Candice Hartley, KPMG

The relationship between employer and employee is always in flux. Changing technologies, rights, perspectives and expectations have seen dramatic changes in how companies manage and reward their people. It wasn’t that long ago that hiring children was considered best practice for certain professions, and women were not allowed to be hired at all.

In the 1970s, staying with a company for life was standard practice, but the recession of the 1980s saw layoffs of well-trained professionals and laid the foundations for the gig economy. While the freelance model wasn’t new, it gained traction. Then the demand in the ‘90s on profit over people drove a wedge between the trust engendered between the employer and the employee – one that remains very much in place today. The 2020 pandemic brought about perhaps the most significant change in the dynamic. A few weeks out of the office turned into months, in some cases years, and employees discovered they liked having a work/ life balance.