Work Trends to Look Out for in 2022
Posted on December 2021 By Madeline Rowson
Small businesses are the Australian economy’s bread and butter. The new year will see a reset for organisations, more autonomy for employees and demand for marketing and advertising roles.
Resignation or Reset?
Changes to the marketing and advertising industries are on the way. Even though Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index predicted 40% of the global workforce may leave their current employer, rumours of the great resignation are yet to hit Australia.
Recent data from LinkedIn shows trends toward the Great Small to Medium Business Reset in Australia. Over 70% of SMB are predicted to increase their technology spend in 2022, including CRM software and e-commerce solutions. With small to medium businesses contributing 55% of Australia’s GDP and over 7.6million jobs it is no doubt that they were hard hit by the pandemic and more resilient because of it.
Whether it’s resignations, resets or redundancies in 2022, there is definitely change coming.
Autonomy over Autocracy
There is also a change toward autonomy for employees within businesses. With WFH being the new normal, uptake of four day work weeks and remote working options, hybrid work is here to stay.'
The demand for flexible work is also pushing for changes to traditional leadership styles in Australian organisations. According to a recent survey by The Access Group, 44% of Australian organisations operate under a command and control style of management but there is a 28% shift away from this style and toward autonomy. Support for employees to work on their own terms helps them decide when, where and how to work.
Demand for Marketing and Advertising
Our own consultants at Stopgap have found a surge in marketing and advertising roles to start in 2022.
More and more businesses and agencies are looking to expand their team and find new talent. SEEK found a 102% increase in advertising and media job advertisements over the past year, as well as 69% increase in marketing and communications. The digital world is here to stay and so is marketing and advertising talent.
As business winds down toward the Christmas shutdown period, we’re keeping an eye out to see what trends will emerge in 2022.
