The Workforce in 2108
It would be self-aggrandizing to refer to yourself as a "futurist". However, if you study the work of "the future" daily, be it technology, organizational design, management, art, etc.
It becomes impossible NOT to apply near and far term transformations to the world around you.
My predictions for the world of work in 2018 were recently published in The Ladders in 8 Workplace Predictions for 2018 by the brilliant Lindsay Tigar.
The complete text is provided below.
Workforce predictions for 2018:
1. The number of new startups will continue to decline.
For 2016, the US Census Bureau showed startups in decline for the first year of our tech-focused generation. This is largely due to unfavorable climate conditions for new market entrants, in my humble opinion as an entrepreneur. Given the continued political uncertainty and reforms that support the ultra-wealthy, barriers to new business creation will continue to increase. New businesses will continue to decline.
2. Less jobs.
Job trends steadily show that the freelance workforce is on the rise, and expected to be 43% of our population by 2020. The only business growth we see domestically is in tech, which staffs at around 10% of the manufacturing economy. As an example, Facebook houses around 20,000 US employees whereas General Motors used to staff well over 200,000. With our business growth largely in non-labor intense sectors, we not only have to rely on our creativity AT work, we have to get pretty creative to even find work.
3. Increase in intrepreneurship.
I’m going out on a limb with this prediction, but my hope is in the linchpin workforce. By that I mean, the people left in large businesses will use their creative capacities to innovate so as to remain competitive as the workforce largely disappears with automation. Like Seth Godin said in his book “Linchpin”: don’t be the best in the world at what you do, be the only one in the world who does what you do.
Jessica Higgins is Chief Operating Officer of Gapingvoid Culture Design Group, a team of inspired individuals based in Miami, Florida, with clients worldwide, including Microsoft, Zappos, Roche, Pfizer, L'Oreal and many others. She and her team deliberately design end-to-end culture solutions that help people connect emotionally to their organization's most important outcomes. She works in healthcare, Pharma, finance, higher education, governments and Fortune 500 corporations. She is a public speaker, strategist and published author in the future of healthcare. She holds a Juris Doctor in Law, A Masters in Business Management, and a Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma with specialty in Design for Six Sigma.
