INSPIRATION SERIES:

THE FUTURE
OF WORK

1. THE FUTURE OF WORK

Inspiration sessions from
trendwatcher & futurist

RICHARD VAN
HOOIJDONK

Are you ready for a mind-blowing journey

into the future of your industry?

In our inspiration sessions we will show you

how the current technological developments
are set to change everything you thought
you knew about life and business. Book a
session and let’s explore that future together.

For more information, visit:

richardvanhooijdonk.com

2. THE FUTURE OF WORK

CONTENTS

1.O 6.O
THE QUANTIFIED SELF THE GIG ECONOMY
PAGE 5 PAGE 15

2.O 7.O
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE THE MANAGEMENT
PAGE 7 OF THE FUTURE
PAGE 16

3.O 8.O
AUTOMATION BOOMERANG EMPLOYEES
PAGE 10 AND THE REMOTE
WORKFORCE
PAGE 17

4.O 9.O
BLOCKCHAIN THE OFFICE OF
PAGE 12 THE FUTURE
PAGE 19

5.O
21ST CENTURY SKILLS
PAGE 13

3. THE FUTURE OF WORK

 INTRODUCTION
Cutting edge technologies are fuelling
disruption in the business world,
forcing organisations to reconsider
how they organise themselves, and
plan for future growth. As cognitive
technologies and automation force
every job to be reinvented or adjusted,
the future of work is rapidly developing
around the idea of an ‘augmented
workforce’ made more capable by
technology. The most forward-thinking
companies are already adapting,
though the Global Human Capital
Trends survey reports that only 17% of
global executives are ready to manage
a workforce of people, robots, and AI
working side by side.

Soft skills such as empathy,

communication, problem solving,
and strategic decision making are
becoming more valuable than ever.
They boost productivity and allow
companies to focus on the human
aspects of work. New wearable tech, for
instance, monitors stress and fitness,
substantively increasing employee
wellbeing. We’re also witnessing a
shift from full-time employees to
remote workers, opening a completely
new way of conducting business –
the gig economy. And while most
organisations move from a rigid
hierarchy to small, flexible teams,
Blockchain will ensure that a potential
hire’s credentials are accurate,
transparent, and secure.

4. THE FUTURE OF WORK

1.O

THE QUANTIFIED SELF

“Wearable technologies are arguably the biggest trend since tablet computing,
so it’s natural that employees and businesses will look to use these devices
in the workplace. Using data generated from the devices, organisations can
learn how human behaviours impact productivity, performance, well-being,
and job satisfaction. Employees can demand work environments and hours
be optimised to maximise their productivity and health and well-being.”
- D r C h ris Bra u e r, D i re c t o r o f In n ova t i o n i n t h e In st it u t e o f M an ag e m e n t St u d ie s ( I M S) at Go ld sm iths ,
Unive rs ity o f Lo n d o n a n d Fo u n d e r o f t h e C e n t re f o r C re at ive an d So cial Te ch n o lo g ie s ( C A ST)

Wearable tech is changing how we define efficiency, produc-
tivity, and a happy, healthy work environment. For instance,
Deloitte research suggests that “we are all operating as
‘corporate athletes’ — dealing with too many decisions, too
many emails, and too many meetings in not enough hours,”
with two-thirds of all businesses describing their employees
as ‘overwhelmed.’ This has led the most engaged businesses
to reach for tools to support their people and decrease any
unnecessary workload.
The desire to assess workers and their output has lead to
an entire industry developing wearable devices and fit-
ness trackers. The PwC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers) report,
The Wearable Life: Connected Living in a Wearable World,
promises that “[b]y 2020, more than 75 million wearables
will permeate the workplace, according to research firm
Tractica.” The same report predicts that wearing health
and fitness tracking devices will soon be an employment
requirement for as many as 2 million workers.
Wearable tech in the workplace offers a multitude of pos-
sibilities for both employer and employee. “Businesses
are looking to technology to measure workers’ activities,
creating a more productive and efficient workforce,” says
Dr. Phoebe Moore, a senior lecturer at Middlesex University
in London who has extensively researched the subject.
Moore noticed that the growing initiative, called the ‘quan-
tified self at work’ or the ‘quantified workplace,’ comes in

