Work and the Future

Freelance work something of a controversial workforce trend. To some, it is the dreaded gig economy, those who are forced to work on contracts or driving ride shares because they cannot find that holy grail, the full-time job. To others though, it represents freedom, the ability to have some control over their professional lives and maybe even to earn more money while they are doing it. To be sure...

The pandemic has forced a giant-scale experiment in online education, and by many accounts it is going very poorly. From first graders to college students, everyone seems to be frustrated at having to take the classroom experience to a crowded space in the kitchen, and many are clamouring to get back to the in-school experience. But will it ever happen? After all, the experiment was a poorly plann...

  Remote work is having a minute, or rather a series of them.  Some companies have used it for years, some have been adamantly against it, but both kinds are being forced into it at the moment. As the pandemic forces millions to figure out some kind of home office set up (the kitchen table works in a pinch), we are in the midst of a great work-at-home experiment. Maybe it will be a giant succ...

Many sectors have been impacted by the pandemic, but none more completely than the travel sector. One week is was functioning at full capacity, and then the next the lights had completely gone out, or so it seems. When they go back on, they will shine on a completely different sector, one is which work roles have changed quite dramatically. To get some perspective on where travel and its workers a...

As the labor market goes through an evolution that started long before the pandemic, our communities are being transformed as well. In many cases that means good things, as when successful companies hire and prosperity increases. Other times there are less-positive spin-offs, with some people being left out of the economic party.  In the best cases, business works together with educational institu...

  All of a sudden, front line workers are being treated as the heroes of this pandemic and that is only fair. Bus drivers, grocery workers, cleaners, meat plant employees – all of these people jobs that need doing and they put themselves at risk in the process. In acknowledgement of that, many employers are boosting their pay and bonuses in a bid to reward them for what they are doing and ind...

As a society, we tend to both love and hate our arts sector. Love them, because we do value the contributions that music and visual arts and theater and film make to our lives particularly now. In the midst of this pandemic, how many lives have been brightened, even if for a minute, by watching Andrea Bocelli perform at the Duomo in Milan on Easter Sunday, or by seeing an impromptu concert by a fi...

Ready or not, the world of work is changing. And, whoever you are, you need to figure out your place in the future of work. We need to re-imagine everything. Who are the workers that will be in demand in the future? Will robots take our jobs or become our trusted co-workers? Should companies let workers work from home or will that guarantee an all-day frenzy of watching Netflix? Oh, and will jobs...