These articles are part of a series of reflections on the Global Network Annual Conference. To view the previous post, click here.
These are really interesting times in the workplace. Given the recent changes of society in face of new technology we’re having 4 different generations at work (all of them with different characteristics, values, needs, which brings of course, a lot of challenges. During this session we had the opportunity to reflect on the mutual influence of the way we work and technology. We are also experiencing more diversity and different ways of working than our parents. The mobility of the workforce has also a significant impact on the way that we work together, and all of these challenges should be considered when we redesign our organizations.
This conversation allowed us to see things from different perspectives and we had the opportunity to listen to the different generations explain how they perceived the evolution of the workplace. One of the concepts I heard that made sense in my experience was the concept of Info-Terror; it really reflects the feeling of a lot of people at work. This, combined with the “any time, any place” work definition hinders our ability to disconnect from work and limits our ability to recharge, or at least makes this process more difficult.
These new conditions require more creative approaches to organization design, and to the rest of the HR functions, as they are now responding to different needs.
Marcela Urteaga,
HSI 2012
