Forget the Nine to Five
The world is changing and the way people work is changing. We are moving away from the traditional nine to five and into an era where working a full forty hours may not be for everyone. In this blog I explore our obsession with work, our relationship with technology, and our view of the future of work.
I read an article today about the job market going from “knowledge workers” to “wise workers”. The premise was that with AI, we will need to begin to focus on those ever-elusive soft skills, allowing technology to do the heavy technical thinking while we stick with the softer stuff. The human side of work that AI simply cannot replicate, or at least can’t replicate for the foreseeable future. But there are a few issues I find with this article. First of all, I am not sure why we are so focused on staying employed in these nine to five office jobs. Second, if we are working with machines and AI would we really need those soft skills? AI doesn’t care if we are blunt or direct. AI doesn’t get uncomfortable when we get frustrated. Why do we need soft skills? For what purpose?
Let’s dig in to my first issue just a little bit. Our obsession with work. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t sit still. I need to be productive. Even taking a vacation turns into activities and nonstop moving. But it is unhealthy, this obsession with the idea that our productivity at work defines who we are as human beings. Work is going to change. How we work, who we work with, where we work, how long we work, even how we get paid will all change. It is inevitable. We need to think beyond just changing our skill set and start imagining a place in which it is normal to volunteer most of your time. It is normal to spend half of your days tending to your garden or teaching your kids. Because there just isn’t a “job” out there for you to do. But your job could turn into volunteering, researching sustainable agriculture, teaching, or simply growing your own produce. This is what we need to get comfortable with because only then can we begin to grapple with how this will actually work. How will we get paid, how much money will we need to have to live the life we want, or what about medical insurance? These are all things that will take a long time to change. We must start talking about them now. But if everyone keeps going around talking about how they will just change their skillset we will continue to ignore the fact that the true need is that of a universal pay system and equitable medical coverage for everyone, especially when the majority of the nation is unemployed by today’s standards.
As for my second point, I am just not clear on the purpose of heightened soft skills if you are going to be working with machines. I am sure many people can enlighten me but if we are thinking about this logically, the majority of work will be either feeding the beast or helping the greater public understand the data it digests and spits out. This is highly technical and analytical work. Yes, there will need to be those people that can translate machine talk into human talk but, again, I am not sure I see where soft skills come into play. I’d like to point out that I am a huge proponent of soft skills. By no means am I trying to say soft skills are unimportant. I spend most of my days coaching leaders on how to be better people managers which means I am trying my best to teach them more productive soft skills. I just don’t see the need to make such a deal of it. Instead let’s continue to diversify our skills. Let’s continue to teach people how to accept change, roll with the punches, and ideate. Teach creativity and eliminate fear of failure. These are the things we should be teaching.
I, like most of you, enjoy but also dread the work landscape of the future. It is so fun to play with the AI platforms, testing them to see if they will spit out the right answer. It is also terrifying when they do spit out the right answer and you have to question whether or not you will have a job in ten years. Let’s not be so one sided through this endeavor. Instead of thinking only about how can I keep my nine to five, instead challenge the nine to five concept and begin to think of a world that looks completely different.