The Future of Work is…shared equally

We’ve asked our Work Futures interdisciplinary team to complete the sentence ‘The Future of Work is…’ . This is Alysia’s perspective on the future of work and what it means to him.

The future of work is in our hands. We have to make critical choices – and take critical actions – to ensure we create a future of work that is more equal, inclusive, decent, and safe.

COVID-19 has laid bare all the forms of inequality and discrimination that already affected our experiences of work. School and childcare closures, lockdowns and mass redundancies overaffected women, younger and older workers, and migrant workers. Allowing workers to withdraw money from their superannuation, to support themselves during COVID-19, is likely to prolong these impacts into the future. So without concerted action, we risk making the future of work and retirement more unequal; more discriminatory; and more unfair.

We can reject this sort of future. Creating more inclusive workplaces requires large – structural – and small – everyday – actions. We need to create workplaces that allow us to engage and work with people from many different backgrounds – of different genders, ethnicities, ages, sexualities, and so on. This will help to challenge our implicit biases. Achieving this requires structural change to how we recruit, and how we value ‘merit’ and ‘experience’.

This is critical, as the future of work occurs in an ageing world. We are living for longer, which is a global success story. However, this is putting pressure on how we structure pension and social security systems. We need to find a new balance between work and leisure, which may mean seeking more balanced working lives, as we work for longer and into older age. We also need to overcome our bias against older workers, which often prevents people from embarking upon a new career or finding a new job into older age.

The future of work also occurs in a warming world. Climate change means extreme weather events are more likely to occur, and more frequently. This will particularly affect those working in physically demanding roles, especially those working outdoors. This poses risks to workplace health and safety, especially for those with health conditions or disabilities, which we will need to manage carefully.

We can help to address these risks, though, through how we structure the future of work. In some areas, where work can be done from home, the future of work may involve working remotely, using new technologies, to reduce the emissions that come from commuting, travel and working in an office environment. The future of work also demands growing workplace flexibility, to allow people to accommodate their different life demands, as we extend our careers for longer, juggle work and care, and work into older age.

We need to focus, then, on how we use technology, to create a future of work that maximises good jobs, flexibility, inclusion and equality, and minimises risk to climate and our own health and safety. At their best, workplace technologies could eliminate the worst and riskiest parts of jobs, eliminate bias, and create inclusive and safer workplaces. Achieving this, though, requires us to use technologies in a thoughtful and careful way, to maximise their benefits, and minimise the risks of alienation and isolation that workers might feel in engaging with technology.

Finally, in deploying these digital technologies, we need to focus on how we can upskill and support workers to embrace the new – hopefully better – jobs on offer. This upskilling is critical as industries and jobs move into the future. We must ensure, though, that everyone has access to these emerging opportunities.

The future of work is in our hands. We have to make critical choices – and take critical actions – to ensure we create a future of work that is more equal, inclusive, decent, and safe.

COVID-19 has laid bare all the forms of inequality and discrimination that already affected our experiences of work. School and childcare closures, lockdowns and mass redundancies overaffected women, younger and older workers, and migrant workers. Allowing workers to withdraw money from their superannuation, to support themselves during COVID-19, is likely to prolong these impacts into the future. So without concerted action, we risk making the future of work and retirement more unequal; more discriminatory; and more unfair.

We can reject this sort of future. Creating more inclusive workplaces requires large – structural – and small – everyday – actions. We need to create workplaces that allow us to engage and work with people from many different backgrounds – of different genders, ethnicities, ages, sexualities, and so on. This will help to challenge our implicit biases. Achieving this requires structural change to how we recruit, and how we value ‘merit’ and ‘experience’.

This is critical, as the future of work occurs in an ageing world. We are living for longer, which is a global success story. However, this is putting pressure on how we structure pension and social security systems. We need to find a new balance between work and leisure, which may mean seeking more balanced working lives, as we work for longer and into older age. We also need to overcome our bias against older workers, which often prevents people from embarking upon a new career or finding a new job into older age.

The future of work also occurs in a warming world. Climate change means extreme weather events are more likely to occur, and more frequently. This will particularly affect those working in physically demanding roles, especially those working outdoors. This poses risks to workplace health and safety, especially for those with health conditions or disabilities, which we will need to manage carefully.

We can help to address these risks, though, through how we structure the future of work. In some areas, where work can be done from home, the future of work may involve working remotely, using new technologies, to reduce the emissions that come from commuting, travel and working in an office environment. The future of work also demands growing workplace flexibility, to allow people to accommodate their different life demands, as we extend our careers for longer, juggle work and care, and work into older age.

We need to focus, then, on how we use technology, to create a future of work that maximises good jobs, flexibility, inclusion and equality, and minimises risk to climate and our own health and safety. At their best, workplace technologies could eliminate the worst and riskiest parts of jobs, eliminate bias, and create inclusive and safer workplaces. Achieving this, though, requires us to use technologies in a thoughtful and careful way, to maximise their benefits, and minimise the risks of alienation and isolation that workers might feel in engaging with technology.

Finally, in deploying these digital technologies, we need to focus on how we can upskill and support workers to embrace the new – hopefully better – jobs on offer. This upskilling is critical as industries and jobs move into the future. We must ensure, though, that everyone has access to these emerging opportunities.

The future of work is in our hands.