.png){kind=small}
There's one thing that's constant in the business world: Change!
Forbes reports a high demand to navigate the accelerated changes in the complex business world across geographies and industries. In 2024, 88% of business leaders expected the 'pace of change' to multiply.
The team at monday.com understood this well. They believed that the influx of AI and digital tools would definitely lead to massive organisational changes.
To succeed, business leaders and executives like yourself must recognise what exactly these shifts mean. The monday.com World of Work Report explains the areas essential to building an engaged and resilient workforce amidst such changes.
What Is the World of Work Report?
The monday.com company performed a widespread global survey by partnering with a research firm named Qualtrics. Countries like America, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, France, and Germany participated.
Between 23rd August 2024 and 14th September 2024, they surveyed over 3,700 employees. Groups in the monday.com World of Work Report included associates from remote, hybrid, and office settings.
The monday.com team commissioned this to understand how executives and leaders could support, connect, and empower their employees during constant change. However, it didn't target monday.com customers or employees.
According to the monday.com World of Work Report, there were 35% senior leaders, 50% managers, and 15% individual contributors in the respondent groups. Check out the image below to learn more about the company sizes, ages, and genders of the participants.
AI Adoption: Still a Long Way to Go?
According to a report by McKinsey, about 65% of respondents state that their organisations regularly use generative AI. Yes, AI adoption is surely on the rise.
But wait—there's also a generational divide based on how employees perceive new technology.
With the introduction of monday AI, building automated workflows on the platform has been streamlined. But do you think it was accepted instantly by all monday.com users? Probably not!
In a LinkedIn post related to the World of Work Report, Josh talks about the generational AI surprise. He mentions that today's workplace will succeed only if there's employee acceptance and technological advancement through better communication and transparency.
The World of Work Report by monday.com highlights the generational gap in AI adoption. Here are the key findings:
49% of Millennials are open to AI adoption, while 80% expressed confidence in AI.
Ironically, 73% of Millennials adopted AI, compared to 59% of Gen Z and 65% of Gen X.
30% of employees are worried that AI will threaten their jobs.
The thing is, Gen Z is highly tech-savvy yet focuses on passion-driven work. We believe they are too familiar with AI's capabilities to be impressed by how it can help businesses grow.
How Can You Drive AI Adoption?
All these emphasise the need for business leaders to address the concerns. You must highlight that AI isn't here to replace humans but to enhance our work.
Here are a few ways businesses can drive AI adoption:
Democratising AI software to make it easy to adopt. For example, monday WorkOS is user-friendly, has low-code/no-code features, and is best for non-technical users.
Encouraging employees to integrate AI technology into daily work to prioritise trust. For example, tools like monday AI can help govern the quality of results.
AI can be viewed as an investment where employees can shape development. For example, AI tools can help feed corrections to the model, ensuring continuous improvement.
Did you know the IT sector has the highest AI adoption rate of 60%? The monday.com World of Work report also states that 45% of large enterprises indicate 'no AI usage.'
This disparity can be attributed to the lack of trust in AI's safety and security. Similarly, 33% of smaller companies believe AI is 'just a fleeting technological trend.'
Fruition's Suggestion
Do you want to keep up with the constantly evolving benefits of AI? In that case, follow these tips:
Move fast with AI adoption by going beyond bureaucratic friction.
Acknowledge the cost of slow implementation.
Focus on AI utilisation and development.
Don't overlook security and privacy concerns.
Choose AI tools that offer human control.
Prioritise customisations and not autonomous features.
The thing is, monday WorkOS comes with it all! If you want help with software implementation, feel free to contact a monday expert at Fruition.
Work Management Software: A Trend Underused
According to Fortune Business Insights, the task management software market was worth USD 1,713 million 7 years ago. By 2026, it's supposed to reach a whopping USD 4,535.5 million, with a 13.3% CAGR.
This statistic alone proves how companies have become digitalised by relying on work management software and tools. The monday.com World of Work Report states that 82% of participants have used a work management tool to drive efficiency.
Platforms like monday Work Management, Wrike, and ClickUp have become famous. However, the purchase of these products doesn't necessarily mean usage, implementation, or adoption.
Purchased Work Management Tools Are Not Being Utilised
Purchase ≠ Usage
Even though 57% of employees reported an increase in software usage compared to last year, utilisation rates are low. For example, only 78% of individual contributors felt comfortable using such software. Compared to that, 94% of senior leaders and 90% of managers loved using these tools.
This proves that lower-level employees aren't comfortable using work management software. The reason? According to the monday.com World of Work Report, it's the lack of a proper change management plan, improper training, and implementation procedure.
Ironically, larger enterprises have lower utilisation rates of only 71%. Employees can have access to various tools, but there's a disconnect when it comes to integration and implementation.
What Can Be Done? Fruition's Suggestion
Let's say you're shifting to monday Work Management or monday CRM. In that case, you'll need an implementation specialist. A monday consultant at Fruition will analyse system integration scope and focus on change management and proper adoption.
Beyond that, you can follow these tips for better technology adoption:
Choose a platform that prioritises user experience.
