Is this the end of work as we know it?

 

  

A thought-provoking new white paper, ‘The Future of Work’, suggests it could be. Commissioned by Esselte Corporation to mark its 100-year anniversary, the paper looks at the current and future world of work highlighting the key changes both employees and companies are going to have to adapt to. 

Authors, Richard Watson and Andrew Crosthwaite of Futures House Europe, examine some of the key factors driving changes in the way we work and our management cultures and why these effects are accelerating.

 

“As a result of the internet, new technologies, the huge increase in mobile or home working, part-time jobs and today’s ‘always on’, 24/7 culture, we found that most people now spend more time working than sleeping. In fact by 2015 around 40% of the total workforce will be mobile. The reason for this is that work is no longer where the office is but for mobile workers it is wherever they are - be that their car, home, coffee shop, the airport, customer site or even on holiday. This is just one area our report identifies as having a massive impact on the way we work;” explains Richard Watson.

 Other factors covered in the paper include: 

•  Ageing workforces: By 2050 over 65’s will represent around 50% of the working population in Europe. Countries will have to let (or make) people work longer, incentivise birth rates, relax immigration policies and/or increase productivity to meet demand for workers.  

• Increase in part timers – in Europe part time jobs now account for 20-25% of jobs – as a result of ageing workers, women in workforce and cost cutting by companies to have a proportion of workers on shorter contracts.

• Millennials and Gen Y: More tech-savvy than any other generation but their values, ambitions and approach to work is very different to their predecessors. By 2020, companies will have to be multi-generational, multi cultural and able adapt to people wanting to stay employed/have gaps and/or extend their careers indefinitely. 

• The generation gap: Millennials think senior management do not relate to them and use autocratic command and control structures. They want to work in collaborative, teamwork based management groups for companies doing something they believe in. Different generations need to work closer and respect each other’s talents. 

• Gender: The huge economic impact of getting more women in the workforce especially at senior levels. Eliminating the gap between male and female employment would boost GDP by 9% in US, 13% in Eurozone and 16% in Japan (Goldman Sachs). Fortune 500 companies with three or more women directors outperform those with none by a 46% margin in return on investment. 

• Mobile working: By 2015 new technologies mean 1.3 billion (or 40%) of the total working population will be mobile. Today mobile workers carry around 3.5 mobile devices but going forward this may reduce to one as The Cloud becomes a storage system and a virtual hub for all the company’s’ mobile semi-structured workforce. Mobile workers tend to multi-task and work more hours. A quarter say they work 15-20 hours extra a week because technology enables (or forces) them to do so. Also as the margins between work and personal life blur about 35% of people also work at weekends - usually without any payment potentially creating stress and burn-out. 

• Security of Information: Organisations of the future will be more fluid with fewer full- time employees. Talent will be imported as needed and resource coordinators will put together best teams for particular projects from inside and outside the organisation blending them and their equipment together. All will have their own devices (BYOD) and potentially work remotely creating huge security and data storage/retrieval challenges. 

• Where will new talent for workforce come from? Talent scarcities worldwide mean that by 2030 the USA will need to add over 25 million workers to its talent base to sustain economic growth and Western Europe more than 45 million.

• Employees will see themselves as ‘brands’ whose marketing they have sole control over. The portfolio career as envisaged by Charles Handy will be the norm.

 

 

The overall conclusions of the report suggest that the traditional office is dying and will only remain relevant where security concerns or face to face presence is paramount. Similarly the future structure of work is going to have to change to make access to information and its retrieval, much simpler and faster. We will all become mobile workers and the office will be more of a chameleon hub or meeting place. Often you will just send a hologram in your place to meetings and your office will never be at a permanent address. It will be a full-service ‘pop-up’ appearing as needed in whatever country or city a particular project is required. We will work in collaborative teams with both colleagues and customers and as companies will partner with like minded organisations for strategic mutual benefit.

