Globalization - digitalization - the world of work: this was the context for the alumni event on 16 October. The title: "New Work - how we will work in the future". The main focus of this evening was to shed light on the consequences for the economy and society resulting from the dynamic processes of change. Driven by digitalization, a huge change can be observed in the world of work, University President Peter Mudra introduced the topic in his welcoming address. In addition to Prof. Mudra himself, who has dedicated his education to the topic of HR management, three other professors were invited to present their perspectives in 20-minute keynote speeches in the auditorium before engaging in an open exchange with the expert audience.
What will the working world of tomorrow look like?
As Director of the Institute for Employment and Employability at the HWG LU and recently named one of the leading HR minds, Jutta Rump is predestined for the topic. Unfortunately, she was unable to be present in person that evening due to other commitments, but a film sequence was shown on the large auditorium screen.
In it, the HR expert called for the topic of people as the fourth dimension - alongside technical possibilities, business models and the value chain/processes - to be considered, not just in the future, but today. According to Rump, it can be assumed that a large number of activities will change completely and develop in new ways. It is important to take along those whose areas of work will not remain the same - including those with medium and higher qualifications. Digitalization will have a positive impact on employment because new fields of work will be created. However, there will also be negative effects, namely wherever manual and cognitive routine activities are in the foreground. And the new jobs will not be created in the areas where old jobs are lost.
Apart from the fact that digitalization will give us time, Rump believes that Germany as a whole is well equipped for the transformation process because there is hardly any other economy that has its processes so well under control. "So what demands will be placed on us in the future? We all need - regardless of what we do and where we are - an increasing level of basic IT and digital skills, methods and social skills, the ability to think outside the box, the ability to deal with speed and complexity, a basic willingness and ability to learn, a willingness and ability to change and a basic attitude of lifelong learning."
When something changes so rapidly and vehemently and when change becomes the norm, according to the concluding thesis, a constant is needed to keep the system on track. For Jutta Rump, this is a common value orientation, social values, the topic of people and society - which brings us back to the fourth dimension, which should not be neglected under any circumstances.
Skills and professions of the future...
...was the title of Prof. Peter Mudra's keynote speech, tracing the switch from old to new, innovative ways of working at the levels of people, organization and society. According to him, the central values of the New Work concept are independence, self-determined, meaningful action and the provision of freedom to develop creativity and personality. The aspects of individuality, participation, leadership, flexibility, agility and innovative forms of cooperation (collaboration, workspaces) are of great importance when it comes to implementation.
The challenges lie in the fact that specialists for dealing with transformative technologies are needed in all sectors and at the same time represent a scarce resource on the labor market - the German economy alone will lack around 700,000 technology specialists in the next five years.
According to Dueck, Work 4.0 demands more, higher and different skills from people. But what skills will be needed in the future? Stifterverband and McKinsey have developed a framework of 18 future skills, divided into three categories. The "future skills" included both digital and non-digital key qualifications (such as problem-solving skills and entrepreneurial thinking) as well as technological skills such as complex data analysis and web development.
Peter Mudra dared to doubt whether the digital age would actually result in time savings for workers, as his colleague Rump predicted. What is clear, however, is that new forms of work require a "changed set of key skills". After all, one in four employees from the business world would need (further) training in digital and non-digital key skills.
Recruiting of the future
In the following keynote speech, Stephan Weinert looked at how recruitment will work in the future. The professor of international HR management began by stating that there is an employee market in which candidates' demands on employers are tending to increase (keyword: work-life balance). His thesis: three out of four candidates place higher demands on companies than in the past. And where do these employees look for and find their jobs? In the digital age, it is hardly surprising that the internet, or more precisely online job boards - alongside career networks and recommendations - play a key role in the job search. Nevertheless, a well-maintained company website in terms of content, user-friendliness, branding, emotionality and, above all, mobile capability is indispensable, according to the expert.
A study that Weinert had conducted and briefly presented on the impact of employer awards was also taken up again in the subsequent co-working session. According to this, employer awards, which wealthy companies like to use to spice up their careers pages, do not have the expected effect. In contrast to an almost identical site with an award, a careers website without an award did not achieve any significant deviations in the control group.
On the employer side, digital technologies also made it easier to select suitable applicants by means of CV parsing (automated reading of CVs with different structures) or CV matching processes (automated comparison of applicant data with requirement profiles) or through the use of language analysis software. The use of chatbots on career sites is also on the rise, not only to answer applicants' questions, but also to spark their enthusiasm and encourage them to stay on the site for longer. Virtual reality elements on the website, for example in the form of virtual tours where candidates can get to know the company, the workplace and their future colleagues, should perform the same task in recruiting personnel. Traditional assessment procedures are increasingly facing competition from applications that playfully test skills such as planning ability or logical thinking.
As far as outsourcing in the recruitment sector is concerned, Stephan Weinert believes that the number of service providers will increase in the future. He also pointed out that not everything that is feasible makes sense - not all candidates will be impressed by algorithms capturing their emotions in virtual job interviews.
Innovations and transformations beyond technology and business processes: social innovations as future social projects
Prof. Stefan Lacher used short videos to illustrate how far artificial intelligence and robotics have already progressed, but "there is still a lot to come". Beyond technological developments, he argues that "with the transition from an industrial to a knowledge and service society, a paradigm shift is taking place in the innovation system, as a result of which the relationship between technological and social innovations is changing fundamentally".
The transition from an industrial society to a knowledge society means that gainful employment, as we know it today as wage labor, will only account for a third of total working time in the future. Another third of time will be invested in activities "that people really want to do". This includes crowdwork and voluntary work. The final third will be spent on "high-tech self-care". Alongside this, Lacher explained the "pyramid of sustainable consumption" and called for a conscious lifestyle in which things are sometimes bought second-hand, swapped, made or repaired.
Because: "The 20th century was one of technical innovation, a century of machines and technology that brought prosperity to many, but also pushed our planet to its limits - and sometimes beyond. Perhaps the 21st century could be one of social innovation, where the achievements of the past are used for a more social and sustainable future."
The Chairman of the Friends and Sponsors of Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences, Thomas Bull, had already taken the opportunity to promote his association in his welcoming speech. At the subsequent get-together with snacks and drinks, he expressed his satisfaction with the event. In particular, however, because the 200th member was successfully recruited for the association that evening.
The presentations from this evening are available on the alumni page.