Get work management software to strengthen decision-making and reporting.
Clunky and frustrating-to-use tools can hurt accuracy, leading to plummeting adoption rates.
Invest in intuitive and easy-to-use software that employees will genuinely use.
Look for software with faster implementation without delayed results.
The tool must be simple to set up or have clear training from responsive consultants.
All these will help increase adoption, maximise business ROI, improve reporting capabilities, etc. Employees will stay engaged if the software truly helps them.
Remember this: Faster adoption = better value. In this fast-changing work environment, your business will need scalable software that's easy to adopt and prioritises change.
Does Change Management Need to Change?
Gartner highlights that 'change is the new constant' in today's business landscape. For example, companies undertook at least five major firmwide changes in the last three years. Even then, only 34% of change initiatives succeed.
According to the World of Work Report by monday.com, participating individuals have experienced some kind of change in their work in the past year. For instance, they have witnessed different job duties, numbers of team members, types of software used, etc.
Employees experiencing the most changes believe that their organisations have handled everything well.
Let's take the IT sector as an example. About 67% reported team changes, 68% of employees experienced different job duties, and 77% reported using more software and tools. Even with so many changes, 45% of people in the tech sector believe it was managed very well.
Beyond that, larger enterprises experience major changes. However, the employees were least satisfied with how it was managed. Compared to that, 61% of employees in smaller companies believe that changes made their lives easier.
Adi Dar, COO at monday.com, believes that this gap can be attributed to the sheer workforce difference between smaller and larger companies.
How to Improve Change Management?
Did you know that 80% of respondents feel that software changes have a positive impact on their work? Even then, there's a noteworthy 'gap in perception' across different levels of seniority.
For example, 37% of senior leaders believe changes have made jobs easier. Only 20% of individual contributors and 25% of managers agree.
Similarly, only 45% of senior leaders consider change management 'very well.' About 23% of independent contributors and 32% of managers agree.
On average, 60% of employees believe change management plans can be improved with better training. Here are a few more ideas for that:
Form mixed-level focus groups from every department and organisational level. This will help you weigh changes and proposed processes.
Appoint influential individuals in the company as change champions. This will drive support for new initiatives.
Set clear expectations to help you communicate planned changes now and in the future. This mindset will ensure that transformation isn't a one-time event.
Create tangible ways to allow your employees to share feedback. This will incorporate a feeling of value during the decision-making process.
The team at Fruition suggests regularly evaluating the changes to improve employee satisfaction and overall performance. That's exactly what we do during our monday implementation process.
Does Transparency Lead to Better Impact?
Forbes states that 80% of workers are looking for better understanding, and 87% of job seekers want transparency in their workplace. In the constantly evolving business world, transparency has become fundamental to establishing organisational trust.
The monday.com World of Work Report revealed that increased transparency enhances employee confidence to influence the company's success. It'll also impact their individual performance, creating a two-way impact.
Note: There's a strong correlation between dissatisfaction with organisational transparency and your employee's personal and professional impact.
Did you know that satisfaction with transparency in performance judgements often remains relatively consistent? Even then, companies can always invest more in it.
What Can You Do to Maintain Transparency?
The largest enterprises with complex hierarchies often face hindered communication and a lack of information sharing. They are dissatisfied with transparency regarding decisions made by senior leaders.
As a solution to this, you can follow these tips:
Explain the reasoning behind every business decision and share data openly.
Talk about strategic pivots and restructuring to help employees understand long-term goals and sustainability.
Deliver a tailored message to help unify the teams across departments.
Focus on a consistent message, but adjust it as per audience needs.
Break information down into smaller and understandable pieces.
To help with all these, you can integrate the monday Work Management platform. It'll help you collaborate, communicate, automate, and streamline various business workflows.
Measuring and Understanding Success: Beyond Metrics
Success is like a compass that guides organisations towards innovation and growth. It goes beyond metrics and dynamics, driving employee motivation.
According to the monday.com World of Work Report, understanding how success is measured and the motivation for success are clearly related. For example, employees who understand this are two times more likely to achieve it.
This can vary across company sizes even with the greatest clarity. Employees in larger enterprises know how personal, department-level, and company-wide success is measured. However, this clarity drops to 43% in the largest companies.
Based on company size, the motivation to achieve success peaks or drops. For example, large companies excel at implementing success metrics and communication. However, as they grow, their ability to sustain this clarity diminishes.
Seniority and Success: The Connection
About 42% of Gen Z employees have a clear understanding of how individual success is measured. Compared to that, Millennials have a stronger grasp of this.
This gap can be attributed to the level of seniority and success. Gen Z is more often new to the workforce, having a broader perspective on everything. They might feel the team and company goals are less relevant to them.
Did you know there's a discrepancy across every level of seniority to understand success metrics and motivation? According to the monday.com World of Work Report, at least 50% of managers report a strong grasp of how success is measured across levels.
However, only 34% of independent contributors can agree. The gap is wider among senior leaders, with 55% indicating they understand success metrics.
