Over the next decade, a rapidly changing society is creating a drastically different workplace than the traditional work setting to which many have become accustomed.  The following workplace trends, according to SocialMachinery.com’s “Ten Trends for the 2020 Worker” article, released November 23, 2010, will gain prevalence over the coming decade:

• Converging working and living –(source: Flexperience) With more people working from home, the office will become an extension of our homes, and vice versa, with wireless technologies affording new horizons of possibility. The office will become valued more for its “social and cultural role” rather than a place simply to work.  51% of people strongly believe that more flexible work schedules and hours would need to change in order for working parents to balance evenly their jobs and families.

• Anywhere/Anytime companies – Anywhere connectivity has the power to change the face of corporations and transform the lifestyles of its workers. Companies will be capable of doing business anywhere, at any time. The connectivity technologies making this possible will be wide-spread by 2020.

• Eco-Workplace- Today there are more than 750,000 green jobs in the U.S.  Analysts predict that for the next two decades, green employment could provide up to 10% of all job growth. Green Jobs Worldwide will reach 25 million by 2020

• Women taking control- The gender gap is narrowing across the globe, with large parts of the world moving towards greater equality between the sexes in terms of pay, education, health and political representation, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.  By 2020, 1 out every 3 workers will be women.

• Smart workplace - Future workers will be able to work from anywhere spending less time in a physical location and more time being on the move. A seamless smart environment will be ready to support you and the way you work.  The number and size of offices could be shrunk as smart scheduling software will keep a higher occupancy rate.

• From outsourcing to crowdsourcing- Crowdsourcing is the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by one person and outsourcing them to a group or community in the form of an open call. Crowdsourcing also dissolves the old division between professionals and amateurs. It’s a new twist on the outsourcing model

• Social networking for enterprise – Will be at the epicenter of the 2020 worker. A toolkit of social networks, tagging, wikis, blogs and enterprise search provides a blend that enables employees to identify individuals, chats rooms, blogs and document repositories needed to be successful at their job.

Key Findings

• The home is becoming more and more of a workplace for today’s workforce
• Companies are increasing their capacity to operate anytime and anywhere
• Green employment is rapidly expanding in prevalence
• Women are expanding their influence over company culture, a trait that is viewed as significantly positive
• Flextime is generally seen as increasing productivity
• Stress management is increasingly covered or provided by employers

With workplace culture evolving into creating more options to operate on an anytime and anywhere basis, volunteering practices will have to adapt to this idea as well.  The 21^st century definition of a volunteer linking Time, Talent, Voice, and Money will become increasingly important in order for volunteer programs to create various volunteer opportunities.

New wireless technologies will impact volunteering; and service opportunities will have to become more flexible and offer other options for people to use their time, consumer buying power, and talents in skills based volunteering affording new horizons of possibility.  Do you think Virtual Volunteering will become more popular- where one is able to use their time, talent, voice, and money from the comfort of their own home?  What are strategies that virtual volunteer programs can use to successfully engage a widespread internet community?