Running head: Workforce 2020 Executive Report 1

Workforce 2020 Executive Report

Robert A. Christopher

Argosy University, Chicago

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Abstract

Nationally the United States workforce will be older, impacted by an influx in immigration, see

an increase in population and predominantly female civilian nonistitutional population. This is

partly because of the increase in retirement age and people generally wanting to work longer to

supplement social security or because they do not want to retire. The influx in immigration will

mainly come from the Hispanic race. (Toossi, 2012) Also during the 2010-2020 period there will

be a 19% increase in computer and information research scientists this increase will work it

Google’s favor bringing them fresh talent. The trends that will impact Google are the increase in

the use of social media, the increased mobility of internet products, the plea of consumers that

the want a personalize internet experience, the use of robots and smart machines, and new policy,

regulations and the fight against cybercrime. Findings also include actions and competencies that

are needed to prepare for Workforce 2020. One is social intelligence this is the ability to connect

with others to sense and stimulate reactions and desired interactions. Next is novel and adapted

thinking these are problem solving skills beyond rote and rule-based tasks. Also included is

sense making this is deriving deeper meaning from what is expressed. Another competency is

cross cultural competency meaning able to operate in diverse cultural settings. Then there is

There is transdisciplinarity, being able to understand concepts across many disciplines Finally is

virtual collaboration, being able to exhibit as a productively engaged individual while working

in a virtual team. Findings also discover that Google strives to include and accommodate every

type of employee. Google has meetings that have a clear decision maker and consist of only 10

people. They also hold Quarterly ORK’s (Objective and Key Results) meetings led by company

leaders to initial a shared vision. Google has a “Don’t be evil” policy. This means not only

delivering the desired information through customer’s searches but also following the law, acting

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with integrity, and treating each other with respect. Decision makers also make time to talk in a

relaxed set. Google uses computational thinking to solve problems. Google’s conflict

management process excludes managers’ employees’ work it out on their own.

Recommendations for Google are that they create a mentoring program, branch of into robotics,

question unfair litigation, and work on make Google + a stronger competitor.

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Workforce 2020 Executive Report

The mission at Google is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally

accessible and useful.” (Google Inc. 2013) Google has done an exemplary job of doing that.

Google’s strategy is one of experimental iteration. They use the peer approval method to select

which ideas get the most attention. The purpose of this report is to consider the trends that face

Google and analyze how they may impact it and what must they do to get ready for the onset of

these trends. It includes an analyzation of Google in its present form. Its structure, workforce

diversity, market/customer diversity, and communication technology will be explained. Also

future trends will be forecasted. This report will pinpoint the economic, social, demographic, and

workforce that are anticipated to be in the U. S. in the year 2020. It will be explained how these

future trends will or will not be resonated throughout Google Inc. The questions, What are the

general workforce trends? , How will these trends impact the industry? , and What are the

general trends in leadership/management that are impacting Google? , will be answered in this

section. A synthesis of data and recommended changes needed for the future will be

communicated. In this report recommended leader, organizational, and workforce trends are

considered. In regards to the latter issues the following questions will be addressed What

leadership actions should the organization take? , What competencies will be needed? , What

does the organization need to do to be prepared? A holistic assessment of Google will be

conducted concerning the challenges, opportunities and documented trends.

Target Market

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The target market of Google is a diverse population.

Geographics

Most Google users are outside of the United States and most of its products and services

are in 110 languages and are always adding more.

Demographics

The true demographics of Google are unknown. Google is available anywhere in the

world. The following has been gathered from research in the United States. Users are generally

products of higher education and technologically skilled, upper-middle class, married with a

small family and business minded professionals.

Behavioral Factors

Most of Google users are from wealthy suburban U.S. families. They are college

educated metropolitan couples and families that have comfortable, active lives and make upscale

incomes or live in a small town and satellite cities middle-aged, with moderate educations

employed in white-collar, blue-collar, and service professions. They also are residents in group

quarters such as students, military personnel, and institution populations. Google users are

typically “on-the-go” people with busy lifestyles Theses people are generally intelligent and need

access to information from the internet quickly. Google users have a tendency to have high brand

loyalty.