The Future of Small-Box Retail

On Tuesday, September 16th I attended the COPA breakfast seminar on "The Future of Small Box retail" which was held at the Riviera Parque Convention Centre in Vaughan, Ontario.

The speaker was Hannah Donoghue a senior analyst with RetailNet Group (RNG) where she specializes in retail, channel strategy and strategic planning. She leads RNG’s research and advisory work for the Americas region, RNG’s specialty small box practice area and supports RNG’s Executive Education programs at UCLA Anderson School of Management. She is an industry analyst and strategist for leading retailers and manufacturers such as Target, Coca-Cola, Mars, Hewlett-Packard, P&G, and Northgate Gonzalez Markets.

Hannah Donoghue of RetailNet Group

In a word, she knows retail and provided the attending group with a wealth of knowledge regarding the current state of retail in both the USA and Canadian markets - with a look to the future outlook for retail.

In summary, big box retail is being challenged on two fronts:

1. by the burgeoning internet market landscape which is seeing "Tech" replace "Real Estate";
2. by deep discount "Dollar Stores" who will continue to grow that category over the next 5 years;

In order to combat these potential threats, according to RNG, traditional retail have come up with several strategies:

•  they are closing non-performing large stores;
• they are shrinking their formats to smaller more intimate footprints in high density urban areas;
• they are localizing the looks of many of their stores to give a more neighbourhood, community feel for their shopper's experience;
• they are targeting their merchandise assortments to gain more spend from the peak spending age group of ages 45 to 54;
• retailers are offering more services, with a greater focus on providing solutions to bring shoppers into their stores;

It's all about gaining a competitive advantage

 

Why is the Dollar store experience so appealing? It's not just pricing.......

• price and value are obvious keys, especially to a younger, thriftier generation on tighter budgets;
• a younger audience is also more urban with fewer transportation options - so proximity and convenience play a large role in their success;
• simplified shopping with limited assortments, so instead of multiple brands offering basically the same thing - you get only 1 or 2 options;
• the "Treasure Hunt" experience - what will I find today?

There are really only two avenues for future retailers - either move to being a low cost provider or differentiate your business to attract a loyal clientele. Those retailers who are not adapting will find themselves in the "Valley of Death" - the 50% of retail who will not be around in coming years.

However, for big retail there are challenges:

• there is a cost to shrinking their stores - and they lie in decreased profits;
• for every Supercentre store - it takes 15 small format express stores to equal the same productivity of a large store;

In our own industry we have seen stores that were traditionally 18 to 24 thousand sq. feet reducing sizes to 5 to 15 thousand feet.

Retail is always in flux and whenever the latest, greatest idea seems to take hold - there is always a better mouse trap right around the corner.

Why the best salesperson shouldn't always become sales manager?

Today's article focuses on Leadership.

 Article #3 – Solutions for the Human Side of Business - By: Jonathan Creaghan  

 

If performance and length of service were the only criteria for promotion, then it makes complete sense to put your best sales person in a management role. But, from a leadership perspective this may not be the best strategy. You might in-fact be promoting a Partial Leader. 

What is a partial leader?

A partial leader might have the years of service and can perform well in their role (i.e. get the results the company is looking for), but lacks either the behavior and/or mindset needed to drive a team or a department to achieve its goals. We see this happen all the time within small and medium sized companies. Although sometimes it works, many times it doesn’t. The company ends up with a leader who is reactionary, who will try and achieve results without creating buy in from their team, and thereby feeling the need to go it alone. Or worse, creates inefficiency and loss productivity, as their emotions dictate what actions are taken to solve an issue. 

Performance is the outcome, behavior is the action, and your mind is the driver of it all

Leadership is the combination of three aspects working in unison:

• Mind-set - the ability to use the full potential of the mind including wisdom, reason, strategic thinking, and intuition as well as attitude, values, personality, and integrity.
• Behavior - the action. Experience, skill, as well as one’s ability to work with others, mentor and train their staff properly, translate ideas into reality, inspire, and manage their ego and emotions. Keep their word, trust themselves, others, and effectively use the tools and processes of the company.
• Performance - the outcome of the Mind-set and Behavior working effectively together.

