Why virtual work skills will grow in importance

Peter du ToitI'm the founder of FutureWork IQ where I spend my time assisting businesses to design digital workplaces or “offices in the cloud.” These environments enable companies to allow flexible and remote working for their teams. I also teach the digital literacy, fluency, communication and collaboration skills needed to work in these modern technology-rich workplaces.

If we are to believe the science, and there is absolutely no reason not to, then this coming decade is going to be filled with disruption to the normal way of working.

There will be disruptions from extreme weather events as the climate crisis unfolds.
There will increased disruptions from the spread of infectious diseases.
There will be disruption as drastic government action is taken to curb emissions.

The response to the Convid-19 pandemic gives an indication of what this could look like. Travel bans, closed offices, canceled events etc. (See reporting by William Yang of Deutsche Welle re Xiaogan city – population 4.8 million where no one is allowed to leave home as of today)

These types of restrictions will mean that the need to work virtually and the skills required to do that will rise dramatically.

If these kinds of restrictions were imposed on your business today, could you continue operating?

Building a digital workplace that can accommodate remote work is absolutely essential, given the trajectory we are on.

Change before you have to!