Future of Work

Selections made by top experts for an audience new to this topic

Knowledge economy

Automation

Labor economics

Org culture & transformation

Why does it matter?

For many organizations, the pandemic represents a turning point in the history of work and provides an opportunity to change the way we work for the better. Leadership expert Debbie Lovich details how “all the low-value work disappeared” at the very beginning of the pandemic, and has made it her mission to “bottle these great work practices and not go back to the old ways.”

Entry points

The big debate about the future of work, explained

3 tips for leaders to get the future of work right

Selected articles and texts

Report

20 min

Brookings Institute

The nature of work after the COVID crisis: Too few low-wage jobs

A team of economics experts make four bold projections about the trajectory of work in America post-COVID: “increasing telework, city de-densification, large-firm consolidation, and forced automation.”

Report

45 min

Harvard Business School

Building From the Bottom Up

Highly detailed report from a well-respected management consultant advocating strongly for a large-scale investment in frontline workers and increase in wages.

Interview

15 min

Vox

Bullshit jobs: why they exist and why you might have one

Anthropologist and Occupy Wall Street leader David Graeber discusses his theory that many people work in unnecessary jobs, as well as what he thinks can be done to fix this problem.

Paper

40 min

OECD

What happened to jobs at high risk of automation?

Describes a trend over the last several decades in which automation has replaced a great number of jobs held by low-education workers, but employment of this group has not decreased because the number of them overall has decreased alongside demand.

Op-ed

10 min

The New York Times

The Future of Work Isn’t What People Think It Is

The National Domestic Workers Alliance argues passionately that spending so much time worrying about robots and AI is counterproductive - the real backbone of our economy is service workers, and we are vastly underfunding them.

Paper

30 min

University of Toronto Press Public Health Emergency Collection

Automation and Reallocation: Will COVID-19 Usher in the Future of Work?

University of Waterloo economics professor Joel Blit argues that COVID and the ensuing recession will hasten a large-scale restructuring process, especially in the “retail, construction, manufacturing, wholesale, and transportation industries.”

Analysis

5 min

McKinsey & Company

The future of work: Understanding what’s temporary and what’s transformative

Worldwide management consulting firm McKinsey recommends three key areas for organizations to analyze in the wake of COVID.

Interactive website

20 min

OECD

OECD Future of Work

An interesting and interactive website with links to more information about how digitalization and COVID are reshaping the workforce, as well as how to keep skills relevant and help those adversely affected by the pandemic.

Article

48 min

Deloitte

The worker-employer relationship disrupted

This special report deeply analyzes the multifarious nature of worker-employer relations and identifies ways in which it might evolve in a post-COVID world.

Report

45 min

The Economist

The future of work

This special report takes a deep look at nearly every facet of the future of work, from the rise of work-from-home to an argument that robot-related work fears are mostly exaggerated.

Deep dive: long form content to further your understanding

Not Working: Where Have All the Good Jobs Gone?

Dartmouth economics professor David G. Branchflower analyzes the nature of work in today’s economy, specifically focusing on the phenomenon of the underemployed. He connects a recent increase in underemployment to several other social ills, such as white supremacy and the opioid epidemic.

This text, from outlines a large, cohesive strategy for business leaders to manage more effectively within the framework of ‘liberating structures.’

The Surprising Power of Liberating Structures: Simple Rules to Unleash A Culture of Innovation

The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market

Provides a game plan for adapting to a new economy and job market - it is becoming increasingly clear that manual labor jobs are being largely replaced by jobs that require more education. This book includes suggestions for how to plan for that future.

A guide to creating organizations inspired by the next stage in human consciousness. The book, published in 2014 recognizes that many employees feel disengaged from their companies. Rather than pushing for more enlightened leadership, the book calls for more: transforming organizations to become more inclusive and empowering (available for free, with a unique download now, pay later option).

Reinventing Organizations

The Future of Work: A VICE Special News Report

In this special report, VICE embarks on a deep dive into the ‘paradigm shift’ being warned of by industry leaders and researchers, and speaks with a variety of laborers and businesspeople to understand how the world of work is about to change.

The future of work: is your job safe?

How will human workers co-exist with robots and artificial intelligence? What kinds of jobs will it make sense for them to take? This report from the Economist attempts to answer these questions and more.