Changing the Way We Work

The May 23, 2009 issue of Time Magazine has a cover story called “The Future of Work, The Way We’ll Work” that I think is very relevant to this discussion forum. It talks about ten significant ways that the workplace will change as we climb our way out of this recession.

“Though unemployment is at a 25-year high, work will eventually return. But it won’t look the same. No one is going to pay you just to show up. We will see a more flexible, more freelance, more collaborative and far less secure work world. It will be run by a generation with new values – and women will increasingly be at the controls.” – Time Magazine, “The Way We’ll Work,” p. 39, May 23, 2009.

I think the article is a good start in helping us to try and “see over the horizon” to get a better view of the landscape we and our children will be working in. For example, according to the article we’ll probably work many more years and have many more jobs than our parents; there will be a much higher expectation of productivity from our employers; perks and retirement benefits will be shifted more and more from the employer to the employee; etc. The article doesn’t place values on whether these changes are good or bad, but rather presents the case that they will lead to different opportunities, many of which we can’t yet foresee.

This discussion is presented in collaboration with Rob Main, co-founder of Apojigo. Apojigo is your own personalized Web space for presenting your professional Profile and Portfolio.