The Future of Work is Digital, Adaptable, and Global

For Norah McRae, Associate Provost, Co-operative and Experiential Education at the University of Waterloo, future-proof businesses – ones that will survive and thrive in the future – are technically agile, embrace diversity, and know they need people who are digital by default and bring a global perspective, like UWaterloo’s Co-op students.

How do you physically gesture that you’re on a phone call? For those of us who grew up before mobile phones were ubiquitous, you’ll most likely mimic the look of an old school phone receiver—your pinky and thumb extended with your three inner fingers folded in towards your palm. For Millennials and Gen Z, you probably put your flat hand up to your ear, mimicking a mobile phone.

Human beings are shaped by our environments. This goes for simple things like hand gestures and slang to complex topics—including how we work and learn. While many organizations are continuing to adapt to today’s COVID environment, organizations need to start thinking about how they’ll function in the post-COVID world. 

Your current workforce is adapting to these changes and bringing their experience forward into the age of remote work. But your next generation of employees are cutting their teeth in digital by default workplaces. To many of them, the idea of conversations in communal kitchens over leftover doughnuts is as fantastically archaic as only having one phone in your house. And it was attached to the wall. 

Your next generation of employees are cutting their teeth in digital by default workplaces. To many of them, the idea of conversations in communal kitchens over leftover doughnuts is as fantastically archaic as only having one phone in your house. And it was attached to the wall.

To learn more about this next wave of employees and the importance of young talent in the workplace, we spoke with Norah McRae, Associate Provost, Co-operative and Experiential Education at the University of Waterloo.

McRae joined the University of Waterloo two years ago, bringing over 26 years of co-operative education and career development experience. “My work has been in connecting students to the application of their learning in workplace settings. Building skills to make a difference in the organization they’re working in.”

The University’s Co-op program, which has offices in the David Johnston Research + Technology Park, is well known for both its quality and the caliber of talent it produces for businesses across the world. Over the course of their co-op terms, most students work with three or more different kinds of employers and industries. “It really is an opportunity for them to try a diversity of experiences  and understand a wide range of different workplace settings,” said McRae. 

The variety and scope of co-op work terms help students develop one critical skill for the future of work—learning how to transfer their skills and knowledge from one setting to another. McRae said that this ability to transfer knowledge is extremely important as the global workforce adapts to both gig work and remote work. “Work is going to be much more fluid. And the skills that students develop during their co-op journey will really benefit them in the long run.”

Students aren’t the only group that benefits from the experiences on co-op work terms. Businesses get the advantage of hiring a new employee who’s bringing experience from a different industry or experience with similar business problems from different contexts. “Students provide fresh, rich ideas, and innovation,” said McRae. “ We know students make a significant contribution to their employer’s bottom line as well because of a study done in 2019 by Deloitte that looked at the economic benefits of our co-op students to industry.” In that study, Deloitte found that for every one dollar invested in paying a co-op student, businesses gained a value of two dollars in return. McRae attributed the return on investment to the impact the students make while on work term. “Because of the innovation, the value-add of the work they did, and the contributions to the bottom line as an organization.”

“Work is going to be much more fluid. And the skills that students develop during their co-op journey will really benefit them in the long run.”

Norah McRae

In August, we spoke with Ross Johnston, Executive Director, Co-operative Education at the University of Waterloo about how the program was adapting with changes to the number of required co-op terms and expanding the number of courses a student can take when not on a work term. For the Fall work terms, McRae said there were over 5,700 paid co-op placements. “People are still hiring because they see the benefit of hiring students—and the majority of these are remote work positions,” added McRae.

The University produced a Future Ready Talent Framework that listed several skills that students need to be successful in the future of work. “Their digital skills, their technological agility—these are things that we highlighted in our framework.” Technological agility is more than being a “super techie” said McRae. “It means knowing how to learn new technology and use it in different contexts, as well as a very, very high level of comfort in a digital world.”

When it comes to economic recovery, McRae sees opportunities for the University’s students to help Bay Street and Main Street. “Businesses need to get online.Your local restaurant, if they don’t figure out how to get their takeout and delivery and all that activity online, they won’t be able to compete with those who have strong online business models ,” McRae said. It’s not only small businesses that need help getting online. “Everybody who didn’t have a good online presence or an e-commerce platform or anything like that was at risk and continues to be.”

These needs helped shape the University’s new Digital Skills Fundamentals programming to help their students equip themselves to succeed in their placements and their first full-time positions. We partnered with leaders in digital marketing, website development, problem analysis, digital video marketing, online sales and e-commerce both on-campus as well as off-campus to create each module,” said McRae. “This bundle includes things like how to set up a website (with our Stratford School of Design) and figuring out how to do web-based marketing (with Shopify), and how to develop digital marketing videos (with Vidyard).” 

Understanding technology and building technical agility are two of the key themes that drive the University’s program development. While McRae said that technical skills are important, value alignment and responsibility are two themes that are critical to success in the future of work.

“That concept of adapting and adaptation happens at the individual level, the organizational level, the institutional level, community, government — it’s everyone’s responsibility for helping this adaptation.” The University of Waterloo is one of the founding partners of the Waterloo Region Future of Work & Learning Coalition, an organization that brings together government, businesses, and post-secondary institutions to future-proof Canadian communities.

McRae said that organizations also need to focus on aligning their values with employee values to help attract and retain younger workers. “This next generation of talent is going to be more inclined to want to align themselves with organizations that really reflect their own personal values,” added McRae.

“This next generation of talent is going to be more inclined to want to align themselves with organizations that really reflect their own personal values.”

Norah McRae

What does the post-COVID-19 world look like to McRae? “We have to prepare for the next thing, whether that’s the next pandemic or climate change,” said McRae. “Climate change hasn’t gone anywhere and it is a serious threat.” 

McRae’s recommendation is to continue preparing students to quickly and effectively navigate career changes. “The idea of starting with a company right after graduating and being there for 40 years, you get your gold watch, that hasn’t been a reality for a long time,” said McRae. “Look at how organizations that we thought would be there forever have just vanished and even more so with COVID — no one is immune.”

Being successful in the future of work also means that organizations need to be comfortable with cultures from all over the world. “We are in a global workforce. We need to understand our own cultural values, understand how to navigate those differences, work in really diverse teams in a way that is effective, and that means supporting inclusivity, belonging, respect, and tolerance.”

True words for success in work — and in life.

To learn more about Co-operative Education and to hire a co-op student

• Visit: uwaterloo.ca/hire
• Email: hire.talent@uwaterloo.ca
• Call: 519-888-4026 or 1-877-928-4473 (toll free)