to continue to interrupt and transform work routines. But, how will future of post-pandemic work? We will continue on modus operandis before the virus or will we keep some practices adopted during isolation?

In this article, we will analyze the five main trends of the future of work after social isolation:

• Flexibility of organizations
• Remote work
• Expansion of freelance work
• Lifelong Learning
• More humane organizations

What will the future of post-pandemic work look like?

As the pandemic has redefined key work trends, HR needs to rethink the strategies for planning, management, performance and experience of the workforce and employees.

In this context, it is critical for business leaders to understand that changes are transforming the way people work and how business is done. Whoever responds effectively will ensure that your organization stands out from the competition.

Of the five trends in the future of work, some represent accelerations of changes that already exist, while others are the consequences of social isolation. Check out:

Flexibility of organizations

Organizations and even Brazilian labor law had to be flexible in the face of the challenges imposed by the pandemic.

The trend is for flexible work options to increase employee productivity while meeting health and safety requirements in the workplace.

Whether with full home office, partial home office, flexible hours or even reduced working hours, the fact is that companies will need to adapt rules, which will bring gains for all sides.

In New Zealand, for example, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern plans to reduce working days from five to four, as announced by a BBC report. It is worth noting that Jacinda is recognized as one of the policies that best led her nation during the covid-19 crisis.

Increased remote work

A recent survey by Gartner showed that 48% of employees will work remotely at least part of the time after quarantine. The previous rate was 30%. This places remote work as one of the trends of the future of post-pandemic work.

Even before the crisis, many companies were betting on the home office and were reaping the rewards. THE ConnectSolutions report pointed out that 24% of remote employees admitted that the home office allowed them to perform more tasks at the same time compared to working in the office.

In view of productivity gains and improvements in the quality of life of employees, this trend will continue. Many companies have even announced that their teams will remain remote for an indefinite period.

Expansion of outsourced work

The economic uncertainty of the pandemic has caused many workers to lose their jobs. Added to this, technological innovation and new work tools.

These changes have shaped new generations of professionals who, instead of waiting for the market to offer them an answer, seek the freelance hiring model. Thus, what was just a “beak” became a form of lasting work.

The trend is that the informality and speed of autonomous service, especially in the areas of communication and technology, are increasingly targeted by companies and professionals.

Lifelong Learning

Gone are the days when only a high school or university diploma was sufficient to remain active in the market until retirement. The future of post-pandemic work no longer includes people who do not recycle knowledge.

Professionals who stopped in time were taken by surprise and had to adapt to the new digital reality.

The fact is that lifelong learning – that is, constant learning – is a trend that already existed, but which became even more relevant with the pandemic.

More humanized employee experience

While some organizations recognize the crisis and prioritize the well-being of employees, others pressure their employees to work in high-risk conditions.

Relations between individual and organization, as well as between organization and society, should be increasingly targeted. After all, the way companies treat their employees has more impact on the employer and consumer brand than high investments in Marketing.

Given this approach, it is essential that companies observe the individual, not the collective. As noted, Covid-19 reinforced the belief that human concerns are not separate from technological advances, but are essential to capture the full value of innovations.

Want to compare pre- and post-pandemic trends? So, take a look at the material we prepared at the beginning of the year with the HR trends for 2020.