Managers and senior leaders have always reported higher motivation levels as compared to individual contributors. This highlights a need to improve communication across company levels for better alignment and motivation for success.
Driving Greater Motivation
As shown in the image, the main thing that can boost motivation for success would be compensation, especially in the largest enterprise companies. Employees in smaller companies emphasise the need for a better understanding of their role contribution.
Success strategies can be adjusted for generational and cultural factors. These will ensure organisational growth with effective inspiration.
As shown in the image above, factors like better working conditions, greater flexibility, and more transparency can build a resilient workforce.
Are Employees Productivity Drivers or Just Passengers?
The World of Work Report by monday.com found a huge gap between the leadership team's perception and the broader individual contributor experience. There's a shared ownership challenge that affects productivity and engagement.
About 84% of managers, 76% of individual contributors, and 92% of senior leaders believe there is a shared sense of ownership. This proves that leadership teams feel confident in their initiatives, but employees may not resonate.
That's why only 39% of respondents believe their organisation is 'very successful' in creating a feeling of shared ownership.
The Solution?
To an extent, 81% of respondents stated that this type of shared ownership can be driven through different means. Strategies include:
Stock ownership
Promoting career growth
Providing clear performance metrics
Empowering employees
Breaking silos
Connecting with every team member more often
Clear, relevant, and accessible metrics can create a culture where every employee understands their role. You must reinforce through recognition by highlighting individual contributions.
Similarly, listening sessions and skip-level meetings can help. Leaders must also be open-minded and more accessible to their team members.
Skill Development and Career Growth: What's Up With That?
Gallup reports that 42% of employee turnover rates could have been prevented.
In today's changing landscape, skill development and career growth are the two driving factors of employee satisfaction and retention.
However, perceptions of such opportunities vary across generations, seniority, countries, and company size. Statista highlights that the employment-to-population ratio will reach 57.8% by the end of 2025.
Larger companies have better positions and more job openings compared to smaller companies. Despite that, employees in smaller companies have a satisfaction rate of 73%. In bigger enterprises, this drops to 58%.
Why? Well, smaller companies have greater visibility when it comes to advancement opportunities. For example, employees in startups can easily gauge their promotion levels and understand the team dynamics.
People working in the largest enterprises have much lower satisfaction and growth opportunities. The World of Work Report by monday.com states that only 32% of employees at such companies would stay for at least 10 years. This can be attributed to the bigger budgets and more resources. (even if the employees are dissatisfied)
There's also been a market shift across Gen X, Gen Z, and Millennials. For example, 36% of Gen X employees would stay in a company for 10+ years. Compared to that, only 25% of Millennials and 13% of Gen Z workers would stay for that long.
At this point, it's unrealistic to expect such a long tenure from Gen Z. However, companies must still foster transparency, offer fair opportunity, and create an inclusive environment.
The Skills That Matter
Did you know that 40% of all employees surveyed have hopes to develop leadership skills by 2026? This is the most 'in-demand' skill.
Only 20% of them actually get internal company resources to develop such skills. In this case, the only way to foster a resilient workforce is to follow these steps:
Investing in managerial workshops to help employees grow into leaders.
Effective leadership skill development training from existing managers.
Open conversations about career growth to find challenges.
Business owners should also provide training materials and tools to help employees perform better. To retain talent, you must promote compensation transparency and create an empowering atmosphere.
How Can monday.com Help Drive Success?
The monday.com World of Work Report states that you must follow these steps to build a resilient workforce during changing business dynamics:
Democratising AI.
Prioritising user experience with work software.
Defining clear success metrics.
Improving communication and change management.
Increasing organisational transparency.
Investing in employee growth and skill development.
Cultivating shared ownership.
In all this, monday Work Management can be your knight in shining armour. Over 225,000 customers choose monday because:
It's intuitive, easy to use, and simple.
You can get started quickly without long and complex training.
It's flexible and customisable.
The adaptability empowers your team to tailor workspaces and workflows.
It's secure and scalable.
This software can seamlessly grow with your business without sacrificing security or control.
To get the best out of monday Work Management, reach out to an expert at Fruition. Our certified monday.com implementation consultants will integrate the software seamlessly to meet your business workflow needs.
FAQs
What did the monday.com World of Work Report uncover?
There's a major disconnect between individual contributors and high-level leaders in change management. Similarly, the generational AI divide reduces the adoption rates between Gen Z and Millennial employees. Lastly, the impact paradox has led to a huge gap between the organisation's success and an employee's belief. As a solution, you must maximise productivity, ensure better communication, and focus on transparency. Business leaders can do all that by shifting to the monday Work Management platform.
How can you succeed in the evolving business world?
The business world is evolving due to changing attitudes about transparency, digital tools, and AI. Organisations need a way to control this rapid reshaping. For that, a human-centric approach to work management is necessary. Employees also need to feel connected to their company's goals for better motivation and success. Enterprises must align technology, culture, and leadership teams, keeping in mind their low-level employees to create a productive and engaged workforce. That's the only way you can future-proof the shifting world of work.
Comments