Quick Study: The Future of Work is Here

When we talk about the future of work, the obvious elements that come to mind are remote work, Zoom-style meetings, new office designs, automation, diversity, generational differences, and new types of jobs replacing traditional ones.

Here's the news for young people: Retiring Baby Boomers who reflect on their first jobs can recall that all of those elements — other than Zoom/teleconferencing — were reality 50 years ago. However, the stunning part of what is happening today has to do with how emerging technologies have impacted the degree and pace of change in all those areas. Those technologies and a tiny virus have accelerated the move to a new workplace at speeds never seen.

This Quick Study is a compilation of InformationWeek articles from the past year dealing with those varied elements that play into the changes being experienced by workers in the enterprise. They are developments that must be considered by enterprise managers, employees, and IT teams. Give it a read before you get to the coffee shop to dial into that next meeting where you will learn about the new corporate app that will make you more efficient.

The Hybrid: Work from Home and from Work

Return-to-Office Moment Drives Discord

In recent months, big tech and other companies have mandating employees return to the office, at least on a hybrid basis, after two years of pandemic-driven work-from-home. Will employees show up? Will they quit? There's a disconnect between factions that want workers to return to the office and workers who have grown accustomed to the increased productivity and convenience of working re's motely.

Remote Work Jobs Still Growing, Particularly for Tech Pros

Despite tech giants like Apple, Google, and Microsoft promoting a hybrid back-to-office plan, job postings for remote positions continue to grow at an unprecedented rate, especially for IT tech jobs like DevOps, data science, and IT security.

Finding the Right Balance of On-Site and At-Home IT Workers

Some IT staffers don't want to return to the office, some have been telecommuting for years, and others can't wait to return. Here's how IT leaders can plan for a split workforce in a post-pandemic workplace.

How CIOs Can Best Prepare for the Future of (Hybrid) Work

With modern employees seeking out hybrid and flexible job options, how can CIOs help both their businesses and employees thrive? Leaders need to come to terms with the fact that the future of work is now a hybrid working model that comes along with its own set of challenges, according to PwC.

Tech Drivers

Virtual Reality Transforms the Workplace

Welcome to the metaverse, where virtual reality gets down to work. Your enterprise will never be the same. The metaverse's building blocks are already in place, providing the foundation for a new enterprise landscape that focuses on how people interact and where they work.

How AI Will Shape the Post-Pandemic Office Experience

Artificial intelligence and machine learning will permeate the enterprise as organizations prepare for the hybrid future of work, unlocking new levels of productivity. As workers gain the ability to seamlessly transition from at-home to in-office work, how can employers ensure that the employee experience is equally seamless, regardless of where that work happens?

JLL CIO: Hybrid Work, AI, and a Data and Tech Revolution

Fortune 500 real estate giant JLL CIO Eddy Wagoner says that the office experience is space plus technology. Here's why the company has acquired an AI startup and launched a tech-focused venture capital fund. Plus, JLL is innovating with its own offices to foster collaboration.

The People You Work With

Addressing Diversity and Inclusion Separately in the Workplace

There exists an incorrect assumption that diversity and inclusion are synonymous. How can companies keep their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in balance? Here are three steps organizations can take to achieve their workplace goals.

Generations in the Workplace: Stereotypes and Facts

Do IT leaders need to treat workers from different generations differently if they want to keep them happy? A lot of the advice experts gave in the past about how to manage the different generations of workers has been based more on anecdote and opinion than actual hard evidence.

IT Hiring: How to Appeal to GenZ Talent

Here’s what HR executives, IT leaders, and recruiters should be considering when discussing challenges and opportunities in attracting and retaining GenZ, the workforce that today is under age 25. They are the first employees who were born into a world that already had cell phones and the Web.

Your Future Job

Forecast of the Future of Work from MIT Sloan CIO Symposium

“We must do more to cultivate new jobs and new worker skills.” — Irving Wladawsky-Berger, research affiliate, MIT’s Sloan School of Management, in a presentation to CIOs. As evolving technology affects the workplace, he said, there is also a need for new thinking from policymakers.

IT Leadership: 11 Future of Work Traits

The COVID-19 pandemic forever changed what the future of work looks like and in 2021 it was still evolving. Business leaders understand not everyone will want to return. While there's a general acknowledgement that hybrid workplaces will be the norm going forward, few organizations know what that will really look like.

Future for Careers in Automation Looking Bright

Automation is helping accelerate business processes and organizations. For those looking to land a job in IT automation, a long list of IT skills can be applied. There is increasing the demand for skilled employees and new talent to assist with system testing, design, and development.

Human-Centered Transformation Will Enable Greater Creativity in Tech

Human-centered transformation is the reorientation of the organization to recognize and unlock the inherent value in its people. Forrester looks at the organization of the future.