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The Forces That Are Changing The Way We Work

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The traditional boundaries of work that have confined many of us — cubicles, set schedules, and geographic limitations, to name a few — have essentially been shattered by the pandemic, by forces of globalisation, and by the rising gig economy, all while work is being augmented by Web3 and generative AI (GenAI) technologies. These seismic shifts are fuelling a new work model — a 24/7, boundaryless ecosystem of collaboration that spans continents, time zones, and cultures.

Whether it’s a software developer in Sao Paulo working with a designer in Singapore, or a data analyst in London working with an illustrator in Nairobi, they can now all come together in real-time to create and innovate. This shift toward decentralised, project-based roles is poised to turbocharge the gig economy and democratize economic opportunities globally. Blockchain-based technologies can offer a backbone to support these new models, offering tamper-proof work histories, which will serve as the new resumes showcasing a worker’s skills, achievements, and work history, enhancing trust and employability. What’s more, novel payment methods like digital tokens will push us toward an even more decentralised workforce.

This work era’s momentous transformation rests on four pillars: 1. the acceleration of productivity through artificial intelligence; 2. the introduction of Web3 business models; 3. an upcoming generation of workers who blur the lines between real and digital worlds; and 4. a societal shift in how we all perceive work.

GenAI: The Domain of Cognitive Work

The impact of GenAI on the future of work, the future of the labour market, and the future of office professionals is going to be immense. While AI will certainly replace some repetitive tasks and jobs for humans, the real promise lies in how AI and humans will work together. A recent study conducted by the International Labour Organisation, a part of the United Nations, has indicated that AI is more likely to enhance job roles than eliminate them. IBM CEO, Arvind Krishna, said during an interview with CNBC that AI is “absolutely not displacing – it’s augmenting” white-collar jobs.

Yet, there are those who think otherwise. Edo Segal, the founder of Touchcast, a startup that reimagines the future of the Generative Web, told us: “We have never had a scenario where AI replaces the domain of a cognitive practice at this scale. Automation was originally intended to replace manual labour, but now it’s possible to scale the automation of cognitive roles. We had narrow AI for narrow use cases, but not broad solutions like the ones emerging now that can replace entire professions like programmers, certain types of lawyers, and management consultants.”

Recent research by Goldman Sachs supports Segal’s claims and reveals that AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs in the next 15 years, impacting office jobs that were once considered untouchable. As with any technological evolution, there are winners and losers. AI also has the ability to create 69 million new jobs in the next five years. Over the longer-term, AI could eventually raise global GDP by 7%, if Goldman Sachs Research’s AI growth projections are fully realised. With AI investment forecasted to approach $200 billion globally by 2025, the technology could support humans in ways never before imagined.

For now, most experts believe that AI will have a positive impact on the future of work, making companies more profitable and productive. But this shift is also coming at a time when the traditional business model will be spun on its head by Web3 applications.

New Business Models

The emerging decentralised work model hinges on the distribution of authority and tasks, which promises to make work more responsive to individual needs and collective goals. These technologies, often referred to as Web3, aren’t just marginal upgrades; they’re the very bedrock of a groundbreaking shift in our relationship with work. Our forthcoming book, titled Employment Is Dead (Harvard Business Review Press), illustrates that the old work models are rapidly unravelling, while the advent of Web3 technologies offers us a toolkit to redefine what a workplace can be, where workers — not employees — will move beyond the centralized frameworks that are now the limitation of modern corporations.

Web3 is introducing a range of novel business models, thanks to technologies such as blockchain, decentralised protocols (digital systems that operate without a central authority), and user ownership of data. The gig economy is evolving into a global talent marketplace, where individual, independent workers — not employees — will have more power and control over their earnings and livelihoods. And, with proper adoption, Web3 technologies will have the ability to solve a range of businesses problems and worker frustrations, such as the removal of intermediaries/managers, thus allowing people to work more directly with the client/customer; allowing for fairer compensation (smart contracts on blockchain can automate and ensure fair compensation for work and can reduce disputes, ensuring timely payments); and allowing for ownership of one’s work (workers could have true ownership of their digital creations, such as art, music, and content, through blockchain and NFTs, providing more control and fair compensation).

