It was a turbulent year for workers, and it looks likely that the after-effects of 2020 are going to remain with us for some time. As the world adjusted to a new way of living, businesses were forced to make rapid adjustments to avoid being overwhelmed. That’s led to a wide range of changes in employment, and for graduates entering the job market in 2021, those changes are more important than ever. As the world of work goes through dramatic disruptions, here are the key ways that employment changed in 2021 and what graduates can expect from the job market as we head into 2021.

The Death of the Corporate HQ

The office worker was one of the first kinds of employees to be impacted by the real-world events that rocked 2020. As offices closed down, workers were required to work from home, and the effect has been industry-changing. Facing the reality that working from home increases job satisfaction, happiness, and productivity, the return to the corporate headquarters looks set to be reserved only for those large corporations that can justify the expense of expensive real estate and its running costs. Grads looking at their job prospects in 2021 should be taking steps now to create a home office environment that maximizes comfort and security. Ideally, you should be watching the industry that you're hoping to break into closely and watching for the emerging work trends that leaders in that industry are predicting.

Employee Onboarding

Always one of the most challenging roles of the HR department, onboarding too, was forced to make a dynamic shift in 2020. Training new team members when they are in the same location as your HR team is relatively easy compared with trying to align new remote employees and ensure that they are all up to date on the latest demands of their role. The key here for graduates is to be prepared for a more flexible way to tackle your vital employee training. Traditional methods of onboarding new members of the team look set to become a remnant of a distant past as we charge headlong into 2021 that promises to remain transformative. 

Workplace Medical Screening

For those businesses that will be required to maintain a physical workplace, it is expected that mandatory medical screening will become just the latest element of the ‘new normal’. From basic temperature tests to antibody tests, those entering the job market in 2021 should expect to see medical screening become a basic part of the working day. Many employers are already conducting such tests, with Starbucks, Home Depot, and Walmart all making sure that employees starting work receive a temperature check as standard before being allowed to start working. This looks set to become standard practice in 2021 and beyond, which could have long-term repercussions in terms of privacy.

The workplace of 2021 is already starkly different from the workplaces of early 2020. How much more they change will depend on a variety of factors, but for graduates looking to get a head start in their new career, monitoring those workplace shifts is going to become only more vital.