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Business to Business Customers

Advertisers

A large percentage of Google’s profits come from Ad Words and advertising interface for

small and large companies. Advertisers value personalization. Ad Words specifically targets

demographics through advertiser key words and customer searches. Ad Words is sold on an

auction platform so the acquisition of a contract depends on the buying power of advertisers.

Publishers

Publishers use AdSense that displays Google related ads. This generates profits for

Google and publishers. AdSense is free. Google targets publishers to insure the domination of

the advertising market. Large website publishers use AdSense because it is customizable and

does not overwhelm a customer’s internet experience.

Internet Based Businesses

Google offers a range of highly customizable internet products at a value. This makes it ideal for

small and large businesses. Over two million businesses use Google Business Solutions

applications. For large companies, Google offers Premier Edition and for small companies they

offer Standard Edition. Businesses choose Google Business Solutions applications because they

value internet-based, easily accessible, highly innovative and securely protected information

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sharing systems. Google Business Solutions applications are less complex and less expensive

than similar applications.

Non-Business Customers

Students

They are generally undergraduate (18-25) and graduate students (23-28). Students want

to find information quickly and efficiently and are accustomed to the technological age. They are

technological and have an interest in the latest information and entertainment. They consider

social media to be an important way to communicate. They use the internet for leisurely

activities as well as academic endeavors and use sharing system such as Google Docs to

share/edit/submit assignments and other academic works. Students are accustomed to instant

gratification when it comes to information due to the wide availability of mobile

information/media. They will continue to have the same technological needs as they mature and

grow with Google as it continues to develop new innovative products.

Entrepreneurial Endeavors

This includes all businesses from corporations to mom-and-pop operations. Entrepreneurs

want an “inexpensive stress free internet-based way” to conduct daily operations. Entrepreneurs

use Ad Words to reach potential customers. They understand the technological lifestyle the

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world is moving towards and value efficiency, wants quick access a mobility when information

sharing.

Fad-Following Family

The Fad-Following Family generally is middle to upper-middle class they have white-

collar, blue-collar, and/or service industry jobs. They use Google products and services mainly

for communication and entertainment at least once a day. They are educated and family

orientated. They want their internet experience to be seamless, straightforward and to the point.

They tend to be technologically adept and can navigate the internet with ease. Has a tendency to

frequently shop on-line. (slideshare.net, 2013)

Value Proposition

Most Google services are usually provided for free. Network partners receive revenues in

return for relevant ads on their sites. For developers Google provides services such as Google

Web Toolkit (GWT) (a development toolkit for building and optimizing complex browser-based

applications) for free to develop rich content. Business owners gather data on popular search

terms to formulate better value propositions for their own companies. Libraries digitalize all or

part of book collections to create full-text searchable online catalogs. Authors and publishers

make out-of-print books available to purchase in digital form. Google services provide

technologically advanced environment, working conditions and job security for employees.

Google owners receive growth of their corporation and financial performance. Developing

countries use free tools, blogs and localized versions of Google. (Sundelin, 2009)

Market Positioning

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Google is considered one of the most popular sites on the web. It uses link structure to

determine what is and what is not important on the internet. It offers advertisers the option to buy

discrete text ads that only show when searching for certain words. Google has anticipated

changes and adapted strategy, systems, cultures and processes to meet these changes. Google has

acquired over fifty companies Motorola Mobility is one of them. Every corporation is different

in the way it conducts its functions. Merging these companies under the Google culture has

brought about effective change. (docstoc.com, 2013)

Organizational Sustainability Differences

Technology Infrastructure

Google has thirty-six data centers. Each one cost between $300-600 million to build and

equip. They use a total of 900,000 servers. The data centers are very efficient; they use less than

1% of the world’s power. This makes it extremely hard for the competition to copy or rival

Google. Even if they had the computing know-how, they would have to spend billions building

from the ground up (Matthews, 2013).

