The Future of Work
The Future of Work is a term that seems to be used a lot recently. But have you ever wondered what it actually means?
The obvious part is it refers to what work is going to look like in the future. The nuts and bolts is that it covers everything from the kind of people you employ, how work gets done, where it gets done, and the experience people have while at work.
While nobody knows exactly what the future of work is going to look like, the rapid changes we’ve experienced over the past few years means we know what some of the challenges and opportunities will be.
To find out more we sat down with Ben Hamer, Head of Future of Work at PwC Australia. Ben drives the firm's Thought Leadership Agenda on the Future of Work and provides subject matter expertise to clients. He’s got a Doctorate of Public Administration, is an Adjunct Fellow with the Centre for the New Workforce at Swinburne University, and an AHRI Board Member. Prior to his role at PwC, Ben held a range of executive workforce planning positions across the APS and NSW State Government, giving him great perspective on what the Future of Work means for us in the APS.
We spoke to Ben about the three major workforce trends currently impacting the Australian market.
Automation and Technology
Over the last 10 years there has been a 200% increase in the demand for digital skills, according to research undertaken by PwC. “This demand has influenced our mindset with one in 3 Australians reporting they think their job won’t exist in 5 years. PwC’s prediction is more like 5% of jobs will no longer exist by 2030. Most jobs will still be around, but the way people do the job will be different,” Ben explains.
It’s unlikely artificial intelligence (AI) will replace HR Professionals in the future, but HR Professionals who can use AI may replace those who can’t. The goal shouldn’t be to replicate the skills that robots have, like processing or sourcing information, but that we should value complementary skills around teamwork, empathy, and collaboration. As we automate and embrace technology more, it will increase the value of those unique human skills that robots will never have.
Changing demographics in the workforce
We now have 5 different generations in the workforce with the fastest growing age demographic being those 65 years and over. Ben says that means we need to “think about a ‘One size fits nobody’ approach. In HR we love a policy, but we need to think about individualisation, agility, and personalisation to embed flexibility and adaptability to suit different circumstances and operating environments, and value different viewpoints and stages of life.”
Changing work patterns
We’re seeing an increase in part-time work and those who are pursuing gig careers, moving away from the traditional 9-to-5 worker.
“For HR in the public sector that means once a role becomes vacant, you shouldn’t necessarily press play on recruitment and do what you always have done. Consider if you still need that APS 5, or can it be another level? Do you even still need that role doing that kind of work, or would you get better value repurposing the role? Think about options for non-traditional employment models,” Ben explains.
What should we do to get ready for the future?
Ben has five practical tips for APS HR professionals:
- Increase your appetite for risk.
Ben explains the public sector has traditionally had low levels of risk tolerance and high-risk aversion, but experimentation comes with risk and failure. “Try to reframe failure as a positive thing and think about how we can embrace it and up our risk tolerance. A great way to do this is by developing a strong relationship with the risk teams in your organisation. As the former CEO of IBM Thomas Watson Jr., said, ‘If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate’.” - Upskill your personal digital skills.
Upskilling in your foundational digital literacy skills will help your career in the long term. “You don’t have to go out and learn how to code, but think about future impacts like AI, what is the potential around automation and how that might impact your business.” - Keep doing the research.
Ben says that a great way to stay future focused is by reading more about the Future of Work and tuning in to different podcasts. “Often when people talk about the Future of Work, they discuss the Great Resignation or hybrid working. But that’s not the future of work – that’s now. Think beyond the now. Think about what the next 5 or 10 years look like for your department, for the public sector, for broader workplaces, and what more you can do now to prepare.” - Get connected.
Having networks across the department can help you gather intel and understand what the corporate priorities are. “Figure out who your colleagues are in Property, Technology, Strategy, and IT and start to have those informal conversations to figure out what they are working on and what their priorities are. By being more proactive and thinking really customer centric, you will be able to anticipate what their challenges might be and consider solutions to support them,” says Ben. - Be more agile.
Over the past 5 years, 37% of skills have changed, and Ben asked, “Have 37% of your job descriptions changed in this time? And have you increased your learning and development budget by 37% to reflect the shift in demand of new skills?”
What else should we be mindful of?
Know it’s an employee’s market
In an environment where there’s a record high number of vacancies and a record low number of people applying for roles, it’s highly unlikely that yours is the only job a candidate has applied for nor the only offer they are going to get. Your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is everything.
Ben shared that a great place to start is by doing the research on who your competitors are and what is their EVP is. “Figure out what is going to make your offer stand out and don’t try to be good at everything because then you are going to be known for absolutely nothing. Pick 3 key things you want to be known for and put everything you’ve got into those. Then do the basic level required on everything else,” says Ben.
While the public sector can’t always compete on remuneration, what it can compete on is flexibility, the types of projects offered, and new ways of working. While the research says that remuneration is the number-one thing that employees are looking for, remember it’s about much more than just money. Ben says that what people are looking for with remuneration is to feel recognised and valued. “This is particularly because they’ve had a really tough few years and are working longer hours, they are in more meetings, their mental health has taken a hit, and they may not have had a significant pay rise to reflect this. The psyche of how someone processes that is they will go – what I’ve done, the stress I’m under and the additional work I’ve taken on is more than a minimal pay rise. Remuneration can be a really tangible sign of what you are worth, and what your current employer thinks of you,” Ben says.
However, if you can’t compete on remuneration, you need to think about what you are doing to make sure your employees feel like the work they are doing is recognised, valued, and rewarded in non-financial ways.
Employees are looking for mobility
The research suggests that around 38% of Australians are looking at leaving their employer this year. Ben shares that we need to shift away from the mindset of, ‘how we keep people in the long term?’ “People only stay in roles for around 2 – 2.5 years, so think about how you get the return on investment for that period of time and acknowledge that they are going to go elsewhere after that,” Ben says.
There’s high mobility in the market so for big employers like the APS, offering different roles within the same agency and options for mobility across the service is key.
Investment in middle managers will help your organisational culture
There is no doubt that the APS is in a great position to continue being competitive in the market because a career in the APS is rewarding. While the APS should focus on continuing the success and momentum of the past few years, Ben recommends that we look at how we can better invest in our team leaders and middle managers.
“They are the people supporting your people and having those regular important career conversations. The managers that are having the conversation where they’re genuinely caring about the wellbeing and development of their staff are having a huge role to play in shaping the culture of your organisation”, says Ben.
People will always remember a great manager and will say that they want to come back and work for them again in the future. Ben refers to this concept as the ‘boomerang employee’ – where an employee might leave for a new experience, but they will come back to work for a previous manager or team after a period of time. Organisations who have invested in their culture will often see this concept more often.
Ben says in his experience “The public sector invests bucket loads into entry level programs, and senior executive leadership, but there isn’t comparable investment into development of APS6 and EL1 in leadership. The assumption is that they will start to develop the management skills on the job. However, those new managers are doing the work and are required to make sure your people feel recognised, valued, and rewarded, their WFH setup is safe and ergonomically working for them, ensuring they aren’t struggling with mental health, and balancing their workloads and personal family responsibilities. The more investment into this group, will have such a big impact on your company culture and your employees will always remember your organisation as one that truly cared about them.”
Finally, Ben says that “the time to experiment is now – so don’t be scared to take risks and try new things. Continue to think into the future and challenge the status quo. By having a Future of Work mindset now, you will help the APS to be ready to adapt to the future challenges and changes to come.”
If you are interested in learning more about the Future of Work, visit PWC Future of Work website.