How and when we work is continuously evolving and reveal that the traditional Monday to Friday in the office from 9-5pm is likely a thing of the past. If that that is the case businesses will need to be agile and adaptable to allow for seamless evolution to ensure productivity and the ability to retain and incentivise staff remain achievable goals. To do so, we’ll need to question how we view work. In this article, we will examine various flexible work arrangements and broadly evaluate their feasibility and discuss ways for business to best prepare for the future.
As a result of recent security breaches, large scale hacking and other cyber security threats in the workplace, there is increasing pressure on businesses to implement more secure systems which can help prevent these types of threats. In addition to increased surveillance and other security technology, there has also been an uptake in the number of businesses which are introducing biometric authentication methods and facial recognition technologies into the workplace to increase their security, ease of access and precise data collection.
AI technology is still in its earlier stages of development as far as its impact on work. However, this is rapidly changing and one type of AI that has the real potential to completely change how we work are chatbots. Many industries that are customer facing such as banks, utility companies and mobile phone providers, have implemented chat bots in the workplace to answer customer queries and concerns in a more efficient and cost-effective way.
As we saw in the introduction to the Future of Work article, as technology continues to evolve, so will the workplace. In particular, artificial intelligence (“AI”) and automation will likely continue to play a key role in the workplace and can, if used appropriately, increase efficiency and accuracy and save costs. Almost certainly, AI, automation and technological advances will make certain tasks and roles obsolete, in particular in industries where the tasks are repetitive and mundane.
The Australian workplace has been going through a significant transformation in recent years, driven by various factors including technological advances and the normalisation of flexible working conditions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As technology continues to evolve and the nature of the workplace becomes more automated and diffuse, businesses will be required to adapt to the new changes in order to stay competitive and ensure their workforce is engaged and meets the businesses’ evolving needs.