Workplaces across every industry are becoming more and more aware of the importance of culture.
As political, economic and social shifts happen, the way we work changes too. 2019 is set to be a big year for corporate culture. Companies are awakening to the fact that culture is key to long term success. Here’s what we can expect in the next year in the world of work.
1. Diversity Inclusion
The ‘#metoo’ movement and the exposure of boy’s club cultures means that diversity will be more important than ever in 2019. The future of healthy corporate culture includes a variety of cultures, genders, sexualities, abilities and religions. This shift in culture is sure to be encouraged by an increase in whistle-blowers on the look out for companies which are not inclusive.
2. Mental Health Prioritised
Over the last decade, the provenance of mental health issues in the workplace has resulted in an ever increasing awareness of the issue. One in five Australians will struggle with their mental health at some point, making it a top priority within corporate culture. 2019 will see a positive move toward workplaces implementing mental health strategies and focussing on the holistic wellbeing of employees.
3. Agile Corporate Culture
Agile companies are those organisations which are quick in responding to changes in the marketplace, industry or society. In order to achieve this, the culture behind the business must be trained in agility too. 2019 will be the year that corporate culture becomes more people focussed and less process focussed. By embracing flexibility, cooperation and creativity, corporate cultures can become more agile in this fast-paced world.
4. Weigh Up the Risk
The recent Royal Commission into banking has brought an increased awareness of the role of risk in workplace cultures. While risk is a good thing for driving achievement, it must be carefully balanced. This balance is something which companies will be striving to achieve in 2019. Boards and regulatory teams will need to be increasingly careful about the culture of their teams, in order to safeguard companies against unwise risk-taking.
5. Embracing Artificial Intelligence
Machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) stands to provide immeasurable benefits in capability and efficiency to so many organisations, but the industries which most stand to gain in these areas may also be most impacted by losses to traditional job functions.
The social and economic dilemma is that AI can add enormous value if human capacity is re-deployed to other areas of value, but only we can facilitate the transition for a lot of people whose current jobs may disappear.
Companies will need to build cultures that are open to change and have supportive environments for learning and growth so that people resources can be quickly redeployed and reutilised without always needing to be replaced. Without this culture focus, the gains could be slow or negated.
Corporate culture must reflect the time it functions in. That’s why it is always changing.
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