Futuristic Endeavors: Shaping Tomorrow’s Work

Work changes with the evolution of work and change in social trends. Daily improvement in technology has brought a lot of changes in the society today including how people consider work and the culture. However, it is not the end of technology evolution. The progress of technology brings the question, how will be work done in future and who will do the work. In times before technology era, people used to work and human labour was in high demand. During those times, it took long for some tasks to be accomplished since the people who did and managed work got tired and needed long hours to rest. The level of production was low and required high costs. It was until technology came in and automation of some tasks started. It started eliminating human labour but machine expert could not be replaced. Decades have passed and evolution and transition in technology as well as work has been experienced by this generation. The question about how will be work done and by who in the future is not clear to people who have witnessed growth in technology.

Introduction

There is a notion that technology causes automation of works is effective leading to less demand for human labour. This is as a result of introduction of machines that are automated which are able to do work more efficiently within shortest time possible.Manytasks that were traditionally performed by human being are being replaced with technology, information and communication technology as well as automated machine(Foray, 2006). The automationwasbasically for routine works like reporting, clerical, secretarialand bookkeeping. But, with artificial intelligence AI, big data presentation and internet as well as increased use of computer brought to increased automation of non-routine work.

Future technology

The technology is expected to increase and the human labour is expected to reduce, this is because a lot of tasks continues to be automated with increase in technology. There is increased use of internet currently andthat is expected to continue due to increased development of smartphones and the reduced cost of purchasing them. The cost of internet is also reducing and may be free in future by the fact that there are public networks that government supported to provide free internet to members of the public. There are more advanced economies todaythan tradition and therefore big investment is placed in automation of work as supported by (McKinsey Global Institute, 2017). Other than that there is expectation of robots to work in the future and this threatens human labour and job opportunities will be less available.

Automation

It is clear that technology has brought automation in all industry and is penetrating into all course of work. However, not all works where technology have been engaged can be automated. Besides it cannot totally replace human labour in current society and in future. The technology is made by human being and so it need expert to control and manage their use. The machines wear out and still need to be modified which calls for human labour.Automation is believed to belimited to certain areas for now but it is increasing tremendously and in a short span. Although automations taking over every task, some cannot be fully automated therefore it still needs human labour to do the work. When we just thought that human being will offer a service of thought to technology, then emerged AI. Although the government may be worried of high levels of unemployment if everything is automated, the fact is that it is already happening in private sector reflecting to the country’s GDP. The impact of automation might not be felt now but the future generation will have little to do. Considering the many innovations that re launched every day and those that are still under thought, it implies that about 80% of the future work will be automated. Automation has been enabled with the use of algorithms that are programmed to do specific tasks.

Future work

How the work will be done in future and who will do the work may be a question in peoples mind that they don’t understand the answer. Since technology is not ceasing rather it continues to grow and expand widely across the world .the work will be limited for human being. However, human skills will still be needed to do some kind of tasks which involve machines. For instance,since the automation require algorithms that are commanded to perform some specific task, the need for software developers will be on high demand. Computer programmers will be a hot cake in the future. Almost mall companies and institution will want to automate some tasks both in the office and in the field which will need the software and programming skills. The use of computer to carry out some tasks will be basic need in all companies and institutions. There will be no alternative for use of computers or smartphones and internet to accomplish the tasks.However, modification of the same machines will continue and every time there will be change in some features to match the existing technology.

