New skill required: being adaptable

I thought a couple of years ago there was a World Economic Forum (WEF) Jobs of the Future report that listed adaptability or flexibility as one the skills or qualities that will be required in the future, but I couldn’t find such a report that listed this trait or skill. (By the way, the report for 2022 has not come out yet, but I will be looking for that throughout this year.)

However, I’m pretty certain that most executives deemed being adaptable and flexible was going to be a desired quality due to massive technological changes heading toward us.

Recent reportings seem to indicate managers themselves are lacking this quality.

Fast Company recently reported that 77% managers and executives believe that there should be serious consequences if employees don’t come back to work, thus increasing the stress levels of employees: cuts in pay, reducing benefits and maybe even firings.

Forbes recently had this title: “Workers Facing Inflexible Office Returns Are Stressed Out and Anxious. Their Bosses? Not So Much” and then proceeded to announce this astonishing statistic:

found that non-executives are nearly twice as likely as top managers to work from the office every day, and their work-life balance scores are now 40% worse than executive respondents.

“Workers Facing Inflexible Office Returns Are Stressed Out and Anxious. Their Bosses? Not So Much”, Forbes, Jena McGregor, April 19, 2022

Looks like a lot of managers and executives haven’t adapted and upgraded their skills to fit this new world of remote work that the pandemic has thrown us into. Many want to go back to the way things were, but we really can’t go back to the pre-pandemic era: many employees have shown that they were just as productive, if not more so, when working remotely. And, they realize that a work-life balance is very important to their mental health, productivity and innovation potential.

It looks like the bosses haven’t seen the light.

AND, they are being hypocritical when they get to work from home but force their workers to come in to work. That double standard should not stand. I believe the winners will be those who adapt and develop the skills to manage employees from wherever they work.

Now, employees have to realize that competition will get even tougher because it will be competition from around the world. That’s the sad part.