THE FUTURE OF EMPLOYMENT

The way businesses operate and the way employees work is changing. It may seem that the COVID-19 pandemic caused changes to the way we use technology and the hours we work. However, in many cases, the pandemic only accelerated changes that were perhaps inevitable anyway.

Remote working via IT programs and applications allows employees to meet "face- to-face," no matter where they are. For obvious reasons, this function gained unprecedented importance during the pandemic. Tech companies like Zoom and Google innovated quickly to provide businesses with the features they needed. Companies look set to use remote working more in future, having realized that they can cut down on both expensive office space and costly business trips. Employees will see some financial benefit too, such as saving money on commutes¹ and meals. However, it is still not clear that conferencing programs provide the optimum conditions for producing successful work. Furthermore, while many employees enjoy the freedom of working from home to begin with, this kind of isolation² may have a negative effect on mental health in the long term.

The logistics³ of meetings weren't the only problem presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, of course. During the first year of the virus, it was estimated that in the US alone, up to twenty million people found themselves unemployed. To save jobs and maintain operations, companies had to be creative, which often meant two colleagues sharing one job. Job-shares like this were already increasingly common, and this upward trend will likely continue. For some workers, job-shares are ideal; they create a better work-life balance and allow time to raise children or care for elderly parents. Employers benefit, too; they can keep trained, trusted staff that they may otherwise have lost altogether. And staff with a good work-life balance are often happier and more productive. However, reduced hours may not be a welcome development for all employees. It usually means a reduced income, job-sharing partners need to compromise often, and shared responsibilities can lead to tension between colleagues. So, while hours are shorter, a shared job can still feel stressful.

Even before the pandemic, automation⁴ was a threat to many occupations as employers now have increasingly economical, efficient, non-human options. Some jobs, such as car assembly, were lost to robots long ago, but according to a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, 800 million further jobs across a variety of sectors could be lost to computers and robots by 2030. According to one study, telemarketers⁵ are at the greatest risk, with a ninety-nine percent chance of being replaced by computers. Jobs involving computation, such as accountancy⁶, are also at high risk. Those at lowest risk (only 0.3 percent) are psychologists, as their work involves dealing with subtle human emotions. Automation can actually result in new jobs as humans will be required to install, monitor, and maintain equipment. In fact, the World Economic Forum has suggested that overall, automation could create an extra twelve million jobs worldwide. With time though, intelligent systems and machines may well be able to take care of themselves.

To deal with a future of high unemployment, some governments are considering introducing a universal basic income (UBI). This would guarantee all citizens a wage to keep them from falling below the poverty line⁷. Supporters of UBI say that it would be cheaper than paying for the health and social-care problems that poverty creates. They also say that it could lead to increased birth rates in countries with aging populations. However, one common critique of UBI is that it may mean people are not incentivized⁸ to work at all.

In truth, employment will change in ways we cannot yet imagine. However, the COVID-19 pandemic gave us a glimpse⁹ of what the future of employment might look like. It seems likely that employees and businesses will need to be flexible. The increasing flexibility of machines, on the other hand, is guaranteed.

• equal work-life
• "face-to-face" meetings
• cause tension
• high unemployment
• keeping their staff
• smaller and cheaper

• assembly
• critique
• optimum
• psychologist
• computation
• unemployed

Automation in Construction

When one stops and thinks about it, there are few more important jobs than building homes for people to live in. However, in many developed countries, the construction industry does not pay well, and it struggles to attract young people. This means that there are not enough workers, a situation known as a labor shortage. In the coming years, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) look set to transform the industry. Some suggest that this will see even lower wages and less employment, but the opposite may be true.

Automation is likely to take over some practical building tasks such as laying bricks. In fact, Fastbrick Robotics is developing a robot, Hadrian X, which can lay up to 200 bricks in one hour, and CEO Mike Pivac says that Fastbrick's target is to increase that number to 1,000. This sounds like bad news for human bricklayers who might expect to lay 600 bricks in a whole day. However, humans would still be required to move robots like Hadrian X into position and set them up. Robots could also take on some of the more dangerous jobs on site, keeping humans safer.

And as 3D printing becomes cheaper and more efficient, it is likely to be used to produce many of the components needed for home-building, such as windows, doors, and fireplaces. 3D printers require skilled operators, and the components they produce will need to be transported and installed by humans. Finally, Al will improve the speed at which construction projects are planned, designed, and managed.

Faster construction means more projects and more profit, and may also mean more jobs across the industry as a whole. Those unable to afford homes also stand to benefit as they become cheaper to build and, therefore, to buy.