What Will the Future of Work Look Like in 2022 and Beyond?

The future of work is a lot clearer in 2021 might not have been so clear had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic that swept the world early last year.

The biggest impact the pandemic has had is accelerating the trend towards remote jobs and highlighting the importance of digital transformation across industries.

Without the pandemic, there’s no doubt that we’d still be moving in the same direction, but because of it we’re moving at a much faster pace. For many, pre-2020 remote work would have seemed like a fanciful idea that would never come to fruition within their company. Now, many companies have been forced to adopt hybrid and remote work models and will continue to work this way for years to come.

In this guide, we’ll explore these factors in more detail and discuss some of the other realities the future of work may hold in 2022.

The Rise of Remote Work

The idea that remote work will be more prevalent in 2022 is more of an inevitability than speculation.

The evidence is clear: more and more companies are adopting a hybrid model of work which includes the possibility of working from home.

Why?

Because when companies had their hands forced during COVID-19 lockdowns, it brought up several important considerations.

With a remote work model, companies could save on overheads such as an office space and utility bills associated with it. After an initial learning curve, they could also get to grips with managing from afar using various software tools.

Plus, on the other side, it showed many workers that remote work is something they could do which means going forward a lot more people will want to have the option of working remotely.

Whether you like it or not, remote work will continue to increase in popularity in 2022, and some companies will even leave the 9-5 office work dynamic behind completely. Shopify in particular have said that they have no plans to return to their office spaces following recent events, and why should they?

The move towards remote work is much more prevalent in the tech industry, since in theory most IT workers can do the majority of their work, if not all of it, on a computer from anywhere in the world.

Some companies will have a hard time convincing employees to work in an office environment in 2022 when their competitors offer the more enticing possibility of remote work.

Digital Meetings Will Become the Norm

Just as many of us will be working remotely in 2022, we’ll also be taking our meetings into the digital space too.

After all, it seems like a lot of effort to gather employees in a single place when there’s a good chance that some if not all of them are scattered around in various locations.

Companies also now have the options to forego the overhead expense of an office space, which will have a welcome on their monthly turnover.

So what will these digital meetings look like?

Well, in case the word ‘Zoom’ isn’t already etched into your mind, the future of meetings looks like group video calls.

The likes of Skype and Zoom will take center stage in 2022, and you can bet your bottom dollar that similar tools will pop up in the coming months.

Being able to talk with your team online as if you were all there together is hugely useful, and helps foster a successful remote work dynamic within an organization.

Digital Transformation is Key

Digital transformation has been a buzzword in the world of business for many years now, but what exactly does it mean?

Essentially, the phrase describes the process of digitalizing a company’s assets to make it more user-friendly.

As an example, Instagram was one of the first companies to introduce a digital way of viewing and sharing photos. This adaptation of a medium to the digital world disrupted the industry and caused Instagram to go on and become a global phenomenon, at the expense of high-profile companies like Kodak who failed to adapt to changing times.

Similarly, Netflix brushed Blockbusters aside when it decided to provide people around the world with access to tv shows and films on demand with its live streaming service.

Digital transformation, as a result, is inevitable in this day and age and essential to stay in touch with the customer.

These days as customers we want to be able to do just about anything online and have access within a matter of minutes.

If your company isn’t intuitive in this way then you might be inadvertently driving customers towards your competitors who maybe do have better systems in place.

Software Will Become Crucial to Company Growth

Given that there are a lot of signs that 2022 will bring about more growth in the digital space, it’s only logical that software will play a bigger role in a company’s day-to-day operations.

SaaS (software as a service) has become big business in recent years, and refers to all of the software tools that provide the user or business with a service.

Tools such as Asana and Trello fall under the umbrella of project management tools, whereas others such as Workpuls are considered to be employee monitoring tools.

A mix of such software tools is going to be more prevalent in the coming year, since they can be instrumental in managing teams remotely. If you don’t have anything in place in this regard, you’re going to struggle to stay on top of the communication and collaboration needs of your workers.

These tools are often simple to implement, and after a brief onboarding session, can work wonders for worker productivity and seamlessly introduce them to the work dynamic of your organization.

Final Thoughts

2022 is a year that will see many companies adopt technology more than ever before.

Remote work will reach new levels of popularity, and it will be much more common to come across companies that use software tools in their day-to-day operations.

 

Disclosure: This is a collaborative post and the author’s views here do not necessarily reflect those of the blog owner.