Work & Economic Security: Future of Work
Information and Communications Technology (ICT)
Artificial Intelligence (AI) – Where do you and your country stand? – It has become impossible to scan the social media, open a newspaper or turn on the TV without coming across some reference to automation and AI. The Economist has even developed a Readiness Index. Find out which countries are ahead of the game.
Changing Nature of Work – This report from the World Bank finds that fears of a robot takeover of jobs are unfounded. Technology brings opportunity and paves the way to create new jobs.
Future of Work – Will human-machine partnerships help or hinder people-centered work environments in 2030? This report explores how emerging technologies could reshape the work environment over the next decade, and identifies four technologies that will combine to form human-machine partnerships that could lead to an inclusive and rewarding work environment in 2030.
ICT: Exclusive or Inclusive? – Everyone is facing the unstoppable ICT revolution — all sectors, all people, all countries. Everyone is feeling the consequences and apprehension. Olivier Crouzet, OECD’s head of pedagogy, explores its effects.
Reworking the Workplace
French Report on Seniors in the Workplace – Changes are Urgent but No Quick Fix- A French task force charged by the government to examine and propose solutions for supporting seniors in the workplace reported January 2020. Keeping experienced workers employed is a complex social challenge. Workplace traditions shaped over a very long period of time include counter-productive public policies that haven’t adapted to demographic and sociological changes. Needed changes cannot be made overnight.
Job Redesign Grants for Retaining Older Workers – Tiny Singapore, one of the wealthiest nations in Asia, is seen as a test bed for how governments tackle aging issues. Singapore has the third highest longevity in the world, a shortage of workers, and pensions that have not caught up with the high price of living. Long known for its long-term public planning, Singapore has offered job redesign grants to lighten physical burdens for older workers, wage offsets to employers of older workers, incentivized savings plans for workers, flexible working hours, and a grant to adopt progressive age management practices. As described in this article from the Singapore News, the goal is to continue work past the age 62 retirement age to age 67.
The Learning Collaborative – Working Nation has initiated a learning collaborative that seeks to engage 50 employers in identifying and using multigenerational, inclusive workforce practices. It is an invitation to imagine what it means to earn and learn throughout the life span. The site is a mine of information and videos like this one.
Living, Learning and Earning Longer Collaborative – See what AARP International, OECD and the World Economic Forum are developing! Explore this incredibly rich site. You will find worksheets, a video series to watch, imaginative infographics that sum up the essentials, case studies, and much more. Recommendations for changes to realize the potential of the Longevity Economy will be reported January 2021.
Rethinking the Workplace: Flexibility, Fairness, and Enlightened Automation, McKinsey Quarterly. “What sort of workplace should we expect in the future?” “How will automation affect jobs?” James Manyika, chair of the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI), sat down to discuss these and other issues with Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the London-based Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Read edited excerpts from their conversation. (View extended video feature of the discussion between Manyika and Taylor.)
Wisdom Workers – A tourism company in New Zealand called Real Journeys has faced the frustration of younger employees wanting to progress and concerns about retirement procedures for launch masters by developing a certificate training course with a standardized curriculum taught by ageing skippers. The program integrates the master skippers with the younger generation workers on the job so they can informally mentor the next generation and share what they know.
Managing a Volunteer Workforce – This March 2016 Harvard Business Review article by Joe McCannon and Hahrie Han included this sage advice: Make their dreams come true ~ Create fellowship~ Build easy on-ramps ~ Create rhythms that sustain excitement ~ Offer personal benchmarks ~ Make the experience fun, affirmative and fear-free.
Heather McGowan: Work to Learn – “We live in times of unprecedented technological change and rapid global expansion, two massive shifting forces that together are transforming what work will look like in the future when anything mentally or physically routine or predictable can and will be replaced by automation. We must update our human operating system to integrate new contextual references and frameworks. The Future of Work and the Future of Learning are inextricably linked.” In this video Heather gives an overview of how this world is changing. http://www.heathermcgowan.net/