The traditional company seems less and less attractive to new generations of employees. The transformations brought about by the waves of digitalization and modern information and communication technologies have had an impact not only on job content, but also on company organization and the qualifications required.

Many signals suggest that organizational structures are faltering. We are in an economic cycle where jobs, as we know them, are changing rapidly. At the same time, the ideals of working life no longer match those of the past. Expectations, interests and priorities have changed. The new economy crystallizes these phenomena, with the emergence of new modes of collaboration in which well-being, pleasure and even happiness at work are now a determining factor in a candidate's decision. The data economy, the real-time economy and the gig economy are introducing new rules of the game for professionals and employers alike.

We are therefore waiting to find out what the company of the future will look like, and there is cause for concern, as there are at least three generations of employees directly concerned by the risk of professional obsolescence as a corollary to the evolution of professions and skills, and income inequalities will widen with the development of new skills.

The changing nature of work

The nature of work is changing. It has become dynamic, irregular and oppressive. Technological developments, regular mutations and the misuse of digital tools are at the root of these changes. Technology has made it possible to automate work at an unprecedented speed, with AI, sensors and robotics taking up more and more space. The relentless advent of a real-time culture, where employees can be reached at any time via the messaging of smart objects, is beginning to reveal effects with no turning point.

We're seeing undeniable changes in behavior. The professionals of the future are ultra-connected, with a heightened presence of intelligent objects. This distances them from reality and plunges them into new virtual perceptions. Multiple portals and platforms for communication blur the boundaries between personal and professional life, highlighting the irreversible dependence on digital tools. Productivity is actually becoming lower. The birth of smartphones, for example, has delivered the smallest improvement in productivity in the history of technology. In fact, the way we measure productivity has become obsolete.

At the same time, the way we manage our careers has also changed. Career paths no longer unfold as they used to, and professionals no longer have to depend on one and only one company to secure their professional future. New models are providing solutions for the hundreds of millions of unemployed men and women. 40% of workers in the USA are currently self-employed, and a growing majority rely on platforms like Uber.

Regularly changing jobs is becoming the norm. Over the course of his or her career, a professional will be salaried, intermittent, self-employed, collaborator, partner, stakeholder or leader in multiple projects. Studies show that a baby boomer has looked for a job 11.7 times, while a millennial will change jobs every two years or less. Gradually, the older generation's cycle of study, work and retirement is evolving into a lifelong cycle of work, learning and leisure.

Work organization

Companies are constantly reinventing and changing. Most of them are looking for new ways to establish hierarchical relationships, in favor of more dynamic jobs. How will the jobs of men and machines evolve? Where will people fit in with more powerful software and robots?

Industrial organizations had been conceived in a world where employees were the force of production. Workers were evaluated on the performance of repetitive tasks. In the future, they will become one with technology. The value provided by the workforce will therefore be intrinsically human and irreplaceable, namely the nature of its (human) intelligence and its ability to drive the machine. As the world changes in real time and in anticipation of predictive calculations, workers will constantly change tasks synchronously.

The new company will be the place for those who have adapted to the new work platforms. Lack of technological mastery cuts off access to the most attractive opportunities and salaries. Income inequality is a major economic and social issue.

The concept of a job, as we know it today, with a job title, a level and a job description, is beginning to disappear. What will replace it? People are sought out for their specific skills for the duration of a project, and have one foot in, one foot out taken up by other projects.

The workspace

Digital communication, for example, has made "remote working" a commonplace. In the future, we'll be working 100% with cloud computing and information storage and transmission technologies, with no control bodies. Being able to work anywhere, in real time, is a revolution that overturns the hierarchical relationship between the company, management and employees. Decisions are no longer taken at the top of the organization chart, or even at the center of a matrix, since each worker is the center of his or her own tailor-made ecosystem.

However, the company is a "meta-ecosystem" that fosters the creation of new links between all stakeholders. The role of the company of the future is therefore: "to be an open and porous environment, an augmented space constantly changing with the outside world." As ecosystem animators around the new company, employees, start-ups, service providers and customers orbit it.

The company of the future is central to the lives of future generations. If work interferes with private life, private life also interferes with work. In the future, the porosity of the different aspects of human life is accepted through the creation of positive interactions. Offices are open to escape and return easily, literally and figuratively.

The purpose of the new generations of professionals

A permanent job used to be synonymous with financial stability and security. Corporate life represented the springboard to achievement, professional reputation and, of course, access to the most prestigious networks. But what kind of success are we talking about? What do we work for? How does work fit into our lives? How do our careers progress? How do we keep up to date with our skills and abilities? How does work give us meaning and purpose? We spend 12% of our time at work, our forebears 60% 100 years ago!

Networking has changed everything. Access to information has turned us into a generation that no longer considers limits. We've become accustomed to immediacy. Distances and choices are just a click away. The democratization of information enables us to build links and thus alternative work ecosystems. Connecting with others, putting yourself in the spotlight, selling your services: in the future, we have the tools for self-prospecting. That's why freelance service provision represents an opportunity for those who prefer independence and entrepreneurship despite competitive cannibalism.