General Workforce Trends

The following are general workforce trends that Google will face in 2020. It addresses

how they will impact the search industry, and what leadership actions should be taken, what

competencies will be needed, and what the organization needs to be prepared. It also will cover

how Google deals with diversity, its leadership models, ethics, its decision-making models, and

how it deals with problem solving and handles conflict.

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Today’s labor force consists of more women, is older and more racially and ethnically

diverse; these trends will carry over to the future work force. The U.S. labor force anticipates a

slower rate of growth over the 2010-2020 period. It will experience 0.7 percent growth lower

than the previous 0.8 percent growth in prior decades. The labor force is anticipated to increase

10.5 million in the next decade bringing the total to 164.4 million in 2020. The civilian

noninstitutional population 16 and older 2000-2010 annual growth rate was 1.1 percent. It is

expected to grow at a lesser rate of 1.0 percent during the 2010-2020 period. Participation in the

labor force stated to decline in 2000 and continued creating the 2007-2009 recession. As a result

the 2000-2010 period experienced a 2.4 percent decline. A 2.2 percent decline is anticipated

during the 2010-2020 period. These two declining factors contributed to the anticipated growth

rate of 0.7 percent during the 2010-2020 period and the 0.1 percent drop in annual growth rate of

the 2010-2020 period.

Over the next 10 years, the labor force will be impacted by the aging baby-boomer

generation. This generation consists of people born between 1946 and 1964. They will be

between the ages of 56 and 74 in 2020; this will place then in the 55 and older age group in the

labor force. They will have considerably lower participation rates than the prime age group of

25-to-54-year olds (Toossi, 2012).

Changes in the labor force are generally gradual, and population growth is the main

factor in the growth of the labor force.

U.S. Population

Larger Populations

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Toossi (2012) lists in the article, Employment Outlook 2010-2020 Labor force projection

2020 a more slowly growing workforce, that the Census Bureau states that the U.S. population

will grow from 308.7 million in 2010 to 341.4 million in 2020 it is projected to increase of 32.7

million.

Slower Growth

Resident population growth will increase the annual growth rate is anticipated to decrease

from 0.98 percent during 2009-2010 to 0.94 during the 2019-2020 period. The slower rate of

growth is attributed to the aging U.S. population.

Older Population

By 2020 the 55 and older age group will be 97.8 million it will be a 28.7 percent portion

of 2020 resident population compared to 24.7 percent in 2010.

A More Diverse Population

Fertility

The total fertility rate is the average number of children that a woman can have through

the course of her life. It is the largest factor of population change and has a great impact on the

levels of growth of the population.

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Mortality

The U.S. population is projected to increase due to low mortality rates. Health habits and

continued progression in medicine and technology have contributed to longer lifespan.

Immigration

Immigration can be impacted by changes in immigration policies or by events in other

parts of the world that increase or decrease immigration into the United States. Toossi (2012) in

this article say that according to the Census Bureau the population projections of the workforce

net immigration into the U.S. are anticipated to add 1.4 million people annually to the U.S.

resident population.

Civilian Noninstitutional Population

The Bureau of Labor Statistics converts the resident population projections of the Census

Bureau to projections of the civilian nonistitutional population for use in the BLS labor force

projections. The conversion happens in four steps. First the population of children under the age

of 16 is subtracted from the total U.S. resident population to produce the U.S. population 16 and

older. Second the Armed Forces by age, gender, and ethnic categories are subtracted from the

resident population leaving the 16 and older yielding the total civilian population. Then BLS

takes Census Bureau data on the institutional population and makes an estimate of the civilian

noninstitutional population. Lastly this data is benchmarked to the latest annual averages of the

civilian noninstitutional population data from the Current Population Survey.

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In 2000 the civilian noninstitutional population was 216.6 million. Over the 2000-2010

period it grew by 1.1 percent to 237.8 million. In the 2010-2020 period it is expected to grow by

1.0 percent to 263.0 million.

Age

The 16-to-24 age group is expected to have no growth over the 2010-2020 period.

Furthermore its share of the civilian noninstitutional population is expected to reach a decline of

14.5 percent.

