Each week I’m going to provide a round up of what I consider to be important and interesting articles on the future of work (not authored by me). These will include a variety of sources and topics ranging from workplace practices to robots and automation to leadership and everything in between. There’s a lot of information out there so I’m hoping that these weekly round ups will help make life a bit easier for you by giving you just the good stuff. Let’s get into it!
The Future of Work: It’s Already Here…And It’s Not as Scary as You Think
In this article Josh Bersin talks about the future of work and how traditional jobs as we know them are disappearing. He lays out some of the changes that have already taken place covering things like freelance/gig work, automation, and income inequality.
He then goes on to list out three ways the future of work has impacted the way we work; the personal impact, the organizational impact, and the societal impact.
On the personal side Bersin says our work has “become dynamic, disruptive and overwhelming” with the advances in technology employees have become overwhelmed and overworked. This is caused by the large number of channels where people can connect with businesses (twitter, Facebook, Gmail, etc…), the fact that we don’t take enough vacation time, and our ever shortened attention spans. And while our stress levels are going up, our productivity level has not gone up in the last 10 years. Another subject that is touched on for the personal side is the change from workers staying with one company for their entire career to changing companies frequently.
With the organization side Bersin touches on the move towards automation and AI and the redesign of organizations. In section on the move towards AI and automation he talks about the technological advances that have allowed this transition to happen and explains that it will only improve from here. In regards to the redesign of organizations Bersin talks about how we have have to shift our economic model to fit our new way of working.
The future of work also has an impact on our society and it requires our society to change. We have to learn how to embrace technology and learn how to use it to our advantage, our education institutions have to adjust to keep up with advancements and new tools, and public policies have to change and adapt to our new work model.
In the end Bersin believes that the future of work is here now, but if you are able to adapt and keep up with the times it isn’t such a scary thing.
Here’s What Gen Z Wants at Work (and It’s not Just Free Lunches)
Although a majority of people today are discussing Millennials in the workplace, Kelsey Nelson writes about Generation Z and what they are looking for in a workplace based on a study that was done by Monster.
The study compared the wants, needs, and desires for each of the generations from the Baby Boomers to Gen Z. Some of the topics included willingness to work nights and weekends for
higher pay and whether or not work should have a greater purpose than earning a salary. The results really show how different each generation is.
From the study results Seth Matheson, the director of talent fusion by Monster, gives his top tips for how any employee, regardless of their generation, can succeed at work. The four top tips that he gives are know what’s important to you, be humble, relax about the benjamins, and keep things in perspective.
Big Job Boards Hurting, Niche Sites Here to Stay
Recently big job board sites such as SimplyHired, LinkedIn and Monster haven’t been doing so well. It is the smaller niche job board sites, such as Gary’s Job Board, that seem to be taking over. Why? As Michelle Rafter discusses in this article, these specialized job board sites are adapting to the needs of their clients.
This shift to smaller, more specialized job listing sites is great for small business owners who couldn’t afford to list on the bigger sites such as Indeed or Monster. Being able to post on a smaller site not only allows companies to save money, but it also allows them to get their job listings out to a specific type of employee. This makes the job search much easier.
Rafter explains that it is important for small business owners to do some research on a job board site before posting a job to make sure that it will be effective. They should consider the fees, how many unique visitors per month the job board gets, and if the board will be seen by their preferred audience.
Is Tech Killing Workplace Productivity?
In this article Alison DeNisco discusses productivity in the American workplace and three major things to be aware of in regards to our current productivity level.
First of all, she talks about our recent decline in productivity levels and the economic implications that are occurring because of this decline. One implication is moving jobs overseas. If our productivity level continues to go down here in the US some companies may decide to hire people overseas to do the work. However, things like offering incentives and keeping employees happy may help increase productivity levels.
The next thing that is touched on in this article is organizational vs. individual productivity. In this section DeNisco says that one of our downfalls may lie in the fact that companies focus on the productivity of individuals instead of the company as a whole.
The last area DeNisco talks about is AI. Our move towards AI, robots and automation will probably increase our productivity in the near future. This shift, however will also mean that some people may have to find new and innovative things to do since some jobs will be taken from humans in this shift.
acob Morgan is a keynote speaker, author, and futurist. You can invite Jacob to keynote your next conference, subscribe to his videos on Youtube, check our his podcast, or subscribe to his newsletter!
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