Will your position still exist by 2022? The future of work.

"Disruptive innovations are creating new industries and business models, and destroying old ones."

Michael Rendell - Head of Human Capital Consulting, PwC

New technologies, data analytics and social networks are impacting how people communicate, collaborate and work. Back in 2007 PwC and the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilisation at the Said Business School in Oxford came together to develop a series of scenarios for the future of people management.With generations colliding, workforces becoming more diverse and people working for longer, traditional career models may soon be a thing of the past. 

Will the job roles and titles of tomorrow be very different to those of now?Perhaps not even thought of yet.

A recent PwC published report on this subject draws on a specially commissioned survey of 10,000 people in China, India, Germany, the UK and the US. They answered queries on how they think the workplace will evolve and how this will affect their employment prospects and future working lives.Whilst no exploration of the future of work could ever be definitive, the hope is that the findings will help many prepare and answer queries on how developments are going to affect the talent a business needs and how to attract, retain and motivate employees.

Findings: Three worlds of work

1. Orange WorldSmall is beautifulCompanies to break down into collaboration networks of smaller organisations; specilisation dominates the world economy. 2. Green WorldCompanies careSocial responsibility dominates the corporate agenda with concerns about demographic changes, climate and sustainability becoming the key drivers of change. 3. Blue WorldCorporate is KingBig company rules as organisations continue to grow bigger and individual preferences trump beliefs about social responsibility. 

Ready?

The findings also highlight how some forward-looking HR teams are already considering a range of different scenarios for the future as part of their business planning. The survey also included input from almost 500 HR professionals across the world. Most argued they are not prepared for meeting the needs of a workforce who demands more freedom, autonomy and flexibility.

Only around 20% report they are ready to embrace the role of technology and automation in replacing knowledge workers, even though most recognise this is something they should consider.Future for HR?"Whatever path your function follows, it's going to look very different in 2022."