The 25-to-54 age group share of the civilian noninstitutional population in 2010 was 52.7

percent is expected to drop to 48.9 percent by 2020

The 55 and older age group share of the total civilian noninstitutional population increase

to 31.4 percent in 2010. It is projected to grow to 36.6 percent in 2020.

Gender

In 2010 the civilian noninstitutional population of men was 115.2 million and is

anticipated to reach 127.7 million by 2020.

The civilian noninstitutional population of women was 122.7 million in 2010 and is

anticipated to reach 135.3 million by 2020.

Dynamic Changes in the Labor Force

During the 2010-2020 period the labor force is anticipated to grow by 10.5 million.

It will be influenced by the following factors:

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Entrants

These are persons who were not in the labor force in 2010 but will entering the labor

force during the 2010-2020 period and will continue to be part of the labor force in 2020.

Leavers

These are persons who were in the labor force in 2010 but will be leaving during the

2010-2020 period and will not be in the labor force in 2020.

Stayers

These are persons who were in the labor force in 2010 and will remain in it through 2020.

Industry

In the 2010-2020 period there will be a 19 percent increase in computer and information

research scientists. They will be needed for software development and to maintain cyber

security. The growth will all so be fueled by an increase in the use of cloud computing systems.

Computer scientist will be needed to design infrastructure to enable widespread adoption of these

systems. (bls.gov, 2013)

Trends that Impact the Google

Social Media

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Social technology is now an essential part of life and work. This technology is helping

companies to create more agile, larger networks to foster connected ness and mobility.

Communications and marketing now are many-to-many relationships.

The Era of Personalization

Consumers now want personalization. They want products that are tailored to their

mindset. This increases the value to the customer

Mobility

Consumers want mobility. They want to be able to access information from anywhere

from education to close friends. They want to have virtual meetings and use cloud networks to

have immediate access to work projects from wherever they are.

Robots and Smart Machines

Robots are now taking over jobs such as receptionists, bank assistants and prison guards.

Some robots are even programed to take care of the elderly. However this new movement results

in a large loss of jobs for the labor force. The rise of the robot work force brings about new jobs

for those that a qualified for them.

Cyberspace: Digital freedom or a “Big Brother” society?

Knowledge and information gives organizations, nations and individuals a competitive

edge. Yet is difficult to retain control due to cybercrime, litigation, polices and regulation.

(economist.com, 2012)

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Actions and Competencies needed to Prepare for Workforce 2020

The following are a list of behaviors that will have to be cultivated for the Workforce of

the future for Google.

Sense making

This competency cannot be replicated by a computer. It means to derive deeper meaning

from what is expressed. Deep Blue, an IBM supercomputer, beat Gary Kasparov, grandmaster, in

chess. It did this by millions of possible chess moves per second not by applying the kind of

thinking a human engages in. The difference is if you ask it if it wants to play pool it cannot

figure of if you talking about swimming or billiards (Davies, Fidler, and Gorbis, 2013).

Social Intelligence

This is the ability to connect with others to sense and stimulate reactions and desired

interactions. This competency is just as important as sense making. Robots cannot produce

feelings or show genuine emotion. Socially intelligent people can quickly assess the emotions of

people surrounding them. MIT Media Lab is creating personal robots that can only replicate

superficial emotional expressions (Davies, Fidler, and Gorbis, 2013).

Novel and Adapted Thinking

This is problem solving beyond rote and rule-based tasks. MIT Professor David Autor

has tracked the polarity of jobs in the U.S. for three decades. His results state that there is decline

in middle-skilled white-collar and blue-collar jobs. There is an increase in abstract thinking high-

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skilled high-wage management and technical jobs and low-skilled manual labor jobs because of

the unique unexpected nature of these jobs (Davies, Fidler, and Gorbis, 2013).

Cross Cultural Competency

This is the ability to operate in diverse cultural settings. This includes having linguistic

skills and being able to quickly adapt to changing circumstances. Cross cultural competency is

not just for workers diverse geographics but for all workers. These work groups consist of all

different ages, skills, disciplines, thinking and working styles. Professor Scott E. Page, director

of the Center of the Study Complex Systems at the University of Michigan, says that a group

with this makeup performs better than like-mined experts (Davies, Fidler, and Gorbis, 2013).

