What is most likely to change in our way of working in a few years? This was the starting point of a new search on the topic, held in 2022 by the think tank Tomorrow of the Future of Work (AFTr), one hub of studies on the topic composed of Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-Eaesp), Stefanini Group, MIT Sloan Review Brasil and Talenses Group.
After listing 33 transformations related to the future of work that are already on the radar, the researchers asked 504 professionals from across the country what they thought — among them, many who make decisions, such as company directors and managers.
They showed interviewees statements related to workers, the execution of activities, types of work and education adapted to market demands. After the interviews, they measured the degree of agreement with these questions on an increasing scale from 0 to 10.
Higher scores show greater agreement and indicate more certainty that those transformations will happen. Therefore, they signal the safest changes among those that can already be put into practice by companies.
The result of the research was that 39% of the statements were in the category of greater certainty that the change described will happen, while 48% still arouse controversy and 12% are in the field of debate that is still open to discussion.
What will change in the work of the future?
According to the research, the 13 statements that received the highest scores, indicating that professionals think will certainly happen, are, in descending order:
- Technological innovations will require a constant requalification the workforce (score 9.05);
- Jobs that require criativity and innovation they will be highly valued and well paid (grade 8.95);
- Soft skills they will be essential for career advancement and increased pay (score 8.89);
- Employees will increasingly value mental health and work-life balance (score 8.83);
- Professionals will be constantly learning and developing new skills instead of looking for new degrees (grade 8.68);
- Routine work and tasks will be automated (grade 8.66);
- There will be big changes in work relationships contractual towards temporary and flexible contracts (score 8.58);
- O “work from anywhere” model (work anywhere) will have great relevance in the reasons for workers to accept a job offer (score 8.49);
- Professionals will prefer to work longer remotely than in the office (score 8.41);
- O worker engagement will be the biggest challenge for companies (score 8.38);
- A retirement it will be more distant and less common among workers (score 8.21);
- The work will be marked by cooperation between humans and machines (grade 8.13);
- A generating value for society it will be an increasingly important pillar in the company's culture and for employee engagement (score 8.12).
Furthermore, according to the study, the women interviewed showed a greater level of certainty regarding statements about diversity and inclusion policies, balance between personal and professional life and generation of value for society. And younger people agree more with statements related to remote work, the adoption of diversity and inclusion policies and the reduction of working hours in the future.