Web3 companies, for example, are forming into decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), where decision-making is distributed among contributors, or token holders. DAOs enable community-driven projects, allowing stakeholders to vote on proposals, investments, and governance matters. DAOs are like a digital democracy where you’re not just a customer, but a co-creator in the project.

Along with the rise of DAOs comes the transition of employees from mere cogs in the corporate machine to empowered contributors who have a tangible stake in their work. Through the use of governance tokens, members of a DAO can have a direct say in decision-making processes, from resource allocation to strategic direction. This not only democratizes the workplace but also allows employees to retain much more of the value they generate. In this system, every task completed, every idea contributed, and every project led can be directly attributed to an individual, who can then be fairly compensated and recognised. Unlike traditional setups where the fruits of your labour are largely harvested by the organisation, DAOs ensure that value flows back to the people who create it. In essence, DAOs foster a culture centred around verifiable, transparent, and equitable ownership, fundamentally reshaping what it means to truly engage with one’s work.  It is plausible, however, that even within a DAO framework, concerns related to individual recognition and fair compensation may emerge, such as laying claim to credit and compensation for work. Like any emerging technology or novel organisational structure, the practical implementation of DAO principles may encounter intricacies that require thoughtful navigation to ensure their full realisation.

With nearly 2 billion people around the world who are not part of the traditional banking system, DeFi (decentralised finance) offers a financial revolution without intermediaries — no banks, no brokers – just smart contracts facilitating transactions between buyers and sellers. You can lend your cryptocurrency to earn interest, trade assets 24/7, and operate in one global currency. This will democratize access to financial products and enable anyone with a smartphone to participate in global finance, bypassing traditional gatekeepers.

And who is best poised to evangelize and utilize these Web3 applications? Gen-Z — a new generation of workers who are already indoctrinated into digital technologies, decentralised systems, and a mindset of innovation and social consciousness.

Youthquake: A New Generation of Workers

The term “youthquake,” originally coined by Vogue magazine in the 1960s to describe the era’s fashion and cultural shifts, has made a comeback to embody Gen-Z’s impact in the workplace for two key reasons: 1) their size and 2) their innate digital fluency. Given that approximately 52% of the global population is under age 30, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, this digitally native generation has had a digital device in their hands since they were toddlers, which has profoundly shaped their values, interests, and worldview. Gen-Z often blends reality with the digital realm, sometimes even preferring to live, create, and work in the latter.

Consider Roblox, the gaming platform that allows users to play dozens of user-created games, which has amassed a staggering 66.1 million daily users who actively engage in buying, selling, designing, and innovating within its virtual universe. Many of these users, who have been actively playing open-source games for almost two decades now, already believe they have a viable job because of the value they produce to earn the virtual currency awarded in these games, which they can even exchange for “real” money on the Roblox Developer Exchange Program (DevEx). In that vein, if you were to offer the youth today the option of flipping burgers, or becoming a social influencer, the majority would take the latter option.

According to a recent Earth Web poll, 75% of kids ages 6 to 17 now aspire to be YouTubers, rather than traditional professionals, such as doctors or firefighters. This trend highlights the rising impact of the $250 billion influencer economy, where creative freedom often outweighs the appeal of traditional corporate jobs. As we look ahead, it’s crucial to consider what work will look like for a generation that has come of age with artificial intelligence, blockchain, and decentralization. The youthquake brings a fresh, unapologetically critical perspective to how work should be organized, compensated, and valued.

A Societal Shift in the Way We View Work

The Covid-19 pandemic has forever altered our relationship with work. We proved that work is doable beyond the traditional office setting, with home productivity up by 47% in 2020 according to a study by Prodoscore. Another report by Prithwiraj Choudhury, an associate professor in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School, and fellow researchers suggested that remote workers were, on average, 4.4% more productive than their in-office counterparts due to quieter work environments, fewer interruptions from colleagues, and the ability to structure the workday to suit individuals when they are most productive.

