Report reveals the future of work

A ground-breaking report on the future of work has highlighted the dramatic changes the UK’s workers can expect to see in the next two decades.

The Future of Work, published by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), analyses the trends and disruptions shaping the UK’s labour market. It finds that multi-generational working – so called four-generation or “4G” workplaces – will become increasingly common as people delay retiring until their 70s or even 80s.

It also predicts that the role of women in the workplace will strengthen, and that an increasing divide between those at the top and bottom of the career ladder will mean that whilst highly-skilled, highly-paid professionals will push for a better work-life balance, other people will experience increasing job and income insecurity.

Technology will continue to evolve, pervading work environments everywhere, with many routine tasks becoming the domain of the smart algorithm. Multimedia “virtual” work presences will become the norm. As businesses seek additional flexibility, they will decrease the size of their core workforces, instead relying on networks of project-based workers.

Whilst the report makes grim reading for some, there is also good news. The demand for increasingly personalised and bespoke goods and services will lead to a boom in “micropreneurism”, helped by new ICT developments which provide greater access to markets, innovation and cost savings.

Large firms will open up their business models, focussing more on the skills and knowledge they can connect to than the skills and knowledge they own. Large companies will increasingly run open R&D programmes, giving individuals and small businesses the opportunity to innovate.

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