5. THE FUTURE OF WORK

Company-sponsored wellness programs are on the rise

Businesses that offer a company-sponsored

wellness program 54%

47%
43%
40%

30%

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Source: www.aflac.com

many shapes and forms, from wearable sensors that track
speech patterns to fitness trackers that measure the dis-
tance employees walk each day.
Through data analysis from wearables that track speech
patterns, employers can, for instance, redesign the work-
space in such a way that it encourages them to collaborate
more and exchange ideas. Humanyze, in collaboration with
the MIT Media Lab, developed a system that uses a smart
employee badge to collect employee behavioural data. The
badge is equipped with a microphone and accelerometer. It
provides data about how often employees interact and with
whom, and it measures their voices to assess stress levels.
The collected data is compared against specific metrics
with the goal to improve corporate culture.
And fitness trackers do not only show a worker’s health –
even though that may be the primary focus. They can also
provide information about the time an employee spends
working at his desk, and how much time he spends walk-
ing around. Gloria Mark, an informatics professor at the
University of California, Irvine, explains that “Healthier
employees means less absenteeism and improved produc-
tivity.” Houston Methodist, a leading Texas medical centre,
for example, offered their employees the use of Fitbits and
biometric screenings to gain a more complete picture of
their overall health. And with over 80 percent of staff mem-
bers opting in, it’s clear that, in terms the corporate culture
of Houston Methodist, health is their primary objective, for
patients as well as staff members. Screenings provided data
to categorise staff into different groups, to ensure that each
gets the customised wellness program it needs. To moti-
vate employees to take better care of themselves, those who
complete their track successfully are awarded with $520 on
an annual basis. As a result, four thousand employees sync
their data each month.

Wearables and the workplace

Among employers with an active wellness program:

22% 7%
25% use employee participation use the data collected from
use wearables in the wearables program wearable devices to assess
to assess employee health employee health

Source: Springbuk Health Analytics survey of 2,329 employers with an active worksite wellness program, August 2015

6. THE FUTURE OF WORK

But, the program isn’t only good for health, it improves social
dynamics as well. Janay Andrade, the director of employee
benefits, emphasised that with Fitbit, there’s an option to
directly message the CEO through the portal, adding that
owning a Fitbit means you can have Fitbit friends. “There’s
a different dynamic. It has a socialness to it.”
Sales manager David Rektorski came up with a similar idea
when he offered fitness trackers to his employees at Hino
of Chicago, a truck dealership in Cicero. “The healthier my
employees are, the better they feel, and the more productive
they are. They are not going to call in sick, ” Rektorski said.
But, personalising the workplace can reflect on employees’
wellbeing and productivity, too.
2.O
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
“As the new factor of production, AI can drive growth in at least three impor-
tant ways. First, it can create a new virtual workforce — what we call intel-
ligent automation. Second, AI can complement and enhance the skills and
ability of existing workforces and physical capital. Third, like other previous
technologies, AI can drive innovations in the economy.”
- M ar k Pu rd y, m a n a g i n g d i re c t o r a n d c h i e f e c o n o m ist at t h e A cce n t u re I n st it u t e f o r H ig h Pe r f o r m a nc e
Artificial intelligence is transforming our lives at home and
at work. At home, you may be one of the 1.8 million people
who use Amazon’s Alexa to control your lights, unlock your
office, or receive the latest stock quotes for the companies
in your portfolio. In total, Alexa is touted as having more
than three thousand skills, and that number grows daily. In
the workplace, artificial intelligence is evolving into a smart
assistant to help us complete tasks efficiently.
7.
The implementation of sensors in offices such as The Edge
in Amsterdam enables employees to personalise their work-
place to suit their personal preferences and needs. This has
been demonstrated to boost efficiency and productivity.
Gartner predicts that “by 2018, commercial buildings will
include over a billion connected things,” and with the rise
of wearable tech, we expect more employers to start taking
measures to create environments that result in happier and
healthier employees, we’re sure that this will reflect on the
company’s success.
Talent acquisition and new hire on-boarding are ripe areas
for the aid of intelligent assistants who can tap multi-
ple data sources to develop candidate profiles, schedule
interviews, and make decisions about prospective job
candidates. IBM and a number of startups are developing
intelligent assistants, also known as chatbots, or computer
algorithms designed to simulate a human conversation.
What these algorithms can do is pretty amazing; they can
THE FUTURE OF WORK
accomplish everything from teaching new employees to
managing HR. According to Eric Lesser, Research Director
for the IBM Institute for Business Value, “More than half of
the CHROs surveyed believe cognitive computing will affect
a wide range of roles in the HR organisation, ranging from
senior executives to individuals working in service centres.”
These innovative technologies won’t replace human beings,
but rather free them for the added-value tasks that demand
the the soft skills only people can offer. A great example
is Talla, a chatbot designed to augment the HR processes
that source job candidates. Talla can provide a set of inter-
view questions based on the role, and she can process the
responses much quicker than her human colleagues. Rob
May, the CEO of Talla, sees, “an intelligent assistant as being
able to augment a mid level HR professionals’ job so she can
focus on more strategic HR issues.”
There’s another great digital assistant designed to work
with humans. Mya Systems has developed artificial intel-
ligence that can streamline the recruitment process in
multiple ways, approving resumes, gathering information
on candidates, and scheduling interviews. Its founder, Eyal
Grayevesky, shared with CNN that “Recruiters are over-
whelmed with so much work because they’re doing boiler-
plate tasks.” And we believe that these chatbots can provide
substantial help with these bureaucratic and repetitive
aspects of the hiring process.”
But, there’s another problem most companies face today –
decreased corporate profitability. Juniper research shows
that healthcare providers, financial institutions, and other
industries will benefit from chatbots, potentially saving busi-
nesses an astonishing $8 billion on an annual basis by 2022.