What to do if you have partial leaders?

Of course you want to develop your leaders fully, so keep these in mind:

• Is he or she capable of being developed? This question is about potential, training, skill, education, and capability to learn new ideas and translate them into new behaviors
• Are they motivated to grow? This is about mind-set, interest and internal resources to bring about change within themselves through mentoring and coaching.
• Do you know what you are looking for in a leader? This is a question of your own clarity to understand what kind of leader you want for the role. As well as your goals, vision, and culture you are trying to develop and the ability to bring all of this together strategically.
• Do you have the processes within your organization to develop your people? This is about the developmental pathway and steps to follow to actually grow this person.

Build a strategic approach to leadership and succession

When company leaders focus on building a culture around behavior, mindset, and performance certain things begin to happen:

• A more complete understanding of the entire person is presented
• People become more strategically responsive rather than reactionary.
• Decisions are clearer and communicated more effectively
• Day to day challenges are handled with greater wisdom
• Trust builds within the company
• Suppliers, customers, clients, and others experience the improvements
• Bottom line is positively affected

 

Paper Knowledge

Today we are going to discuss paper - check out this article from George Buttigieg of Ariva.

As Bob Dylan sang “The Times They Are A-Changin’”.  In recent years, the number of media available has increased exponentially, but paper remains a key component for marketing and communications.  And although paper usage has declined, and by all predictions will continue to decline, paper is still a utilized and valuable resource whether it be to write a personal letter, to    launch a teaser direct mail campaign, or to keep someone informed through a daily newspaper. 

Two Sides North America is a great resource to learn more about paper myths, facts, events and more.  Myths such as ‘making paper destroys forests’ are debunked.  And they address how paper and print remain a viable and successful medium for communication (or an integral part of a multi-media campaign).

 

Once paper myths are dispelled, and an organization determines paper and print is critical to their marketing program, the question often becomes recycled or virgin paper.

This is a complicated question and one that deserves a little background explanation first.

The simple answer is that recycled paper is important, but it isn’t the only way to create sustainable, environmentally friendly products.

There are two types of paper sources that are part of a sustainable supply chain:

• Recycled sources (used paper that’s been collected, sorted, de-inked and dried back into pulp form and sent out to paper mills)
•          Virgin sources (sawmill residuals and trees)

What so many people don’t realize is that paper fibres can only be recycled 5-7 times! And this means that the input of virgin sources into the paper stream is essential to produce good quality printing and writing paper.

Now you might be thinking, which is better? But in fact, this question brings us to somewhat of a moot point because both recycled fibre and virgin fibre are part of the exact same paper cycle.

For Ariva, it’s about balancing our customers’ supply needs with the responsibility we have to minimize our impact on natural resources. And that's why we provide products that include virgin fibre from responsibly managed sources AND recycled content. Virgin fibre that is harvested using recognized third-party-certified sustainable forestry practices is as environmentally sound as recycled fibre.

Here’s some valuable information to consider as you try to figure out what’s better: recycled or virgin paper.

•  They’re both from the same paper cycle
•  They’re both part of a sustainable supply chain

•  Paper fibres can only be recycled 5-7 times

•        To get good quality printing and writing paper, you need both recycled and virgin fibres

•     Virgin fibre that’s harvested using third-party-certified sustainable forestry practices is as environmentally sound as recycled fibre

•     Consider the complete life cycle and understand the “cradle to gate” full carbon footprint – recycled paper may not always have a lower carbon footprint than virgin paper

     So as much as “The Times They Are A-Changin’”, there are still some constants.  Paper remains a part of our everyday life and a key medium for marketing.