The Future of Work Podcast

The summer of 2023 is recording some of the highest temperature on record, for our entire planet. This has enormous consequences for the world of work – regulators and businesses as well as workers. How can we adapt?

Following the COVID-19 pandemic many countries are re-evaluating the status, pay and conditions of their care workers. So, why are domestic workers, whose work often includes care, often being left out of this process?

International labour standards are at the heart of the ILO’s mandate and play an essential role in creating fair business competition and combatting work-related exploitation. So, how are they created?

While overt racism in the workplace may be a thing of the past, systemic racism, microaggressions and biases mean it is far from being a level playing field, say the guests of the latest Future of Work podcast.

The latest Future of Work podcast explores the challenges and opportunities of using Artificial Intelligence during the recruitment process.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, isn’t a tool for the future, it’s already here, creating, destroying and re-shaping jobs and business practices. So how will AI really affect the world of work?

The collapse of the Rana Plaza building in the outskirts of Dhaka on 24 April 2013 resulted in the deaths of over 1,100 people – mostly garment workers – and shone a global spotlight on workplace safety and labour rights in the Bangladesh garment industry. Ten years on, what has changed?

The COVID-19 crisis showed how much we all rely on key workers, yet it also exposed the poor working conditions they often face. How can we ensure that these essential workers are decently treated?

As workplaces transition towards a digital future, we see the gender gap perpetuating itself in the digital realm as well. On International Women’s Day, the ILO’s ‘Future of Work’ podcast explores how can digital technology be harnessed for positive change and more inclusion.

Low levels of productivity are making it more difficult for countries and regions to escape from the current mix of social and economic challenges. How can productivity be improved?

On World Day of Social Justice, the ILO’s Director-General, Gilbert F Houngbo, explains why policymakers must prioritize social justice or risk fueling poverty, inequality and social unrest, as well as undermining action against climate change.

Global labour markets are facing serious, interlinked challenges. Issues such as the growth in informality and working poverty, slowing employment growth, the effects of inflation on wages and purchasing power, come on top of longer-term structural challenges such as demographics, technology and climate change. The new ILO report, World Employment and Social Outlook: Trends 2023 (WESO trends), rai...

Working time issues have been at the heart of the ILO since its foundation in 1919. Since then the world of work has changed radically, but ideas about how, where and when work is performed have remained largely the same, notably the long-held assumption of a link between longer hours and greater productivity. A new ILO report on working time and work-life balance has taken a fresh look at the iss...

Migration gives workers in South-East Asia with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expression (SOGIE) the opportunity to seek a better quality of life. However, according to a recent UN study 'A very beautiful but heavy jacket: The experiences of migrant workers with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity and expression in South-East Asia' they experience discrimination at mul...

As we transition to a greener economy, how do we ensure that workers are not left behind? What actions need to be taken to achieve a just transition? COP27, the UN’s annual climate change summit, has just wound up in Egypt. The ILO hosted over 40 events there at a Just Transition pavilion, looking at climate change issues related to the world of work. It included the launching of an ILO just trans...

In the run up to the FIFA World Cup, the eyes of the world are on Qatar, the first Middle East country to host the global football tournament. Yet much of the scrutiny is directed not at the event’s sporting aspects, but rather at the labour rights and working conditions of the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers who are involved in readying the infrastructure and services needed to host one...

The career of a professional dancer appears glamorous, but it is also precarious. Dancers begin training intensively when young, when others are focused on studying to get qualifications. Then their professional performance careers are short, even assuming they aren't ended early by accident or injury. So, what happens to dancers when they stop performing? What’s it like to have a career that reli...

Research by the ILO and the WHO has found that billions of working days – and so billions of dollars - are lost every year because of work-related mental health issues, and they have called for concrete measures to address this growing problem. What are the psychosocial risks associated with modern workplaces, and can we make mentally healthy workplaces the new norm.

Sophie Otiende, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery, and Grace Forrest, Founding Director of Walk Free, join the ILO's Future of Work podcast to explore the many reasons for the continued existence of modern slavery and the role we can all play in finally putting an end to it.

August 23 is the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. Slavery is a clear human rights violation that has no place in the modern world! Yet, there are more people in slavery today than at any other time in history. More than 40.3 million people are still in modern slavery, including 24.9 million in forced labour. It means 5.4 victims of modern slavery for ever...

From archaeological and heritage sites to conservation parks, and music and cultural festivals, Ethiopia boasts a wide array of tourist attractions. However it lost 70 per cent of tourism revenues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with massive job losses – a situation that was worsened by the outbreak of war in the north of the country. As part of our August Voices tourism series, we’re talking...

When Lizzie Pickering's young son Harry died in 2000, she embarked on a journey to understand grief, how to live with it and how to help other people when their life has changed. In this podcast she shares the lessons she's learned from her own experiences and those of others. We will discuss how to adapt to change and continue to work after losses, not only in the event of death, but also in the...

These are uncertain times. Inflation has returned. A post-COVID recovery is under threat. These problems will need innovative solutions. One option attracting attention is the social and solidarity economy, which will be the subject of a discussion at this year’s International Labour Conference. The Social and Solidarity economy is sometimes described as a third sector; neither private or public s...

Does it matter if people are happy at work? Or should they just be satisfied with reasonable pay and conditions and not expect more? It’s well-established that happiness is linked to better health and longevity, but an increasing amount of scientific research has found ties with work-related matters like productivity, innovation and staff retention. So, should employers pay attention to staff happ...

Each year, discrimination at work around gender identity, ethnicity, disability, race, religion or sexual orientation cost millions of dollars to our national economies and companies. Worse, one-in-four people do not feel valued at work and those who do feel included are in more senior roles, according to a new report on diversity and inclusion by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Today...