A Changing Workforce

The workforce is changing in several significant ways: it is aging, the labor pool is shrinking, it's becoming increasingly diverse and it's using collaboration to innovate. The nature of work has shifted toward services and toward a focus on information. More firms now rely on outsourcing, offshoring, and nearshoring to produce goods or fulfill services and functions that were previously handled in-house or in-country. In addition, today’s workplaces are becoming increasingly flexible, allowing employees to work from different locations and through different relationships.

*outsourcing: using outside vendors for business activities
*offshoring: relocation of businesses overseas in order to lower costs.
*nearshoring: outsourcing production or services to locations near a firm’s home base.