What the Future: Work

Companies have two big questions about the future of work: what will it mean for their workforce, and what will it mean for their customers. For the workforce, will new models —accelerated by the pandemic—emerge? Or will revert to the old ways? Either way, the changes to how we live, shop, dine, and play could be profound.

Revisit on our on demand webinar where our focus is on the central question of how changes to the way we work will impact how we live. It’s less about human resources topics like upskilling or labor shortage, or about how artificial intelligence will automate us all out of our jobs, though we will touch on those. It’s more about what all those topics mean for us as consumers, commuters and brands trying to create a consistent experience.

The future of work itself is an important starting point. We’re seeing some experiments in the future of work that would play into new ways of structuring our lives and how we pay for them. Many nations and employers are experimenting with four-day work weeks and Universal basic income. There’s key tension between the desire to emerge from the pandemic, and as some say, build back better, but also a strong desire to “return to normal.”

Editor, Matt Carmichael, takes us through the exclusive data from our Future of Work study and interviews with experts:

• Jon Izenstark, head, worldwide business development & solutions, HR & workforce transformation, Amazon Web Services
• Ali Charri, SVP, strategy and insights, Darden Restaurants
• Andre Brumfield, principal, global leader, cities + urban design, Gensler
• Rohit Bhargava, entrepreneur, co-author, “Beyond Diversity”

Regardless, opportunities exist to remake the marketplace – and here’s some ideas of how to capitalize on the changes, or lack thereof.

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