5 Future of Work Trends for 2023: Talent is Evolving, Management Needs to Adapt

As we watch the career landscape shift before our eyes, we have to stay on top of how work itself is changing. Why? If you want to be able to take advantage of new opportunities instead of being left behind, you have to consider what the future of work holds. So I wanted to share the five trends that I see shaping the future of work, changes that I think will fundamentally change the way we work, hire, and manage for the foreseeable future.

Trend 1: Flexibility and agility are required.

Flexibility and agility are no longer an advantage — they are prerequisites for success.

Where and when we work, what we work on, how we work, who we work for, and even who we are individually will continue to shift amidst the unrelenting pace of change. So we have to lean into the change; succeeding in this new world of work will require fluidity and a willingness to learn, for both organizations and individuals. This is going to be a difficult transition for a lot of legacy institutions, but workplace flexibility is one of the strongest motivators for staying with a company.

Trend 2: Employees will expect the ability to express their whole selves at work — and managers are going to need some support.

Gartner research says that 82% of employees believe it’s important that their organizations see them as a whole person, not just an employee, but only 45% of people feel their organization does see them as a whole person. This will require intentionally aligning shared goals, value, and purpose — and, critically, communicating that alignment to people.

This is going to put a lot of pressure on managers, as they are ultimately going to be the people interacting directly with employees on behalf of the organization. Some managers may need support in developing new skills and all managers will need to be empowered to facilitate people-company fit.

Trend 3: Talent is getting redefined.

Organizations are rethinking the traditional requirements that are needed for a position to truly get the work done and done well — and some of the largest organizations are signaling they plan to replace jobs with AI. 

Not every role requires a full-time employee, and the best person to fill a role may not be seeking full-time employment at all, with 36% of the U.S. workforce currently working independently. McKinsey released an analysis last year that identified five distinct talent pools, many with different motivations than they had in pre-pandemic life.

Most of the respondents prioritized workplace flexibility, but there was a lot of variation in the importance of mental health support, meaningful work, and career achievement. “These differences show that no single solution is going to attract enough people to fill all the job openings and retain a productive workforce,” McKinsey shares.

Aptitude over direct ‘check the box’ experience will be needed to adjust and adapt to the pace of technological and economic change. Hiring managers will need to be able to identify who has the potential to step into a role because they have the breadth of experience, skills, interests, and/or capabilities to fill in the gaps.

This is also going to shape what careers look like. Many of us are already choosing to create these career mashups as an extension of expressing our whole selves, but more still will have to figure out what this looks like for them as industries transform and some roles simply cease to exist.

Trend 4: Relationship development and soft skills matter more than ever.

With some being in the office, some being remote, people in different time zones, and team members on different schedules, knowing how to communicate with, lead, and build a connected team in a hybrid world will be key for leaders and workers alike.

Further, for companies to create the right culture and perform at their best, workers will have to be able to build compelling relationships across all levels and functions to truly thrive. Managers will also need to guide their employees in learning how to identify and build the right stakeholder relationships so their own team can gain momentum.

Trend 5: Workers redefine success.

With people still coping with the turbulence of the last few years, and more turbulence likely on the horizon, we will continue to see people prioritizing wanting to be better, do better, and find balance vs. traditional metrics of career success. 

The greater pursuit of well-being, purpose, and ultimately finding happiness and contentment will be on the forefront of people’s minds as they consider where and how they want to work.

This is, again, an area where good managers will really be able to make a difference by tapping into the Voice of the Workforce — the best places to work will be the organizations that understand what people want on an individual level and communicate how working with the organization will further their personal and career goals. And who is going to have to do that? Managers! 

But this process is new for most of us. Many of us never really thought about what success means...We just kind of accepted the definition of success that our parents provided to us. And I think that’s contributing to a lot of unhappiness, which is probably why almost everyone is planning to look for a new job in 2023, according to a survey from Monster.com. And this is in spite of the fact that 66% of the survey respondents acknowledge that it will be difficult to find a new job given the state of the economy.

We’re all navigating and co-creating the future of work together, and we have a unique opportunity to transform our organizations into places people actually want to work with if we just listen to the Voice of the Workforce. If you’re interested in exploring how you can engage, develop, attract, and retain your talent by understanding what workers really want, I’d love to talk with you. 

This article was originally published as a column at https://www.ssonetwork.com/human-resources/columns/5-future-of-work-trends-for-2023-talent-is-evolving-management-needs-to-adapt.