Over the past decade, future work trends such as teleworking, hybrid working and flexible working have become the norm. Companies that fail to adapt lose talent and lag behind the competition. Is your company’s organisation ready for the future of workand flexible working? Here are five key changes to work organisation you need to prepare for today.
1. Linking hybrid and teleworking with presence roles
Recent years have shown that many jobs can be done remotely without loss of efficiency, and that flexibility can also be offered on a different basis to people whose work requires physical presence. However, hybrid working is not right for every company. A hybrid working strategy should be tailored to the needs of the company. Set clear rules and communication channels to ensure smooth collaboration and manage the expectations of the whole workforce, both managers and employees.
If the company has a combination of office work and on-site production and employees are allowed more flexibility in their workplace or working hours, a hybrid model could be considered, where specific days are set aside for the whole team to be present. This will help to ensure that flexible working arrangements do not create communication problems and support operational information sharing.
2. Increasing share of temporary and project-based work
Many companies need the flexibility to adapt their workforce to seasonal fluctuations or market changes. Take the time to do job design and distinguish between roles whose competencies need to be in-house at all times and skills that can be bought in as needed. Based on this, put together a workforce strategy that includes a mix of temporary, flexible* and permanent staff. For temporary and flexible workers, there are dedicated staffing platforms where you can quickly find reliable workers as and when you need them.
For example, logistics and retail companies can analyse their seasonal workloads and consider the use of temporary or flexible* labour during peak seasons. This can keep permanent staff focused on business-critical tasks while ensuring that simpler jobs can be covered seamlessly.
3. Continuous staff skills development and retraining
Automation and technological progress are changing the needs of the workforce. Skills that were needed yesterday may not be relevant tomorrow. It is all very well to have a culture of continuous learning, but too much of what we see is that training is provided simply because there is money in the budget and it ‘needs’ to be spent without actually benefiting employees. The basis of a good training programme is to know the individual – what speaks to them, what they are interested in developing towards, and to understand whether this aligns with the company’s development aspirations. Complementarily or alternatively, employees’ skills can be mapped and well-specific internal training programmes with a technical skills development focus can be created to avoid labour shortages due to technological developments.
For example, hospitality companies could consider self-service solutions and training staff to use new digital systems. This will help to reduce waiting times for guests, improve the customer experience and distribute staff workload more efficiently. As a result, productivity can be expected to increase and the number of errors to decrease.
4. A data-driven human resources strategy is becoming essential
Managers can no longer rely only on gut feeling – HR management needs concrete data. Use HR analytics to identify patterns and make better decisions. Data-driven management can help optimise labour costs and increase efficiency.
For example, service companies could regularly analyse patterns of absenteeism and their impact on work organisation. Adjusting the length of shifts and a clearer distribution of workload can help reduce unexpected sick days and improve employee satisfaction.
💡 Read more: How does data-driven HRM support business strategy?
5. Intergenerational governance requires flexibility
Different generations expect different things from their employer. Younger workers value flexibility and opportunities for development, while older workers value stability and clear leadership. Consciously adapt your management style to meet employees’ expectations. Encourage cooperation between different generations and create mechanisms that support the development of all age groups.
Create a structured mentoring programme or cross-training opportunities where staff with different levels of experience can complement and support each other. This will not only improve communication between different generations, but will also help to improve company culture and employee satisfaction.
For example, you could organise work shadowing days where younger workers can see how more experienced colleagues navigate their day-to-day work, and vice versa. This helps to understand different generations’ perspectives and creates a better team culture.
Summary: Are you ready for change?
Flexible working arrangements and future work require flexibility, the use of technology and data-driven management. It’s no longer a question of whether you need to adapt your work organisation, but how quickly you can do it.
📌 Self-test: is your company’s organisation fit for the future?
- Is your workforce model flexible enough for changing needs?
- Do you have a strategy for managing hybrid and temporary work?
- Does your company use employee data to optimise work organisation?
If you answered “no” to any of these questions, it’s time to review your working arrangements. GoWorkaBit can help you find flexible workforce solutions that will ensure your business stays competitive in the future.
* flexible workforce – an extended team of employees who visit the company on a permanent but irregular basis, depending on the needs of the company (e.g. peak periods) and the wishes of the employee (e.g. to earn extra money). This is a longer-term employment relationship and therefore the employee is familiar with the workplace and processes, trained where necessary, but is not employed on a permanent salaried basis.
On the GoWorkaBit platform, you can put such a team together under the Hub service, where you can put together an extended team of people you know and work with, conveniently put up schedules for them to sign up to. GoWorkaBit takes care of the administrative tasks (e.g. POR entries, payroll, etc.) and provides you with a simple invoice at the end.