An unprecedented moment in history

In 1839 Christian Schibsted started a small printing business. Two decades later, he founded the newspaper Aftenposten to branch out, which became Schibsted’s first example of rethinking its business.

Today, after 180 years of entrepreneurship, innovation and investments, Schibsted has grown into a family of strong brands ranging from media houses to online marketplaces, digital growth businesses, and start-up investors. We still carry with us both the values of our media heritage and that desire to branch out, go for growth, rethink and reinvent ourselves.

Our media heritage also inspires the Schibsted Future Report. This annual outlook on trends within tech, people and business is written by our own people and we truly believe that sharing ideas and being transparent is a foundation for democracy.

In the past year, our willingness to go for change and growth has given us the opportunity to consolidate the Nordic classifieds market, by acquiring the Danish classifieds marketplaces DBA and Bilbasen, and welcoming them into the Schibsted family. We believe this puts us in an even better position to deliver on our mission; to empower people in their daily lives.

we are witnessing two fundamental changes in the labour force

To keep growing, Schibsted (and everyone else) will have to deal with the fact that the world is at a crossroads. The digitalisation of society has taken leaps during the pandemic, and everyone is racing to build and maintain a digital relationship with their customers. To succeed, they will need developers, UX-experts, engineers and technologists. The problem is that there are too few to go around as it is.

According to Gartner’s Emerging Risks Survey 2021, global talent shortage is now the top emerging risk for all organisations. Korn Ferry estimates a worldwide deficit of 4.3 million tech-skilled workers by 2023, of which 1.5 million in Europe alone.

On top of that, studies carried out by Microsoft, among others, show that a high percentage of the workforce want the option of working remotely and are willing to change jobs to do so. What is more; remote job postings on Linkedin have increased five times since the pandemic outbreak.

In other words: we are witnessing two fundamental changes in the labour force simultaneously. First, a global shortage of tech people, which has already been named “the war for talent”. Second, a global talent migration in a border-free, post-pandemic labour market, often referred to as “the great reshuffle”.

However; one can compete on culture

There’s no easy way for employers to counter any of these fundamental changes. Competing on compensation and benefits alone, for instance, may prove to be difficult when the global giants have seemingly bottomless war chests in the war for talent. However; one can compete on culture – offering a better place to work, and one can compete on purpose – offering a more meaningful place to work.

I think we are facing an unprecedented moment in the history of work, where we all need to rethink not just how we work, but why we work. More people will be doing work they love at companies they feel passionate about. And this presents opportunities to organisations who engage their employees, offering trust and purpose.

I also think it is a good idea to showcase the talented people already working at the company, letting their ideas and voices be heard. And that is exactly what we do with the Schibsted Future report.