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Ann Marie Puig discusses how well-being will guide the future of the workplace

The rapid pace of digital transformation is a matter of business survival. Although update or die is today the premise of organizations to acquire more and more technology, the truth is that the human being and his or her skills will remain and, even, will be the center of the work of the future. Ann Marie Puig, a successful entrepreneur and philanthropist from Costa Rica, explains why well-being is now receiving greater emphasis in the workplace than ever before.

Although the so-called technological leap that has driven the COVID-19 pandemic has revolved around virtuality, digitalization and connectivity, it is time to think about a future where the person and their well-being remain the center of efforts. Experts agree that the answer lies in organizations learning to be “ambidextrous.” They must be able to combine human development and well-being; in other words, they have to create an economic profit through an investment in people.

Moving forward to the future from the present, entities have started putting on the table discussions on issues of general interest, from the basis of people’s well-being, to move towards the common good, the reactivation and progress of the country. Precisely, as part of the various actions that they are discussing, they are focusing on the future of work. Says Puig, “The only way to advance the entities’ objectives is through the encouragement of collaborative work, a quality that, added to the capacity for analysis and making correct decisions, will come to the rescue of the human being and keep it in force in a future mediated by machines.”

All workers are called to enhance their skills to better fit into the new reality. For example, the most important jobs will be those that will require complex decisions, making use of critical thinking and creativity; two strengths of the human being that Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machines cannot equate. Hence the importance of considering people as integral beings and providing them with the necessary capacities so that they can move freely towards the fulfillment of their objectives. This includes focusing not only on strengthening your digital skills, but all those inherent to the self, which provide you with well-being and happiness.

These reflections corroborate that, now more than ever, it is necessary to think and invest in employees, because, it is clear that we need a healthy population that guarantees that we move forward. “It’s logical to invest some resources to make sure that the population is better off physically and mentally so that when an unexpected situation comes, it will find us all in good shape,” adds Puig. Being better equipped mentally and physically to face challenges, such as those caused by COVID-19, can result in improved performance in the workplace and allow businesses to stay strong in the face of major challenges.

It is now necessary for leaders to provide tools for their employees to grow, based on the fact that human resources and their integral competences must be the cornerstone of reactivation plans with a view to a post-pandemic environment. Therefore, the future of work lies in creating new work scenarios, dynamic, based on trust; so that people and companies move together towards a society, which in the midst of technological advances values human beings from a holistic perspective. Concludes Puig, “Even if the way of working changes, as eCommerce grows and the virtual world conquers more and more spaces, people will always be the most important thing, that unstoppable engine that contributes to the reconstruction of the social and business fabric of the country that helps us to look to the future with hope.”