Employee trends in the workplace will always affect how your company does business in one way or another. In 2016 we have some trends that will be game changers for companies and how their employees interact with each other and external providers and clients. This year, besides bringing in a workforce that is doing things in a whole new way, technology also has a great impact in how the interaction in the workplace works out.

One of the first impacts that the workplace will have is a higher population of employees that are part of the generation Z. In the United States, the known population tsunami is currently at 25% and growing, taking the country and thus companies by storm. Millennials are a thing of the past, and now the Gen Z children and young adults are transforming how the world works, and companies are no exceptions as these young professional join the workforce. This new generation is looking for ways to get started in their work experience quite early, and are making a big impact in high profile places like TED. They have learned that through traditional choices you don’t always get the best results, and this has made them quite driven and prone to taking risks and challenging the way things have always been done. In the corporate world Gen Z are also changing the way things work and bringing their way of doing things. At the same time, there are 3.6 million Baby Boomers, born within 1946 and 1954, that are all coming up on retirement, so this will definitely add a twist as Gen Z come in to replace them. While this is going on, Millennials continue to move up the ladder and take on managerial and leadership roles within their organizations. There are specific relation strategies set up just for Millennials as they begin to represent one in three of the American workforce.  As these age shifts occur you will also begin to see reverse mentoring, so the younger workers can help the older employees stay up to date with the new technological and procedural advances.

All of this shift in age groups and lifestyle approach will also affect how the workforce looks and operates. Paternity leaves are now becoming more common as gender roles begin take on different tasks in the family. Additionally, the dress code policies will still depend on the company and industry, but in general there will be a much higher tolerance and leniency towards tattoos and body piercings. Now, another big difference will be that more and more Americans are working as independent workers and freelancers, and this only seems to be increasing.

Technology will also be another major change, from the impact of the Internet of Thing (IoT) to wearables in the workplace. Soon more companies will begin to geotag devices, equipment and even workers in some circumstances. Wearables will also become a big part of many industries as they will make their way into different procedures and everyday activities of major companies.

With a growing LGBT community, companies are also implementing a series of inclusive strategies. Medical insurance and retirement plan documents are all being updated in a many companies so that they can include same-sex spouse beneficiaries. Dress code policies are also being adjusted and reconfigured to be more gender neutral, this alongside mentorship programs will help companies establish inclusive work environments for transgender employees. This is bringing companies to a new place where they have to consider how the world is changing and how to ensure to have a place for all of the top talent in the industry.

The workforce is also finding that technological advances are leading to creating stronger restrictions and limitations to social media and connections to other devices. WiFi regulations will limit personal social media use as well as wearable devices that put a large strain on the bandwidth. The structure to monitor employee social media posts has also gotten a lot more attention.

Human resources has to also keep in mind some other changes that have occurred in the past years, like marijuana legislation. The more states that are legalizing marijuana, the more important it is to establish internal medical marijuana policies. It’s also important to consider that there is a significant increase in the number of mental health related issues like depression, stress and anxiety. The biggest concern is how this will affect employees’ performance, even though at the end of the day most consider that their mental health is affected by their workplace environment. Lastly, especially due to the increase in age shift, human resources are looking into ways to phased retirements. This process consists of slowly cutting back the hours and earnings of the employees through a programmed and agreed upon time frame.