The impact of AI on industry growth

AI has the potential to increase economic growth rates by a weighted average of 1.7 percentage points by 2035
across 16 industries. Real annual GVA growth by 2035 (%)

4.8
4. 4 4.3
4.0 4.0 3.8
3. 4 3. 4

3. 4 2.1 2. 4 2.0 2.1 2.3 2.2 2.3

Information & Manufactur- Financial Wholesale Transpor­ Professional Healthcare Construction

Communica- ing Services & Retail tation Services
tion & Storage

3.4 3.2 3.1 3.1

2.8
2.3
1.7 1.6

1.3 1. 4 1. 4 1.9 1.6 0.9 0.7 0.9

Agriculture, Accomodation Utilities Arts, Social Public Other Education
Forestry & & Food Entertainment Services Services Services
Fishing Services & Recreation

Baseline Al steady state

Source: Accenture and Frontier Economics

8. THE FUTURE OF WORK

Given that corporate profitability is in decline across
most industries in the United States, numbers like these
shouldn’t be ignored. After reaching their highest share of
national income in the post-war era, the growth of profits
dropped from 25 percent in 2010 to -3 percent in 2015, the
report states. This came as a result of low exports rates and
cheaper imports, exacerbated by cautious consumer spend-
ing after the Great Recession. It’s important to understand
that AI can help the bottom line.
Mark Purdy, a managing director at Accenture Research,
points out that advances in AI allow more effective auto-
mation, increase productivity, and allow innovative, new
approaches to business.
“As the new factor of production, AI can drive growth in at
least three important ways. First, it can create a new virtual
workforce — what we call intelligent automation. Second,
AI can complement and enhance the skills and ability of
existing workforces and physical capital. Third, like other
previous technologies, AI can drive innovations in the econ-
omy. Over time, this becomes a catalyst for broad structural
transformation as economies using AI not only do things
differently, they will also do different things.”
The bottom line is that AI has the capacity to enhance work
in nearly every industry, although in the case of repetitive,
predictable tasks, it would mean reducing the number of
9.
human employees. According to a 2015 report by the Nomura
Research Institute, nearly half of all the jobs in Japan could
be performed by robots by 2035. Considering its ageing pop-
ulation, coupled with its expertise in robot technology, this
makes it ‘a prime testing ground for AI.’
Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance is a Japanese company that
believes it will increase productivity by 30 percent and see a
return on its investment in less than two years by replacing
more than thirty employees with an artificial intelligence
system that can calculate payouts to policyholders. The firm
expects to save about 140m yen ($1.26m) in a year.
As humans become more dependent on machines in the
workplace, openness and transparency is crucial to corpo-
rate culture, and finding weak links in a corporate chain is
important – whether human or AI. Once again, this rein-
forces the strength of soft skills. They’re the glue that binds
a company together.
THE FUTURE OF WORK
3.O

AUTOMATION
“The real threat to jobs is when companies can’t remain competitive. After
automating, companies are more competitive and able to get contracts that
they were never going to win otherwise.”
- J eff Bu rn s te in , Pre s i d e n t o f t h e A s s o c i a t i o n f o r A d van cin g Au t o m at io n

The future of work

Percentage of jobs with high potential for automation Robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence are about
or significant change in task. to disrupt the future of work. Indeed, no less than 11 per-
cent of workers in the US believe they’ll lose their job due
Automatable Significant change
to technological advances. Expert forecasts put that num-
Slovak 10.8% 35.23% ber at as much as five times that. Critics are right to be

Czech Republic 9.95% 35.96% concerned about potential job losses in the short term for

