Separating Hype from Reality: 3 Technology Shifts Reshaping the Future of Work - Part 2

How are key technology shifts reshaping the future of work to the Year 2030? Part one of this series (available at this link) focused on the first shift of Inclusive Talent catalysed by a combination of technologies including Artificial Intelligence, Deep and Machine Learning, gaming scenarios, social VR and behavioural science. This opportunity to create more equitable and immersive workplaces also considered the need to address risks such as Algorithmic Bias and Digital Skills Gaps. 

We now move onto Shift Two and the rise of an Empowered Workforce. What are the core drivers, benefits and challenges? As a reminder, this thought piece series is based on my evaluation of new research by Dell Technologies and the independent group Institute for the Future, with full findings available for review here. 

Shift 2 – Empowered Workers

This shift reflects a new era of networked working and a more open workforce where collaboration is the core catalyst for innovation, and critically, it is recognised as such. Work infrastructures are designed to promote collaboration and reward contribution for example by automated profit-sharing payrolls and with decision-making increasingly reputation weighted and decentralised. This will be supported by a combination of machine-learning systems and Secure Distributed Ledgers such as Blockchain that afford an immutable, transparent data storage and sharing mechanism to create work agreements (Smart Contracts) with the payment transaction automatically algorithmically triggered when the set objective criteria has been met.  

This development will draw on learning from the real-time collaboration practices and behavioural norms already embedded today within coding, gaming and distributed communities. Technology will also play an important coordination and constant connectivity role with projects increasingly undertaken by people working in self-selecting channels rather than fixed teams. Similarly, this approach will aim to decentralise opportunity by facilitating a rise in open contributions to projects within these trusted communities - people do not necessarily need to be on the payroll full time. 

The undertaking of real time distributed research is a good example of this empowerment evolution with the credit for advancements tracked and attributed, and the development itself supported by collaborative and immersive platforms. The use of Multimodal Interfaces is one example, combining haptic feedback and gesture recognition to provide alternative conduits for displaying and interacting with data. Additionally, Extended Reality (XR) can enable the superimposing of a virtual layer over physical spaces so that content can be experienced and shared on any computing device. Again, consideration will need to be given to Digital Skills Gaps - a lack of familiarity with collaborative platforms and working in networks could hinder some workers’ confidence and ability to participate.

Collectively, this suggests a future where companies move to become increasingly decentralised, self-organising and run via software - with the contract not the company – becoming a critical relationship. With enhanced capacity to monitor and quantify contributions, new practices around compensation are likely to evolve including payroll and profit sharing in real-time. Governance is also likely allocated according to contribution as opposed to a fixed time which will raise dilemmas around Workers Rights - what are the employment policy changes that would need to be put into place to oversee, uphold and enforce protection and additionally, support smooth and transparent navigation of different laws and regulations?

The final shift is focussed on AI Fluency and will be released next week......

Please feel free to share your thoughts below, or tweet @sallyeaves And a reminder that the Dell Technologies/Institute for the Future report can be assessed here

All best wishes,

Sally

About the Author

Prof. Sally Eaves is CEO and Founder of Aspirational Futures, a Professor in Advanced Technologies and a Global Strategic Advisor on Digital Transformation specialising in the application of emergent technology, notably blockchain and AI for both business transformation and social impact. A highly experienced CTO, international keynote Speaker and Author, Sally was an inaugural recipient of the Frontier Technology and Social Impact award, presented at the United Nations in 2018 and has been described as the ‘torchbearer for ethical tech’.

This post was sponsored by Dell Technologies, but the opinions are my own and do not necessarily represent Dell Technologies’ positions or strategies. #DellLuminaries

Source for the 67% of business leaders finding: 4.600 business leaders from 40+ countries, Dell Technologies & Vanson Bourne study, 2018