The Chartered Accountants Australia + New Zealand have released The Future of Work: How can we adapt to survive and thrive?
This publication examines mega-trends that continue to shape Australia, such as the erosion of geographical barriers; an ageing population; digital disruption; and, the rise of the peer-to-peer economy. The publication poses questions and intends to start the debate on how individuals, businesses and government/policy setters will adapt, survive and thrive in the workplace of the future.
In terms of the erosion of geographical barriers, there has been a significant rise in international services trade volumes, indicating that Australian employees are increasingly providing services to other countries, and overseas employees are increasingly involved in the provision of services to Australia. 2014 imports of computer and IT services from abroad is around 13 times higher over a period 1994 to 2014, while professional (including consulting) is 6 times higher. At the same time Australian workers are providing 7 times more exports of professional services (including consulting).
This is consistent with the increase in offshoring activity by Australian and New Zealand firms across various industries over recent years, as discussed in the 2015 future[inc] paper What is the future for offshoring? The paper found that wider adoption of technological advancements such as cloud computing, hosted virtual desktops, big data and enterprise mobility by businesses in recent years has helped to facilitate decisions on offshoring and locating parts of the workforce overseas. This interaction between greater global economic integration and further technological advancements in the future will be increasingly important in driving offshoring over future years
The “virtual global worker” has the potential to significantly disrupt the Australian labour market. Employees in the Australian labour force will increasingly need to compete against talent from other countries in the future, while allowing Australian companies to access a much larger pool of global talent and putting downward pressure on wages.
More information from Chartered Accountants website.
