The 'megatrends' identified by Hay Group are: globalisation, environmental crisis, demographic change, individualisation, digital lifestyle and technological convergence. They are defined as trends that will last for at least 15 years and that will affect everyone, from individuals and businesses to governments.
Speaking at the Hay Group Employee Engagement Forum in London yesterday, Hay Group head of client advisory Monick Evans said employers will need to embrace these trends to survive.
On globalisation, Evans said the IMF predicts only three of the top 10 world economies will be from the west. These are the UK, the US and Germany. She pointed to Asia's rise in influence and the challenges globalisation will bring, including more collaboration.
"As business becomes more global, companies will have to collaborate with companies who may traditionally have been competitors," she said. "Most businesses aren't very good at collaborating between departments, let alone with other companies."
Evans also highlighted the potential risk of "increasing individualisation" of the 'Gen Y' workforce. She said that people will more frequently focus on their own development rather than that of a business, meaning that any development programmes a company puts in place in the future should be based on whole teams rather than not single employees.
Nationwide's corporate HR director Keith Astill, speaking at the same event, said the ways employers talk to and engage with their staff will change in future.
"Things like employee surveys will be much more targeted and specialised," he said. "After the financial crash we moved from engagement to enablement, essentially making sure people had the right tools to do their jobs. With all the changes in the future this won't be enough any more."