What’s more, the gig economy — freelancing, temporary contracts, and project-based work — is becoming more prevalent, offering individuals greater flexibility in choosing their engagements, and in choosing when, where, and how they want to make a sustainable living.

And perhaps most importantly, we’ve also seen a major mindset shift in terms of what we’re willing to tolerate in our work lives going forward, as we place more emphasis on our well-being and purpose, in addition to environmental and social considerations for the world we inhabit.

The next iteration of workplaces will have an increased emphasis on employee well-being, mental health, and sense of purpose. Given that the summer of 2023 recorded the hottest temperatures on record, we can’t divorce workplaces from the responsibilities of environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Businesses now understand that having motivated and content employees significantly boosts productivity and sparks innovation. Today, there are established work practices that were once unconventional but are widely accepted. For instance, the use of Zoom meetings for remote collaboration, the flexibility to work from home during one’s most productive hours, and even relaxed dress codes — all of which were met with resistance before the Covid-19 pandemic and growing climate concerns, but which are now acceptable, normal practices.

By embracing the technologies and innovations of today and tomorrow, we feel confident that we will have a better future of work — from virtual reality meetings that dissolve distance, to better work/life balance, to artificial intelligence algorithms that amplify human ingenuity. However, it’s essential to use these tools intelligently and responsibly, as their misuse could potentially worsen the work experience for everyone.

Buckle up, because the world of work is on the verge of a seismic transformation. The 20th century norms that still govern our professional lives are about to be shaken to their core. Those who harness these forces will unlock new realms of productivity and creativity, while those who resist will risk becoming relics of a bygone era.

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Sources:

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/09/here-are-seven-ways-your-job-will-change-in-the-future/
https://www2.deloitte.com/nz/en/pages/human-capital/articles/forces-change-future-of-work.html
https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/services/workforce/publications/workforce-of-the-future.html

How Is Work Going to Look Like in 2021?

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The global COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically changed how we work and how we feel about re-entering the workplace, as numbers go down and lockdowns are eased. Remote working may have been an adjustment for most at first, it slowly became a preference to employees worldwide. According to Cisco’s Workforce of the Future survey, conducted with 10,000 respondents across 12 markets in Europe, the Middle East, and Russia, employees want to keep a hold of the many positives that have emerged from this new normal.

Many of the changes that have come from the pandemic will become a permanent part of employee experiences in 2021. This is due to the fact that in 2020, several factors upended the traditional approach to life at the workplace. As the economy prepares to re-open, the new normal of work, business travel, and office space will be refined and rediscovered across almost every industry worldwide.

Youth as the focal point

Although there are currently five generations in the workforce, including traditionalists, baby boomers, and generation X, the youth is taking over. – Millennials and Generation Z are becoming the largest generational cohort in the labour force. As such, they have different needs and values than older workers.

Hiring managers will have to understand these hires and customize the workplace and tasks to keep them engaged and productive. These young employees are digital natives, and they require continuous mental stimulation, flexibility, and work-life balance. To nurture their growth and encourage efficiency, recruiters can allow flexible working schedules, learning platforms, and accommodate collaborative tools.

The demand for flexible working conditions

According to research conducted by Slack, 72% of employees said they wanted a hybrid remote-office model. Instead of fully implementing a work-from-home environment, many companies are utilising a hybrid approach where employees will only come into the office for a couple of days in the week and spend the remaining days working remotely.

Microsoft’s hybrid workplace environment will allow most roles to remain remote less than half of the time with manager approval, while 62% of Google employees want to return to their offices but not every day.

Digital advancement

Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadell, described the impact of Covid-19 on the adoption and advancement of technology at work, saying “we’ve seen two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months”.

