Future of work – 2024 Balancing priorities in an AI-driven world

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The 2024 edition of the report covers the Future of Jobs – how technology and automation are changing existing job roles and creating new roles, and therefore, the existing skills available today may no longer be sufficient. This calls for reskilling of employees @scale, a lifelong journey that will evolve as newer technologies/advancements emerge. Organizations and their HR leaders will need to ready their systems and processes to be extremely dynamic and agile to respond to these changes. The Future of Workforce section analyses workforce dynamics – the multi-generational workforce, the impact of the Gig economy on team structures & roles. It covers what goes into shaping an ideal job from the perspective of the employer and the employees and highlights the mismatches. The Future of Workspace section focuses on location strategy, showcases how companies are making work-in-office an attractive proposition and the importance of ESG initiatives as an anchor to attract and retain relevant talent. In the final section, the report proposes a change management framework – balancing employee expectations,organizational goals, HR priorities, and leadership priorities.

Key Highlights

   Key shifts compared 2023

   Future of Jobs

• 1.6X increase in demand for AI led job families, with cybersecurity replacing cloud at the second spot
• HR leaders consider Learning Attitude as one of the most essential skills, while for the current and future workforce,identifying the right skills to learn and applying the irlearning to real-world projects are the most important asks.
• Use of Gen AI tools has increased over the last year, with this technology breaking out from the proof-of-concept stage and seeing increasing commercial applications.
• Average time spent in office has increased by 1.2Xdue to effective return to work initiatives.

Future of Workforce

• Share of Gen Z continues to rise while the tech savvy GenAlpha will join workforce sooner than past generations.
• Learning and Growth continues to lead as the top selection criteria for an organisation, while Brand Value gained prominence as the second most important criteria.
• Job satisfaction takes prevalence over job security as the top priority for staying with an organisation across Millennials, with Gen Z continuing to value career growth as the top criteria.
• Job stickiness improves across all employee categories.
• HR priorities largely aligned with workforce requirements;however, there is need to increase focus on health and wellness, and compensation.

Future of Workplace

• Interest in office space expansion continues.
• Though focus on emerging cities continues, location strategy is not definitive this year due to inconsistent demand environments.
• 1.5X growth in the share of organizations opting to lease new offices
• Flexible workspaces remodeled as per workforce requirements and more space for fun and recreation have become a key focus in office designing.

Approach for a successful Employee Value Proposition

• 3 As to design your EVP – Attractive, Aligned,Adaptive
• F.O.R.C.E. – Framework for a“people-centric” EVP
• • Flexibility; Open Communication; Respect and recognition, Common Purpose; Employee learning and growth
• Leadership also needs to L.E.A.R.N
• • Lead by example; Empower employees; Allow for experimentation; Respect and trust employees; Nurture future leaders