The Deloitte research team surveyed executives, analyzed market conditions, and used scenario planning to formulate four possible futures of the worker-employer relationship.

• Work as fashion: Driven by short supply of talent, employers must respond to shifting worker sentiments and marketplace dynamics to retain employees. This type of relationship is prevalent in today’s competitive talent market, where there has been an increased focus on employee engagement and well-being.
• Competition between talent: There is an abundance of talent for specific roles, and stiff competition between workers—regardless of the quality of the employer-employee relationship—follows. While this relationship may not seem relevant in today’s market, it applies to more specific skillsets and market segments.
• Work is work: Shifting attitudes around work create an environment in which workers no longer seek personal and social fulfillment through their jobs. Throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen this relationship dynamic at play as workers deprioritize work to find a different balance.
• Purpose unleashed: In this scenario, which is the inverse to “work is work,” both workers and employers will be driven by a common sense of purpose. Regardless of the work environment, this is the model most employers and employees strive for—but it proves difficult to create.

As you set direction for the future, here’s how your organization can unleash the workforce’s potential:

• Work as fashion: Resist becoming overly reactive to competitors’ actions and instead develop a sustainable and differentiated worker-employer relationship built around a core set of shared ideals. This may include offering benefits and programs to employees that focus on improving their personal well-being and professional growth.
• Competition between talent: In this scenario, employers must resist the temptation to see talent as interchangeable and replaceable. Workers deliver more value when they are respected and invested in, and employers who provide jobs with higher wages, better hours, and more predictable schedules will reap financial gains.
• Work is work: Employers should look to motivate employees based on the merits of their work alone. This will require “re-architecting work” to engage human strengths, like relationship-building, creativity, and innovation, so that workers see their contributions as meaningful and part of an effort to further their professional growth.
• Purpose unleashed: Employers should engage with their workers as “co-creators” and provide them a meaningful voice in the communal execution of the company mission. This goes beyond soliciting worker input and requires trusting workers with the agency to influence and shape an organization’s decisions and goals.

Learn more about future work trends and how Deloitte and ServiceNow can help.