REBORRN at TedxAthens — The Great Unknown of the Future Of Work

Where will we work in the future? What will the workplace look like? What skills do employees and employers need to develop to adapt to the new reality?

In the last few years, we’ve seen a tremendous shift in the ways organisations worldwide operate. While COVID-19 certainly pushed companies to explore new approaches to work, arguably it only sped up the inevitable. The rise of new technologies, a more-globalised-than-ever workforce, and the appetite of both organisations and employees to find more efficient and effective ways to work have been long pointing towards some of the developments we’re witnessing in the workplace today. And yet, so many questions about the future of work still remain unanswered.

This year we had the honour of sponsoring a panel discussion at TedxAthens, led by our very own, Kelly Panagiotidou, Organisational Design Partner of REBORRN, giving us the opportunity to discuss The Great Unknown of the Future of Work with a panel of world-renowned subject matter experts:

• Irene Corantis, Global Marketing Capabilities Lead at Coca-Cola.
• Alex Loi, Global Head of HR of Revolut.
• And, Christian Sarkar, world-renowned author and entrepreneur.

At REBORRN, helping people and businesses to work and operate in the most effective and efficient way possible is one of our top priorities. So, conversations such as the Future of Work are on the top of our agenda. Reflecting on the topic with our invited speakers as well as the audience, several considerations came up. Here are a few key takeaways that deserve to be noted:

Flexibility Is The Name of The Game

In an effort to uncover the strategies a company can use in order to be successful, we believe that how companies deal and care for their people will determine the future of work. Accommodating their professional and personal needs, fostering a pleasant workplace culture, and most importantly, the ability to be flexible. The option of seamlessly alternating between working from home and the office has proven to offer a better work-life balance for employees, without having to sacrifice their efficiency and productivity levels. Generally speaking, companies have two ways of handling this: either they show resistance to change and watch people go, or they observe the trends, and re-evaluate how they need to adapt to the new demands and needs of their people. In Alex’s words, “the real challenge and roadblock to flexibility is mindset”.

Creating an Inspiring Workplace

There has been a persistent argument over whether it is necessary to be present at the office nowadays, or whether the hybrid system is here to stay. Surveys have shown that in ‘traditional’ work settings, only 20% of the total employee workforce is truly engaged at the office. So, if companies want to encourage people to return back to the office, they must craft an environment that nurtures connection and effectiveness and adds value to an employee’s daily life — both in terms of setup and in terms of processes and actions that take place in the office. As Christian put it: “People should go into work because it’s worth it. I could never go back to a normal company anymore”. And to be completely honest, neither can we.

Focus on How We Learn & Be Adaptable to Change

Given that technology is advancing at such a breakneck pace, predicting exactly what the functional capabilities of the future will be seems almost impossible. But there’s one thing that will for certain always remain a constant in the workplace: people. With that in mind, perhaps the wisest move companies can make is invest their time and efforts to better understand how we learn, in order to ensure their people are always able to grow and adapt to new situations no matter what these turn out to be. In Irene’s words, “we should shift our focus on us. We are not going to become obsolete as individuals. Investing in us means having a great understanding of how we learn and how we react to change for real”.

Equipping A Future Ready Workforce

The topic of investing in people naturally raises the question of appropriately training them too. Companies that experiment with the environment of their workplace will be able to pinpoint the best methods for maximising employee potential, while also ensuring that they are having a meaningful working experience. Irene stated that “the classic cohort driven ‘let’s take 200 people and massively train them’ is going away, to be replaced by learning on the job. And companies can incorporate classroom training when they need it, if they need it, and in the format that they need it in. Depends on the way an employee learns”. Therefore, it ultimately comes down to the company’s management approach and what techniques and tools they will use to equip a future-ready workforce.

AI Is Here To Stay, But We’re Still The Ones Controlling It

The integration of AI into all facets of business operations has been troubling for many, as employees fear that they will become obsolete as a result of this technology. While this is a legitimate worry, and may occur to some extent, we must not lose sight of the fact that humans still exercise control over the practice of AI. Alex agreed: “People today are the single point of reference that are arranging the ecosystem around AI — we are still the ones controlling it. We will just have to adapt and leverage the mechanisms that we have, to do something better”. Circling back to the previous takeaway, investing in your people is indispensable, as they still have a ubiquitous influence on the way that we work.

While the Future of Work still remains unknown, it is certain that organisations worldwide will continue to have to deal with ongoing changes and will only manage to thrive if they’re prepared to be adaptive. However, acknowledging and embracing change instead of being fearful of it may even open up doors to unexpected opportunities. As beautifully summed up by Irene: “We’re gonna suck at stuff that’s new. And that’s ok. The question is, how do we bounce back from failure?”

Thank you TedxAthens for giving us the opportunity to host this talk! And of course, to the speakers for this insightful conversation. We are looking forward to the next one!

In the meantime, you can watch the recording of the full talk here:

Learn more about REBORRN: https://www.reborrn.com/

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