The world of work in 2066: Better or worse?

The British magazine Management Today is celebrating $50 years of its existence. The world of work has changed a lot since 1966 when first issue was published. However, many more changes are to come in the next 50 years, according to the Future of Work study performed to mark the half century anniversary of the magazine's existence. The study tries to forecast possible developments in the world of work. Specifically, the following three scenarios may occur. Which one do you think is most likely to come?

Illustration

1. Machines will win

Automation, artificial intelligence and the Internet of things will completely dominate companies' abilities to make profits and get bigger market shares. Individual industries as well as life in society will be led by global data-driven corporations. Robots will become a regular part of our lives. They will be able to process even very complex tasks and achieve the same intelligence as people. People will therefore start to become incompatible with the new systems and processes. They will have to adapt to the needs of technology (not vice versa). All this will create a significant polarization of the labour force - people who can be extremely successful thanks the machines will have a lot of opportunities, especially in highly specialized fields. Others, whose jobs will be completely replaced by machines, will only provide services to wealthy elite.

2. People will win

Employees and customers will force companies and brands to focus more on sustainability, social responsibility and the overall well-being of all involved. The existing KPIs of markets and profits will be replaced by indicators such as transparency, accountability and the impact on society and the environment. Working remotely from a family environment will become a standard. Companies will be developing their products not only hand in hand with employees and customers, but also with their suppliers and other stakeholders. Decision-making in companies will be conducted democratically, complex hierarchies will disappear. At the same time, however, there will be more conflicts due to the less developed social skills of the younger generation.

3. Leaders will win

Bosses will manage to connect technology with human capital in order to benefit companies, employees, other stakeholders and society. Small agile organizations that can grow thanks to their networking capabilities, rather than accumulating assets, will be the most successful. Secondary activities will be outsourced so that companies can fully focus on their core business. There will be more entrepreneurs and freelancers. Compensation will be based on perfectly tuned performance benchmarks.

-kk-

Article source Management Today - website of a UK management magazine
Read more articles from Management Today