The findings from two separate studies by McKinsey and KPMG indicate that at least 80% of leaders accelerated the implementation of technology in the workplace due to COVID-19. White larger skill gaps, more training is required for employees to support the digital transformation needs that come with rapid change.

Many of these technologies are contact-tracing, collaborative tools, AI-driven software, and more, all of which have been widely adopted to support the mental health of employees, increase productivity and allow for flexibility and safety.

Levi Strauss’ digital transformation was facilitated by the use of AI and data, launching a virtual concierge service, appointment scheduling, and a brand-new loyalty programme.

Automation to support employees and not replace

Forrester claims that the fears over automation eliminating jobs is misplaced and that automation in 2021 will focus more on supporting current employees.

For example, grocery store robots will promote social distancing by doing inventory checks for employees to prevent too many people on the floor, and Forrester expects a tripling of robots of that sort in 2021. “By the end of 2021, one in four information workers will be supported in their daily work by software bots, robotic process automation, or AI, taking rote, repetitive tasks off their plates and yielding higher EX,” the market research company predicts. “Rather than focusing on substitution, focus more of your automation efforts on helping your staff be more effective.”

Given our current situation knowing that your colleagues or employees are best suited for this new scenario we find ourselves in. Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It is now important to find out whether your managers or your team is well-equipped of working together from various locations. It requires deep knowledge of their personalities, strengths, weaknesses, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you discover if your people are resilient during times of hardship, if they are autonomous, if they are team players, without actual human contact. Given that our platform is cloud-based, everyone can use it from home as well. Humanity finds itself at a crossroad for various reasons now, why not help people discover and develop themselves from the comfort of their own homes?

Request a free demo:

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Sources:

https://www.predictivesuccess.com/blog/10-trends-that-will-shape-the-world-of-hr/
https://hbr.org/2021/01/9-trends-that-will-shape-work-in-2021-and-beyond
https://www.swooptalent.com/talent-insights-blog/10-hr-trends-that-will-shape-2021

Knowledge – The one and only Shortcut in the Professional Life

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Many of you have probably already read at least a dozen articles that promised to reveal the secrets or shortcuts to a successful professional life. While most of those are definitely helpful, they seem to be rather some tips & tricks more than anything else.

Each and every one of us is different, has his own goals, his own little thing that wakes him up in the morning and even his own waking time (no, you don’t have to rise & shine every morning at 5 am in order to be successful). Adding on top of that, we do live in a VUCA world, where it is almost impossible to predict what’s going to happen next and how exactly you should prepare for it. So what can you make of all this? Well, first of all, that you won’t be able to find a “secret recipe to success” that is universally applicable, because there is no such thing. But then, what us is the only “tool” that will help you in this world, no matter the situation? The one thing that is needed in order to do almost anything else? If you haven’t guessed by now (or you haven’t even read the title of this article), the answer is knowledge.

And I’m talking about the real knowledge.

Nowadays, way too many people use some type of pseudo-knowledge, grabbed from the first Google link that you can find, in order to brag about their high intellect. That kind of knowledge might only be useful to be the center of attention at a networking event or maybe a party, but elsewhere it won’t bring you that many benefits.  As the genius physicist Richard Feynman wrote in his own autobiography: “You can know the name of that bird in all the languages of the world, but when you’re finished, you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird. You’ll only know about humans in different places, and what they call the bird. … I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.”

Therefore, how can you know that you really know something and not just its name?

First and foremost, you need a lot of time to gain that real knowledge that can help you in almost every aspect of your life.  Go find a subject that you enjoy. And read about it. A LOT. Enroll in courses that tackle that subject. Talk to the experts. Only then you might have a shot of having obtained real knowledge. Do you want to know if you actually made it? Feynman comes to the rescue again with his unique method of double checking your own understanding, called The Feynman Technique:

“Without using the new word which you have just learned, try to rephrase what you have just learned in your own language.”

Step 1

Write the name of the concept at the top of a blank piece of paper.

