The Future of Work: A Reality Check

The Reality Check

Work has always been changing and evolving in civilised society. The ways to do certain things change. The need to do certain things disappear. Then, the need to do certain things emerge. Some work gets easier, while some work gets more complicated.

In the context of economic or occupational work, the processes of how the world operates, the processes of how each society within operates, how organisations or businesses have to therefore operate, will all constantly change and evolve. Along with that, the occupations.

As Time Progresses

With the progression of time, some occupations will require more people; including occupations that once did not exist or had not mutated into their contemporary forms yet, such as for example the Neuromarketing Specialist in the year 2022. Other occupations, will on the other hand, require less people, or, will cease to exist at all.

The Basics

The definition of gainful economic employment, is holding responsibility or prerogative to execute a set of tasks, forming a function, within a process of organisational or economic activity. When organisations and economic realities evolve, so do the activities, and therefore the functions and the tasks, and therefore in turn the employment realities.

Evolution of Work does NOT Equate to Disappearance of Work

While certain individuals, organisations and movements today, will tell you that we are heading into a future where the role of humans in work will be irrelevant and therefore it is a jobs-free future that is coming, and I will wish them all the best in waiting for such a time to arrive, the whole idea and concept of such a "vision" (if you can justify it as that) does not make logical sense. There are very practical scientific limits to both technology and to the extent to which technology can be applied to diminish the need for human effort or labour.

When YOUR Work is Disappearing

When profitable companies are cutting once high employing jobs, and you are finding yourself affected by it, perhaps because the business operating model has changed or the market reality is now different or because automation is more feasible as well as cheaper, it is not because the need for human labour in its sum is diminishing. It means rather, that the need for human labour in that form or manner is declining, and along with it, the relevance of what you have been doing. You need to now find something that will be relevant ahead, that you can do or will be able to do, and you need to start acting on that to create the next opportunities that you will need.

The Future

How your food, water, clothing and electricity get to you ahead will improve, as in with greater effectiveness and efficiency ahead. That would result from changed processes, causing different changes to the jobs that come with those processes. And with that, your needs will change, along with which your wants, and so, some types of commercial activity will decline while new activities will emerge, causing further changes in the nature of the sum of work along with the distribution of it.

So after all the fuss in recent years over the future of work, it really is just that? Yes. That is pretty much it.

Conclusion

Unless you are a member of the few remaining uncontacted tribes on earth, in which case you wouldn't have access to an electronic device, have no clue about the existence of the internet and you would not be reading this, the change and evolution of work is a natural part of life experience to be expected. We don't write by dipping feathers into ink jars anymore, or at least in most families with internet access, that has not been the practice for a good few generations. You will argue that is a bad example, so let me give you one that perhaps you will consider a "good" one; you can operate your smartphone by touching (or swiping) the screen rather than punching keys. In parallel, the same sort of change naturally and constantly happens with commercial or industrial work; only that the change becomes more rapid and frequent as time progresses forward.

Tell me what your thoughts are.

Harish Shah is Singapore's first local born Professional Futurist and a Management Strategy Consultant. He runs Stratserv Consultancy. His areas of consulting include Strategic Foresight, Systems Thinking, Scenario Planning and Organisational Future Proofing. Harish also has a background in HR Consulting, Executive Search, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, Executive Coaching, Career Coaching, Assessment & Development Centres and Vocational Programme Management for Employability Enhancement.