The work in future will only require specific skills from a few personnel who will possess them. Although people will still do jobs like feeding the computer system might not require an expert but a person who is well trained. But with the emergence of robots, the jobs will be very limited.  A part from board of directors the company might require even two people only where one will repair them and another one will control them. However, incorporating AI in robots, they may end up repairing themselves and the person standing in that position will have no value. It is clear that technology is devaluing the need of human being as labour for economic development but at the same time, it appreciates the knowledge with the human being that creates and advances technology. Therefore, the need for human labour will still be but in different level and platform. Work specialization is being experience since the beginning of technology era and it increases with rise in new technology. Specialization will be narrowed to specific tasks in operation of businesses and institution.For instance, for a computer that controls a system of the company, there will be need for a programmer, software engineer, hardware engineer, network engineer, firewall engineer, designers of specific task, clerks to feed the system and system analysers. There will be many of them in a company where some will work on contracts will others will be permanent employees. On the other hand, there will be no a necessity for people to go to offices since the work would be done effectively at home levels. The meetings will be held online maybe for the sake of end year parties, staff will meet physically to interact. The supervisors, in future will be able to oversee the work without physical appearance, trainings will be held online and mangers will give out roles online. However, the workload will be much because of specificity andspecialization which not many people will not have the specific skills.

Unlike in tradition where the mode of dressing and going to office mattered a lot for different kinds of work, in the future the only thing that will matter is the productivity of the staff. As supported by Vercellone (2007), capitalist are transforming their mode of production with the change of technology which is considerate of the kind of labor they incorporate in their businesses.The place of work will less matter to the employers since people will work from their place of comfort and will dress in what they feel is comfortable.Regarding Monnier and Vercellone(2007), the social interactions are only real in hospitals, schools and public research institutions but is not necessary in private sector. For instance, even teachers and lectures may teach students from wherever they will be not necessarily in school and the students will still achieve high performance. In the same case, the students will not necessarily need to go to school to learn because technology will enable online teaching and submission of assignment and tests. However, career like those developed from talents including sports will not be automated, but part of art will be automated thus eliminating some jobs.

Since, all kind of work will be online based, the need for cyber security personnel will be high to prevent cybercrime activities that will also increase with technology. On the other hand the employers will need dependable and reliable online surveillance technology for their companies. This will be to ensure that employees are productive and working well despite that there will be less physical contact between employer and employees. However, it implies that the employers will need some special training about the use ofsurveillance technology so that they will be effective in monitoring the activities of all employers. Other than that, the need for receptionist may be limited, since there will be technology which will identify visitors and link them to the contact persons but online customer service will be necessary to serve clients and visitors online.

Conclusion

Technology growth is tremendous and it changes a lot of things that happen in the society today. It impacts culture, social behaviour and economic development. It engages well with automation since it enables tasks to be performed without the need of human intervention. Some tasks are therefore, fully automated while others need human labour to be incorporated to accomplish them. As technology is expected to advance, so is the level of automation expected to go high except in a few task related to sports which may not be automated. Relating technology, and automation to work, it is clear that the future work will be most affected aspect of economic development. There will be a lot of changes on how people work and who will actually do the available work. Despite the threat for loss of job opportunities and increased levels of unemployment, the fact is that there will be rise in GDP. This is because work will continue to be done and it will be more effective with high production rates. However, technology will not totally eliminate human labour but it will displace some personnel and replace them with other relevant, skilful personnel. The work in future will require more specializationand specification to task than it is currently and the productivity of the staff will be most valued than the place of work. Therefore, technology will ease the work done, and will be more effective guaranteeing high productivity in all industry thus, high economic levels of a country.

References

McKinsey Global Institute (2017), A Future that Works: Automation, Employment, and             Productivity, McKinsey&Company.

Foray, D. ([2000] 2006),Economics of Knowledge. Cambridge, MA : MIT Press

Monnier, J-M &Vercellone, C. (2007). Travail, genre et protection socialedans la transition         vers le capitalismecognitif. European Journal of Economic and Social Systems,          20(1), 15-35retrieved from:    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281600183_Theoretical_Framework_on_future_knowledge-based_economy

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Vercellone, C. (2007), “From Formal Subsumption to General Intellect: Elements for a             Marxist Reading of the Hypothesis of Cognitive Capitalism”, Historical Materialism,   15 : 13-36 retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281600183_Theoretical_Framework_on_future_knowledge-based_economy

[accessed Apr 17 2018].