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The Corona pandemic has shaken the world, it has changed the way people work and live. More than $114 million people lost their jobs in 2020, but the great thing is that half of them still feel confident and optimistic about the future.

The whirlwind of the pandemic caused sweeping changes to the way people work in our world. Remote jobs became more prevalent than ever before & an upsurge in automation is transforming how industries operate. Here’s a look at the key findings from the Future of Work report, based on the findings of the PWC survey that involved over 32,000 workers.

The respondents included office workers, business owners, contractors, part time workers and furloughed employees too. The survey included responses from workers in 19 countries. Here’s the key summary of the future of work: 

1. Jobs Will be Obsolete

39% of the people think their jobs will be obsolete in the next 5 years. The rapidly changing technologies, disruptions and fast paced developments are clearly having a direct impact on the jobs. In the pandemic alone, many job titles.

The study revealed that 48% people believe that traditional employment will change in the future, and that employees will need to sell their skills on a short term basis to people who need them.

The rise of the contract workers and just in time skills for getting work done is in high demand. Many companies are exploring options to get their work done without relying on full time workers. The percentage of long term stable jobs might see a decline in the future as employers find other viable options.

2. Automation Threat

The PWC study reported that 60% are worried that automation is putting many jobs at risk. So, there is more competition for human workers from machines and technology than most people can imagine. 

Automation is a looming threat and will eat up jobs for sure. However, new technologies will also create jobs that don’t exist today. Companies will need to be proactive in preparing a work force that can adapt to the future and take up newer jobs that might not exist today. For e.g. Devops engineers, big data scientists, Blockchain specialists were not very familiar roles a few years back as they are today. The future will be driven by technology & automation. Companies and their workers will need to make the transformation in order to be relevant in the future.

3. Remote work on Demand

The PWC study shows only 9% of those who can work remotely want to go back to a traditional commute and work environment full time. People have got used to remote work and very few of them want to go back full time to their old office ways.

The remote work has made the priorities of companies and workers clearer. It has made workers more productive and companies are constantly employing technologies to bring out the best in their workforce. The virtual collaboration is part and parcel of the modern day workplace now. 

The future workplace may well be a combination of remote workers and in office teams that collaborate, brainstorm and build solutions for the future. Workers in metropolitan cities are more likely to benefit from remote working as it takes longer commute times to reach office. The technology breakthroughs will also transform the ways people work in the next 3 to 5 years.

4. Purpose Driven Companies

As many as 75% workers say they want to work for an organisation that will make a positive contribution to society. The societal impact of work is important for workers. The majority of the workers are driven by a sense of purpose in what they do. Infact, the study showed that 46% of the people are willing to take up a job where they would choose a job that makes a difference over money. 

Companies that provide employees a sense of ownership, freedom, and a mission that creates an impact attract talent. While most people preferred to maximise their income, but a large percentage of people are still driven by their work and want to be associated with a purpose driven company.

5. Reskill & Retrain

The workplace for tomorrow needs workers who are prepared for the future. 77% of the workers said they are ready to learn new skills or complete retrain. Infact, the pandemic provided a great opportunity for 40% workers who improved their digital skills.

The companies are looking at employees training as their investment for the future. It helps them build a readily available technology talent pool, build better products/services for their customers and develop a continuous learning mindset for their company.

The ability to learn, adapt and implement new skills is a key differentiator in the world of technology. When companies help their people evolve, it infuses innovation, learning and growth for companies. The cost of doing nothing is very high, organisations need to get a move on & empower their teams to deliver products/services that shape their future.

6. Workplace Discrimination

One of the most disconcerting aspects of the pandemic is the inequalities it spotlighted. Whether it is the workforce, the digital divide or the standards of living among the classes of people, the inequalities are very much part of our world that we need to erase quickly.
The pandemic created a surge in the workplace discrimination. Many countries saw migrant workers leave their countries back to their native ones. There were sentiments of anti globalisation and racial discrimination that triggered an avalanche of emotional reactions amidset the working populace. 

50% of workers say they’ve faced discrimination at work, which led to them missing out on career advancement or training. While 13% report missing out on opportunities as a result of ethnicity.

A fully inclusive workplace allows employees and workers to express themselves without any inhibitions. It helps them flourish, develop their talents and rise to their capabilities. The organisations that build this type of culture benefit from it in the long run. When meritocracy rules supreme, the results are noticeable for everyone.

The future of work will involve more deliberation from corporate leaders to speak on issues of workplace discrimination. A culture of open mindedness, inclusion and freedom is the best investment for the generations of the future. 

Leadership is the art of communicating the right things at the right time to the right people for achieving a shared vision. The ability of a leader to communicate can make the difference between success and failure of a mission. The best of intentions need to be backed up with good communication & leadership skills to make things happen.

Studies have shown that if you want to be an effective leader, you need to excel in communication. Infact, inadequate communication is directly related to the bottomline for organisations. Research conducted by Society for Human Resource Management found inadequate communication can cost large companies a loss of $64.2 million every year. For smaller organisations, they risk losing almost $420,000. The habits of communication can make a difference to the fortunes of organisations and build people to achieve challenging missions.

1. Information Sharing

Leaders need to share and keep their subordinates informed about their organisation. The ability of a leader to share key nuggets of information builds trust and confidence in the team. Even when things are going wrong, information and data can be used for corrective measures.

When a new policy is introduced, it is the job of the concerned leader to articulate it to the organisation. Successful organisations share relevant information that pertain to employees, vendors and customers to win their trust.

2. Active Listening

Many times, leaders live in a silo, and fail to listen to their teams. This is more so when the leader is the most intelligent person in the room. Teams can often feel overwhelmed and not communicate freely with the leaders. But the best leaders make conscious attempts to listen, understand and respect the opinions of their people. Nothing makes a leader more effective than active listening skills.

Leaders can get signals and clues on many important things by listening. Interrupting your teams when they are speaking, completing their sentences and a know it all approach can be counterintuitive for leaders. Good leaders engage in a conversation, they ask questions, take notes, feedback and most importantly respect the opinion of the other person.

3. Setbacks

Leaders are often facing setbacks due to volatile business situations, hard to reach targets and often find themselves in an isolated position. When things are going wrong, it becomes important for leaders to rally their troops. Leadership needs to handle setbacks by aligning their teams and resources in the right direction. They have to ensure that they are forging forward in any situation towards achieving their goals.

A leader’s ability to handle setbacks as a challenge, take feedback and opinion of his team in tough situations can build a great organisational culture. When things go wrong, every team member should be able to walk up to the leader and seek the way forward.

4. The Focal Point

Great leadership skills are all about making people achieve things beyond their imagination. It is possible by narrowing your focus on the most important things and doing them to the best of your abilities. When leaders articulate the priorities, teams can deliver impeccable results.

A lot of teams fail, because they keep changing the directions too often. Despite the changing business models, priorities and situations, great teams stay focused and achieve their vision. Leaders help their teams focus on their core activities, deliver their best work and eliminate other distractions. They work with focus and resolve until they meet their targets. Leadership takes responsibility for people climbing the right ladder for their individual & organisational success.

5. Ego

Leadership is about connection and communication, not about superiority. When leaders communicate with a sense of ego, the team suffers. The best leaders know how to manage their egos and sense of importance. They understand what they do is more important than who they are. This is true for every individual in the team.

A good team may have star players, but the team is always bigger than an individual. The best leaders maintain consistent standards and policies for everyone. They’re considerate but never unfair. They communicate with good self awareness and understand how to take people alongside them.

6. Blindspots & Self Awareness

Everyone has blindspots, but the blindspots of a leader get highlighted more than others. A leader who knows his blindspots and trusts people in his team to cover up those aspects earns the respect of his team.

When a leader communicates with awareness and knows what he doesn’t know, he appears more authentic and trustworthy. A good leader builds a team that helps each other do better every day. They complement each other, resolve conflicts and do their best work together.

Failing to acknowledge the blindspots and communicating with confusion can often create hurdles in leadership. A leader often needs to build a team of trustworthy lieutenants around him. For e.g. a CEO with a strong sales expertise may not need help in understanding modern technology aspects and how they affect business. A good CEO will often have a few trusted people who will guide and drive the technology strategy of the company.

7. Difficult Conversations

Leadership is not about being good and pleasant with others, but creating an impact and achieving the desired results. A leader needs to have difficult conversations with people on his team, provide constructive feedback and get things moving.

Great leadership skills are needed in times of complexity, conflicts and difficult situations. The best leaders learn the art of negotiating with people, whether it is their teams, customers or other stakeholders. They identify conflicts, problems and work towards resolutions early.

The conversations and communication are an integral part of leadership. The work and personal relationships are built on these communications. Every failed communication can impact a relationship, whereas every successful communication strengthens it. Good leaders learn to communicate successfully & build a shared consensus among their teams to achieve a great impact.

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The human race keeps moving forward with myriad innovations and developments that improve the standard of living around the world. The most innovative countries push the envelope for developments that benefits humans around the planet. Bloomberg measures
the innovation of the countries around the world in terms of their research and development, patents, high-tech density and other ways to abet innovation. The most innovative countries in the world are contributing in the fields of healthcare, smarter living, organic meat and technology etc.

The Bloomberg study evaluates seven weighted metrics for assessing innovation. It takes into account research and development activity, manufacturing, productivity, researchers & patent activity to rank the innovative countries around the world.

Most Innovative Countries

South Korea has grabbed the top spot on the list of most innovative countries in 2021. South Korea was at the second spot in 2020. The country has been prominently held as an innovator bagging the top spot for six consecutive years from 2014 to 2019. The South Korean economy has been a story of remarkable turnaround based on its innovation. It has transformed itself from one of the poorest countries in the 1960s to the world’s 10th largest economy in 2020. 

South Korea has access to almost no natural resources & has a high density of population on its land. But the resurgence of South Korea owes to its education system that has been driving the technology boom and preparing ground for its economic development. A high number of research activities, adoption of the latest technology and skilled workforce make South Korea a force to reckon in the world today. The country is also among the leading R&D investors of the world in proportion of its GDP.  The Asian country has been among the leading exporters of technology around the world. South Korea received a score of 90.49 on the Bloomberg innovation index. 

Singapore is the second most innovative economy in the world behind South Korea. It improved its ranking from 2020 where it was ranked third on the index. Singapore has been investing in building a digital and future driven economy to address the national and societal priorities. The country ranks highly on most development indicators for measuring standards of living of its residents, not just innovation. Singapore received a score of 87.76 in 2021.

European Dominance Among Innovative Economies

Switzerland grabbed the third spot among the most innovative economies of the world this year. It was ranked fourth in 2020. The country is the most innovative economy in Europe. It has a highly developed infrastructure, education, research, facilities and training system for its citizens. Switzerland also invests a significant portion of its GDP on R&D activities to foster innovation. It received a score of 87.60 on the innovation index.

Germany moved from the first spot in 2020 to the fourth spot in 2021. The country saw a decline of three positions as its innovation score fell by 3 points at 86.45 in 2021. Germany has been at the forefront of R&D, innovation and has a highly productive workforce. It has shown the ability to innovate, adopt modern technology & has high quality of education. The European country has shown its research as a top innovator in the automobile industry. It has led the technology for driverless vehicles, digital networked mobility and electric cars. 

Sweden & Denmark round off the fifth and sixth positions among the most innovative countries. Sweden’s position remained unchanged from 2020, whereas Denmark gained a rank two positions higher this year. Sweden and Denmark scored 86.39 and 86.12 respectively on the innovation index. Sweden has been consistently ranked among the most innovative countries in Europe and the world. The country has invested in zero emission electric cars and investing in innovative technologies to deliver citizen services.

Small But Highly Innovative Country

Israel is the seventh most innovative country in the 2021 Bloomberg innovation index. Last year it was ranked sixth. Israel is among the highest spending countries for R&D for its GDP. Israel spends nearly 4.9% of its GDP on R&D every year, which is the highest in the world. The country has been a bedrock of innovative technologies and breakthrough concepts for the world. Israel is home to more high tech startups per capita on the globe. The flexible stents used for opening up artery blockages, free voice calling app, & firewall for protection against malware are some just some of the innovations from Israel. The country is also known for a high number of patents for a small country.  Israel received a score of 85.5 on the innovative index. 

Finland & Netherlands are the eight and ninth most innovative economies of the world. They scored 84.86 and 84.29 respectively on the innovation index. Finland was ranked seventh in 2021, while Netherlands made an entry into the top 10 this year, last year it was ranked thirteenth. The Finnish Ecosystem is developed to create innovative models by linking startups with large companies, universities and government offices. Finland is among the top breeding spots for startups in Europe and driven by a strong support system from the governments there. Finland’s innovation model is driven by adopting information technology for economic growth and improving quality of life for its people. 

Austria rounds up the tenth position for the most innovative economy in 2021. Austria moved up from the eleventh spot in 2020. The country received a score of 83.93 on the innovation index in 2021. The most innovative economies in the world are driven by the EU members. As many as seven out of the top ten countries are from Europe. The European countries are increasingly adopting digital technologies for innovation, aiding productivity, & improving the quality of life for its citizens. The region is also known for its collaborative framework for advancing innovations and technology.

Conclusion:

The rate of innovations matter and have a significant impact on humanity. As 2020 saw the worst of the Corona pandemic, the innovations for healthcare and the technologies that have made it possible have been lauded around the world. The speed at which countries can adopt new ideas, experiment and innovate to build solutions for the world gives them an edge. Many of these innovations are now driven by the fourth industrial revolution with digital technologies taking the center stage. 

