Advice for Getting a Digital Workforce Ready for 2022
The concept of the “digital workforce” is evolving, moving from being just a buzzword of the tech industry to a real-world phenomenon that impacts companies and workers in tangible ways. While there isn’t a universally-accepted definition of the term, workforces are being enhanced by digital technology and tools, and incorporating a growing number of fully digital bots, apps, and other automated “workers.”
The success of today’s digital workforces can be tied to digital transformation efforts undertaken by companies around the world. Odds are your organization has embraced digital transformation as well, so it will be critical that you rethink your workforce dynamics and adopt new digital technologies, tools, and processes that will unquestioningly change the nature of work itself.
Adopt a framework for the digital workforce
While every business will choose a different route toward building a workforce powered by technology, one framework stands out as a common choice. The acronym SCALE can be used to sum it up and it includes the following essential elements:
- Staff on demand
- Communities of contributors
- Algorithms that power efficient work
- Leveraging technology to automate work
- Engaging the workforce
Staff on Demand
The concept of “staffing on demand” revolves around a workforce’s capacity to adapt its setup and specifications to the job required. This trend is mostly caused by two factors. The first is that businesses, partially as a result of the epidemic, have already established a robust digital infrastructure to support remote workers. The value of a worker to the organisation is determined more by their skills than by their geographic location.
Communities
Communities that are powered by technology are expanding thanks to communication and collaboration technologies. By utilising the pooled knowledge and talents of a huge group who are all working toward the same objective, communities can expand their workforce. Consider the online information site Wikipedia, which relies on the contributions and curation of its community members to provide knowledge on anything from history and science to technology and pop culture. The combined effort of people’s collective knowledge produces a dynamic means to maintain information’s accuracy and keep up with shifting ideologies.
Algorithms
Software bots and apps can increase the efficiency of human labour thanks to algorithms. For instance, artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools like Grammarly and Hemingway automate the style editing and proofreading of online writing, greatly lowering the labour and effort needed from human workers. The less time writers must devote to writing mechanics, the more time they have to concentrate on conveying their own thoughts and adding more value to their work. The digital workforce will increasingly rely on sophisticated algorithms to simplify chores, increase output, and improve quality of life.
Making Use of Technology
To assist workers streamline and automate tasks, new technological platforms are being developed, and they are gaining traction in practically every business imaginable. Everyday individuals can join a totally digital workforce that reduces task completion times and increases the value of entire enterprises by utilising technology-driven automation.
Engaging the Remaining Human Workforce
Digital workforces are inherently more effective and productive, but these workforces’ members (and those who remain outside of them) are still humans, and they increasingly need on engagement to be motivated, self-assured, and productive. Companies adjusting to life during the epidemic provide one example. Because so many people work from home, they are deprived of the chance to contact with their co-workers, which can have a detrimental emotional effect on their performance and level of job satisfaction. To ensure that employees feel connected and empowered, several businesses are focusing on re-engaging their digital workers by doing “video-watercooler” meetings and group skills training sessions, for example, that are not work-focused.