Italy 9.6% 34.01% those performing repetitive tasks. It is, however, important

Germany 12.05% 30.98% to remember that long term, new ones will be created, and

Austria 12.1% 29.12%

the increased efficiency automation brings can increase the

30.21%
demand for labour. For instance, the final assembly of cars
Poland 7.1%
requires a level of judgment that demands a human worker,
Netherlands 9.65% 26.53%
but the heavy lifting and gross manipulation are better left
United Kingdom 10.1% 24.7%
to tireless machines. This is safer and more productive.
Average 8.91% 25.48%
United States 8.9% 24.94%
A top executive at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, Frank
Spain 11.8% 21.65%
Friedman, points out that “our future workforce is provided
Norway 10% 23.07%
with the right tools to effectively apply themselves to the
Denmark 8.5% 24.33%
workplace where man and machine work side by side.”
Canada 9.2% 23.54%
Ireland 8.2% 22.5%
Not long ago, workers feared robots because they were not
Sweden 7.2% 22.67%
safe to work with. Moreover, they saw automation as a fierce
France 8.7% 21.03%
competitor and job thief. Today, things are different for
Japan 7.09% 22.43%
those with the most immediate experience of automation.
Belgium 7.05% 21.71%
Advances in sensor and vision technology enable collabora-
Finland 6.5% 20.93%
tive robots, or cobots. This new generation of robots is safe
Estonia 6.2% 21.16% for people to work next to. And industry is noticing.
Korea 5.9% 18.56%

Source: oecd 2016 automation and independent work in a Digital economy,

national post.

10. THE FUTURE OF WORK

For instance, walking across the floor of SEW-Eurodrive’s
factory in Baden-Württemberg is like walking across a
sci-fi movie set. Humans and robots work together, side by
side, and what used to seem imaginable not too long ago is
today’s reality. And the workers are excited, not scared.
Jürgen Heidemann, who has been working there since he
was eighteen, said that he was satisfied because, with the
robot’s assistance, he doesn’t have to lift heavy things, and
is able to assemble “a virtually complete drive system that
will be used to power the production of everything from cars
to cola. This is more satisfying because I am making the
whole system. I only did one part of the process in the old
line”, said Heidemann. Indeed, employees welcome automa-
tion once they become familiar with its advantages.
This new, intelligent automation - not limited to heavy
industry - is sufficiently disruptive that it’s being called ‘the
Fourth industrial Revolution.’ Managing its effects will be a
mammoth challenge, requiring not just investment in tech-
nology, but also finding ways to transition all employees to
added-value tasks and mentoring them to work together
harmoniously in complementary roles. At the very least, this
means enabling employees to feel on par with, if not superior
to, the robots replacing their old jobs. This is an opportunity
for businesses to show how valued their staff are, nurturing
them to deliver in new roles created around machines as
helpmates. And the most forward looking organisations will
invest heavily in the care of their employees.
11.
Construction is a great example. Traditionally conservative,
construction has avoided technological innovation for as
long as it could, often with disastrous results. According to
McKinsey & Company, 98 percent of huge construction pro-
jects go over budget. Furthermore, data from the Bureau of
Labour Statistics shows that almost 200,000 construction jobs
were unfilled in the United States alone as of February 2017.
A close look at these numbers show where automation
might break the stigma of being ‘the herald of future unem-
ployment,’ and we think that the construction sector might
recuperate its losses by implementing automated systems
and embracing new tech.
Opportunities abound; there are a number of automated
systems available, from mobile robotic construction to 3D
printers, from drones to automated bulldozers, all of which
are capable of adjusting to their immediate environment,
increasing productivity and ensuring worker safety. For
instance, ABB recently developed SafeMove2, a safety tech-
nology system designed to provide more intelligent col-
laboration between robots and humans. Accompanied by
a scanner system, SafeMove enables a robot to adjust its
speed to the proximity of human workers. The scanner will
detect if a human is approaching the robot and send data to
the control system, slowing its speed automatically.
As a result of robot’s increased spacial awareness, their poten-
tial applications are expanding. For instance, the In-situ
THE FUTURE OF WORK
 Fabricator (IF), designed at
the Swiss National Centre
of Competence in Research
(NCCR) Digital Fabrication,
is an autonomous construc-
tion robot capable of laying
Click for video bricks in pre-programmed
structures. The IF has sensors linked to onboard comput-
ing. With two affixed computers, one for the arm and one
for the overall robot, data for locational self-awareness and
movement are processed, allowing the robot to be inde-
pendently mobile on site. What’s more, it can even adapt to
unplanned situations, such as late design changes. This is
the type of innovation intelligent construction companies
will welcome.
Another welcome addition to many companies might be a
giant, mobile 3D printer, the Digital Construction Platform
(DCP). A nozzle is affixed to the end of a pair of robotic arms,
and there’s a flatbed trailer attached to the back, with two
big metal tanks strapped to its top. It’s capable of construct-
ing large customised structures on-site. 3D printing, also
known as additive manufacturing, is a process of creating
12.
an object by laying down thin layers of material on top of
each other, and then hardening them, until a solid object is
created. The DCP is equipped with sprayers placed at the end
of the robotic arm to produce foam. To construct stronger
structures, the DCP can be programmed to create two foam
walls separated by an empty space which can be filled with
concrete, making the entire structure more resilient.
The MIT team behind it believes it could help revolutionise
home construction. Having a more precise arm attached,
allows it to be controlled with much more precision.
Steven Keating, a mechan-
ical engineer, is enthusias-
tic about the project. “You’ll
start to see real structures
made from these things. It’s
going to be widespread and
Click for video we won’t be able to make
your house with this in the next five years, but there will
be structures being built.”
THE FUTURE OF WORK
4.O

