COVID19 pandemic resulted, among other things, to a high increase in remote work and faster digital transformation at governmental and enterprise level. There seems to exist a strong dependency and potentially correlation between these two trends that is already affecting (and will surely continue to do so) the working environment and work habits. In this short article we will try to identify various “symptoms” of this evolution in work as well as some topics that will need the attention of both employers and employees/workers. [My experience is from the ICT domain and more specifically from small software houses (20-50 staff), but I guess that my perceptions touch other domains, too.]

First of all, digital transformation and digital work tools enable remote work for more and more professions. The industry is now in the phase of exploring and improving tools that help remote workers be as productive as on-site ones. However, in the next years we expect advances in tools that will try to monitor and assess the actual productivity, degree of collaboration, degree of focus etc. even though, such tools are useful for companies, special attention should be paid so that such tools do not “penetrate” the personal spaces of users.

The stereotype of a “digital nomad” is already well-established and possibly an ideal career life-style for many. However, such approaches will eventually lead to a shift from employees to freelancers. Even though this may be well accepted and beneficial for some professions (e.g. software developers), it might also lead the companies to imbalances. Loyalty to the firm and adoption of its principles is challenged, which is surely a concern for smaller companies. The fact that workers working from their place do or can share their time to 2 or more employers is also a case that needs special experience to handle so that productivity and ethical work principles are assured (for both employers and workers).

Another important topic is the new digital skills and competencies required by new workers, especially when occupied in a remote or hybrid position. Such skills go far beyond the core skills for their job, extending to collaboration, security, productivity, networking applications and techniques, to name a few. The cultivation of such skills until now is mostly left to personal initiative, however both governments and companies understand that they also have a role to play there. Such skills, together with the new trend of micro-credentials will play a key role in the working environment and also to vocational training in the next few years.

Vassilis Tsetsos (PhD), is a researcher and ITconsultant, Managing Director of MOBICS S.A. and Museotek S.A. and co-founder of Codefactory.