Digitalization, green economy, skills shortage, remote working, and ageing societies. These megatrends we see in society are affecting the way we do business and the need for skills and talents are even more crucial than ever to make it easier for companies to find the right skills at the right time.
Megatrends is a word that often pops up when you talk about the future and changes in society. But what is a megatrend and in what way does it differ from other trends? According to ESPAS, European Strategy and Policy Analysis System, a megatrend is a trend that occurs on a large scale, affecting a large group of people, states and in many cases the entire world. They unfold over a long time, often at least a decade. Megatrends are linked to our present and are therefore a phenomenon that we can observe. Megatrends are measurable, affect many, and for a long time, in this sense, they shape our future and cannot be turned around by humans. The trends can often be backed up by data stretching in the past.
Megatrends link together
One of the most pressing challenges now and soon is climate change. When we talk about climate changes, we are referring both to the mistakes of the past and the changes we need to make now to minimize our effect on the climate and avoid disaster. These changes link together and create megatrends. For example, the green transition has a significant impact on the transportation industry when we build an electrical car fleet and the building and manufacturing industry when they are aiming for lighter construction to save, energy and minimize pollution.
Digitalization
Another megatrend effecting the world is digitalization. The last couple of years we have seen a rapid change when it comes to digitalization and new ways of work which also enables the rise of AI and IOT and connectivity. For example, most of our cars will be connected in 2030, according to ESPAS. The digitalization was fueled by the pandemic when more areas were digitalized, enabling other trends like remote working and digital nomads. As megatrend digitalization spreads around the world, other trends start to link together.. It has also opened the labor market globally. For companies all over the world this change offers some challenges but also amazing opportunities.
Digitally bridging brilliant minds with great ideas
At Ework Group we bridge brilliant minds with great ideas and assignments. For those looking for skills, that is in shortage in the region they operate, Ework in 2022 started a remote sourcing center to help companies find professionals with the right skills while giving the professionals an opportunity to find assignments in other countries. Ework operates in 5 countries but has professionals from 50 different countries.
“The Remote Sourcing Center is located in Poland, and we primarily operate in Poland, and Romania but we help our clients from all of the countries we operate in. We source candidates from most of the European countries.” Says Malgorzata Migdal, Manager of Ework’s Remote Sourcing Center.
Ageing society
Another trend that is affecting society is the change in demographics. Over the coming years we know that the population in the world will increase. Primarily because we grow older now than we did before. In some parts of the world the population will have decreased by 2030 since the fertility rate is slowing and fewer babies are born. The European Union is leading that decrease in population and the increase of an older population.
In 2030 over 25 percent of the population in the European Union will be over the age of 65 years.Russia and China follows that trend with one quarter of the population being over 60 in 2030, according to ESPAS.
The ageing society for sure has an impact on the economy of different states. Both in terms of rising medical costs and the loss of income taxes when a smaller group is supporting a larger group.
So how will this affect the future of business? Well, there may be several ways this could affect companies around the world. All over the world we see a shortage in skills, because of the new digital trends and because of the aging population. But there is also a great need to reskill the current workforce. Many of the work tasks that humans perform right now will soon be replaced by AI and new skills will be needed. Reskilling the workforce is something that both companies and schools will need to take action on in the close future.
In some countries, like Sweden, the retirement age is being changed so that more people will work longer. There are also laws and regulations making it cheaper for companies to hire seniors. This enables companies to hold on to talent and prevents a skills gap since many seniors would like to stay on at work or try something new. Since the rise of gig economy, we have also seen a lot of different work platforms that are designed just for seniors that want to try a new way of work, for example Veterankraft and Veteranpoolen and of course there are lots of assignments for highly skilled veterans available on the market.
Moving to the cities
Urbanization is a trend that started a long time ago, however in the last few years there has been a shift where people tend to move to smaller and middle-sized cities rather than megacities. In Europe most cities are middle-sized but in other areas of the world this is a fairly new phenomenon. According to ESPAS cities will in 2030 consume about 60-80 percent of our energy resources and stand for 70 percent of the emissions. Urbanization has an impact on the economy, social and political movements and for sure how companies operate.
How the Megatrends are affecting our society
As we can see, the Megatrends are all linked together and are all affecting our society and the way we do business. From green economy, to aging society and the need to reskill our workforce both our employees and our contingent workforce. We need to be aware of the megatrends and make appropriate shifts in society, both individuals, companies, and leaders. At least if you want to run a business that will be around in the future.
