Everybody loves a Top 10 list, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology is happy to supply. This marks the sixth year this professional organization has released its Workplace Trends list, taken from member surveys about what they're seeing on the ground and in their research. "I-O psychologists study workplace issues of critical relevance to business," according to a press release, "including talent management, coaching, assessment, selection, training, organizational development, performance, and work–life balance."
You'll find a lot of that in what workers and managers expect to be talking about this year and in the years to come. The results are:
- Work–Life Balance Interventions ("How Your Work-Life Balance Stacks Up Worldwide")
- Creating Agile Organizations ("For Big Ideas, Your Team Should Be Smaller")
- Data Visualization and Communication ("The Secret to Getting Your Kickstarter Funded Is Ethics")
- The Changing Nature of Work ("Here's What We Want Most From the Office of the Future")
- Automation of Jobs and Tasks ("Here's the Real Reason People Hate Robots")
- Sexual Harassment; #MeToo at Work ("Your Creepy Co-Worker Needs to Work on His Self-Worth")
- "Gig Economy" – Contract Work ("We're a Little Bit Iffy on How Big the Gig Economy Is")
- Working With Big Data ("How to Use Data to Negotiate Your Salary")
- Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity ("Experience May Not Be All It's Cracked Up to Be")
Finally, the biggest trend these researchers are following is Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning ("This AI Can Map Entrepreneurs — And Their Competition"). If you're the podcasting type, Sleepwalkers just did an excellent episode on robots and the future of work. Keep an eye on all of the above — these trends are likely to define huge swaths of our working lives to come.