During the last week of every year, I scout business articles and professional journals for next year’s workplace trends (so you don’t have to).  Here are the three I found most interesting ones:

Exit Boomers, Enter Millennials

According to Forbes, next year, more than 3.6 million baby boomers will retire, and one in four millennial workers (now at 54 million, the largest generation in the workforce) will become managers.

Millennials value different leadership skills and styles than the traditional Boomer hierarchical manager.  Because millennials aspire both to be “transformational” leaders –those who seek to challenge and empower others- and also prefer to be led by this type of leader, workplaces will evolve into flatter, more collaborative organizations.

Flexibility Policies

With the ability of employees to work from practically anywhere with a WiFi connection, scheduling and location flexibility for workers has become the new normal.  But there’s a dark side: Americans are working longer hours than ever.  In fact, more than half of American workers report feeling burnt out.  One study found that 64% of managers expect their employees to be reachable 24/7.

Yes, flexibility is here to stay, but expect to see more companies with formalized policies that address these concerns and set expectations; drawing boundaries between employee’s work lives and home life.

The Rise of Digital Leadership Roles

This one is fascinating.  Companies are using, producing and accessing more data and information than ever before and this trend has created the need for someone to oversee this data.  Enter the digital leadership role.  According to Gartner, going into 2016, 25% of large, global enterprises will have a chief data officer (CDO) appointed. They’re not just about IT, they’ll focus on social collaboration tools to improve business and advanced analytics to guide strategy.

And just for fun, here are three new terms you should know:

• The Internet of Things (IoT)- the network of physical objects or “things” embedded with electronics, software, sensors, and network connectivity, enabling objects to collect and exchange data.
• Metadata– a set of data that describes information about other data.  Makes finding, categorizing, analyzing data easier.
• Boomerang employees– former employees who leave a company and are later rehired by the same company.

Use these to impress friends and family.  Happy 2016!

© Copyright Eva Del Rio

Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com