Flexiwork, wellbeing, new leadership and... real avatars, i.e. the trends seen at the HR Festival in Zurich.

Here are some of my reflections and observations on the trends seen in Zurich at the HR Festvial, where we offered our Smartmanager.cloud software.

We participated thanks to the Go to Brand program!

More than 200 HR companies from all over Europe exhibited at the fair, with companies from Germany, Switzerland and the Benelux zone dominating.

The main trends were wellbeing, including mental wellbeing, technology and automation of HR processes, flexiwork and related challenges, including the need for new managers, and AI, which is increasingly boldly entering the world of: customer service, help desk and service, replacing legacy teams.

• Wellbeing includes both a warm, cozy even homey office, a bicycle as a means of transportation, provided by the company, and food, prepared on site at the office in a cozy kitchen, as well as... jointly made pancakes, ice cream or salads. A wide range of refrigerated meals, served in a cafeteria-like place, is also available.

Wellbeing also takes a remote form. There is an abundance of apps that support wellbeing, for example, reminding people of meal times, exercise, and providing useful tips for various difficult moments.

Also part of wellbeing is a coaching app, where coaching is provided in short 15-minute sessions on current issues, including mental support.

• Flexiwork and tools for managing teams and organizations, working in a flexi model means work carried out on a task basis, usually part-time, and remotely, in a distributed team, for a specific period of time aimed at delivering a specific result.

It is a work model that is increasingly reflected in Swiss job advertisements and is definitely preferred by the Swiss, as it provides work - life balance in a way that is tailored to the needs and characteristics of the life moment a person is in.

The flexiwork model poses entirely new challenges for managers and HR. "Flexi" teams come together to build, implement or remodel specific processes, projects in various aspects of business operations. The challenges are related to protecting know-how, building identity and fighting for talent in the open international labor market. The organization of work requires the preparation of a remote working environment, autonomous and heavily networked managers.

This requires managers to have completely new competencies, precisely such as networking, networking support, coaching and constantly stimulating and encouraging the curiosity of team members.

Flexiwork is also a tool for online work, management of goals, sentences, knowledge and competencies and communication-integrated in one tool. Our great satisfaction is that smartmanager.cloud is the ideal tool for managing flexiwork teams!

• What is already strongly drawing the future is artificial intelligence integrated with real avatars. It gives the opportunity to replace teams, especially customer service, help desk, service teams, etc., with artificial intelligence that looks and behaves like a human being in a webcam. This technology is able to provide excellent service 24/7, creating the impression of talking to a real person. The difference is virtually imperceptible. In addition, technology makes it possible to be in several places at once. We in a meeting, and our realistic avatar can give an online presentation at the same time! During the lecture we were presented with exactly such a situation...

In summary, the main message and strongest HR trends are:

• new times have come that require a different HR,
• they pose new challenges to managers and require new competencies and...
• creating work environments and tools that support physical and mental well-being,
• flexi teams and organizations are key,
• work is increasingly moving to a virtual environment.

I strongly conclude that man is one and the worlds are two, and in both of them we act, live and in both of them we need organizational solutions, management, motivation and care for our well-being.

~ Barbara Matyaszek