BLOCKCHAIN
“In every industry that we come across, Ethereum
is usually the first platform that people go to.”
- Mar ley G ray, p rin c i p a l B l o c kc h a i n a rc h i t e c t at M icro so f t

Blockchain is not only changing the way we handle finan-
cial transactions, but also offers a myriad of other appli-
cations enabling secure, transparent business. Blockchain
is a simple idea with profound implications: a distributed
ledger that maintains a continuously growing list of data,
be it a payment or a smart contract, across thousands of
computers connected in a network. It’s secure because each
transaction or data point is linked between others, making
hacking virtually impossible.

Distributed ledger technology benefits

Which of the following do you believe distributed Other than payments and digital durrency, what area/
ledger technology could help reduce?1 products could most benefit from the technology?2

Settlement risk 84% OTC derivatives 62%

Settlement time 84% Private stock 54%
Counterparty risk 74% Repo 54%
Custodial risk 57% Syndicated loans 48%
Capital cost 45% Other 16%
Systematic risk 34%
Note: 1 - Based on 58 respondents in 2015
Market risk 31% 2 - Based on 61 respondents in 2015

Other 12% Source: Greenwich Associates 2015 Bitcoin, Blockchain and the Capital
Markets Study

13. THE FUTURE OF WORK

The Ethereum Project is built on Blockchain, providing
“a decentralised platform that runs smart contracts: appli-
cations that run exactly as programmed without any
possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third party
interference.” Chris DeRose explains how ‘smart contracts’
are “self-automated computer programs that can carry out
the terms of any contract.” In essence, “it is a financial secu-
rity held in escrow by a network that is routed to recipients
based on future events, and computer code.” While this
sounds boring - it’s anything but. Ethereum’s smart con-
tracts mean that until an obligation is met, payment isn’t
processed. But as soon as it is, Ethereum allows automatic
transactions, even for complex projects.
Blockchain is also a dream for HR. The Australian Financial
Review reports that the University of Melbourne is using a
system called Blockcerts, which was developed by a com-
pany in the US, Learning Machine. The idea behind the
project was to create a system that tracks someone’s cer-
tifications and credentials on a Blockchain-based platform,
ensuring that the bona fides are what they claim to be.
5.O
21ST CENTURY SKILLS
“Communication is the most important skill any leader can possess.”
- R ich a rd Bra n so n , t h e f o u n d e r o f V i rg i n G ro up
As the world of work becomes increasingly disrupted by
advances in technology, the skills needed for employees to
succeed in their jobs are being transformed.
14.
With this type of system, employers can see someone’s
credentials quickly and easily. The system is pretty much
tamper-proof, which means that once a resume or a report
is submitted, it cannot be altered in any way. This way,
Blockcerts or a similar system can help an employer guar-
antee that they get the skills they need.
And, with Blockchain, it’s possible to have a company
without a single manager, a Decentralised Autonomous
Organisation (DAO). A DAO is a perfect combination of a
blockchain, smart contracts, and people that propose pro-
jects. The DAO has stakeholders who own tokens that rep-
resent a share in the performance of the company. In a DAO,
instead of being hired as an employee, a person is awarded
a contract on a project basis. But, if the gig employee under-
performs, the stakeholders can take their votes back, and
they’re fired in the blink of an eye. Now, that’s an efficient
way to get rid of underperformers.
According to a recent study conducted in eight European
countries, involving 10,000 respondents, both employers
and employees were concerned with their skill levels, while
THE FUTURE OF WORK
a majority of them admitted they needed to upgrade their
IT skills. Another study, conducted by the European Centre
for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop)
illustrates that 16 percent of respondents considered their
skills to have become obsolete in just the past two years.
This reinforces that, as tech advances, skills quickly fall
into obsolescence, demanding that employees become self
learners who constantly develop new talents.
Using tools such as Trailhead, this is a real possibility.
