In 2013, researchers at Oxford published an analysis of the jobs most likely to be threatened by automation and artificial intelligence. At the top of the list were occupations such as telemarketing, hand sewing, and brokerage clerking. These and other at-risk jobs involved doing repetitive and unimaginative work, which seemed to make them easy pickings for AI. In contrast, the jobs deemed most resilient to disruption included many artistic professions, such as illustrating and writing.
https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/12/why-the-rise-of-ai-is-the-most-important-story-of-the-year/672308/
Category Archives: work
Why Office Buildings Are Still in Trouble
“We see lots of tenants not renewing their leases, going either fully remote, or renewing their leases but signing up for less space,” said Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, one of the authors of the paper, and a professor specializing in real estate at Columbia Business School. “It all adds up.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/17/business/office-buildings-real-estate-vacancy.html
On TikTok and online, the youngest workers are rejecting work as we know it. How will that play out IRL?
“I don’t want to be a girlboss. I don’t want to hustle,” declaimed another TikTok user. “I simply want to live my life slowly and lay down in a bed of moss with my lover and enjoy the rest of my existence reading books, creating art, and loving myself and the people in my life.”
https://www-vox-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.vox.com/platform/amp/the-highlight/22977663/gen-z-antiwork-capitalism
A Hotline Garment Workers Can Call When They Face Harassment on the Job
In an industry that has long been largely allowed to police itself, these hotlines are part of a greater movement toward accountability for brands and factories. But even their supporters are quick to point out that they are not a cure-all. Many of the conditions that make gender-based violence hard to stamp out in the world at large — like stigma and victim-blaming — exist in factories too. And in an industry beholden to the frenzied pace and dizzyingly low prices of fast fashion, working conditions remain difficult to regulate.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/lesotho-women-workers-labor-unions-hotline
The Dream of an ‘Internet Country’ That Would Let You Work From Anywhere
Plumia, which has thus far received 5,000 applications to join, isn’t the first to propose an Internet country. Wirtland launched in 2008 with “witizens” and its own currency and Bitnation arrived in 2014 as a “voluntary crypto nation,” but Plumia is the first to be backed with investor money—health insurance provider SafetyWing has financed the project since its December 2020 launch. Acceptance would be somewhat selective. Citizens of Plumia would be required to pass background checks, a familiar requirement for those familiar with Global Entry, but would also have to share their employment information and annual income.
https://time.com/6211405/internet-country-plumia-remote-work/
Analyzing Hybrid Work
I have been getting students in my Fall Analyzing Trends class at Parsons School of Design – The New School up to speed in mapping speculative past/futures over the last few weeks. We started off by looking at the topic of hybrid work that has been in the news so much of late. As companies begin to put a stake in the ground on where they might sit in designing the meaning of work.
The archetypal extremes of “everyone back” (Tesla) to “work anywhere” (Airbnb) frameworks have been getting the most attention as to where work and the office might be going next. From the evolving design of offices from open plans to the emerging new types of privacy needs, to the ways technology and human skills begin to overlap and hint at possible emerging unknowns that will impact education, skills, and sustainable investment. #work#foresight#speculativedesign#mural#midjourney
Chief Metaverse Officers Are Getting Million-Dollar Paydays. So What Do They Do All Day?
Pressure to keep up with tech trends has spawned new C-suite titles for decades. The 1980s saw the rise of the chief information officer, who understood the inner workings of IT and how it applied to broader business strategy. Later, chief technology officers emerged as big-picture thinkers who could evaluate developing technologies and how they might be used in the long term. More recently, chief digital officers have sought to modernize outdated business practices so companies don’t get “Amazoned,” or steamrolled by a nimbler, more tech-savvy rival.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-22/what-is-a-chief-metaverse-officer-and-do-you-need-one
Global youth expect better access to skills.
What do young people think about skills? As the largest generation of young people in history begins to enter the labour market, this question has never been more important. And yet, while there is growing momentum in the public and private sector around the need to strengthen skills provision, young people are often not at the table. The global momentum for public-private partnership around upskilling is hugely positive, but this is something that needs to be done with young people, not just for them.
As we mark World Youth Skills Day, we asked a global sample of 5,506 people aged 18-24 who are active in the labour market. The results, which are part of the Global Workforce Hopes and Fears survey, suggest a generation divided in their capabilities but united in their high expectations of employers.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/youth-workers-skills-access-business?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social_video&utm_term=1_1&utm_content=27379_skills_kids_future&utm_campaign=social_video_2022
Future of offices: in a post-pandemic world (Arup)
COVID-19 has accelerated a range of preexisting trends in the commercial property sector around health and wellbeing, activitybased working, flexibility and the drive for better space utilisation. Sustainability, smart buildings and the digital workplace are also reshaping the commercial offer. Taken together, these trends and developments will profoundly impact the kinds of workplaces likely to be needed in a post-pandemic world.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EFDdzGO4DuEu459kr1PFwN_exVZiZHiv/view?usp=sharing
Future of Work (McKinsey)
The world of work is changing. Artificial intelligence and automation will make this shift as significant as the mechanization in prior generations of agriculture and manufacturing. While some jobs will be lost, and many others created, almost all will change. The COVID-19 crisis accelerated existing trends and caused organizations to reevaluate many aspects of work. This regularly updated collection of articles draws together our latest perspectives on the future of work, workforce, and workplace.
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work
Analyzing Trends with Tim Stock 