Much has already been made of the working habits of digital natives. An influx of young professionals joining the workforce who have grown up using the internet, mobile devices, social media and other modern technologies greatly affects the way businesses operate.
Not only do they expect their workplace to adopt the latest in technology, they have also been at the forefront of demands for more flexibility in the office. Given this, it’s interesting to consider why a recent look at the working preferences of office employees found that remote working seems less attractive to younger team members. Only 1 in 10 18-34 year olds said they’d want to work remotely, compared to nearly twice as many 45-54 year olds. This begs the question, are millennials turning away from remote working? If so, why?
One reason that the office appears more attractive to younger generations, could be the tendency of younger people to be more social and collaborative in their work practices, having grown up with the technology and social apps that enable these behaviours. A longstanding LinkedIn study found that millennials overwhelmingly report that friendships in the workplace have a significant impact on boosting happiness (57 percent), motivation (50 percent) and productivity (39 percent) – compared to a significant lower percentage for Generation X.
Workers’ changing priorities and habits have already affected change in the workplace. The most forward-thinking offices are now less about desks and more about flexible breakout spaces, better quality of light and air, and central locations surrounded by amenities. Technology has already aided these advances, for example with the utilisation of digital archiving and the cloud removing the necessity for paper files and the space they take up. Environmental controls have become more streamlined and intuitive, able to react to both data from the atmosphere and human input. If these simple changes can affect the overall setup of the office in recent times, it is easy to assume that the technology of the office of the future could equally attract millennials to remain working in offices – if their high expectations of technology can continue to be met.
It is clear that technology has to develop in order to meet the demands of emerging work practices. But with each generation that joins the workforce, expectations will be higher. Consumer-grade technology evolves at a speed which outpaces organisations’ ability to update. However, gone are the days where updating technology means months of laborious installation. New technologies such as cloud and as-a-service solutions, are enabling businesses to remain more agile. Whilst nobody can predict the future, by investing in responsive technology businesses can not only aim to weather new trends but stay one step ahead of them.
With 60% of its population under 35 years of age, Africa has a young, educated and ambitious population, with an added value that it is not yet being tapped into by companies in the rest of the world. With the increasing population growth, job demands will grow significantly, although unevenly, across Africa to reach nearly 2 billion in 2063.
New technologies are spreading at a sustained pace in Africa with mobile Internet penetration expected to rise from 26% to 38% of the population during the 2016-2020 period. A development that opens up the field of possibilities in terms of education and youth employment amongst many other opportunities.
As a result, remote working is likely to develop on the continent but how can it begin to be addressed in an African context where Internet coverage is uneven? The need and desire exist as elsewhere, but African companies have yet to digitize their entire value chain. Occasionally, to be able to work from home to avoid issues like traffic jams and being able to attend to family emergencies, remains a practical solution in the African context. However, it will have to be proactively supervised, formalised while requireing holistic change management.
Roman Troedhandl is Managing Director, Canon Central and North Africa (CCNA) and South Africa.