Trailhead is an online learning platform where people of
different professions can acquire the digital skills needed
for their current or future job. Almost 400,000 people have
used Trailhead’s modules to master new skills.
Another way of helping employees is through training in the
form of ‘boot camps.’ These camps usually take two to three
months, and involve various activities such as “first-per-
son simulations, on-site apprenticeship, and customised
games.” Similarly, Facebook partnered with Grand Circus, a
computer coding training company, to provide 3,000 work-
ers in Michigan with a 10-week training course in com-
puter coding. Facebook’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg, explained
that their training is a great way to develop diverse talent
15.
in “people who will go to do great work with Facebook and
other local companies” by giving them core coding skills.
Following in Facebook’s footsteps, VMware, a cloud comput-
ing software company, offers training in both technical and
soft skills through MOOCs (Massive Open Online Course),
video simulations, and e-books. VMware has also devel-
oped a three-step programme for its employees. Step one
is designed for employees who have been working within
the company for no less than a year, providing them with
training sessions, workshops, and conference attendances.
In step two, they can take two weeks to spend time with dif-
ferent teams and customers to gain new experiences. The
last phase of the programme is intended for employees who
have been working within the company for five years or
longer, and they’re offered the opportunity to work on their
own project unrelated to their job position.
But as important as tech skills are, soft skills are the future.
After Partnership for 21st Century Skills revealed that 89
percent of employers say high school graduates lack com-
munication skills, it’s clear that educators should work more
on teaching their students not just how to use language and
grammar properly, but also how to present their arguments
clearly and persuasively.
THE FUTURE OF WORK
Tony Wagner, an education expert who spent years research-
ing the education system, points out that critical thinking
and the ability to problem solve lay the foundation for inno-
vative ideas. Asking good questions will enable workers to
come up with a solution by themselves. Such skills trans-
form employees from passive recipients of information to
active problem solvers. Critical thinking often demands
completely new ways of thinking. Take Rob McEwen, the
CEO of mining consortium Goldcorp, for instance. He was
positive that his Red Lake site offered great mining oppor-
tunities, but the terrain was unworkable and his company
didn’t have enough money to find a solution. However,
McEwen came up with an innovative idea: he offered
$575,000 as a reward to anyone who could determine where
exactly the gold was, sharing his company’s trade secrets
to get crowdsourced help. He posted the bid online, and as a
result, experts worldwide reached out to McEwen. The win-
ning team made precise measures of the potential mine and
turned McEwan into a billionaire.
This is a great example of the kind of flexible thinking that’s
perennially valuable. As we’ll discuss below, the managers
of the future will need to be open to new ideas and creative
solutions. For instance, the management team at Google
allows employees to spend one day of the week working on
their own diverse projects. This innovative policy has led to
profound creativity, and it’s responsible for advances such
as Gmail and Google News.
Another valuable 21st century skill is collaboration.
Technology has erased geographical boundaries and pro-
vided workers unrivaled opportunities to connect across
cultures. And this is just the beginning. The New Horizons
report predicts we’ll be witnessing an increasing focus on
online collaboration in the next few years, where technol-
ogy will serve as a tool to provide interaction and facilitate
intercultural exchange.

Top 5 needs of employers

100.0% Critical thinking and problem solving
90.0%
Information technology application
80.0%

70.0%
Teamwork/collaboration
60.0%

50.0%
Creativity/innovation

40.0%
Diversity
30.0%

20.0%

10.0%

0.0%

Education technology expert Alan November has included empathy as number one in his surveys. Are they really ready to work:
(Employer’s perspectives on the basic knowledge and applied skills of new entrants to the 21st century US workforce.)

