In the modern workplace, change is the only constant. Companies have to adapt to new market trends to stay competitive and retain top talent.
Whether you’re freelance or full-time, check out some of the trends that could shake up your working life in the coming year.
1. Employers make health and wellness a priority
As employers increasingly see a positive correlation between the well-being of their staff and the bottom line, they’ll dedicate more resources to wellness initiatives.
Whether by offering in-office mindfulness training and standing desks or subsidizing weekly spin class, employers will do what they can to make sure their employees feel their best.
2. The rise of the digital nomad continues
In an age when it’s possible to work and get paid from almost anywhere, young, tech-savvy workers are choosing to do just that.
“Digital nomads” leave the traditional office behind for telecommuting freelance gigs that give them the flexibility to earn income as they travel the globe. Amidst an increasingly globalized world, this trend of country-hopping employees may grow in 2017 and beyond.
3. Compensation gets more creative
The average millennial changes jobs three or four times during their first ten years in the workforce. To retain top talent, hiring professionals need to offer more than just a competitive salary. So far, the prevailing trend is offering benefits that help employees grow.
This means paying for skill development courses, instituting mentorship programs, or creating department exchange programs.
4. The blended workforce becomes a fact of life
A “blended” workforce fuses full-time employees with freelancers and other part-time contractors. This arrangement can help make business more fluid and agile while reducing overhead.
Though workplaces might become less cohesive over time, rotating new faces and talents into a team’s skill set might inspire new ideas and ways of collaborating.
5. Annual performance reviews become a thing of the past
Once a staple of most white-collar jobs, the annual performance review feels old-fashioned when a growing percentage of the workforce has been raised on instant gratification. Managers are swapping these once-a-year meetings for weekly and monthly check-ins.
6. Employees take control of their vacation schedule
A perk formerly reserved for the newest start-ups and hottest tech hubs is becoming more mainstream. Known colloquially as unlimited vacation, discretionary time off lets employees work out their holiday schedules with their manager instead of a corporate-wide policy.
But don’t schedule your month-long beach trip just yet. While it can entice valuable talent and improve productivity, this policy might not lead to less hours clocked at work. Americans are notorious for leaving paid vacation days unused.
