{"id":606,"date":"2012-06-06T12:13:55","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T12:13:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.efrontlearning.net\/?p=606"},"modified":"2017-03-30T14:01:12","modified_gmt":"2017-03-30T14:01:12","slug":"are-you-ready-for-the-future-workplace-the-iworker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.efrontlearning.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/are-you-ready-for-the-future-workplace-the-iworker.html","title":{"rendered":"Are you ready for the future workplace & the iWorker?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>With globalization, the emergence of social technologies that democratize information and change the role of leadership, and the fact that by 2020 the workplace will include 5 generations \u2013 the life of a worker by that time will look quite different to now.<\/p>\n

Increasingly, people want to have their work life look a lot like their home life \u2013 they want to use the same productivity tools (Wikipedia, Facebook, Google, etc.) and their own equipment (also referred to as \u201cBYOT\u201d or \u201cbring your own technology\u201d: Mac, iPhone, etc.). The \u201ctraining department\u201d is becoming obsolete as training becomes part of the job and learning just part of work<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 a given<\/em>. Work is becoming part of life and the \u201cwork\/life balance\u201d is an outdated concept at a time where \u201cwork\/life flexibility\u201d and integration is more of an issue.<\/p>\n

The workplace will become more mobile with the increasing power of mobile phones that are replacing laptops as the main work device so that workers will be able to access the “desk” anywhere and at any time (i.e. the “third place”: if the office is the first place of work and the home office the second, the “third place” is anywhere your mobile phone is). Web commuting and third place working will replace the regular 9-to-5 workday and working on a project basis with \u201cgoal accomplishment\u201d (meeting daily goals regardless time) will be the norm. Companies will thereby boost the job satisfaction and productivity of their employees.<\/p>\n

The workplace will become democratic<\/em><\/strong> as information is democratized and digital record keeping makes company information accessible to all. The democratic workplace environment thrives on accountability, transparency, choice and the decentralization of power and employees will help shape company policy, project management and solve problems. This will also have implications for workplace learning as discussed in this post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

These changes are happening incredibly quickly as \u201crevolutions\u201d that once took hundreds of years to generate change now take just a few years in this high-tech age. The consumer experience will have a huge impact on learning as changing attitudes and behaviors will dictate. How so? \u2013 The mass consumerization of IT will mean that workers will bring their needs\/new uses to IT departments\u00a0 – they will want their LMS\u2019, Intranet etc. to work like the productivity tools they already integrate into their day-to-day experience \u2013 to work for example more like Google Search.<\/p>\n

According to UNISYS<\/a>, to harness the full power of this new wave of productivity, organizations need to modernize their IT environments in order to:<\/p>\n