This Week's Top 3 Must Reads on The Future of Work

These are my top three article picks for the week of January 17th on the future of work, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, and humanizing work. This week's selection includes insights from 2022 Glassdoor Best Places to Work list, trends that will define 2022, and a guide to understanding the basics about the metaverse. I hope the articles inspire and ignite your imagination about the future of work and provide insights and strategies that you can leverage to help your organization thrive and make work more human. 

Glassdoor’s Best Places To Work 2022 Revealed

I look forward to reviewing this list every year! The list profile employers across a wide range of industries. This year’s report included large companies and small to medium companies with fewer than 1000 employees across the US, UK, Canada, France, and Germany. Some of the winners that made the list for large employers included NVIDIA, HubSpot, Bain & Company, Lululemon, and Google. A few of my favorite quotes from employees are below.

"All agents and employees are given white-glove service! We are truly cared about!"        

"The company works remarkably hard to create an inclusive community where every single person is able to bring their best, whole self to work."

"Working remotely, flexible schedule, great benefits, unlimited vacation time, amazing culture, large growth potential, competitive wages."

I encourage you to check out the rest of the list and employee survey responses. The responses exemplify the powerful connections between employee experience and strategic priorities tied to retention, engagement performance, and growth.  

11 Trends that Will Shape Work in 2022 and Beyond

This article made the list because it provides guidance on how leaders can navigate the volatility that organizations will face in 2022. Trends that resonated with me and that will require significant leadership focus were: 1) fairness and equity will be defining issues for organizations 2) vaccine mandates vs. testing challenges will persist 3) employee turnover will continue to increase 4) wellness will be a metric for understanding employees 5) emergence of the C-level chief purpose officer role 6) "sitting is the new smoking" drives the implementation of benefits and technologies that support physical movement, and 7) DIEB interventions will be needed for hybrid work. As we move through 2022, disruption and uncertainty will continue. However, it is up to leaders to prioritize mitigating the impact of disruption and uncertainty and position organizations and people to thrive. 

Make Sense of the metaverse and NFTs with this guide to 2022 tech

This article is my favorite! The subtitle of the article says it all. "Don't be intimidated. Get educated". Most people have at least heard of the metaverse at this point. The problem is that most do not have a fundamental understanding of what it is or how it will evolve in the near future. The article made this week's list because leaders must understand how the metaverse will be a game-changer for organizations on both consumer and employee levels. So as the article states, "whether you find yourself playing VR golf with your coworkers after a big virtual meeting or getting caught up in an NFT heist about bored apes, tech in 2022 is about to get real weird for all of us. You'd best get educated now." Some of the biggest brands like Sony and Apple are pushing the adoption of VR in 3D spaces for consumers and workers. So, what can a leader do to get ahead of this shift? I say learn the basics. The article is a guide to understanding the basics of the metaverse, NFTs, virtual, mixed, and augmented reality, blockchain, and lossless audio. "Instead of retreating to the woods, take a few minutes to learn these terms so you can navigate the months ahead ." These technologies will transform your organization in the coming years, so be a forward-focused leader and let this guide catalyze a deeper dive into how the metaverse will shape the future of work. 

Be resilient, be relevant, be bold and let's thrive in the unfolding of the future of work together! Want more insights? Click on my logo below and sign up for my newsletter. Want to learn more about training to prepare your leaders with the resilience and future-focus needed to thrive as the rapid unfolding of the future of work continue? Click on my logo below and schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation. Have you purchased your copy of my book titled Force Majeure: A Futurist's Guide to Boldly Thriving on Your Terms in the Future of Work? If not, grab it today, it too is a must read!