Step 2

Write down an explanation of the concept on the page. Use plain English. Pretend you are teaching it to someone else (e.g a new student or even a child). This should highlight what you understand, but more importantly pinpoint what you don’t quite know.

Step 3

Review what you have pinpointed you don’t know. Go back to the source material, re-read, and re-learn it. Repeat Step 2.

Step 4

If you are using overly wordy or confusing language (or simply paraphrasing the source material) try again so you filter the content. Simplify your language, and where possible use simple analogy.

 

Sources:

“The Feynman Technique Model” -Mattyford.com
“What do you care what other people think?” – Richard Feynman

Inspiration at Work: Importance and Significance

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Inspiration at work is always an added bonus. When we are inspired, everything we have to do simply clicks. We feel that our work has purpose and all of our skills are being used in the best way possible. In layman’s terms, we are doing what we are supposed to be doing. Unfortunately, inspiration can come and go as it pleases; it can vanish into thin air. This usually happens when your boss gives you a negative review on some of the work you’ve done or you’re simply content about a particular task at hand. Even if you are one the few people that have a job that they love, it’s in our human nature to experience periods of time when we have to dig deep to find some excitement about your job.

Todd Thrash and Andrew Elliot, two psychologists who have been studying inspiration in the last few decades, have spotted 3 elements which occur the moment a person is inspired:

  1. The person sees new possibilities.
  2. Receptive to outside stimuli.
  3. Energy and motivation.

Inspiration does not represent a static state of mind, which is fortunate for us because it means people can cultivate it. Although we cannot force inspiration upon us, we can create an environment that favours inspiration.

Feeling stuck is a normal reaction when you don’t feel inspired. The key here is not to wait for positivity to hit you because your inaction is your worst enemy in this scenario. Studies in cognitive behavioural therapy have concluded that people’s behaviours alter the way they feel and think. Consequently, when people act differently they feel differently. Instead of waiting for a change coming out of thin air, try and put yourself in motion somehow. You are in control of your work environment and not the other way around. This can help you discover new methods in which you can solve your duties.

Continuous learning is very important. If you have a good number of years of experience and have excelled in your field, it is somehow natural to think that you may not require additional training or learning. However, researchers have discovered that when we stop believing we require further expertise we become more close minded or as it also known ‘earned dogmatism’. If we train ourselves to always be fresh and on top of things the more likely we are to get inspired. Given the fact that nowadays it has become more and more difficult to have some time for ourselves, it is absolutely vital we devote at least a few hours a week for enlightenment purposes only in order to assure ourselves of longer periods of inspiration and engagement. For example, Bill Gates used to take a few weeks of work twice a year just to map out new ideas.

Making new friends is always a good idea. When we spend time with people they affect our mood and energy, whilst also having the same conversations with them week in, week out. It is recommended to start and meet new people. It is important you try and meet people who can challenge you mentally and do things differently from you. These types of people can stimulate new ideas with the added bonus of learning from their vast experience.
Furthermore, think about friends whose qualities you admire tremendously. Try and focus on qualities, not perfection. They do not even have to know you are trying to emulate them in certain aspects. It is actually better to be a distant observer due to the simple fact that you can extract and dissect the necessary information much easier.

When questioned, most entrepreneurs and business people say that their passion and inspiration derives from their desire to serve their customers, to lead a company in an upward direction and to support the development of a product that may revolutionise the market. Unfortunately, inspiration and passion can fade away and, of course, people start questioning themselves. It happens over the course of one’s life, to discover that their once meaningful job has become close to meaningless. It begins with the slow erosion of spirit and enthusiasm due to the fact that there is no longer any purpose in their work. People start feeling trapped, restless and they see no end in sight.

This happens because people start confusing the achievement of daily goals with accomplishing truly meaningful work. Thus, they continue to worry and set goal after goal, until they realise boredom has set in. When this happens, it is imperative that people respond to this problem through a conscious choice on how to solve it. More often than not, people don’t realise they are fed up with their job because they lose track of what is meaningful about their work. In their attempt to separate their work and personal life, some people go to such an extent that they do not bring their values into the office environment. Even more so, they engage in activities that clash with home persona.  Some people discover that their work has become their life, even though their family is what they value most, but they still work 12+ hours and miss birthdays and holidays in order to be successful at work.

