Emerging workplace trends to look out for in 2019

The ability to take a step back and look at your strengths and weaknesses as a company brings positive changes and a stronger sense of corporate identity when working towards business goals. With that in mind, an assessment of emerging workplace trends is an excellent starting point for looking back on 2018, in order to refocus.

Company culture is becoming increasingly important to employees, and in order to onboard and retain top talent, corporations are imitating startups. This is just one facet of how rapidly the workplace is changing, and the following list relates specifically to internal communication and office dynamics.

Four overarching categories (recruitment, technology, people, and the office) have been identified and broken down into two major themes, and the goal of this article is what aid in determining to what extent an organizational approach may be justified.

Recruitment

Blind hiring:

We all have unconscious or implicit biases that affect our judgment of others, despite our best intentions. This can be particularly detrimental during the recruitment process if you let stereotypes alter your perceptions of who is considered to be a worthy candidate.

A recent social experiment conducted by the BBC highlights this inequality when a jobseeker with an English-sounding name managed to secure three times more interviews than a Muslim applicant after submitting the exact same CV.

Being overlooked for a position based on demographic factors (such as age, gender or ethnicity) instead of your professional competencies points towards one of the more pervasive problems in the workplace.

Thankfully we’ve woken up to this sort of discrimination in 2019, and are starting to address this behavior by rethinking our approach to hiring using anonymous methods. Blind hiring strips all the personal details out of an application and seeks to focus only on an objective list of skills.

It’s become increasingly popular to redact identifying information before distributing CVs to the hiring manager or get applicants to complete pre-employment tests online before they’re able to come in for a face-to-face interview.

Job crafting:

With the nature of the job market these days, staff are having to assume more flexible roles just to survive. This means upskilling to perform other functions across the organization to supplement their day-to-day responsibilities.

Managers are seeking out more feedback from their employees and involving them in a less formalized discussion centered around co-creating roles and responsibilities in the workplace. This sort of job crafting empowers employees to think about what motivates them at work or what tasks they enjoy doing, and proactively reframe how they fit in your organization.

If you work in a communications department, for instance, you may take it upon yourself to learn how to use specific photo editing software or video recording equipment to add to your repertoire of professionally relevant skills.

No longer are you hired for one specific purpose and forced to stay within the confines of that job description. These days, the initiative is rewarded. As an employee, it’s all about playing to your strengths, and as a manager, it’s up to you to facilitate that process.

Technology

Artificial intelligence:

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been an ongoing trend that looks set to gain even more momentum in the workplace this year, but it’s a bit of a double-edged sword when you think about it.

We’ve seen Facebook chatbots enhance our user experience online by delivering 24/7 customer service and help desk functionality, but we’re also aware of the economic implications for millions of people who will lose their jobs to robotic automation over the next 10–12 years.

Now business leaders are piloting AI programs in HR departments across all sorts of industries. These can speed up recruitment, streamline onboarding processes and conduct performance reviews among other things that would otherwise be too time-consuming or prone to human error.

There seems to be no end to AI’s potential in the workplace. Soon voice-activated personal assistants and self-driving cars will become commonplace, while virtual reality will enable employees to get a whole new perspective of on-site operations.

Despite the affordances of this sort of technology, not everyone is ready for AI so you will need to assess your business capabilities before investing too heavily in this sort of approach.

Gamification:

It’s a well-established fact that on-the-job training is crucial to the professional development and productivity of your workforce.

But in terms of optimizing these sorts of training outcomes, the emphasis has shifted from a traditional classroom model towards more mobile, gamified elements. Employees can now participate in relevant workshops or skill sessions on-the-go through their preferred device.

Successfully completing a module or earning knowledge and engagement points leads to a general feeling of accomplishment for staff, who will then be more inclined to interact with the content again and again.

Simple gamification techniques include incentivizing participation by unlocking new levels or earning badges, videos followed by simple quizzes, or immersive click-through stories with animated graphics and mini situation-based challenges.

