How hiring & workplaces will change post COVID-19: According to data
The coronavirus pandemic has unleashed an extremely long spell of uncertainty in all aspects of our day to day lives. In the initial phase of the pandemic, the image of stability had been tarnished through rampant layoffs and foreclosures in the business world. While the search for the cure of the coronavirus and the uncertainty it ensues still seems to be distant, we are now headed towards the gradual opening up of the economy with many businesses coming out of hibernation. A lot is unclear about how the world will look and work post the pandemic but in the midst of this uncertainty it is certain that it is unlikely for us to return back to the ‘normal’ we were accustomed to. More specifically, it is becoming increasingly obvious that work and hiring trends have dramatically evolved in a short span of time and will continue to do so in the near future.
WHAT DATA IS TELLING US ABOUT HIRING TRENDS
Looking at the general statistics of hiring in the initial months of the pandemic there was a sudden surge in the demand for IT specific occupations. With every industry vertical suddenly pushed towards online modus operandi, the rush towards online infrastructure became a requirement overnight leading to the creation of many new IT based job roles. Many companies reached out to Skillr to hire app and web developers as well as online sales teams in the attempt to effectively reach out to customers locked in at home. In the month of May, from our COVID tracker, approximately 59% of all job roles available fell in the IT and engineering category followed by sales which accounted for 9% of the total job roles available. These trends continued well into the months of June and July where sales and marketing opportunities grew while IT and Engineering remained constant. Furthermore, the compulsion to switch to ‘work from home’ prompted employees across all industries to learn new functional tech skills to manage and perform tasks and meetings normally done in person. These minor and major changes are bound to cause a ripple effect on employee requirements accepted by companies of all sizes and industries, in effect creating a whole new standard for seeking employment.
GROWING DEMAND FOR ‘HUMAN-CENTRIC’ 21st-CENTURY SKILLS
According to a 2020 WEF research on the future of work, the coming decade will ensue a demand for an organic partnership between ‘digital’ and ‘human’ factors in the new collar roles of the future. Thus, digital transformation and the adoption of new technologies should be the priority for companies as well as jobseekers in the near future. Skills and job roles are assumed to be interlinked but now companies are realizing the need to build workforces specifically on skills required to drive the competitive advantage of the company forward. In the current scenario, these skills are heavily IT and people oriented. From the ‘digital’ point of view, skills in data, engineering, cloud computing, software and product development will be of great importance. On the other hand, ‘human’ skills that require an expertise in human interaction such as sales, marketing and others falling in the category of ‘people and culture’ will be looked at favourably. The need for soft skills has become a concern for all companies, with many agreeing that in the coming future, these skills will be more telling of long-term performance, and will be even more important as companies are forced to operate in digital setups, without the traditional forms of ‘human’ interaction. While companies such as Skillr were already at the forefront of skill-based hiring, the COVID19 pandemic has now accelerated the need for companies to adopt smarter hiring practices that keep pace with these trends.
A REDUCTION IN OVERALL JOBS? THAT’S HALF THE STORY
Many researchers suggest the reduction in overall job opportunities due to technological changes and the introduction of automation in the workplace. However, this technological disruption only bolsters the rate at which other professions will evolve with the need to transition current working techniques and methods. The WEF Jobs of Tomorrow research has specifically identified key professional clusters called “New Collar Roles” that have tremendous growth potential in the near future: Data and AI; Engineering and Cloud Computing; People and Culture; Product Development; and Sales, Marketing and Content.
Skillr’s hiring practices are geared towards hiring for New Collar roles of the future.
GROWING IMPORTANCE OF EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AS REMOTE WORK INCREASES
While the future shows promising changes in digital transformation and focus on skill-based hiring, COVID-19 has also catalysed noticeable changes in workplace set-ups. We will certainly see an increase in remote working as the ‘work from home’ model refines itself. According to a Gartner poll on remote working, roughly 48% of employees will at some point work remotely post the COVID-19 pandemic. This would not only change the definition of work environments but also encourage smaller companies to hire from beyond their city/country of operation. Furthermore, the ‘work from home’ set up has increased employee data collection on critical points such as communication, performance, productivity and employee experience. The use of employee data collection had been picking pace over the past few years through the use of non-traditional employee monitoring tools and will continue to do so in the post-pandemic period.
The most useful and required change that is likely to come out of this pandemic experience is the increased role of employers in providing a stable and satisfactory level of employee experience. Healthcare, childcare and employee support will be enhanced to new levels in order to ensure a workplace competitive advantage. This support also extends to HR’s focus on value-building, relationship-building, teamwork and employee skill development exercises. From an institutional standpoint, overall, we have begun noticing special attention towards people and workplace culture to develop more supportive environments. On top of this, the drive towards digital transformation in hiring and employee experience is only going to increase in the time to come.
References:
