Here is your June guide to the latest trends impacting the world of work. Every month, we provide perspective on the biggest news affecting the industry and explain what to expect as new trends continue to emerge.
The Future of Work Is Now: What You Need to Know From the Forbes Future of Work Summit
On June 8, 2023, Forbes hosted, in New York City, a leadership summit on The Future of Work. This event brought together leaders from professional and political organizations to discuss the future of work with Forbes’ senior editor opening the event by sharing that, “The future of work is happening right now.”
A few highlights from the sessions:
AI, Equal Pay and a “New Civil Rights Frontier”
Charlotte Burrows, the Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), highlighted the importance of clear organizational values for companies when addressing social and political issues. Regarding AI, Burrows mentioned that the EEOC is considering issues related to transparency and biases in order to ensure fair and equitable practices in the workplace.
As many organizations are experimenting with AI tools in the workplace and especially in their hiring process, it will be important to establish clear and transparent guidelines to avoid bias or discrimination.
Video’s Role is Increasing in the Workplace – Especially for Gen Z
Have you ever heard the term “bare-minimum Mondays”? This type of buzzword is being amplified by a generation raised on social media. How do we engage with this audience? Kristen Stoller, “Under 30” Deputy @Forbes, speaks with leaders on the impact of the TikTok effect on corporate America and the need for authenticity (good and bad) in today’s recruiting efforts.
For TA leaders who will be hiring Generation Z workers, it’s important to understand what they are looking for. This audience wants a clear understanding of who you are, what you stand for and what you believe in, and they likely won’t apply without knowing these things. Reviewing your career site, job descriptions and social media content to ensure each is delivering what’s important to this audience will be critical to your ability to attract and convert them.
The Future of the Freelance Economy
Is there stability in freelance work? That’s the discussion with Upwork’s CEO Hayden Brown. As our labor markets have evolved with the prevalence of short-term, temporary or freelance work arrangements, often facilitated through online platforms or digital marketplaces, the question remains, is this stable? Is this the right move professionally? Gig workers, also known as independent contractors or freelancers, often have flexibility in choosing when, where and how much they work. But will there be enough work?
Learn more about the future or work and hear directly from event participants.
Gen Z and millennial workers feel confused, irritated and left out by endless ‘workplace jargon’ in the office, LinkedIn research shows.
Is it time to ditch workplace “jargon”?
According to research conducted by LinkedIn and Duolingo, some millennials are feeling that way as they are often confused and feel left out at work because of it.
If your organization is jargon heavy, consider either ditching it or ensure that learning the ins and outs of it are part of your new-hire onboarding to make sure no one is left out.
This research has shown:
- Workplace jargon is causing confusion and feelings of exclusion among young professionals: 48% of Gen Z and millennials in the UK feel left out at work due to the use of workplace jargon.
- Young professionals adapt their communication to fit in: Despite feeling overwhelmed by workplace jargon, 54% of young workers change how they speak to fit in.
- Workplace jargon can affect career progression: According to the survey, 67% of Gen Z and millennials believe that understanding workplace language is crucial for career advancement.
When hiring younger workers, consider how often and in what context jargon is used in the day to day. Is it helping or hurting? First off, it will be important to ensure that any external communications are free of jargon if we want to attract a younger audience. Make sure that each step in the process of attracting candidates speaks in a language they can understand. AI Tools such as ChatGPT will make this process easier by reviewing any materials you have and suggesting different ways to simplify what you are saying so that it can be understood on a wider scale.
Continue reading about “Workforce Jargon” and its potential impact.
McKinsey & Company – The Economic Potential for Generative AI: The Next Productivity Frontier
With the introduction of new AI tools such as ChatGPT or Google’s Bard, the focus on AI has never been greater and the impact has only begun to be recognized. In this recently released report, McKinsey has outlined the potential productivity and economic impact of these tools. The report goes further, breaking down the potential impact by industry and highlighting specific opportunities for the use case and impact that AI tools could make.
A few highlights covered throughout the full report:
- Generative AI is poised to unleash the next wave of productivity.
- It could add trillions of dollars in value to the global economy, equivalent to the GDP of the United Kingdom.
- It could enable labor productivity growth of 0.1 to 0.6 percent annually through 2040.
- It could automate work activities that absorb 60 to 70 percent of employees’ time today.
- It could change the anatomy of work, augmenting the capabilities of individual workers by automating some of their individual activities.
- However, workers will need support in learning new skills, and some will change occupations.
Here are some additional details from the report:
- Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that can create new content, such as text, images or music.
- It is still in its early stages of development, but it has the potential to revolutionize many industries.
- Some of the potential applications of generative AI include:
- Product design: Generative AI could be used to design new products that are more efficient, effective or aesthetically pleasing.
- Content creation: Generative AI could be used to create new content, such as articles, blog posts or marketing materials.
- Customer service: Generative AI could be used to provide customer service that is more personalized and efficient.
- The report estimates that generative AI could add between $2.6 trillion and $4.4 trillion to the global economy annually.
- This would increase the impact of all artificial intelligence by 15 to 40 percent.
- However, there are also some potential risks associated with generative AI, such as job displacement and the spread of misinformation.
- It is important to manage these risks in order to ensure that generative AI can be used for good.
Organizations today need to ensure they have a firm grasp of what the tools can do to improve the work they do, how their employees conduct day to day business and how to ensure employees are using these tools in a safe and effective manner.
