Workplace predictions for 2023

Professor Donna Pendergast

Head and Dean, School of Education and Professional Studies

Finding your ikigai

As we emerge from the challenges and messiness of 2022, we are coming to terms with the reality that recent global crises have disrupted our workplaces permanently – and there is no snapping back.

The popular Japanese concept of ikigai is the notion of finding one’s purpose, and that applies to all.  In this context, four big trends for 2023 are: the continued conversations around work locations and expectations, with a shift towards personalised negotiations; a focus on environmental sustainability and ethical considerations as key influencers; prioritising individual and community wellbeing as a central concern; and, the continued implementation of digitisation and AI, offering unexpected ways of working.

There are of course other trends. Perhaps all of these can be wrapped up in the megatrend of loss of boundaries and enclosures that typically serve as delineation of our personal and professional lives. Our yearning for flexibility and the heightened access to resources that enable this, mean that we must intentionally focus on balance, hence, 2023 will be a year to rebalance and find your ikigai.

Mr. Iain MacKenzie

Professor of Practice in Disaster Management

Will it be unprecedented or just unimagined?

It seems that every day brings news of another “unprecedented” disaster somewhere in the world. They may well be unprecedented, but so what?

We know climate change is causing severe weather events to be more frequent and more intense and, thanks to social media, more publicly debated.  Some events, like the flooding events of this year are at record levels.  But the fact we don’t have records doesn’t mean they should be unexpected or not planned for. The consequences of these events are largely due to what we, as humans have done.  We have built in harm’s way; we live, work and holiday in harm’s way.

‘Unprecedented’ should not be an excuse for unimagined or unprepared.

In 1859 Richard Carrington watched a sunspot on the sun suddenly become very bright, less than 18 hours later a geomagnetic storm impacted earth, telegraph lines and other ‘electronic’ infrastructure were destroyed. Imagine if this ‘Carrington’ event occurred today… no phone, no internet, no electricity, no connectivity, no GPS, disrupted supply chains... the list goes on.  How would we cope?

2023 needs to be a year of imagination, a year of planning, not waiting for the ‘unprecedented’ to occur and wondering what just happened?

Professor Ingrid Burkett

Griffith Centre for Systems Innovation Co-Director

Impact will be more than a buzz word

‘What’s our real impact?’ This is a question many of us will be asked and be asking in workplaces in 2023. Some, like venture capitalist, Sir Ronald Cohen are suggesting that we are at the beginning of an ‘impact revolution’. For others, impact has become little more than a buzz word which is code for looking good whilst changing nothing. In 2023 things are going to get real for impact in three ways.

First, we have goals and anchors that give ‘impact’ shape. The UNs Sustainable Development Goals are increasingly recognised as key direction setting goals for creating impact across sectors; and the growing alignment between standard setters (the Sustainability-related Standards being developed by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards) are creating strong foundations of depth and rigour when it comes to impact activity and reporting across sectors.

Second, there are moves afoot to regulate disclosure and reporting which will start a new global debate around impact in 2023.  From 2023 the EU will put in place legislation that will require all large companies operating in the EU to disclose and provide data regarding both their impact on people and the planet, and any sustainability risks related to their operations. This is likely to provide a foundation for similar regulatory action around the world.

And finally, a growing support for ‘stakeholder capitalism’ to challenge shareholder primacy is underpinning a shift beyond ‘do-no-harm’ impact reporting (eg. Net Zero and modern slavery protection across supply chains) towards a regenerative impact focus - asking ‘what positive impacts are we creating, generating, investing in’ that will benefit current and future generations and ecosystems’?

Historically ‘impact’ started as a verb - we are ‘doing’ impact; rather than as a noun - our impact. And it is the verb form that we will hear more about in 2023.  We’ve all seen far too much ‘green washing’ or ‘pink washing’ with companies declaring their ‘impact’ in shiny ESG reports. In 2023 we will see more of what companies, governments, civic organisations are actually ‘doing’ - how their actions are really impacting on people, places and the planet, and they will increasingly be asked to demonstrate that impact.