1. Flexibility & Mobility

Working life is becoming increasingly fluid and flexible. Where, how and when we work is no longer tied to time, place, title or industry. As a consequence, our view on skills and careers is changing, as new needs emerge in relation to the social safety net and sustainable selfemployment.

Mia Kleregård, former CEO, Plantagon Sverige

One of the clearest developments in working life is the emergence of the “gig economy”. Working as a freelancer, consultant, or “gig worker" can be undertaken in various ways – for example through recruitment companies, as a sole proprietor, or through an umbrella company. Contracting through an umbrella company entails finding your own contracts and then being employed by an umbrella company while the assignment is ongoing. Indicators point to growth of such alternative forms of employment in the future. Today, almost nine out of ten Swedes can imagine a career as a “gig worker”, relying on project-based employment instead of a traditional one. Some analysts predict that 80 per cent of the global labour force will consist of temporary employees by 2030.

Demand for greater flexibility is growing even among permanent employees, and more and more businesses now offer flexible working hours. Ireland recently launched the #FlexIt campaign, in which employees at several companies urged more companies to offer flexible working schedule. In the UK, McDonald's initiated the “Let's talk about flex” campaign, which highlights how important it is for parents to have greater control over their time. In 2014, the Virgin Group implemented a new leave policy under which employees may come and leave work whenever they want, as long as they meet their obligations. The web development company Automattic has no set number of days for holidays; instead employees are encouraged to take off as much time as they need – a policy also adopted by the Swedish consulting company Serendipity Professionals. This company has no specific rules regarding either working hours or holidays; instead, the employees decide for themselves when they wish to work or be on leave, as long as they meet their deadlines and production levels and do not violate the Employment Protection Act or the terms of their employment contract.

Kamjar Hajabdolahi, CEO, Serendipity.

Because of digitalisation, a great deal of work can be carried out remotely. According to Stephane Kasriel, CEO of the global freelance platform UpWork, remote work will increase so rapidly in the future that it will become the norm within ten years. Already today, many companies make it possible for their employees to work outside the office. For example, Apple has a number of positions for “home workers”, and the US web development company Automattic has 800 employees spread out in over 60 countries, but has no office space at all. In 2017, the company did have an office in San Francisco, but it was sold because so few employees used it. Since the entire corporate structure is based on freelance work, the company made it easy for employees to work remotely, for example through generous subsidies to set up a home office or to work at coworking offices.

In addition to providing employees with greater freedom, remote work may also promote equality. A newly published global study that examined leadership in global virtual teams showed that gender, age and education did not affect success in leadership. In contrast, in physical teams, leaders tend to be judged based on gender, age, and appearance, which often results in an advantage for white males. . A future trend that will further increase opportunities for working remotely is the development of augmented reality and virtual reality. Even now, some companies are creating exciting solutions for working remotely using such techniques. For example, the consulting firm Deloitte recently adopted a "remote first policy" for meetings, which means that most meetings are held virtually during which employees may be represented by avatars. In Sweden, tech company XMReality has developed AR glasses that make it possible to provide remote tech support, while digital production firm itiden is currently experimenting with the use of VR to provide remote training. The idea is that the teacher wears a VR headset and demonstrates for a student, who either wears a VR headset or uses a browser.

The emergence of coworking offices is a clear sign of the rise of freelancing and that more and more people are choosing to work outside the office.

Coworking is now the fastest-growing office trend in the world. By 2022, there will be over 30,000 coworking offices worldwide.