1.
Gail Humble

2.
people @work/2020
the future of work and the changing workplace challenges
GAIL HUMBLE
Northern Territory President

3.
White Paper: people@work/2020
• After nearly three years of research, this Australian Human
Resources Institute (AHRI) white paper reviews and assesses the
major trends and issues likely to influence people at work by the
year 2020, together with expected impacts on workplace structure,
performance and professional leadership.
Peter Wilson AM, AHRI National President

4.
Are skills
the key
answer?

5.
Context
• 1980s: A Nation at Risk
– Loss of firm competitiveness to Japan & Germany
• 1990s: The War for Talent
– Skill shortages and demographic time bomb
• Today & Tomorrow: The Flat World &
Global Economic Crisis
– Internet creates global work platform
– Facilitates movement of now scarce jobs

6.
fu·ture/ˈ oCHər/
fyo͞
Noun: The time or a period of
time following the moment of
speaking or writing; time
regarded as still to come.
Adjective: At a later time; going
or likely to happen or exist:
"the needs of future
generations".
Synonyms: noun. futurity -
hereafter - tomorrow
adjective. coming -
prospective - unborn -
forthcoming - next

7.
EIGHT FORCES SHAPING THE FUTURE
1. Global competition
2. Technological and communication breakthroughs
3. Demand for personal flexibility
4. Skills convergence
5. Macroeconomic and demographic changes
6. Global best practice
7. Changing business standards e.g. CSR, ethics
8. Government imposition of regulations

8.
1. Globalisation & hyper-competition

9.
2. Continued breakthroughs in IT &
communications

10.
EIGHT MAJOR TECHNOLOGY DRIVERS
o IT modernisation
o Enterprise information management (EIM)
o Business process management (BPM)
o IT consumerisation
o Unified communications –
o Mobile devices
o Smart grids
o Cloud computing

11.
TECHNOLOGIES in our WORKPLACES can:
• Facilitate massive and immediate communication to anyone,
anytime, anywhere
• Distribute the locations of work
• Lead to higher skilled work patterns at home, work or in remote
locations
• Enable a greater personalisation of work through „universal but
individualised‟ portals
• Improve talent management, career performance, communications
and engagement
• Provide more flexible approaches to restructuring the workplace
• Increase access to professional knowledge

12.
3. Demand for personal flexibility &
customisation

13.
4. Skills convergence in multi-disciplinary
professional environment

14.
5. Changing macroeconomics& demographics

15.
6. Global best practices in people management

16.
7. New global standards: CSR, ethics

17.
8. Sustained imposition of regulatory solutions

18.
WORKPLACES
Work was a place we used to go to
now it’s something we do….

19.
Remote
location
The Nine
Three external spaces of work
New
Home „Space”
Stations of
Work in
Office 2020
Solitary Multi learning & Café networking
workstation interactive zone
Three internal spaces of work

20.
Core office functionality in 2020?
• 3 internal spaces – café style area,
combined learning centres, thinking,
private spaces
• A more flexible external workstation-
connect via customised portals –
sharepoint technology

21.
So what does it all mean for people@work?
 Boundary of work & home will disappear
 People, performance & productivity measures = critical
 Successful relationships = key driver
 Communication power will enable more flexible learning &
distributed work patterns in the internal & external work spaces
 CSR, ethical values & risk = key business enablers
 Non-core HR transactions entirely outsourced

22.
So what does it all mean for us in 2020?
 Skill shortages & talent will still challenge workplaces
 Education a lifelong learning process at work
 The world of business will be driven by networks
 Communication power will enable more flexible learning
& distributed work patterns

23.
Behind the scenes of people@work …
 Gen X & Y attitudes for better work-life balance
 New media enable flexible & distributed work patterns
 Baby boomers seek longer term workforce engagement -
high correlation to mental & physical health, longevity
 Ageing & female workers drive compressed & P/T roles

24.
What will
the next
generation
want
!

25.
“If you don‟t have a competitive advantage,
don‟t compete.
People are the competitive advantage”
Jack Welch

26.
The biggest Questions!!!!!
• How do we engage the workforce of the
future?
• What are the tools we need to have at the
ready?

27.
The biggest Questions!!!!!
• What has to change to achieve a more
skilled productive and competitive
Australian workforce?
• We should use technology because we
need it not just use because we can?
• We must think skill ecosystems,
not just vocational education and training?