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Your Predictions on the Future of Work: 2020 Forward

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Your Predictions on the Future of Work_ Red Cape Revolution

What’s the future of work in the new decade?

Uhh. . .how long ya got? #bigquestions

https://redcaperevolution.com/coaching

As I’m writing this, it’s a new year and even a new decade, depending on when you start counting.

And as is true every new year, and especially every decade, experts come out of the filing cabinets with their predictions about the future of work.

So, I turned to my experts: YOU.

In December 2019, I asked members of my Insider Community two questions:

  • What’s the BIGGEST change you predict to happen to the world of work in the next ten years? and
  • If you had a magic wand, what’s the one thing you’d personally change in the next decade for yourself or those you love?

Some signed their name. For those who did, I’ve added it to their prediction in Q1. I chose to omit it from Q2, since that Q is about what they’d personally change and the answers seemed a bit, well, personal.

So here they are: predictions about the future of work, courtesy of my Insiders.

(Not yet in our Insider Community? It’s where I share the best stories, strategies and encouragement each week to help you navigate the future of work for you. Want to be included? Sign up here.)

Your Predictions on the Future of Work: 2020 Forward

 

Q1: What’s the BIGGEST change you predict to happen to the world of work in the next ten years (2020-2030)?

The unnecessary-ness of a college degree. Debt and outdated materials are making it useless in workforce development.

Submitted by Angela Evans, Ed.D

As leaders who came of age in military-inspired, command and control environments retire, new standards will be set on “this is how you lead,” including more collaboration and better communication.

Work from home (or wherever) will be the norm and so when colleagues come together, they will be more relaxed (no crazy commuting) and happier to engage with each other.

Submitted by Lucie Sandel

After finding that their dispersed teams actually are less productive and less engaged than teams that are physically in one place, major companies reinvest in office space and hire locally once again.

80 % – 90 % of my current job responsibilities [as an executive assistant] will be handled by some form of AI.

Work will become remote and we will “office” on occasion and relish these connection points.

More automation puts many traditional jobs at risk. These include truck drivers, medical assistants, lawyers, accountants, marketers, and teachers.

Submitted by Chris Tomseth

Culture of a company increasingly becomes the key factor influencing knowledge workers to change jobs. If a smart person can’t get their ideas heard and respected, they’ll leave.
Automation/robots replacing menial labour and entry-level jobs. This has already started to some degree (self-checkouts, ATMs, self-driving vehicles, chatbots, home automation, virtual assistants), but as technology grows and companies continue to try to reduce costs, the opportunities for automation will increase. Entry-level jobs like cashier or gas jockeys will disappear, increasing the gap between the haves and the have nots. Government intervention will become more critical.

Submitted by Melissa

Privacy be damned (it doesn’t exist really, anyway), there will be places inside companies to rate bad bosses–in public–on their people skills, like students can do with their professors. This will force reluctant managers to either get more training or move out of direct management roles.
Genders will disappear, privacy will disappear, there will be very little public quiet.  Houses of worship will diminish, there will be fewer libraries, the global internet will disappear, paper and metal currency will disappear.

Submitted by Peter F. Eder

We begin to realize we don’t need to “reskill” technical skills, but instead, we need to go back to basics and train on basic human skills like having or initiating a conversation, eye contact, asking questions, listening, etc. Companies finally realize that the place where these skills traditionally are taught–families and schools–aren’t doing a good enough job, so they’ll step in–and step up.
Humans will work alongside humanoids, both in the knowledge industry and in the blue-collar industry.

Submitted by Mohamed Sirajudeen Coimbatore Salam

As we increasingly get frustrated with the predictive limitations of AI (evidenced by how many times Apple tracks people who say “no, dammit Siri”), the demand for human assistants and support staff accelerates.

Siri is not the future of work

With so many things going digital, I predict the overall speed of work to increase. There are many ways I can see this being beneficial: mobile access will continue to provide access to resources anytime and from almost anywhere, digital tools will increase instantaneous collaboration and streamline complicated tasks or processes, virtual meetings will continue to reduce the need and cost for travel.

However, there are also some potential downfalls to this increased need for speed: constant connectivity and perceived availability will decrease people’s ability to clearly separate work time from personal time, the consumer’s need for instant gratification requires organizations to supply real-time access to resources and support.

Submitted by Tammy Dudek

Somebody will build a tool for HR that will help match employee skills and experience to real company problems, and HR’s role will take on the role of clarifying company problems so that people can solve them.

Businesses will increase the hiring of contract workers to avoid paying benefits.

Submitted by Rhonda M. Strong

In ten years, I plan to be retired but I’ll probably be worried about whether there are enough people in my local community to do the work that needs to be done live.
With more jobs than people, job search will be turned on its head. Companies that ghost applicants will be considered bad places to work, and they’ll fail en masse.
Robots (computer-based bots) will NOT take over very many jobs at all, though they will begin to be used for more standard processing tasks that people didn’t expect them to.

Submitted by Samuel Ambrose

As email filters get more aggressive and Google makes more and more judgments about what you “should” and “should not” get, the difficulty of reaching people through email will accelerate an amazing technology where you can pick up a device and connect voice-to-voice with another person. Yes, phone calls will be cool again, because they’ll be the only way you can get work done. (Wait–isn’t that happening now?)

I’ll still be working and hopefully loving what I do.
happy in the future of work

 Question 2: If you had a magic wand, what’s the one thing you’d personally change in the next decade for yourself or those you love?

I’d remove debt and worry over money. Then I’d challenge clutter and stuff.

The U.S. will join the rest of the developed world and have paid maternity /parental leave. It won’t affect me but who cares? It’s the right thing to do.

Less technology and more human interaction.

The phone will go back to being . .  a phone.

get the phone in the new world of work

Better technology to improve health (or to make good health last longer).

More free time, reduced hours of work.

That there will be a return … a genuine return “to the public good.”

Planet clean-up and bring back extinct animals.

Focus on relationships, pure foods, good health.

More commitment to training managers on how to create safe places for diverse thought and opinions as well as demographics. Less fear of being fired or punished and more joy at doing work that matters.
Eradicate environmental pollution to provide clean air and clean drinking water.

I would grant everyone the freedom they need to find a profession that fulfills them. That could be the financial freedom to take a job based not on salary but on true passion.  It could be the freedom of time and/or resources to devote themselves to learning a new skill, chasing a new opportunity, or launching a new business.  With the amount of time people spend “at work”, my ultimate wish is that everyone had the ability to spend that time doing something that filled their cup rather than draining it.

A kinder, safer world.

True life/work balance, that everyone would experience balance by giving life the appropriate priority level.

See each and everyone for their gifts/talents/strength.

(Darcy here: and might I add, superpowers?)

Ready for the future to start NOW?

If you want to be prepared for the future–or if the present isn’t giving you everything you want in your life at work–it’s time for us to talk.

Each week, my team and I work to keep 30-minute chats available on my schedule to talk to people just like you in a free coaching consultation.

Just hit the button below, and pick a date and time. Answer a few short questions, and then I’ll call you at the time you picked. There’s nothing to prepare–just show up right where you are. If, after we talk, it sounds like one of my coaching programs or courses will help you going forward, I’ll share details after our call. There’s no pressure -my goal is to be helpful immediately.

Spots fill up fast, though, so schedule yours now and give yourself the future you deserve.

Schedule your coaching chat now

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