THE DIGITAL FUTURE OF JOBS
Innovation in the business world is accelerating exponentially, with new disruptive technologies and trends emerging that are fundamentally changing how businesses and the global economy operate. To adapt, thrive, and innovate, we all need to be aware of these evolutionary technologies and trends and understand the opportunities or threats they might present to our organizations, our careers, and society on a whole.
With this in mind, I recently had the opportunity to compile 99 Facts on the Future of Business in the Digital Economy. This presentation includes facts, predictions, and research findings on some of the most impactful technologies and trends that are driving the future of business in the digital economy.
To help you find facts for specific topics, I have grouped the facts into six subsets. Here is the fourth of these:
1. Employee engagement and purpose
Only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged, meaning that the other 87% are not involved in, enthusiastic about, or committed to their work and company.
Source: “The Worldwide Employee Engagement Crisis,” Gallup
Companies with engaged employees outperform their peers by up to 202%.
Source: “The Importance of Employee Engagement,” Dale Carnegie Training
In a study of 100 variables, seeing purpose and value in work was the single most important factor that motivated employees. Yes, more than compensation.
Source: “Purpose Trumps Cash + Other New Research Findings,” LinkedIn
75% of millennials would take a pay cut to work for a socially and environmentally responsible company.
Source: “2016 Cone Communications Millennial Employee Engagement Study,” Cone Communications
How millennials want to work and live is a problem leaders need to take seriously. Just 40% of millennials feel strongly connected to their company’s mission.
Source: “Millennials Not Connecting With Their Company’s Mission,” Gallup
In the next year, one in four millennials plans to leave his or her current employer, and by 2020, two in three millennials expect to have found a new employer.
Source: “The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey – Winning Over the Next Generation of Leaders,” Deloitte
Organizations in which employees perceive meaning at work are 21% more profitable.
Source: “Meaning@Work, Leadership in Times of Digitization,” Future of Leadership Initiative
2. Value of diversity 
The 43 public companies in the DiversityInc Top 50 were 24% more profitable than the S&P 500 average.
Source: “Cultural Diversity in the Work Place: How Diversity at Work Makes More Money for You,” The Balance
A McKinsey & Company study found companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity were 35% more likely to have financial returns above national industry medians.
Source: “The Inclusive Leader,” Korn Ferry Institute
Companies where women make up at least 15% of senior managers had more than 50% higher profitability than those where female representation was less than 10%.
Source: “The CS Gender 3000: The Reward for Change,” Credit Suisse Research Institute
3. Automation and human-machine interaction
By 2020, the average person will have more conversations with bots than with their spouse.
Source: “Top Strategic Predictions for 2017 and Beyond: Surviving the Storm Winds of Digital Disruption,” Gartner
A new McKinsey report finds that although 51% of job activities can be automated, less than 5% of jobs are entirely replaceable by machines. Many more occupations will evolve as jobs are partially automated than will disappear.
Source: “51% of All Job Tasks Could Be Automated by Today’s Technology,” Yahoo Finance
Only 13% of U.S. and Canadian manufacturing jobs recently lost were due to international trade. 85% of the job losses stemmed from productivity growth — another way of saying machines replaced human workers.
Source: “Industrial Robots Will Replace Manufacturing Jobs — and That’s a Good Thing,” TechCrunch
By 2019, 75% of workers who use enterprise applications will have access to intelligent personal assistantsto augment their skills and expertise.
Source: “IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Big Data, Business Analytics, and Cognitive Software 2017 Predictions,” IDC Research Inc.
4. People development 
90% of companies that helped employees identify and develop their natural strengths achieved 10% to 19% increased sales, 14% to 29% increased profit, 9% to 15% increase in employee engagement, and 22% to 59% fewer safety incidents.
Source: “Global Study: ROI for Strengths-Based Development,” Gallup
91% of engineering firms agree that to improve the supply of engineers and technicians, more employers need to provide work experience for students in the education system.
Source: “2016 IET Skills Survey,” The Institution of Engineering and Technology
Of the children entering primary school today, 65% will end up working in job categories that do not yet exist.
Source: “The Future of Jobs,” World Economic Forum
5. Workforce flexibility
The most innovative employees are twice as likely to have the flexibility to choose when and where they work, and they also have greater access to amenities such as gyms and childcare facilities.
Source: “The Gensler 2016 Workplace Survey Reveals Workplace Secrets of the Most Creative and Innovative Companies,” Gensler
75% of millennials want to work from home or from another location where they feel more productive.
Source: “The 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey – Winning Over the Next Generation of Leaders,” Deloitte
By 2020, 43% of the U.S. workforce is expected to consist of freelance workers, and within 10 years, there will be a new Global 2000 company with no full-time employees outside of the C-suite.
Source: “Accenture Technology Vision 2016,” Accenture
By 2021, more than 1 billion people worldwide will regularly use an AR/VR platform (augmented reality/virtual reality) to access apps, content, and data.
Source: “IDC FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2017 Predictions,” IDC Research Inc.
Renault uses virtual reality and immersive simulation technologies to allow its design team, partners, and suppliers to experience, interact with, and test-drive new car designs without any physical prototypes.
Source: “Designing the Workplace of the Future: Virtual Reality and 3D Panoramas,” CNN