“4G” workplaces in UK / Some of your colleagues are old enough to be your great-grandparents

 Some of your colleagues are old enough to be your great-grandparents, your office is entirely online and your competitors are algorithms. Welcome to the future of work in the UK.

A ground-breaking report on the future of work, published today, highlights the dramatic changes the UK’s workers can expect to see in the next two decades.

The Future of Work, published by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), analyses the trends and disruptions shaping the UK’s labour market. It finds that multi-generational working – so called four-generation or “4G” workplaces – will become increasingly common as people delay retiring until their 70s or even 80s.

It also predicts that the role of women in the workplace will strengthen, and that an increasing divide between those at the top and bottom of the career ladder will mean that whilst highly-skilled, highly-paid professionals will push for a better work-life balance, other people will experience increasing job and income insecurity.

Technology will continue to evolve, pervading work environments everywhere, with many routine tasks becoming the domain of the smart algorithm. Multi media “virtual” work presences will become the norm. As businesses seek additional flexibility, they will decrease the size of their core workforces, instead relying on networks of project-based workers.

Whilst the report makes grim reading for some, there is also good news. The demand for increasingly personalised and bespoke goods and services will lead to a boom in “micropreneurism”, helped by new ICT developments which provide greater access to markets, innovation and cost savings. Large firms will open up their business models, focussing more on the skills and knowledge they can connect to than the skills and knowledge they own. Large companies will increasingly run open R&D programmes, giving individuals and small businesses the opportunity to innovate.

As well as outlining the way employment might develop over the next two decades, the report also projects four possible scenarios for the UK’s economy, and the potential impact on work. These are:

Forced flexibility (business as usual): Greater business flexibility and innovation in many UK sectors lead to a modest recovery of the UK’s economy, while a sharp rise in flexible working changes the way many do their daily duties.

The Great Divide: Robust growth occurs, driven by strong high-tech industries – particularly in life and material science industries, but a two-tier society has arisen, with a divide between the haves and have nots.

Skills Activism: Innovation in technology drives the automation of professional work, prompting an extensive government-led skills programme to re-train those whose jobs are at risk.

Innovation Adaptation: In a stagnant economy, productivity is improved through a systematic implementation of ICT solutions.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Four-generation workplaces on the rise as report reveals the future of work | News | UKCES.