* What will the workplace of the future look like?
What will the workplace of the future look like? The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has some ideas and identifies four possible scenarios for the year 2015 in a recent report.
“It’s largely acknowledged that the workforce and competitive market environment of tomorrow will hold little resemblance to what we have today,” says Susan Meisinger, president and CEO of SHRM. “While we do not know for sure what is ahead, we can plan for what may happen.”
The SHRM scenarios are based on the availability of key talent and organizational structure. Factors influencing availability of labor include retirement of Baby Boomers; outsourcing or offshoring; immigration policies; and technology developments.
Here are the different workplace scenarios SHRM envisions and how that will affect staffing strategies:
* Casting director: With scarce domestic talent and self-organizing firms, organizations are based on ad-hock networks of workers around a small core.
* Global dealmaker: A surplus of labor and decentralized organizational structures will require HR to manage relationships among a geographically distributed work force that spans international borders.
* Caregiver: Uncertain times prompt the return of centralized, hierarchical organizations. This organization acts as a parent to employees, and HR works to protect and provide for them.
* Systems integrator: Technological advances spur layoffs and jobless prosperity in the U.S. HR works closely with IT to maximize performance and helps employees adapt to change.
These four possibilities demand a different set of competencies and skills for the workplace of the future.
For more information, go to the SHRM site.
