Social Conscience will take priority in future workplaces

PwC's survey shows formation of three distinct worlds of work-- blue, green and orange

India's future generation wants to work in organisations that demonstrate a powerful social conscience.

In a survey by Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) titled 'Future of Work: A journey to 2022', around 75% of Indian respondents want to work for an organisation with a strong social conscience, while only 26% valued a job that makes a difference.

The survey noted that job security is most important for 53% of Indian respondents but 58% do not expect traditional employment to be around in the future.

Around 42% of the respondents said they wanted to ideally work for themselves, instead of any elite organisation while 81% are willing to completely re-train themselves to remain relevant.

10,000 people in China,India, Germany, the UK and the US gave their views on the future of work and what it means for them.
 
The survey results show the formation of three distinct 'worlds of work' -- Blue, Green and Orange. The Blue World - where corporate is king and there is a relentless pressure to perform. These elite organisations employ only the best, and offer long-term job security and reward. Only 10% of the total 10,000 saw this as their ideal employer.

The Green World - the caring companies, that rethink their values and goals, have a powerful social and environmental conscience, and whose values closely match those of their employees. Around 53% of global respondents chose this as their ideal employer.

The Orange World - where small is beautiful, these organisations fragment into looser networks, brought together by technology, with social media heightening the connectivity. Around 33% opted for this as their ideal employer.

"In the Blue World, HR will be at the centre of a hugely influential metric-driven strategy and performance function. In the Green World, HR's role could be much more diffuse, helping employees to shape their work around their values and outside lives. In the Orange World, HR is set to have a much narrower recruitment and tendering role" said Padmaja Alaganandan PwC India People and Change practice leader.

Corporate responsibility will become a business imperative with companies wanting to make their profits in a responsible way. Employees will be expected to uphold corporate values and green agenda targets. Co-creation will be a distinctive feature of green firms – engaging with customers, partners, external agents and the local community to create new products and services that benefit the customer. The CEO will drive the people strategy, HR and CSR will fuse and organisations will embrace sustainability and support for socially valuable ‘good growth’.