This takes an otherwise boring training exercise and makes it fun, with scope for a lot of engagement and creative problem-solving amongst tech-savvy employees.

People

Changing office demographics:

2018 will contend with the unique challenge of multiple generations in the same workforce, as a greater volume of millennials enters the job market and older employees opt for a more gradual retirement, choosing to stay working for longer.

This requires a flexible company structure that is not only aware of but also responsive to, intergenerational differences.

When it comes to working style, for instance, you will see “baby boomers” (born between 1946 and 1964) putting in long hours and having more in-person dialogues compared to their Gen Y colleagues, who place more value on work/life balance and email-driven communication.

Millennials may also require more training as they lack the professional experience of some of their peers, but rest assured they are quick to learn.

This is not to say that just because you are born in a particular year you will exhibit all the same characteristics. Not all millennials fit into the same category, and they can vary based on attitudes and preferences.

A more human approach to business:

People are always quick to comment on the technical changes that should be implemented in business, but can often overlook the importance of cultural changes as well. By this, we mean transforming your approach to transparent leadership and open communication.

Employees are more likely to trust you and feel secure in their work if there is an established dialogue between all levels of management — allowing for a more reciprocal flow of feedback, questions, and criticisms.

This can manifest in a flat organizational hierarchy, where information is relayed from person-to-person irrespective of their level of seniority and is equally apparent as managers are more upfront with their decision-making processes.

As an extension of this, there’s more of an emphasis on social interaction in the workplace. We all know how easy it is to send an instant message via Slack, but these days a lot of us are choosing to pop past a coworkers’ desk to have a conversation instead.

In this way, a quick break incorporates some real “facetime” into the day and means there’s less likely to be inter-departmental misunderstandings. It’s also been scientifically proven to reduce stress and boost our feel-good hormones.

Office

Your workspace layout:

When you think about the coolest workspaces you’ve come across in recent times, they all seem to have a few key things in common. They’re open plan. They’re naturally lit. They’re decluttered and minimalist in design. Often they have the comforts of home — like plants, couches, and a tea room.

There’s something about this sort of environment that is inherently modern and creative. No longer are you forced to spend your days in an isolating and impersonal cubicle?

Our perceptions of an ideal office have fundamentally changed, both in terms of employee expectations and managerial priorities.

These days, the ability to bounce ideas off one another and learn from their expertise in a collaborative space is considered the more productive way to work, but there are always dispensations that need to be made for meeting rooms and more quiet areas to focus.

Wellness programs:

Recognizing how the quality of life outside of work affects job performance has triggered a shift in focus to ensure staff is happy and not overworked.

A number of studies suggest a link between long hours spent behind a desk and increased risk of health complications, including coronary heart disease, depression, and type two diabetes.

By allowing staff adequate breaks during the day and encouraging them to switch off at night (unless there’s an important deadline), you are showing you recognize the importance of their physical and mental health long term.

Similarly, helping staff to juggle competing for personal and professional responsibilities will increase your levels of workplace engagement while ensuring there are less stress-related “burnouts” affecting your bottom line.

Recognize the warning signs early. If staff seem to have a shorter temper than usual or start sending emails late at night with no explanation, it could be time to intervene. Set aside time for a one-on-one chat and ask them how they’re feeling. How could you as a manager support them better?

You also need to lead by example, so make sure you set aside time for yourself. Setting unrealistic work expectations is not helpful for anyone.

Remember presenteeism doesn’t equal productivity, so establish some rules that mean if staff finish their tasks, they don’t need to sit at their desks until 5 o’clock to leave…

Author: Chiara Costa

Digital Marketing and SEO Manager with a background in International Relations and Marketing. Chiara is Italian and moved to Denmark around 8 years ago. Now, she lives in Copenhagen, where she works in the Marketing Department of the AI company Valuer.ai.