Source: https://21centuryedtech.wikispaces.com/21+Century+Info

16. THE FUTURE OF WORK

6.O

THE GIG ECONOMY

“Just last year, we saw more than a million people try independent work for the
first time. It is something that technology originally enabled and allowed to
grow more quickly. We’ve seen people learn about a bunch of different ways to
supplement their income or, in some cases, turn to the gig economy full-time.”
- S tep h a n ie Le f f le r, C E O a n d C o - Fo u n d e r o f Swan se a

Driven by technological changes, the workforce of the future
is shifting from a traditional 9-to-5 work pattern towards
more flexibility and independence.
The gig economy rapidly developed soon after the financial
crisis hit the job market, forcing many people who lost their
steady jobs to start looking for alternatives. At the same time,
the internet was emerging to offer them a chance to promote
their services and find jobs. Today, the gig economy is boom-
ing, with an estimated 20-30 percent of the US workforce
involved in some sort of gig work. And in just 2015 alone, the
number of the US gig workers increased by 700,000.

Gig growth
Share of U.S. adults earning income in a given month via online paltforms, often reffered to as the gig or sharing economy.

Labor platform (such as Uber, TaskRabbit) Capital platform (such as Airbnb, eBay)

1.0%

0.8%

0.6%

0. 4%

0.2%

0.0%
Oct. Jan. Jul. Jan. Jul. Jan. Jul.
2012 2013 2013 2014 2014 2015 2015

Source: JPMorgan Chase Institute / WSJ.com

17. THE FUTURE OF WORK

Often, gig workers’ biggest concern is having enough work
to provide income, and thanks to the variety of online plat-
forms that have emerged in the last few years, they have
a chance to quickly find enough gigs to keep them afloat.
For instance, HourlyNerd, a platform designed by students
from Harvard Business School, connects businesses of all
sizes with independent business consultants. After a pro-
ject is posted, they can bid on it and if their profile meets the
demands of a client, they can be awarded the project.
Jody Greenstone Miller, a former digital television execu-
tive for The Walt Disney Company, thinks that the gig econ-
omy allows larger corporations to find talented and creative
people. She claims that “This is why companies choose to
break down work into projects and what deliverables and
7.O
THE MANAGEMENT
OF THE FUTURE
“The days of building ‘great general managers’ are now over, and highly suc-
cessful leaders are now great engineers, scientists, and sales people who real-
ly understand the business itself.”
- J osh Be rsin , Fo rb e s
Success revolves around good management, but efficient
leadership is more than setting tasks for your employees
and tracking their progress. Technology isn’t just disrupt-
ing companies by offering them new and innovative tools
to increase their profit, it’s also transforming their manage-
ment systems.
18.
talent need to be applied to that project. It’s usually some
mix of internal expertise and outside expertise. Companies
no longer need to own that talent but access that talent. It’s
a new way to think about getting work done.”
Even though gig workers are provided with greater freedom,
they still are restricted to basic employees’ rights. Since
they’re considered independent or self-employed workers,
they don’t have health insurance, and they lack the right to
sick or holiday pay. These are the reasons why three Uber
drivers in New York filed a lawsuit against their employer,
seeking the same benefits as regular employees in other
companies. The court ruled in their favour, potentially
changing the landscape of gig work.
For managers, knowing what their employees are doing is
crucial to business decisions, but an excessive preoccu-
pation with workflow tracking can strangle productivity.
No one likes to be micro-managed, for instance. A leading
grocery retailer, Tesco, came up with a solution by equipping
its store managers with tablets that enable them to monitor
THE FUTURE OF WORK
their employees without breathing down their necks. Using
an app, managers can easily find out who’s on a lunch break
or who’s available for extra shifts.
Although leadership skills are in demand more than ever,
The Institute of Leadership & Management reports that 93
percent of their respondents say they’re still lacking in man-
agement skills. And 49 percent of the millennial generation
think their companies’ failures are the direct result of poor
management.
The leadership of the future is defined by how well manag-
ers interact with their employees, enabling and encouraging
8.O
BOOMERANG EMPLOYEES AND
THE REMOTE WORKFORCE
“Boomeranging is becoming more common because the millennial generation
in general believes that they should not stay in jobs for what boomers or
generation X would say is the minimum time.”
- L ee Ca ra h e r, CEO o f D o u b l e Fo r t e
In the world of fashion, seeing an old trend become new
again is commonplace. Today, the world of work is wit-
nessing the same cycle, as many organisations find that
favouring former employees over new candidates is smart
business. Known as ‘boomerang workers,’ these employees
are defined as those who left the company at one stage only
to come back again. This wasn’t so common in the past,
when employees who were either fired or resigned had no
prospect of returning. But times have changed.
Although hiring a former employee might seem risky, they
offer more to the company than the average candidate.
19.
rather than controlling and restricting. The emphasis will be
on relationships in which leaders will act more as mentors
than strong authorities.
And we can’t overemphasise the importance of trust and
transparency. The CEO of Umpqua Bank, Ray Davis, claims
that a successful manager is honest and transparent. Davis
admits he often tells his employees that they are “entitled
to get answers to every question they have.’’ They might not
like his answer, but it’s going to be honest, and it will teach
them to deal with the truth.
Boomerang employees are already familiar with how the
company works, don’t require additional training, and above
all, are likely to have acquired new skills while they’ve been
away. An example of how hiring boomerang employees can
pay off is Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, who left the
company in the 1980s but came back in 1997. It’s now impos-
sible to imagine Apple without him.
Besides boomerang workers, another emerging trend is
remote work. Remote work goes hand in hand with the
technology that “made it possible for career success and
autonomy to co-exist.’’
THE FUTURE OF WORK
 The benefits of remote work
Businesses Workers

