Is finding a 'new normal' in the workplace impossible?

Job personalisation could be the key to worker satisfaction – and retention – this year. In 2022, we will see employers catering more to employees’ needs and desires in order to engage their current workers and attract top performers from other firms. It’s not only good business sense – flexibility and accommodation is becoming a perk workers expect from their employers. This imbalance in worker demand and supply means employees and job seekers have elevated power to ask for more.

Another important personalisation could be prioritising a worker’s individual mental health. After all, amid burnout, more workers are saying enough is enough, and quitting their jobs ([or at least thinking about quitting). Even bastions of hustle culture such as Wall Street are getting in on the act and introducing sabbaticals.

Even as rent stays sky-high in practically deserted city centres, companies still want workers utilising those buildings, especially as hybrid work will likely dominate 2022. It’s impossible to shrink the office footprint even after all the ways our working lives have been destabilised the past two years.

Despite all our best predictions, we don’t know what we don’t know.

Many analysts were predicting a return-to-office movement by summer 2021, as vaccines became more widely available – but that target continued to move. Variants like delta protracted public health concerns and remote work didn’t end. Zoom meetings remained the daily standard for millions of workers around the globe.