People trends in short

Remote work is here to stay, which will effect most things connected to our jobs.

Remote work and remote hubs

Offering wider remote work is a growing internal and external demand. Schibsted is testing a hybrid workplace and is exploring alternatives. We also believe that we can establish more workplace hubs that are located outside the big cities. These hubs could be close to universities and offer jobs or assignments to talent that does not want a fully remote setup or a full relocation.

Flexibility

The need to work remotely was largely born out of the pandemic, and once employees all over the world understood the benefits of a more flexible work-life balance, there would be no going back. Going forward, flexibility will be a prerequisite for companies – and the ones who can’t offer it will likely jeopardize losing their talent.

Diversity

The possibilities for diversity also increase with remote work as companies will be able to hire talent from anywhere in the world, without the need to come to the office. That means there will be greater opportunities to hire people with disabilities and people working in less urban areas.

Cloud Comms

Collaboration will take place online, and that means we’ll be requiring better and more agile cloud communication tools. Not only for storage of data but for working together seamlessly from a distance.

Urban planning

Currently, our urban planning was made for giant office buildings with constant wifi-use. As more people start working from the suburbs, offices will likely become smaller and internet connections will have to be built stronger in more remote areas.

Fewer meetings

Zoom fatigue grew strong during the pandemic and many places of work have realised that meetings need to have a clear purpose. Going forward, we will likely have fewer face-to-face meetings online and more asynchronous communication like email, collaborative documents and tools like Slack.

Better policies

Working hours have increased as more people work from home. While some have had a great experience with flexible hours, there will be a need for better policies tracking that people don’t overextend themselves. Some such policies could extend to time-tracking software, although many employees believe this would lower morale.

Gen Z

Generation Z will further develop the remote workforce, as they are even more tech-savvy than the millennials. Gen Z also has more expectations regarding growth in the workplace and they will likely have different priorities than previous generations. Research suggests they expect flexible schedules and opportunities to learn new skills on the job.

More specialists

When it comes to remote versus on-site talent, it’s likely that more people working remotely will specialise in a certain field, as it would lead to more opportunities and higher pay. Research also suggests that generalists will be preferred on-site talent, but is likely to be paid less as they are more easily replaced.

More security

Cybersecurity will take a bigger place in our working lives. For remote and hybrid models to work, secure data infrastructure is more important than ever. Companies will likely be investing a larger portion of their budget into reliable IT security assisted by machine learning to learn how hackers may put their data at risk.

Read more: How Schibsted is waging the war for talent