Transdisciplinarity

This is being able to understand concepts across many disciplines. The global problems

of today call for individuals with this quality (Davies, Fidler, and Gorbis, 2013).

Virtual Collaboration

This is being able to exhibit oneself as a productively engaged individual while working

in a virtual team (Davies, Fidler, and Gorbis, 2013).

Google Concepts

Diversity Management

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Google strives to include and accommodate every type of employee from LGBT’s to

new parents. They also hold an annual Global ERG Summit. This brings together more than 100

leaders and Google’s 18 EGR’s (Google department heads) for 2 days to share collaborate, and

strategy plan. (Google.com, 2013)

Leadership Models

Google meetings have a clear decision maker and consist of only 10 people.

Google’s Quarterly ORK’s (Objective and Key Results) meetings are led by company leaders to

initial shared visions. (Gil, 2013)

Ethics

“Don’t be evil”. This means not only delivering the desired information through

customers’ searches for but also following the law, acting with integrity, and treating each other

with respect. (Google Inc. 2013)

Decision-making Models

Google meetings have a clear decision maker and consist of only 10 people. Decision

makers and executives also make time to go to the “bullpen” a group of buildings on the main

campus where the can talk in a relaxed setting. (Gil, 2013)

Problem Solving

Google uses computational thinking. There are three parts; they are breaking down large

problems in to smaller manageable ones, patterns of recognition and algorithmic design.

(Youtube.com, 2013)

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Conflict Management Process

Google’s conflict management process excludes managers’ employees’ work it out by

themselves. (Hornsey, 2013)

Holistic Assessment

As a global leader, Google has an obligation to change the status quo. Google stands to

gain a growth in talent due to a 19% increase in computer and research scientists. It is also is in a

good position to take advantage of the entrants who will be entering the labor force during the

2010-2020 and stayers who will remain in it through 2020. This will bring Google the much

needed cross cultural competency that will be valued in the workforce of 2020. Since Google

will have an influx of entrant talent during the 2010-2020 period, leadership may want to create a

mentoring program that has its stayers help bring the new talent up to speed on the current status

of the company.

It is recommended that Google watch the immerging robotics field closely and possibly

pursue some robotics endeavors. It is also recommended that Google contest any litigation and

regulations they feel are unfair to the public or the entity itself. The greatest challenge that

Google faces is staying current. With competition like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn that have

tapped into social media facet it is recommended that it expand its Google + interface to make it

a stronger competitor and create a better marketing plan for it.

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References

Bureau of Labor Statistics (2013) Retrieved from: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/computer-and-

information-technology/computer-and-information-research-scientists.htm#tab-6

Davies, A., Fidler, D. Gorbis, M. (2013) Future Work Skills 2020 Retrieved from:

http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/research/TenTrends.pdf

Economist (2013) A top ten for business leaders Retrieved from:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/theworldin2013/2012/11/global-trends-2013

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Hornsey, L. (2013) Pt4: How We Manage Conflict at Google Retrieved from

http://www.meettheboss.tv/Broadcast/CXO/392/How-We-Manage-Conflict-at-Google/

Gil, K. (2013) Start-Up Speed Retrieved from:

http://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/quarterly/speed/start-up-speed-kristen-gil.html

Google Inc. (2013) Retrieved from: http://investor.google.com/corporate/code-of-conduct.html

Matthews, J. (2012) What are Google's Competitive Advantages? Retrieved from:

http://jasonmatthews.hubpages.com/hub/What-are-Googles-Competative-Advantages

slideshare.net (2010) Retrieved from: http://www.slideshare.net/abail019/customer-profile-for-

google-inc

Sundelin, A. (2009) What is Value Proposition Retrieved from:

http://tbmdb.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-is-value-proposition.html

Toosi, M. (2012) Labor force projection to 2020 a more slowly growing workforce Retrieved

from: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2012/01/art3full.pdf

YouTube (2013) Problem Solving at Google Retrieved from: Retrieved from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVVB5RQfYxk

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