Understanding the Future of Work

By Alec Bashinsky, CHRO, Deloitte

Alec Bashinsky, CHRO, Deloitte

While no one can predict the future, we can certainly do our part to understand where we’re heading and why. And understanding the future of work feels like a particularly relevant, modern day challenge. Technological advancement, the gig economy, and an increasingly overworked population are all contributing to a workplace future that can feel murky.

Understanding the future of work is something Alec Bashinsky has dedicated much of his 30+ year career to. Read on to learn Bashinsky’s perspective on shaping a future work environment we can thrive in, from creating high-performance leaders to effectively guiding organizational change and integrating technology into HR practices.

You’ve been a part of a number of global transformations within HR. What are the common threads of success?

There are probably three common threads of success.

First, you need to make sure the transformation is linked to the business strategy. I see too many HR or talent leaders following the flavor of the month in the industry, rather than systematically creating change with a strong connection to their business strategy.

Second, execute smartly. HR leaders tend to build great strategies and then do the worst thing you could do: fail to execute. They make their transformations too big and don’t chunk it down. They don’t pull together a project plan on how they’ll communicate the change and lead the transformation. The execution piece is critical. Understand the 3-4 elements of a transformation. Plan those and execute on it. You’ll get a lot more impact that way.

Third, the larger the transformation, the more you should consider piloting various aspects across the business. Pilot, build on your success, and then do a phase two.

And a given: you need to have the talent to execute. You can’t do any transformation if you don’t have the team behind you.

What are the four pillars of HR innovation that you see as a focus for the future of work?

First, the future of work is about asking questions like: What are the ways we’ll work in 2020? In 2025? What skill sets will we need? Will we need to work the way we do now? Will we still hire full-time employees? Contractors? What role will artificial intelligence play?

As long as organizations have employees, then bringing the best out of people will continue to be a priority

Second, understand what the leaders of the future look like. What do they value? What type of leaders will Millennials be? Will they want more control? Will they be more cooperative?

Third, recognize that diversity and inclusion — not just gender, but cultural — will apply more and more in the global view. Ask yourself: How does our organization understand and work with different cultures? How do we bring more diversity of thought into our businesses?

The fourth component is specific to HR: human resources teams should think about how to incorporate talent analytics and technology into their working systems. We’re seeing more and more digitization of transactional and administrative HR work. And we’re getting more and more talent data. So, what does it mean? How can HR leaders provide their business with insights on their teams?

The human element is key to creating leaders for the workforce of the future. How do you identify, train, and empower people to lead?

The answer has always been, and will always be, about identifying high potential. As long as organizations have employees, then bringing the best out of people will continue to be a priority. And once you’ve identified employees with high potential, it’s about providing them with opportunities to develop leadership skills.

Leadership isn’t going to disappear. But what we mean by leadership will change. Is it leading a strategy? A team of people? A business? Organizations each define leadership differently — leading a product versus leading a team, for instance. Identify your requirements and then provide your people opportunities to demonstrate those forms of leadership. As you reach the senior level, then focus on the unique development each leader needs to drive your business forward.

Where are you focusing your energy in the next few years?

I’ll stay with the future of work and how workplaces will change.

I’m particularly interested in understanding what good talent data looks like. Technology, pulse surveys, engagement — what does all that mean to us today? Why are we doing engagement surveys? What is the data telling us?

I’m also interested in the concept of ‘well being.’ It was considered a soft measure by everyone in the business. But with an increasingly technologically enabled world, it’s becoming more directly tied to productivity and achieving results.

Employees are finding it harder to maintain high levels of performance and productivity. We see mental health and stress becoming more of an issue. Employees can be on call 24/7. Notifications are on all the time. Our world of work is becoming more ambiguous. Home environments are merging more with the work environment: flexibility, child care, sabbaticals, running your own business on the side. All this stuff puts pressure on the individual.

So the question becomes: how does an organization put together a wellbeing strategy — whether mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual — that allows the employee to stay engaged? The happier and healthier an employee is, the more engaged and product they are at work, at home, and in their community.

This is not about bringing your dogs to work, having table tennis or a restaurant in your office. It’s about being focused on the health of your employees.