Analysis: expect a lot of watercooler chatter around hybrid work, the increasing use of AI and the changing nature of how we learn on the job
Up until the pandemic in 2020, work for most of us involved leaving the house in the morning and going to our place of employment. Overnight, Zoom meetings and working from the kitchen table became the norm. After years of hybrid and remote work, somewhat inevitably the pendulum has swung back the other way, with 2024 seeing a slew of companies demanding employees get back to the office.
So what are we in for in 2025? New ways of working like hybrid work are still front and centre, as is technology acceleration most especially AI and accelerating the novice-to-expert learning trajectory.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, how is Gen Z changing the workplace?
Are Irish businesses ready to effectively respond to, and design for, these key challenges? On what basis are decisions about how to address these challenges being made? What evidence can they draw on, and in the absence of evidence, what strategies can an organisation implement to source, analyse and pilot test organisational evidence?
Hybrid work is here to stay - or is it?
Headlines on hybrid working vary wildly from 'hybrid working is here to stay’, ‘the five day work week is dead’, to ‘mandates to return to the office’. Some preliminary research identifies that productivity and employee retention are improved by hybrid working. But here is also evidence that hybrid working decreases organisational learning, innovation and collaboration and that organisational social networks are weakened. As a result, the benefits and drawbacks of hybrid working are still contested because there is insufficient evidence from which bosses can determine when, where and for whom hybrid working is beneficial.
From RTÉ Radio 1's Brendan O'Connor Show, why are employers like Amazon pushing employees to get back to the office?
Current measures of hybrid working are rudimentary and predominantly based on, for example, the number of days per week in versus out of the office without due consideration to the vast variation in the nature of work being conducted. It should not be an either/or question of returning to the office, remaining hybrid or indeed going fully remote. It is a much more nuanced answer that should identify the benefits and pitfalls for both employees and their organisations in tandem.
Businesses need to collect and analyse evidence to identify the optimum models of hybrid working that enhance organisational outcomes like productivity and innovation, while ensuring employee well-being, social connectivity and organisational commitment. These optimum models of hybrid working need to consider different employee groups and different work tasks. In short, what's the evidence for the decision being taken? Is it the most effective decision for your organisation, employees and nature of work, and how do you know?
Is the future of work human in the age of AI?
A hot topic and challenge being faced by organisations in today’s world of work is around digital transformation or more specifically what is dubbed "the age of AI". Once again, it’s either ‘the robots are taking over’ or ‘AI won’t take over the world anytime soon’. News items discussing how the technology and its implementation is moving faster than our knowledge of its opportunities and risks is largely true.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's The Business, physicist, engineer, and science communicator Philip Smith on how AI is being used to diffuse the daily anger faced by call centre workers
However, it seems it is not necessary to feel like your company has not kept pace when we look at the extent to which AI is implemented. According to the Josh Bersin Predictions, only 5% of firms are embracing AI and redesigning jobs and work and focusing on its benefits for productivity. 85% of organisations are still in the exploration stage concerned with risk, legal, compliance and governance.
The narrative should be less ‘the future of work is powered by AI’ and more ‘the future of work is powered by people enabled by AI’. The long-term future of work perspective likely positions AI and humans in the same ecosystem, AI as a colleague, humans and AI working interdependently, interacting on the same or closely related tasks. Humans will shape AI through their daily choices, actions, generating, and choosing data, and providing AI with feedback.
Simultaneously, AI shapes human behavior by informing, guiding, and steering human judgment. The future of work is human, as Michael Arena’s summary identifies, AI can never replace human connection. However, humans with AI will replace humans without AI so the time is now to develop the necessary skills and awareness of opportunities and risks in employees and to move from organisational exploration of AI to embracing AI.
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From RTÉ News, a report has found that almost a third of jobs could be negatively impacted by AI
Reimagining how workers learn
With the proliferation of information and on-demand access to knowledge it would seem that learning, decision-making and problem solving is easier and faster than ever before. There are a multitude of technologies that can enable employee learning at work and at the point of need. AI can facilitate (but not replace) decision making. Microlearning modules can enable an employee to complete a task and recall knowledge as and when they need it.
While access to knowledge and information in this way certainly makes accessing knowledge easier and faster and facilitates some forms of learning in the flow of work, it does not meet all individual and organisational learning needs. First, digital information, misinformation, disinformation, biased information and fake news have become much more prevalent during the last decade. Consequently, individuals and companies accessing information and knowledge for learning need to engage in critical thinking and evaluate the trustworthiness of the evidence they are reading.
Organisations need to reflect on and reimagine how they enable specifically informal learning in the workplace
Second, a company's ability to predict its future learning and development needs is increasingly impossible and poorly based on past experiences and data. As a result, an organisation’s ability to identify and push all the knowledge required to every employee in advance of when it is required is severely reduced. How do companies prepare their staff for a future no one can see? Furthermore learning is more than accessing knowledge, it's about understanding it, absorbing it cognitively and being able to apply it in multiple scenarios.
Organisations need to develop employees' meta-competency to "learn how to learn", and to independently source and evaluate tacit knowledge and evidence as and when they need it. While focusing on delivering formal learning opportunities and providing sound bites of knowledge is fast, it does not capture the learning value to be gained from informal learning and learning from others’ tacit knowledge. Employers need to reflect on and reimagine how they enable specifically informal learning in the workplace via employees working in groups, working alongside others, performing challenging tasks and dealing with customers.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
