There have been seismic shifts across the business world over the past few years. From pandemics and inflation to war and climate change and onwards to a game-changing series of societal changes, many current business trends reflect a world in flux and a desire to do better.
Here are the 5 you should be paying particular attention to...
Sustainable & Purposeful Operations.
In an era where we consume consciously, sustainability and purpose-led strategies that eliminate or reduce a business’s impact on the world are absolutely crucial- turning your back on the challenges the world faces is not only unethical but bad for business too.
The Talent Pool.
Across the professional landscape, these very same changes have impacted the talent pool too. We’ve seen the rise of the remote and gig worker, the depletion of the hospitality sector in various areas and the arrival of the Gen Z employee who comes with rather different expectations on salary and working conditions.
Whereas salary and financial benefits were once the real driving force (and still are), these have been joined by other important factors that help decide a person’s next career steps.
As evidenced in this UK IOD report, flexible working is currently the most on-trend perk that prospective employees wish to see in their package and offering the right benefits to attract the right candidates could mean that your talent pool is a little bit deeper than your competitors.
Agile Operations.
The traditional hierarchical internal structure is swiftly becoming a thing of the past. After all, if these years have taught us anything, it’s that things change (and change quickly.)
A rigid structure means it’s harder to pivot and reorganise teams as the moment demands - the move away from the pyramid to a flatter structure means the modern business can be ready, for whatever unprecedented situation the world decides to throw at them.
Human connection.
The ‘brand’ as a monolithic, faceless entity is not where it's at anymore. Ever since the rise of social media, customers want to see the people behind the brand and to hear the authentic stories that brought them to where they are today.
Furthermore, this human face makes it easier to display human qualities like trustworthiness, reliability and genuine care - the only way to go in a world that’s looking for connection in every step.
Digital Experiences.
On one hand, human connection is more important than ever before, yet on the other digital experiences are on the rise, even within the experiential space - nobody said it had to make sense!
With lowered costs and easy-to-use tools in the e-commerce space, a human vs robot job-off and the rise of the Metaverse and other Web3 tech, everyone from paper supply companies and independent milliners to massive F+B brands is looking at how digital can increase their profits and expand their reach. To find out more about this in R+B, check out our article on ‘Digitising the Restaurant Space.’
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