Like all things in life, there is no one-size-fits all solution. There is no one method that can bring back your passion and inspiration. There is a combination of strategies that can guide you towards the path you desire, but that must be discovered on your own, due to our uniqueness. The only common trait in everyone’s strategies should be reflection – evaluate where you stand at the moment, where you’re headed and what you really want to become.

Inspiration isn’t elusive. It is within our grasp if we search for new opportunities from which we can extract new ideas and insights. Even though sometimes it may not feel like you’re getting the best deal out of a situation, it will still push you to new boundaries and experiences which will inevitably lead to something that resembles inspiration.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and a keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

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Sources:

https://hbr.org/2002/04/reawakening-your-passion-for-work

https://hbr.org/2017/09/how-to-rediscover-your-inspiration-at-work

https://www.inc.com/kevin-daum/8-ways-to-be-re-inspired-at-work.html

Remote Work – Better for Productivity?

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Few people know that the 8-hour work schedule has its origins from the times of the Industrial Revolution and not the Information Age. During the second half of the 18th century, the standard norm was workdays of 10-16 hours due to the fact that factories required to be run 24/7. This type of schedule had become absolutely brutal and exhausting for workers, but change only started to happen with 1817 when Welsh activist Robert Owen advocated for 8-hour workdays, his slogan being: “Eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest.”

Close to a century later, in 1914 to be exact, the 8-hour schedule became the norm when Ford Motor Company started working on 8-hour shifts whilst also doubling workers’ wages. The result was obvious for everyone to see, a dramatic increase in productivity. Nowadays, it may seem unfathomable to work for more than 8 hours, but history offers us a lesson into how things have developed along the way. At the moment, we may witness another disruption into the workday schedule. In a recent research revolving around this issue, it was suggested that in an 8-hour shift, the average worker is productive for a mere 2 hours and 53 minutes.

It is becoming more and more obvious to many of us that the modern workplace is not the well of productivity everyone hoped for. Furthermore, for many of us, the workplace is actually filled with distractions of all natures. Combine this with the everyday hassle of commuting and you got yourself one long day of work. Of course, situations such as these can be avoided through a flexible schedule arrangement, this being an option more sought after than ever before.

In one of the most recent FlexJobs surveys on remote work, it has been discovered that 66% of professionals they’ve interviewed said they would be more productive if they could work from home, rather than the office. The most common reasons why they favoured working from home:

  • 76% wanted fewer disruptions from co-workers.
  • 70% reduce stress levels from commuting.
  • 69% wanted to avoid office politics.

The survey also revealed something incredible, only 7% of the people interviewed said that they are productive during regular office hours. If only so very few people are productive during their regular schedules, then there is something inherently wrong with our traditional workplace model.

In the past, there were fewer distractions and fun past time activities. Also, there was no internet and the sheer volume of information that we are being bombarded with. Due to these changes and shifts in programmes and schedules, there are people that don’t fit into the normal productivity ranges. There are people who are at their best really early in the morning, while others’ productivity goes through the roof during night hours. That is why it is a bit foolish to expect that all your employees to give their best during the 9-5 programme.

Your average worker gets disrupted every 3 minutes, and recovering from that is time-consuming. We need, on average, about 23 minutes to return to a task after being disrupted. Furthermore, discoveries in the field of neuroscience have all but confirmed what we were all thinking: the human brain cannot concentrate for 8 straight hours.

One of the career specialists at FlexJobs, Brie Reynolds, said that given the meteoric rise in remote work and freelancing, workers have become more aware of the future of work environment. This has risen from a simple combination of factors that encompass demographics and remote-friendly technology. Millennials have been growing up with technology by their side, so it is more than natural for them to expect they can work remotely. There are companies that now offer flexible hours to their new employees. And if your job requires the simple use of a laptop, then you can basically work full-time for any company in the world. At the moment, what we are experiencing in the workforce, is a hybrid model where people work alternatively from home and from the office.

