PwC Herald Talks: How to cope with a changing workforce

Businesses will need to adapt to changing technology and values to stay ahead. Photo / 123RF

As technology and individuals' values continue to shape the way we work, the future success of businesses will rely on their ability to adapt to these new ways of working.

Three of these key changes include workers wanting better work-life balances (the four-day working week), how businesses and workers will adapt to evolving technology, and the rise of an ageing workforce and new generations entering the work place.

But while change can sometimes seem scary, Monica Yianakis, Head of Lion Ventures at Lion, says it's an exciting opportunity for businesses.

"Increasingly people are more concerned about the values that they're working for.

"The most successful businesses of the future are the ones that are going to attract and keep the top talent and the best way to do that is to have the best workplace. So that all really starts with the values and the purpose."

While baby boomers and millennials are heading in opposite directions – one will soon be leaving the workforce while the other is getting a foot in the door – they both share something in common, Yianakis says.

"They're both looking for that work-life balance. The baby boomers, they want to spend their time with their family and they're starting to want to spend their time on things they want to be doing and millennials also want that work-life balance because they want to live the life they want to live."

Yianakis says the four-day work week, or flexible working, is coming from the change in values in people today as they evolve.

Another challenge for businesses is the rapidly evolving technology.

Yianakis says technology is "fundamentally" changing the workforce.

Monica Yianakis, Head of Lion Ventures at Lion. Photo / Supplied

"Technology is both a change agent and an enabler; from a change agent point of view machines are becoming more sophisticated and in the future will look to automate and replace certain tasks and roles which obviously means humans and people, our roles will need to change and we will be looking for new opportunities.

"From an enabler point of view technology's supporting this flexibility that we're looking for. A great example of that is communication tools like Slack, which is supporting people who are working remotely and across geographic despirit areas, so it brings them together and enables them to connect."

Monica Yianakis is the keynote speaker at PwC Herald Talks – The Gig Economy: Future of the Workforce in Auckland on May 30.