MANY PREDICTIONS about the future of work have not exactly played out as forecast. In 1930, John Maynard Keynes predicted that continued economic growth over the course of the coming century would reduce the work week to 15 hours. Nikola Tesla echoed this sentiment in 1935, when he predicted that robots would replace most human labour in the next hundred years. In 1964, the RAND Corporation predicted that we would be breeding intelligent apes to perform manual labour by 2020. And in 1959, the U.S. postmaster general predicted that today’s mail would be sent by rockets (e-mail turned out to be a more cost-effective option.)
The pandemic has undoubtedly triggered lasting changes when it comes to work. Many of us were part of a forced experiment in remote working that has shifted perceptions about such arrangements. Others found themselves in jobs that required them to personally confront the virus on a daily basis, just to keep society running. But all of us had cause to reflect on what we want our work to look like and what role we want it to play in our lives. According to a Bain & Company survey, 58 per cent of workers across 10 major economies feel the pandemic has forced them to rethink the balance between their work and their personal lives.
The relationship between workers and firms is changing radically, forcing leaders
