Digitization and especially digital human interaction is changing the way we live.

Over the years we have started working and living differently.

In the Industrial Age, we mostly worked with our hands and our work was task-oriented.

With the arrival of machines, a lot of manual work was taken over and we could focus on knowledge. The so-called Information Age began.

An era in which knowledge - and obtaining even more knowledge - was given focus.

With this knowledge, we have developed machines that can now interact with us, even on an emotional level, and support us in daily tasks. Think of the automatically completed shopping list based on your previous choices, your personal settings or Google Home with which you heat, light, cook, telephone, etc. In this era, man and machine are increasingly collaborating and integrating in daily life. Such as the internet and linking your smart devices so that more and more things go 'automatic'. That leaves time and choices to organize your life differently.

And so do we! We choose to give meaning to our lives in a personal way. It makes us feel good when we can propagate our identity, visibly connect with others to whom we belong and make our own choices. We increasingly underline our identity with how we live, the products we use, in which we develop, our hobbies, the group of friends we choose and we entrust each other's experiences.

We have arrived in the cognitive era in which, in addition to our rational knowledge, our feelings play a greater role.

A transition that has a major impact on how we live and work.

The degree of satisfaction plays an increasingly important role in the choices we make.

Digitization and robotization are changing the way we consume.

We demand more and more when it comes to consuming. Our needs may remain the same, but the standard with which these needs are met is changing dramatically. Where in the past a week for an answer was the standard, in 2020 it is sometimes within 1 minute. We want to steer ourselves and be able to plan. We expect products and services we use to be fast, easy and customizable.

We share our experiences in personal contacts and online. Comparison sites help us make choices in products and services. If you score an average of 3 out of 5 stars as a company, then you are quickly out-of-the-picture with the consumer. We don't blindly believe what that nice salesperson tells us or what advertisements promise us. We rely more on the voice of the consumer who has already used the product or service. Online reviews are sacred.

With countless choices in providers, consumers switch with ease. We can choose brands that suit us and help us further achieve our goals. Are you going for sustainability? Do you choose organic products? Or a less sustainable brand? Countless choices we make every day. Where a brand or service also touches a customer emotionally, a special experience is created that customers remember. Special experiences are remembered and shared. It makes people feel connected and come back to you. That is also the reason that more and more companies are placing the customer experience at the center of their services.

This does not only apply to commercial services. The government services where residents are helped, supervised or cared for also compare this service with other services in daily life. In addition to the functional aspect, people also expect to be helped in a friendly and easy way or to gain access to care, guidance or other questions.

The way we can and want to work has changed.

With digitization and robotization, work changes. Some tasks are automated, some jobs no longer exist. Being able to deal with new technology, designing digital processes, service orientation are taking its place and require new skills. In addition to functional competences, the so-called soft skills are at least as important. Such as empathy, creativity, cooperation, adaptability, rapid new knowledge, professional action and skills. Employees who develop in this way increase their value on the labor market and are sustainably employable.

Another important aspect is our changing needs in our career. A job for life almost no longer exists and the current generation is increasingly opting for flexibility and freedom. Partly prompted by a period of forced reflection during the pandemic, we have also started to think differently about how we want to work. Freedom for a piece of your own interpretation, appropriate to the stage of life. As paradoxical as it may sound; between these needs is also the need for connectedness. Factors such as trust, autonomy, competence, meaning and development opportunities play an important role. They are drivers about how employees experience their work. And predictors of high levels of satisfaction and engagement with their employer and the performance they deliver. Experience - our feeling - is also given a more prominent place in our work. This also changes the drivers of employee satisfaction.

Where until recently factors such as salary, status and employment conditions prevailed, we now see other factors playing an important role. Several studies show that trust, connectedness, meaning, a feeling of competence and a supportive work environment are important drivers of employee satisfaction. Here too, therefore, less functional and more emotional factors that play an important role in how employees experience their work and on which they base choices. Research shows that satisfied employees reduce the chance of leaving by more than 52%. And thus possibly also the risk of idleness in crucial key positions or certain specialisms.

Employees who are satisfied with their work perform better.

Employees who are satisfied simply perform better.

And they feel highly involved in the company where they work.

They are your company's best ambassadors.

A sustainable and inclusive workforce is a sustainable investment for success.

In addition to personal drivers, the work environment also plays an important role in the happiness and satisfaction that employees experience. For example, experiencing an authentic and honest company results in a satisfaction of 83% versus 37% where employees do not experience this. A workplace where employees experience that they help each other in their work results in a satisfaction of 77% versus 35% if this is not experienced as such. Another hot topic is inclusion. It has been proven that inclusion leads to more creativity, increases problem-solving capacity and leads to better results. All in all, it is important that companies start with a proactive approach to attract the right talent and get it in the right place now, later and later.

Our conclusion: by innovating and investing in involving, binding and training staff in the skills of tomorrow, companies create a sustainable advantage to be able to grow in the opportunities that the market of tomorrow offers.