HRMT11011 Human Resource Management: Emerging Workplace Trends Essay

This essay explores the emerging trends in the Australian workplace, driven by globalization, technological advancements, and increased competition. It examines the impact of these trends on both employers and employees, highlighting challenges such as job losses due to automation, the need for continuous skill development, and the complexities of managing a diverse workforce. Opportunities are also discussed, including career growth, personal development, and the potential for increased productivity through innovative technologies. The analysis incorporates examples like Rio Tinto's adoption of automation and emphasizes the importance of effective human resource planning to navigate these changes and retain talented employees. Ultimately, the essay concludes that while emerging trends present significant challenges, they also offer substantial opportunities for both employers and employees in the Australian workplace.

Emerging trends in workplace 1
Emerging trends in workplace
Student’s name

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In today’s era, the complexities of the business have increased because of the
introduction of globalisation and increased competition among the firms. Increase in the
competition has developed the emerging needs of the organization to implement change in
the organization procedures and policies, which will help the company in sustaining its
competitive advantage and expand its market share. Moreover, the change in the organization
structure is positive for the organization but can create dissatisfaction among the workforce
and lower the retention rate of the employees. Change at the workplace has both the negative
as well as positive impact. The following essay will depict the emerging trends at the
workplace and the challenges and the opportunities for the employees and the employer
(Hajkowicz et al, 2016).
According to Kohler and Woodard (2014), the trends that emerge the need to in
building the changes in the Australian workplace are the development of the innovative
technology, which requires a more skilled workforce to understand the automation and
increase the productivity of the organization. Adoption of comprehensive technological
methods leads to incubation of the fresh talent who will be able to compete in changing the
environment and will able to satisfy the needs of the customer. The shift to smart work has
led to a reduction in employment of the labour workforce because the work is being
automated and reducing the demand for labour.
Supporting to above views, Peter Wilson depicts that the changing technology and the
increased competition is the major reason for developing changes in the Australian
workplace. The workplace in Australia is more focusing on the causal workers and non-
standardised working hours and involving the flat structures of the organization to enhance
the productivity of the organization. Innovation in the technologies has led the companies to
closely examine the workings of the workforce and emerge the changing needs (Christensen,
K., & Schneider, 2015).

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Nowadays the companies are developing a hyper-connected workplace by using
innovative communication tools such as instant messenger and online collaboration to
improve the productivity of the organization (Hogan, 2016).
Introduction of globalization has led to increase in the mobility of the workforce,
which creates the threat for the companies as the job security of the workforce is reduced and
the changes in the demographic factors are the major trend in the organizational structures of
Australia. There is involvement of four generations at the workplace. Such differences in the
demographic factors lead to a difference in perception of the workforce and create the threat
of conflict in the organizations (Young et al, 2015).
The strategies of the human resource management are diversified because of the
implications of the changing trends at the workplace of Australia. The recruitment and the
retention of the workforce has become more complex because the young workforce is highly
equipped with the skills which in turn increases their expectations from the organization and
the fulfilment of the expectations by the companies becomes difficult which in turn creates
the danger of retention of the talented workforce (Pilati et al, 2015).
The HR planning has become more complex because of the changing trends in the
environment it develops the need to effectively plan the requirement of the employees
because it ensures that a right number of people are employed at the right time. It is analysed
that implementation of the changing trends in Australia has led to increasing in the job losses
because the of automation of the machines has decreased the demand of the labour and the
use of innovative technology makes the production process more complex which creates a
problem for the workforce to understand the process. For improving the employee
engagement, it emerges the need for the organizations to efficiently design the job structure

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and develop the attractive reward system to develop the interest of the workforce and retain
those (Teicher et al, 2013).
The company like Rio Tinto has also implemented the emerging trends. It is analysed
that the company adopts the change in the workplace by using innovative technology to
increase its productivity and shift to the automation of the machinery has decreased the
demand for labour in the company. It is observed that the implementation of such emerging
trends develops the need to effectively implement HR planning to incubate the right people at
the right time. The company focuses on retaining its talented employees to increase the
productivity of the company. Implementation of emerging trends creates dissatisfaction
among the workforce, as the workforce cannot easily adapt the complexities of innovative
technology. (RIO TINTO, 2017)
The changes in the workplace bring the opportunity and the challenges for the
employers and the employees of the organization. Analysis of big data becomes the major
challenge for modern employers because they need to analyse the changing behaviour and the
expectations of the employees. The employers need to analyse the data concerning people
analytics used in hiring, compensation and employee benefits. It becomes the challenge
because of the increase in the expectations of the employees, stakeholders to have
transparency in the data (Ramana & Jesper, 2010). Another challenge faced by the employers
are the flexible working patterns which lead to increase in part-time workers rather than full-
time employment, shifting to freelance workers creates the challenge for the employers to
engage employees in the organization. The diversity in the workplace leads to delay in
decision-making as the employees are scattered at different locations and the efficiency in the
working is disturbed due to delay in decisions (Martin & Ottemann, 2016).

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The challenges faced by the employees due to change in the workplace are the
continuous threat of job loss because adoption of the innovative technology requires the
incubation of the fresh talent who are well equipped with the required skills. The change in
the workplace creates discrimination among the employees as the employees with higher
skills are encourage more and are provided with more benefits. Such discrimination creates
dissatisfaction among employees and inbuilt the continuous threat of job loss (Cole, Oliver &
Blaviesciunaite, 2014).
Changes in the workplace also bring the opportunity for the employees because the
introduction of the innovative methods of production develops the need to provide training to
the employees and develop the new skills in them (Hadgraft et al, 2016).
It develops the opportunity to have career growth and the personal development of the
employees. Introduction of higher positions provides the benefit of higher rewards and
employee benefit plans for the employees. It provides the opportunity to work in the creative
environment and improve the quality of life of the employees. Development of the new
management structures and the integration of effective HR planning provide the opportunity
of effective management of relations (Deborah, 2012).
From the above discussion, it is concluded that the adoption of the innovative
technology and the automation of the machinery has decreased the demand of the labour; it
has led to the increase in the job loss and the retention of the employees, as the employees get
discouraged due to discrimination among the workforce. Adoption of emerging trends also
develops the opportunities for the employees by helping them in personal development and
increases the productivity of the firm. Therefore, it is analysed that the changes in the
workplace bring both the challenges and the opportunities for the employees and the
employers of the organization. It also creates the opportunity for the employers to have the

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fresh talent in the organization and develop the changes that increase the productivity of the
firm.
References
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