Competitive parity is a measure of the key metrics for a business against its competitors or industry average. As businesses compete to gain the edge, competitive parity is an important way to keep score of the most vital aspects.

Companies use competitive parity to improve their performance, especially in non areas of their business. For e.g. the concept of competitive parity is used in marketing. Pepsi and Coca Cola are competitors and often look at the marketing costs for a region. None of them wants to be behind the other, so they benchmark the promotional, advertisements and branding costs for a specific territory. The concept of competitive parity helps a company stay on par with its competitors for a chosen metric like marketing expenditure, quality standards for a product or use of technology etc.

Here’s a look at some of the types of competitive parity that influences your business: 

1. Quality of Products & Services

When Apple launched the iphone, it had set a standard that challenged smartphone manufacturers. Companies like Samsung and Google etc. were compelled to improve their technology to meet the consumer expectations.

In any industry or market segment, the quality of your product or service has to meet the expected standards for it to perform. Whether it is the incumbents or new startups, your products or services have to measure up against your competition. You cannot create or sustain a business in a competitive landscape with substandard products or services.

2. Best Practices & Processes

Is your company measuring up against its competitors in terms of the best practices and processes? For e.g. are you following and sticking to standard processes for building your products or services? Are you meeting the regulatory needs? Are you following up with quality standards and streamlining things for your employees?

When businesses adopt standards and processes, it helps them to stay focused and meet the market needs. Despite the ongoing disruptions, changing market situations and chaotic business dynamics, the best practices can still be followed. The best businesses are driven by key best practices in various disciplines. For e.g. a company may check to see the best practices for the human resources to meet the industry standards. It may not invent these things, but follow them to meet certain guidelines in order to be competitive. 

3. Pricing Strategy

When you’re servicing a niche segment of clients, you can charge a premium for your services inline with the value you provide. But if you are into a customer space with many competitors, you have to measure yourself against existing competitors.

Your products or services have to be developed and benchmarked against the industry average. Your pricing strategy needs to take into account the customer options and evaluate your offerings for them. When you’re offering unique capabilities, niche services and innovative products above market standards, your customers will be happy to pay a premium. 

4. Use of Technology

Is your business up to date with technology standards? Are you measuring favourably against your existing competitors & new technology innovations? For e.g. banks today need to provide state of the art technology services for their customers, they are also challenged with innovations happening in the financial technology space by startups.

A business needs to be aware of the latest trends affecting its customers, employees, industry and business. As the rate of technological evaluation is phenomenal, businesses that are not proactive get left behind. The demand for the latest tools and technologies has become a necessary obligation for companies to force their way forward today.

5. Expenditure

The expenditure of a business for various business functions like marketing, product or services development, advertisements, human resources, technology, IT services, & R&D etc. is often benchmarked against the competitors for establishing competitive parity.

Although companies have different levels of resource utilisation, efficiency metrics and output levels, expenditure into some of the business functions helps them boost their presence in the same space vis a vis competition. 

Companies that are well established and market leaders often spend more for marketing & advertisements. New entrants are generally more focused on innovative strategies to build differentiation and brand recognition. But businesses of all sizes need to guard against their competitors and new entrants in their customer space.

6. Finer Details 

The best businesses are often built on finer details that are missed by others. Attention to details in design, features and functions of your products and services is crucial for gaining competitive parity. Companies that study the competitors products, their features and details can uncover many opportunities for working finer details that add value to their business.

The best companies are not doing incremental stuff, but they work backwards from what the customers need. Sometimes, if you need to improve things 10x, it needs a completely innovative mindset. It can be done by working on the finer details and building a new experience for the customers.

Companies that pay attention to customer needs and aspirations can create out of the box experiences for them. They usually innovate with the customer needs in mind & understand the current pain areas for them. It helps them pick up finer details to improve the customer experience.

7. Strategy

Businesses need to have a strategic perspective of things to stay in touch with ground realities. Whether it is competitors or market demand, companies need to be able to establish and constantly update their standards for some of the following:

Automation: Are your competitors using automation for key processes? Can your business deliver better results with algorithms, data and technology?
Business goals:  What are their business goals?
Key Drivers: What are the key drivers for your business and how you can build on them?
Products: How do you plan to differentiate and add value to your products & services?
Markets: What are the key markets & locations for your business?
Customer Service: How are you measuring your customer service levels?
Experimentation: What is your framework for experimentation and moving forward against your competitors?

Companies that have a deep understanding of the strategic framework for their business operate with strong fundamentals. The decision making is done using data to uncover new business opportunities & gain competitive parity in their business.

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