C Access to Talent
C Independence

C Increased Productivity
C Increased Savings

C Reduce Costs
C More Flexibility

C Boost Morale
C No Commuting

C Employee Retention
C Better Work-Life Balance

C Help the Environment

Source: www.10xmanagement.com

Given the advantages of remote work, it’s no surprise that the greatest demand regarding remote jobs is in the IT
a survey conducted by FlexJobs revealed that remote jobs sector and business analysis. Using tools like Zoom to
have increased by 57 percent in just two years. The CEO of make video conference calls, or Slack for chatting, remote
CIEL HR Services, Aditya Narayan Mishra, points out that workers can interact without missing a thing.

The proportion of firms with employees working remotely

has increased in the last decade
Proportion of firms with employees working remotely (%)

2011

2007

2003

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Source: CBI, Employment trends survey

Buffer, a software application company, has a team of
remote workers spread worldwide, and they interact as if
they’re in the same office. To keep their collaboration going,
they use numerous tools such as HipChat to share photos
and discuss important company-related issues.
Thanks to the convenience of Sqwiggle, they can video chat
with each other at any time. Buffer’s team is also fond of
Hackpad, an editing tool similar to Google Docs, where users
create documents and work on them together.

20. THE FUTURE OF WORK

9.O

THE OFFICE OF THE FUTURE

“The future of work will be built on transformative digital workplaces
that engage and empower employees by placing them at the centre of
an increasingly cognitive enterprise.”
- Naya k i N ayya r, p re s i d e n t o f D i g i t a l S e r v i c e M an ag e m e n t at BM C

As the evolution of technology brings greater collaboration
and lessened hierarchy to the future of work, the office is
changing as well.
Companies are recognising the connection between
employee productivity and their physical environment.
We’ve long known that happy employees are productive
workers, but you might be surprised that their productiv-
ity is a full 31 percent higher. And the most forward think-
ing organisations want to harness the power of happiness,
developing buildings “with humans at the centre of design,”
by incorporating elements like better air and water qual-
ity, greenery, natural light, and fitness options for a relaxed
mind. Even modest changes produce startling effects. An
eco-designer, Oliver Heath, explains that “employees who
work in environments with elements such as natural light
and live plants report a 15 percent higher level of wellbeing,
are 6 percent more productive and 15 percent more creative
overall.”
Offices are no longer small cubicles but rather places where
employees can meet and interact, spending their lunch
breaks in game rooms and coffee bars where ideas flow
freely. Ron Bakker, one of the architects of the Edge, says
that beyond creating a simple workspace, he was more
interested in designing a place where employees would
want to come to.
And as we saw above, the quantifiable self is a critical com-
ponent of this change. Such practices helped the global
wellness industry reach a staggering value of $43.3 billion
in 2015, with $16.2 billion in North America and $16.1 billion
in Europe. James A. Martin, a journalist for CIO.com, claims
that “70 percent of US employers now offer some kind of
employee wellness program, up from 58 percent in 2008.”
Keeping employees healthy and happy is key to creating a
positive working environment. For instance, Hull & Knarr, a
small financial firm, provided its employees with a workout
room equipped with bikes. Workers can use the bikes during
their lunch break or even to commute from home to work.
The Director of Hull & Knarr, Brad Ferrell, thinks this model
is helpful in promoting teamwork outside of the office, lead-
ing to better interaction at work.

CONCLUSION
The future of work is defined by high-tech, smart management, and even smarter employees. Tomorrow’s successes are
embracing automation, taking better care of their employees, and restructuring offices into healthy, open, and collaborative
spaces. They’re increasingly relying on the gig economy and boomerang employees, and they’re leveraging the quantified
self to improve wellness.

21. THE FUTURE OF WORK

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