Are you Orange? Or Green? Or Blue?

PricewaterhouseCoopers recently released a report with the ambitious title of “The Future of Work — the Journey to 2022”.

As the title suggests, the study looks at how the workplace and work itself is changing and how it is likely to continue to change in the next eight years.

Essentially, it suggests that employment is going to be influenced by three trends, although it leaves open the question of which will dominate (the safe bet here is that all three will be present, it’s just hard to say how much influence each will have).

There’s also a fun quiz to help you determine which world you are best suited to:

Blue, which essentially consists of big, profit-oriented corporations;

Orange, which consists of smaller networks of autonomous producers coming together for different projects; and

Green, where social responsibility tends to dominate corporate decision-making.

My quiz said I belong in the orange world, which probably best reflects the work I do now. But I also spent 25 years successfully (I hope) working within a hierarchical company more akin to the blue world and I could do it again, so like most quizzes, you need to take this one with a small grain of salt.

Still, the study has some validity. “Fit” between the employer and the employee is crucial, and employment agencies like ours spend a lot of time trying to understand our clients’ corporate cultures so we can find the people best suited to working for them. Having the right qualifications for a role does not mean a particular person will be successful with a particular employer — but that person may be perfect for another company with a different culture.

Secondly, the post-Second World War norm of working for one company (or in one industry) for 40 or more years while receiving a full range of benefits with a pension at the end is probably gone and as a result, the tendency for there to be one norm for the workplace is gone as well.

The big companies in the Blue World will probably continue with that, but as we have seen in the last decade, they are also very quick to drop or add jobs depending on cost and the desires of the current CEO, so even this workplace is much less secure than it once was.

Nonetheless, some people work best in the Blue World, where there is more structure, the goal of the company is clear and there’s a straightforward path for promotion.

There’s no question that Bermuda and the world are seeing a larger number of independent contractors or small specialist firms (the Orange World) who will provide services to others for projects or for a limited amount of time a week or month.

Other people work better in this environment — there’s more autonomy, less bureaucracy and greater variety in the work. (There’s more risk too since you have usually have to earn your own cheque — or “eat what you kill” in Wall Street parlance).

And social responsibility is a real thing — there are businesses ranging from the Body Shop to Tom’s Shoes who have put social responsibility at the heart of their businesses and made it work.

All of us, to a greater or lesser degree, want to get some sense of fulfillment from our work apart from a pay cheque. But for those for whom the cheque is really less important than the sense of improving the world, this is the area for you.

As employees, it is a good idea to decide which mode of work best suits you. While many people would be satisfied just to have a job these days, it is important to be sure in your own mind how you work best and what kind of workplace suits you. You should always remember that the job interview is a two-way process in which you have the opportunity to decide if you want to work for an employer as much as the employer decides if they want to offer you a job.

It is likely that most employers in the future are going to be a combination of blue, green and orange. But they will also put different levels of emphasis on these areas. Figuring out what you are, and whether an employer suits you, is the key.

Finally, as with all personality tests, do not use this one as a decision maker, but as one of many tools in determining your working future.

http://www.pwc.com/en_GX/gx/managing-tomorrows-people/future-of-work/journey-to-2022.jhtml

Bill Zuill is a director of Bermuda Executive Services Ltd. For recruiting and employment questions, e-mail him at marketing@bes.bm or see www.bermudaemployment.com