In the future, everyone will be a free agent.
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The fast paced progression of technology often alarms us to believe that in the future, everyone will be unemployed because robots will do the work.
It’s hard to buy the argument that we can innovate ourselves into unemployment. The honest truth is that, yes, technology will phase out many jobs in the coming years (a lot of that attrition is happening right now primarily in manufacturing). But we’re also going to see a massive transformation of the workforce as new industries and marketplaces are built to provide services we never could have imagined.
These four changes will impact how we hire, retain and retrain a workforce, especially as industries die, spring to life, or are reborn.
1. Everyone will, in some capacity, work remotely.
Not everyone will work from home or in cafes and random public spaces, but the majority of us will work virtually or at a physically significant distance from other teams and employees. The key will be that all individuals inside an organization will have access to remote work options. For example, development in drone technology will mean more and more logistics oriented jobs can be done remotely. The world will need skilled operators that can remotely move equipment, materials, and even entire military apparatuses. We are already seeing massive interest in service sector jobs that can be done remotely (especially in IT, finance, communications, and more).
2. In the future, everyone will be a free agent.
Picture this: the next generation may not have to find work. It will come to them. Uber is matching up drivers to passengers. Airbnb is matching up homes to temporary guests. LinkedIn is matching up companies to job seekers. The very same logistics we’ve seen in a browser-centric world could apply to every type of job imaginable, in fact it might all just be funneled through your smartphone. Buying and selling talent is becoming a marketplace in itself with companies playing matchmaker between corporations and great people.
The challenge will be making sure enough work is available to counter any idleness in the talent market. The services that can continually connect people to jobs and companies to people will win big in this market opportunity. Especially if this includes non-STEM related roles. Which poses another question: how can we reshuffle blue collar workers elsewhere in the economy where their skills can make an impact?
3. We will embrace outsourcing.
Political debates often peg outsourcing as a negative economic reality. Companies famously used outsourcing as means to get quick and cheap labour. But as talent continues to transcend borders, and workers can demand better support and wages, the workforce will increasingly outsource or unbundle itself to reduce costs and reinvest savings in other ways.
Think about it: companies are getting rid of offices, and outsourcing the need for office space to coworking companies like WeWork. Those cost savings can be reinvested in hiring better people that can work remotely. We unbundled human resources departments so software can assist management to better engage with their employees. People can spend more time working on company culture, instead of drowning in corporate bureaucracy. It may be optimistic, but the workforce will hopefully see outsourcing as a means to hire the best from savings earned elsewhere.
4. Skills development and training will be overhauled.
If the majority of labour related tasks will be automated, we’ll have to rethink how we train students (and displaced workers) to take on entirely new roles in the future. And with distance learning finally seeing public acceptance, many workers will have access to curriculum from the best institutions in the world at their fingertips.
There’s no doubt that the cost of traditional education (from universities or colleges) continues to rise at a staggering rate. But the introduction of private sector learning services (available for free or a fee) will slowly be considered a credible alternative to established institutions. Massive Online Open Courses (or MOOCs) are leveraging the web to distribute learning modules and courses freely around the world. If you have a device that can connect to the Internet, then you can teach yourself a new skill. This won’t mean the end of heralded educators like Harvard or Oxford and so on. It will simply allow our centuries old institutions to reach a new audience in a new way and at a more attractive cost.
I’m passionate about the Future of Work. Are you? Connect with me here: @kaviguppta.
