Having interned in 4 companies so far, I’ve had the privilege to experience different working environments and culture. From my observation, as a person soon to be in the workforce, there are exciting opportunities for employees of the future.

Talent, particularly knowledge workers, is a rare to hire these days. There are so many options for those who are good at what they do. So besides looking at customer experiences, companies have to look inward, at employee experience.

It Starts With The Candidates’ Experience

Ever had a frustrating interview process? Be it sending your resume into a blackhole, having to keep rescheduling interviews, or even receive a rejection with no explanation. These are some of the common pain points of candidates that exist even till today.

Why don’t companies bother? I believe its due to a traditional mental model that candidates aren’t as important as clients, so less resource go into HR departments or interviewers prioritise clients over candidates. As a result, just as we would lose a customer, we might lose a potential hire - even worst if its to a competitor.

Knowledge workers need challenge, that often means changing positions or organisations. Leaving a poor impression during the interview process, means losing a recurrent candidate.

What To Interview For

Change happens so fast these days and most of us will agree this is the trend moving forward. Skills picked up by graduates today, might be irrelevant in a couple of years. But there is a constant here and that is change.

Hiring for the skills or experience expected to do the work today is important. But what is more important is the willingness to learn and challenge oneself. I’m not saying learn for the job, but learn for the excitement of being part of the future. Challenge oneself to beat or even lead change.

How do we assess these qualities? Based on experience, values and priorities.

Understanding the Employee’s Journey

I’ve just read an article about ‘Managing Oneself’ by Peter F. Drucker. He mentions a point that resonates with me, that it is to take responsibility for communication. Now what does that mean?

Until mind-reading becomes a reality, no one will ever know what goes inside our head. We have to be clear that as employees, we make it clear to the boss what are our strengths, way of performing, values and what should our contribution be. How to make this communication more effective? Why not get the boss to provide their answers to the questions too so that both parties are equally clear.

I don’t see hierarchies working as legitimate power, that is power that resides in the position rather than the person, will ever last in the future of work. If anything, managers of the future are likely to lead inter-disciplinary agile teams rather than homogeneous teams given the demand for innovation.

Designing the Employee’s Experience

What about the space and time for employees? Open office concepts are becoming popular because it enables “open communication”. So far it’s been more distracting for me, I’ll be on my earbuds 80% of the time I’m in office. There will be a shift towards remote working.

As a knowledge worker, I believe that office space might soon be outdated or shrunk. Co-locations like wework are great alternatives. Not only do I get to work in different places on different days, I meet different people everyday. Communication has never been easier with Slack, Skype, Hangouts, Microsoft Teams.
I would love to travel and work in the future and there is a growing demand for those lifestyle in the future. Just check out digital nomads.

By now, I have overlapped a little into time. There are 2 trends happening here.

• employees should have the freedom to work at times they are most productive
• artificial intelligence will reduce the amount of time we will need to work in the future

You might say that if every employee is given that much autonomy, will work ever get done and that is a legitimate concern. Well, all I can say from a startup perspective, if the trust is lost, you would rather fire than leave a toxic distrust relationship hanging around in the team.

Lifestyle First, Career Second

I got this from my dad which I’ve considered before we had the conversation. Gone are the days where experts can remain experts for long. If you are getting too good at your job, you should be worried. On that premise, knowledge workers of the future are likely to seek challenge to stay relevant. That mentality isn’t a ‘work’ mentality, its a ‘lifestyle’ mentality.

Knowledge workers of the future will realise that the pursuit of wealth is not important, the experience of life itself is. A wonderful trend unfolds here as we start to see 21st values of sustainbility, diversity and humanity seep into our way of life.

If businesses are going to attract talents, similar to understanding consumer trends, they need to understand worker trends and tailor an work experience that suits workers. The future of work is here, its time for the next industrial age.