The Future of Work: 5 Important Ways Jobs Will Change by Adrian Tan | Future Readiness Outside of AI, machine learning and blockchain, the most commonly mentioned buzzword of 2019 appears to be ‘Future of Work’. A Google search reveals more than 5 billion relevant results. To put that into perspective, googling for Kim Kardashian only yielded 200 million results. It is an understatement to say that the Future of Work is weighing heavily on many people’s minds. Disruptions ahead And it isn’t surprising given what we witnessed in history and as computing power continues to quadruple. The Industrial age has shown us how a massive number of weavers in Britain were replaced by weaving machines. The weavers (better known as Luddites) protested against the machines and damaged them. Alas, those efforts are as good a speed hump as you just can’t stop progressions. The Luddites could not stop the march of the Industrial Revolution and cottage industries like those in the Colne Valley gradually declined as workers were forced to earn their money by working in the mills, rather than in the family business. The mills brought all the processes of spinning and weaving under one roof, and with the use of machines, sped up production. This meant that mill made cloth was cheaper to produce than that made by cottage industries. Skilled workers who had formerly been able to make their own living were forced to accept the low wages and long hours working in the mills. Unemployment also became a problem, as, only a few workers were needed to run big machines. Fast forward to 2019, you can draw parallels of the current power of AI to the mechanical weaving systems introduced in the 1800s. Will Robots Take My Job? In 2013 Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne published a report titled “The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to computerization?”. The authors examine how susceptible jobs are to computerization, by implementing a novel methodology to estimate the probability of computerization for 702 detailed occupations, using a Gaussian process classifier. According to their estimates, about 47 percent of total US employment is at risk. Although the report is specific to the US job market, it is easy to see how this might apply all over the world. You can find where your job stands by keying it into https://willrobotstakemyjob.com/ Not just robots But the Future of Work isn’t just about robots replacing everyone because it can’t. Just look at the current state of robotic security guards. They are at best patrolling CCTV. You can’t expect them to run after a suspect. Robots are best in the form of a Roomba vacuum cleaner now. Having said that, technology will improve and work will augment. That would bring about changes that employers and workers need to align with. Here are 5 important ways jobs will change as we further advance into the next evolution. New roles will emerge (and old roles will die) Employee onboarding specialist, Talent Intelligence Manager, Head of HR Technology – these are roles that a few modern companies may already have but many others are still clueless about. And such new roles would require new skill sets that aren’t readily available. Just go back slightly in time when employee relations started to become a big thing. Overnight HR has a new role and it also meant communication and marketing skills suddenly become a prerequisite. On the opposite spectrum, the HR administrator already started going the way of Robotic Process Automation. With more API created, even RPA would be unnecessary as different platforms talk to each other in real-time. Data is the new gut instinct Over my previous life in recruitment, we tend to make decisions based on gut instinct. Because there just isn’t enough data to base decisions on. And I dare say this gut instinct contributed to the bad rep of the HR department. With data readily available in today’s context, the next step as we move forward is to make sense of them and draw recommendations. Modern tools are already making the presentation of such data as simple as Google Analytics. Consumer-grade infusion into enterprise technology Unlike an iPhone, enterprise apps are frustratingly complicated. Without a 5 days training or a PhD, one could hardly navigate or use them properly. That is why PeopleStrong places a strong emphasis to make our apps as simple to pick up and operate as one would with a new iPhone. Soon to be gone are the days where you have to be a mechanic in order to drive your 20th-century car. New-age enterprise tech will be like Tesla – just push a button and start driving. This will result in faster and heavier adoption of tech to augment the way we work by bringing our work to another level – similar to what happened when RFID was first introduced into warehouses. Lifelong growth According to the Deloitte Millenial survey 2018, young workers feel unprepared for Industry 4.0. Respondents lack confidence that they can succeed in an Industry 4.0 environment and are looking to businesses to help them develop the necessary skills, including the “soft” skills they believe will be more important as jobs evolve. This consequently requires employers to place an emphasis on developing the skills of their employees as a going concern and not a reactive item to tick from the box. To achieve that, especially for a big organization, learning technology is critical to scale the learning delivery and to ensure each learner is on a personalized learning journey. Different priorities As workforces are increasingly occupied by the younger generations, their aspirations and purposes on work would have to be accounted for. Unlike the post-was era where shelter and food are key priorities, the newer workforce thinks differently. Going by the same Deloitte survey, young workers are eager for business leaders to be proactive about making a positive impact on society. As Tim Brown (CEO and President of IDEO) observes, only organizations with a “reason for being” will be sustainable and successful in the future and attract the next generation of talent. The new generation of people coming into the workforce want to work for businesses that are innovative, creative, fun and that is inspiring change. Conclusion The Future of Work may sound distant, but it is already here. Businesses need to reinvent the way they operate bearing in mind that what got them here may not get them there. And only by taking the early steps could one start the ball rolling. 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