The fundamental relationship  between employers and employees  has been shifting within the work environment with models that are focused on managers and leaders adapting to new people focused approaches who are also effective.

“The traditional benefits will begin to extend to contingent workers,” said Dr. Scott Cawood CCP, GRP, CSCP, CBP – CEO, WorldatWork during his keynote speech New Work Readiness and Optimization on the second day of  HR Summit & Expo, (HRSE) Dubai 2022.

He explained that the employment environment will become more: people focused, data rich, transparent, equitable, super fast but personalized, skill based, reward fueled; with the work organisations become focused on speed and velocity to compete in the market.

Cawood explains the velocity is the velocity of money which is the number of times the currency is used to purchase within a specific period of time. “As consumers we should be worried when  the velocity slows down. So we design our programs to accelerate that velocity of money,” he explained.

Given that people’s attention span is 8 seconds, speed and Velocity matter, he explains as companies are working in an environment of competition, technology and rewards which pushes people to operate on a faster level.

“We must learn to know what people want- consumers and employees- and when people want it,” he added.

Velocity in an organisation is about making decisions and executing those decisions quickly. Whether through hiring people faster, paying them faster by reducing time to create value and increasing value over time.

“Eliminating cognitive overhead and challenging the when, when do we start the person, when do we give them feedback, when do we give them a raise, we need to have more conversations about the when,” said Cawood.

Through these changes, Cawood is saying that organisational complexity is moving away from the transitional structure, partly he explains why a lot of massive companies are breaking up such as General Electric which will split into three companies: GE HealthCare, GE Aerospace and GE Vernova.

“What does it all mean, everything to move to on demand,” he said. This means that more data gives answers and interfaces, relationships will move more digital. Quarterly will be the new  annual and equity will be included in all parts of the work, meaning shifts will be broader than pay.