For employers, Reynolds has a simple suggestion: “crafting remote programmes which help employees be at their productive best, whilst keeping the good parts of in-office interactions.” For the time being, the hybrid model seems to the best approach, given the simple fact that many companies are still struggling with coming up with the necessary tools and programmes in order to make remote work a success for their operations.

However, in a recent Gallup survey, it has been revealed that although remote work is on the rise the United States, employees that work exclusively from home are the least engaged. The reasons for this are isolation and ambiguous job descriptions. There are some companies that have been successful in implementing a proper remote work programme. These organisations, as pointed out by Gallup, were disciplined in creating proper plans and processes for this to work. Some of the techniques they have used include:

  • Face-to-face meetings with remote working employees.
  • In-depth training programmes.
  • Implementing a ‘buddy system’ for new employees during their first few months.

Implementing successful remote work programmes is going to require a lot of work for your organisation. However, given the fact that more and more talented workers want flexible working hours (and it cannot be negotiable), you simply cannot ignore this trend.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and a keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

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Sources:

http://fortune.com/2015/08/04/brian-shapland-productivity-at-work/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/irisleung/2017/08/31/report-only-7-of-workers-feel-productive-during-regular-work-hours/#10571760744e

https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/in-an-8-hour-day-the-average-worker-is-productive-for-this-many-hours.html

Does Philosophy have a place in today’s Business World?

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Nowadays, it has become a common joke that a philosophy graduate’s most frequently used phrase is “Would you like some fries and a Coke with that?”, but is this an actual representation of the real world? Surprisingly, a study made by CNN has shown that only 5% of the people who recently got their philosophy diploma are facing problems in finding a job. On top of that, many renowned entrepreneurs like Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel and Carly Fiorina are attributing their overall success to their education in philosophy.

All of this happens due to a huge shift in the business world: the abilities optimised for the globalist consumption and safe approaches of the past decade have been almost completely replaced by those required to thrive in this new uncertain and individualised business world. Therefore, abilities such as truly understanding the world, identifying the causal factors of day-to-day events, while also being able to make optimal decisions in new and unfamiliar situations have become the new  standards of performance.

How does studying philosophy develop those abilities? Well, the better question would be how could it not? Anyone who takes a peek into the area of modern philosophy would observe one common misconception: the falsehood of the fact that it’s all about wild speculation and realise that, actually, it focuses on well-structured arguments and counter-arguments. Apart from knowing and understanding what X philosopher said about Z problem – which, to some, might not seem particularly useful from a pragmatic point of view – you will also learn to identify, all by yourself, the weak spots of each and every argument. This process will conspicuously lead, in the end, to fully developed critical thinking skills. Whoever is lucky enough to have acquired this particular skillset will have no problems whatsoever in identifying and solving even the most complex organisational challenges.

Furthermore, during the process of studying philosophy, one will inevitably change their own fundamental system of beliefs about all the aspects of reality. This leads to the general mental state of constantly rechecking and analysing the truth and validity of every case in which your deductive line of reasoning could lead you to the wrong conclusions. That little amount of skepticism generates another essential byproduct: the ability to safely avoid the tendency towards rigidness of thought – a common feature of most managers in today’s world of business.

What more could this new business environment require of a potential entrepreneur or employee?

So, next time someone mentions the joke about philosophy majors, rather than getting angry, you could raise some doubts about the causal relationship between studying philosophy and earning minimum wage; maybe there are some underlying (psychological?!) causes that led them to this fallacious deductive reasoning.

 

Sources:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/295699

https://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/artsci/philosophy/academic-programs/undergrad/ourgraduates1.html

http://bigthink.com/experts-corner/why-future-business-leaders-need-philosophy

http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/29/news/economy/recent-college-graduates-job-new-york-federal-reserve/