The Virtual, Global Workforce

It’s that time of year for resolutions, predictions, and reflections back on all that has happened during this past year.
 
Of all of these, it is the New Year’s predictions that are both the most interesting AND the most difficult to get your hands around. After all, who has a crystal ball that works well enough to help us get a good fix on the future, anyway?
 
That’s why I enjoy it when others stick their neck out and predict what will be happening, and that’s how it is with these 2013 trends from  the leadership team over at Futurestep, a Korn/Ferry company that specializes “in high impact talent solutions.”
 
They have put together what they believe will be the main trends shaping the global recruitment and talent management industry over the coming 12 months, and it is worth reading if only to help focus your own thoughts on where things might be going.

In recent years, employers have embraced a variety of flexible work options, according to a study by the Families and Work Institute. The survey found that more businesses are offering options for when and where to work. The researchers surveyed 1,126 employers with 50 or more workers.
From 2005 to 2012, many options expanded, including:
 

• Flex time (up from 66 percent of workplaces, to 77 percent of workplaces).
• Flex place/telecommuting (which increased from 34 percent to 63 percent).
• Choices in managing time (up from 78 percent to 93 percent).
• Daily time off when important needs arise (up from 77 percent to 87 percent).

Seven years after the Fast Company article "Why We Hate HR," change may finally be here. No longer the paper pushers Keith Hammonds and staff wrote about in 2005, HR is becoming one of the front line innovators helping build organizations that rack up likes and big-time revenue.