Technology with profound impact on work life
This report examines how employees and employers navigate the current work environment and their views on the future of work shaped by the pandemic, digitalization and the fluctuating labor market.
Few events in our lifetimes have had such a profound impact on our daily lives and on a worldwide scale as the COVID-19 epidemic. People’s normal work life, in particular, was transformed due to the various restrictions in effect worldwide.
While some work sectors could stay afloat thanks to information and communication technology (ICT) and remote working, other sectors struggled to run their businesses amidst pandemic restrictions. Nevertheless, the pandemic accelerated the development and adoption of ICT in work life. Technology is and continues to be increasingly integrated with work life – to enhance, guide, offload and act as a social glue. The expansion of digital solutions has also brought more digital friction, new fears, overlaps and silos. Overall, the increased usage of technology in work life will continue to have a profound impact in the future.
In this report, we examine what has occurred after the pandemic. We look into how companies and employees deal with the current landscape, what the future work life could look like given the labor market dynamics, rapid digitalization, and the five ways employees envision the future of work.
Key findings
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Methodology
The foundation for the conclusions and statistics presented in this report are based on three different pieces of market research carried out during 2022.
- 38,000 online surveys of employees aged 18-65 within 30 markets; Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Nigeria, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK and US.
- 3,600 online surveys of decision-makers aged 18-65 within 18 markets; Australia, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, UAE, UK and US.
- 11 in-depth interviews with decision-makers from selected industries within three markets; China, Spain and US.
About the authors
Jana Uthayakumar
Jana Uthayakumar is a Senior data & analytics researcher at Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab. He has over 8 years of experience working in market research, specializing in marketing and data science. As a key member of the team, he leads the analytical framework in projects by translating business questions into data-driven solutions as well as identifying innovative methodologies.
Gunnar Ehrnborg
Gunnar Ehrnborg is Principal Researcher & Chief Statistician at Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab. He is responsible for analyzing market insights, behaviors and trends as well as driving the development of statistical analyses. He has worked on 100+ projects for different customers - analyzing current and changed ICT-behavior all over the world.
Nina Åhlmans
Nina is a member of the Ericsson Digital Workspace Experience team and a subject matter expert on digital experiences. She has a long background in end user focused strategic IT product management and delivery before moving into the experience area. The past years Nina has been focusing on remote and hybrid work. Specifically, the technical and behavioral challenges the emerging new work life poses for users and enterprises and the convergence of disciplines into a new take on employee experience.
Patrik Hedlund
Patrik Hedlund is senior researcher at Ericsson IndustryLab. His research is focused on the role of new technology for industries and society. He has extensive experience from the telecom sector with previous positions in business development, product management and marketing. Hedlund holds a Master of Science in electronic engineering from the University of Uppsala.
Sepideh Matinfar
Sepideh Matinfar is senior researcher at Ericsson IndustryLab. She has been working with different sustainability questions, performing Life Cycle Assessment of ICT products and services. Recently she has broadened her area of research to Industry and enterprise field. She holds an MSc in Environmental Science from Stockholm University.
About Consumer and IndustryLab
Consumer and IndustryLab is a global research unit. We study consumer and enterprise use of, and attitudes to, ICT. Our knowledge is gained from global consumer, enterprise, and sustainability research programs, including collaborations with leading customers, industry partners, universities, and research institutions. Our research programs cover in-depth studies and over 100,000 interviews with consumers, working people and decision-makers each year, in 30 countries – statistically representing the views of 1.1 billion people.
All ConsumerLab reports can be found at: www.ericsson.com/consumerlab
All IndustryLab reports can be found at: www.ericsson.com/industrylab
