Among the trends that have affected workers' psychology over the past decade, two stand out:
1. The accelerating pace of change in the way work gets done.
Digital technology has fundamentally altered the tools employees use, where they work, how they collaborate and how they are organized.
2. A slow and often painful recovery from the worst economic downturn in living memory.
The devastating crisis that few saw coming left political and social fault lines across the world, which we are still grappling with a decade later.
Those two developments have produced an eagerness among business leaders to anticipate the elements that may affect workforces over the next decade.
"The future of work" has become a hot topic and is the focus of hundreds of recent books, articles and conferences.
The resulting dialogue has made valuable contributions toward our understanding in certain areas, such as the ramifications of artificial intelligence (AI) and the trend toward contingent and independent workers.
But it has been less focused on how these factors affect the psychological needs of employees -- and those needs will define what the real future of work will look like, as organizations restructure to account for new technologies and shifting markets.
Leaders need to know more about how employees will respond to the demands of emerging business realities -- and how corporate strategies should adapt accordingly.
Gallup recently studied workplaces in four of the largest European economies to understand the current state of work and anticipate important future challenges.
Our aim with The Real Future of Work is to:
- bring concise, actionable advice based on the attitudes and behaviors of employees in key economies across the world
- help organizations address the complex issues arising due to disruptive global forces
Introducing The Real Future of Work Magazine
How are outdated performance management practices holding your people analytics strategies back? Why do your employees need more opportunities to learn and grow? Why are great managers more important than ever?
Read the answers to these questions and more in our Performance issue.
