Boards and Planning for Future Jobs
In the attached article, Our Jobs of the Future, VAB member Simon Erdmann explores the evolution of the concept of jobs as businesses move further into the disruptive age of digital and tech transformation. He points out that overall discussions are increasing about how man and machine work and collaborate in a future business (work) landscape, highlighting how the rise of the machines is oftentimes presented as a binary choice (good or bad) but that reality is much more nuanced. This future of work dilemma and discussions of who does what work is something that boards of directors (including their HR committees) will increasingly want to follow given how these debates and the resulting decisions play out will have impacts on both a business’ bottom line and how boards and executive teams interact, report to, and negotiate with shareholders and stakeholders.
An interesting point Simon raises relates to work as part of our identities. How will we as humans redefine ourselves and present ourselves to society if our traditional understanding and appreciation of work moves from role-driven to task- or gig-driven? This will indeed have some effect on how our peers assess, judge and decide to interact with us. On top of that, businesses along with other societal stakeholders will need to move through a period of reassessing work’s role in our lives; thinking not in a narrow view that work keeps us active or gives us stature, but instead shifting to the degree to which work is satisfying and fosters productivity. If machines take over routine, mundane and even dangerous tasks, while humans gain more freedom to create, imagine and develop leadership skills, this could mean that businesses and organisations get better value for money and more innovative outputs from their investments in human capital. In this context, Simon hints at workers moving toward a new level of productivity. AI-led healthcare specialist? Machine personality design experts? Chief purpose planner? Genetic diversity officer? Have your board of directors, your advisory board or the leaders in your C-suite team even begun to have conversations about these types of roles? They could be an actual part of the future of work. So it’s time to start talking.