Dictionary.com defines "trend" as:
1. the general course or prevailing tendency; drift: trends in the teaching of foreign languages; the trend of events.
2. style or vogue: the new trend in women's apparel.
3. the general direction followed by a road, river, coastline, or the like.
In recent years, employer trends have made some sharp, dramatic course corrections to keep up with the startling rate at which technology and the internet continue to impact business and employment. As well, other economic factors, marketplace shifts and changes have led to the following trends in the employment industry:
1. Technology is impacting brick and mortar.
For example, in certain sectors of banking, technology leadership is amping up human resource expertise to drive entry of ecommerce onto expansion-enabling platforms. This bolstering often requires increasing the number of employees and contractors. It also means developing training programs and onboarding efficiencies to speedily deploy resources in an industry that can no longer solely rely upon brick and mortar service strategies.
2. Millennials are impacting leadership style.
Another trend is how leadership is approaching working with millennials. While a dictatorial leadership style has been unacceptable for a number of years, it has become increasingly more common to adapt styles to millennial expectations. One leader described his style as going "belly-to-belly with the millennial employee," as he says they require someone to work with them versus pushing them into something.
3. Economy is impacting employee commitment.
While it is still stylish in some sectors to entice employees for long-term, sustainable careers, an overarching trend has emerged for job-hopping, career laddering, taking horizontal leaps, and as one technologist and artist articulated recently, engaging in patchwork lifestyles and careers.
In other words, with the prevailing instability of our economy, and fair-weather attitudes of companies toward their employees, as well as a variety of other factors, more folks are opting for career versatility. This may mean an employee taking a job with the goal of fulfilling a temporary – 6-month, 1-year, 5-year – financial and career need, only to move on a little later to another mountain they wish to scale or passion they wish to pursue.
4. Disruption is impacting collaboration.
If left untended, silos can actually devastate a company. With the rapid disruption of how companies operate and fulfill revenue goals, employers are homing in on more effective ways to unite and inspire collaborative employee groups and focus them on common objectives.
5. Innovation is impacting recruiting.
Buzzwords like innovation and disruption are being actualized as employees are recruited for transformation skills in a highly competitive, global and sometimes chaotic world. An example of actualizing innovation includes custom, web-based recruiting for hard-to-fill roles such as the Toughnecks.com website deployed by Precision Drilling.
6. Organizational tension is impacting market growth.
Conflict and tension are being embraced and channeled to drive better results, faster. In other words, leaders are using conflict to fuel innovation. While too much tension can infect a company, a certain amount, well channeled, can convert ideas into market disruptors and ultimately, add to the bottom line. The key is not to shy away from tension, but instead leverage that tension to facilitate meaningful dialogue and an environment where everyone feels valued, guiding the team toward a path forward.
7. Global business is impacting relationships.
While developing consultative solutions has been a trend in corporations for a while now, it seems the trend recently has skyrocketed to new levels. The continued global nature of how we do business, as well as the nature of social media flattening out hierarchies can complicate – and even overwhelm – consultative methods.
One way to break down the complexity of interaction is to build relationships one solution and one interaction at a time. So, rather than initially concentrating on executing large-scale, multi-location agreements across the globe, companies, even some of the largest Fortune 50s, are zeroing in on small-scale solutions first.
As an example, a company was at an impasse with a particular customer for a rather small (revenue-wise) issue. They expended high-level strategic resources to not only troubleshoot that modest issue but also to focus more deeply on the customer's core needs, understanding their specific problems at a more granular level and then translating solutions in a way that rebuilt trust.
This company didn't stop there; they optimized the relationship in a way that converted into a large-scale program and ultimately landed enterprise-wide, multimillion-dollar results.
8. Digital communications are impacting the bottom line.
Whether selling floral bouquets or marketing telephones, digital savvy buttresses nearly every organization's bottom line in today's economy. Visible and viable communications across LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Glassdoor and other emerging platforms is a must for companies wanting to stay with – and ahead of – the curve of today's market.
