COVID-19 accelerated changes that were already reshaping the workplace, including digitization, remote working, distributed workforces, asynchronous and virtual collaboration, and reskilling and upskilling. Companies can keep the momentum going—there is an opportunity now to boldly design a future of work that’s based on what the work requires and what talent needs.
Work will never be the same. A June 2021 study from Future Forum (of which BCG is a founding member) assessed more than 10,000 knowledge workers in six countries and found that 93% want a flexible schedule, 76% want flexibility in where they work, and 56% are open to a job change.
As leaders navigate the future of work, they must balance two fundamental goals: to manage the operational challenges of near-term decisions regarding a return to premises and to invest in innovative work and talent models designed to address customers’ and employees’ changing demands. To achieve these goals, organizations must excel in six areas:
We have developed an integrated approach that enables companies to understand how to prepare for the future of work, expand their thinking from the tactical to the strategic, and redefine the way work gets done.
We have an opportunity to create a future of work that is more engaging, productive and humane. Find out how we can stop contorting our lives around work — and instead reshape work to better fit our lives.
Watch the TED talk
How can organizations recalibrate their outdated approach to leadership, work, culture, and purpose? Deborah Lovich, who leads BCG’s people strategy topic, and Brian Elliott, executive leader and senior vice president of Future Forum, explore.
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
The pandemic has shown companies that their employees can be just as productive working without the former constraints of time and location. Business leaders have the opportunity and imperative to intentionally design the future of work to unleash a new wave of productivity.
The COVID-19 crisis has opened a rare window of opportunity for companies to reinvent how they serve their customers and support their employees.
Learn how your company can hold onto the valuable productivity gains made during the pandemic.
A systematic approach to postpandemic ways of working can capture the upsides of these models while mitigating the risks.
Leaders should be managing remote working conditions amid the uncertainty of today and prepare for and optimize the hybrid working models of tomorrow.
Hybrid working models can get messy. Companies must establish principles to focus the organization on behavior change—and put guardrails in place to avoid creating inequitable experiences.
The experience of work during a time of pandemic has revealed a hidden driver of organizational performance: relational productivity.
BCG at Davos
Discover what's top of mind for BCG's experts as they explore topics such as the future of work, AI, climate change, and more at the WEF's Annual Meeting.
One in five knowledge workers is likely to jump to a new company in the next year, and more than half are open to looking for a new position. Meanwhile, companies are rethinking their talent models—including what a “job” looks like. This is about to be the fiercest race for talent we’ve ever seen.
A study of 209,000 people in 190 countries hints at how workplaces will have to change in the future.
Today's workers want a flexible schedule, flexibility in where they work, and a good portion are likely to jump to a new company in the next year. To win the war for talent, employers should take note.
By supporting this critical part of the workforce while the crisis persists, companies create goodwill that will carry over when better times return.
New research from BCG and Harvard Business School's Project on Managing the Future of Work suggests how companies can make the most of new talent models.
By the end of 2023, the gig economy was expected to account for more than $450 billion in revenue. Based on what we experienced over the past year and a half, that projection now seems far too conservative.
A new generation of talent platforms, offering on-demand access to highly trained workers, have emerged. Now it's time for companies to get strategic about how they use them.
With employees jumping ship in record numbers in the United States, companies are facing a talent crunch. One HR strategy they should embrace is to make themselves so attractive that employees won’t want to leave.
Companies that understand which jobs are growing and which are disappearing—as well as which skills are increasingly in demand and which are becoming obsolete—will gain a significant advantage over competitors.
An in-depth analysis of the US, Germany, and Australia shows how technology will disrupt labor markets by 2030—displacing millions of workers but creating new opportunities as well.
What we learned from analyzing 95 million online job postings over the past three years.
A study of 209,000 people in 190 countries shows the appeal of professional reinvention at an uncertain time.
There is a clear need for upskilling and reskilling on a large scale. But how can this be accomplished and funded?
Companies are transforming their operating models to enable faster innovation and adaptation using agile at scale, AI at scale, and bionic ways of working. The best way to redesign an operating model in the postpandemic era? Boldly and quickly.
In cooperation with the World Economic Forum’s Future of Work project, BCG is developing a blueprint to help companies assess and manage changes and challenges in the future of work.
Can companies find the right design to unleash the power of technology?
Why do digital natives grow into the world’s most valuable companies seemingly overnight while the world’s largest legacy companies achieve only incremental digital progress?
Associate Director
Platinion – Pittsburgh
