Occurrences like the Industrial Revolution, the civil rights era, and the dot-com bubble collapse also shaped it. But the dynamics of technology spurred by the pandemic and changing employee attitudes toward work have created a perfect storm.

With a global pandemic came remarkable globalization. Even mom-and-pop brick-and-mortar stores recognize that they can do business with more than just people in the neighborhood. And workers know they are no longer necessarily confined to employment only where they live.

It’s hard to believe that some businesses once believed the internet was a phenomenon due for extinction. Now, companies know they need to embrace what has already changed and anticipate the future to survive. It’s a lot to keep up with. But here are some global employment trends that will continue to transform the workplace.

People Want to Work From Where They Are

Employees got used to working remotely during the pandemic. Companies, trying to stay afloat during shutdowns, accelerated remote technology and network infrastructure to make that possible. Now that the proverbial cat’s out of the bag, it can’t be put back in.

Smart companies are seeing this as an opportunity, not a problem. For one thing, it’s cutting the overhead that comes with office space. For another, it’s giving them impetus to look beyond their geographic borders for talent.

Whether a company is looking across the country or around the world to fill its workforce, technology makes it possible. Still, that’s only one part of the solution. Companies trying to employ people in other countries may face tremendous challenges unless they get help.

Professional employer organizations can tackle recruitment, payroll, and other issues for companies hiring internationally. But a PEO is only useful if the employer establishes a legal entity in countries where it hires employees. That requires a time- and resource-consuming effort.

As another option, companies can partner with an employer of record. The EOR is the legal employer while the company remains the de facto employer. This arrangement gets global hiring up and running in a new market quickly and painlessly.

Employees demand work flexibility, and technology makes it possible. That means remote and hybrid work is here to stay. It’s the present and the future of employment.

Companies Must Confront AI

There are risks that accompany AI in the workplace. There are also opportunities. Companies need to grapple with both to determine what role AI will play because it’s not going anywhere.

Once the fairly explicit purview of technology companies, AI is now ubiquitous. That’s because it has become accessible to everyone, including the least technical individuals. And it’s being used in spades.

Employees are using it to get jobs. They may also be using it to perform their jobs, which could be a good move or a bad one. On the positive side, AI can increase productivity in the most highly skilled jobs, complementing human performance.

On the negative side, however, there are risks when AI is used to replace skilled human talent. Take, for example, Sports Illustrated’s use of AI-generated copy in lieu of the work of journalists. For all its powers, AI is inherently limited in its capability to provide crucial context, analysis, and interpretation.

Where AI excels is in using algorithms and machine learning to improve medical diagnoses, and in chatbots and customer service. It’s a boon for security, especially in facial recognition, cybersecurity, and surveillance. And it can be applied to manage supply chains, transportation, manufacturing, and more.

Jobs have been and will continue to be replaced by AI in the global marketplace. Plus, the potential AI holds to improve business is phenomenal. Companies need to figure out how they will and won’t use it in their workforce.

Employee Sustainability is Critical

Issues surrounding sustainability are not going away anytime soon. How companies address them will determine what type of employees they attract, how long they keep them, and how well they perform.

Organizations need to determine what kind of corporate culture they want to create. Then, they need to ensure that everything they do is consistent with that culture. In fact, culture should drive not only goals, but the path taken to achieve them.

Prospective employees are attracted to brands whose cultures align with their own personal values. Once hired, they will expect those brands to be paying more than lip service to who they say they are. If companies fail, employees will leave.

Talent seeks intrinsic values such as meaningful work that challenges them as well as recognition and reward for jobs well done. Older employees are looking for cultures that appreciate experience. Younger ones look for companies that support talent generationally, according to where they are in their careers.

Employers should realize that their values need to extend beyond the office. Workers want companies to be committed to issues ranging from climate change and worker’s rights to social justice and diversity. When those issues are important to employees, they need to be important to whomever they work for.

A good paycheck alone won’t sustain the workforce of the future. Employees want where they work to align with how they live their lives. Sustain a culture, sustain an employee.

The Future is Now

No one could have predicted the global pandemic to happen when it did. Companies had to pivot quickly and as smoothly as possible to sustain themselves. How those moves affected employees, and employee response to a changed world itself, has had a ripple effect.

What major events will affect future employment is anyone’s guess. But the alterations made by the last one should drive the workplace for the foreseeable future. What is certain is that the global employment future is now.