Each of the above dimensions are constantly evolving due to new forces of change – like new employee experiences, digital changes (including latest developments in Artificial Intelligence), and a sustainability-focused agenda. But to derive value from these changes, a broader agile perspective is needed.

“Current trends in business and technology show that the way employees work — where, when, why and with whom — have and will continue to change over the next decade, bearing little resemblance to work as it stands today.” This claim by a leading global research firm illustrates that as social, digital, and technological trends shape the future of work, a structured approach to innovation and adaptability helps organisations scale more effectively in an evolving landscape.

People are attracted to agile organisations, where they’re fully engaged, empowered and feel trusted. They have the autonomy to present ideas, test, and adapt on the go. And when a consistent organisational agile process is in place, it’s easy for them to scale up and deliver.

Physical and digital convergence drives new workforce needs. A variety of factors – growth in ecommerce, mass personalisation of products, and changing customer preferences – are driving organisations to accelerate their digital transformation.

The age of smart products and the smart industry is upon us. Technology is ushering in a world where machines can not only communicate with but also sense and learn from their surroundings, offering potentially new experiences for companies to develop, along with intelligent value chains with new ecosystems.

In the era of data-driven decision-making, organisations are leveraging analytics to inform management strategies and drive organisational performance. While there is no one-size-fits-all workforce planning programme, it’s only about creating the right management to interpret the data meaningfully.

Business sustainability is driving enterprises to focus on cost optimisation to achieve efficiency at scale. Businesses will rethink their business, finance, and talent aspirations, while continuing to invest in their people to build effective strategies in cost management while enabling a robust employee engagement process.

This is the time to identify workplaces as ecosystems rather than discrete physical locations, where organisational redesign can deliver efficiencies of scale and enable employers to harness value in new ways.

Where our new normal of the future could be a borderless and digitally enabled model, organisations will look to focus more strongly on offering their employees autonomy in work by providing a dynamic and collaborative environment at the workplace.

Organisations should enable a workplace that is inclusive, innovative and open to change. Also, leaders should drive such social engagements that enable meaningful human connections, focusing on both the psychological and physical needs of employees and transforming the lessons learned into a sustainable model of work.

Workplace transformation is about people, not technology. Be it tech or soft skills, it is one’s ability to adapt that will be the differentiator. And innovation and creativity will be core to this mindset.

This article is authored by Manesh Patel, global operations leader, EY Global Delivery Services.