In a previous post, we looked at a few workplace culture predictions you should be prepared for by the time 2030 rolls around.
tumsasedgars / iStock / Getty Images Plus
We noted that while it’s common to predict business trends for the coming year around December or January, something as monolithic as company culture may very well need a 10-year horizon for changes to be observed.
In our first post, we reviewed the first of five predictions: Teams will be more diverse and inclusive than ever. Here, we’ll look at two more.
Being an Effective Communicator Is Going to Be Tougher
It’s hard to find employees and leaders with great communication skills. In addition, the ways our workplaces are set up arguably don’t lend themselves to effective communication. Some experts predict that 10 years from now, the communication skills gap will have widened to an even greater degree. Why? Because of technology!
“In addition to voice, text, and video, advances in virtual reality (VR) will change the way people meet and interact, and being an effective communicator is going to include mastering various media,” predicts Fast Company contributor Gwen Moran.
The Trust Factor Will Be Trickier
Technology also will make an impact in other ways. As artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) become more predominant, employers will be armed with a vast amount of data “about employees, productivity, and work patterns,” says Moran.
Those data will be useful to employers, as they’ll be able to identify areas where productivity is lagging and find opportunities to develop employees’ performance.
However, this advanced technology is likely to raise concerns about privacy. We’re already seeing consumers becoming increasingly aware of how their personal data are being used—and misused.
Those same concerns extend to employees and are likely to increase. People don’t want to think someone knows too much about them or what they’re doing on a regular basis. As technology continues to evolve and be adopted, there will be increasing worries over how personal information is used.
It’s hard to tell what the future will hold, but businesses that are successful at identifying and capitalizing on developing trends have a distinct advantage over competitors.
In our last post on this subject, we’ll look at two more predictions on how work culture will change by 2030.